The Internet
...t she was able to obtain a job with Time Warner, and moved into her own apartment, thus breaking free of the social class she was born into, and making a name for herself with the help of the Internet. Another life transformed with the aid of the Internet is that of Jay de la Garza, a fourteen year old computer whiz from East Austin. He was able to help teach people how to use the Internet through Free-Net sites, and he has recently been accepted to a school for gifted students and currently works as a volunteer for the Free-Net company. There are many programs being created specifically for use by young people; for example, LincolnNet, which serves South Metro Chicago, is intended for use by low-income students. Many existing community networks are thriving, with an excess of users such as Charlotte’s Web, a company stationed in Charlotte, North Carolina currently serving 10,000 users, and another network located in New Orleans called Greater New Orleans Free-Net serves 16,000 users. The numbers of members of such community networks will only grow with increased awareness about these programs. The Internet can also benefit society through strengthening local connections by linking people and resources. For instance, the Austin Police Department hopes to use the community network to enhance community policing tactics. By creating a Web page accessible to everyone that displays information concerning local statistics such as a quarterly crime statistics report, police officers would have more time to actually go out and fight crime. In addition, if the network allowed residents to report abandoned vehicles, drug houses, broken lights and windows, and other problems, the department would be able to drastically improve its community policing efforts. Seeing as how the Internet could possibly become such a vital tool to civil service employees, one can conclude that in the future Internet access may even be supported by taxes. One expense that may be prevented is money that would have been spent on training trainers; because in Austin they offer people instruction in Internet publishing with the understanding that they must then dedicate time to helping teach others their accumulated knowledge. Another benefit of such an approach to spreading knowledge emphasized ongoing social learning. Community networks exist all over the United States, and are located in a variety of areas, ranging from rural southeastern Ohio to inner city Chicago. One problem surrounding the...