Suggested Plan for NCF and WWW ------------------------------ Lisa K. Donnelly, 12 June 1996 Introduction: The following is a general plan for creating a graphical web site that is compatible with our FreePort offerings. This plan meets many of our 1996 strategic objectives and may provide a revitalization of NCF to the community. FreePlan can be advantageous to raising revenue. Moving forward to the technology that dominates the InterNet will increase traffic. Increased traffic will allow us to request donations and obtain more sponsors. Many tools are being developed currently are for the Web. We have offers of several donated services, such as search engines, that we cannot use yet. Increasing the tools available will also increase traffic. In addition, authentication will be required for access to FreePages, FreePlace, FreeMail, etc., allowing NCF many opportunities to request donations from users of those services. Part I is FreePlan, which was worked on by the planning committee in the early spring and refined and distributed to the Board in paper format at the May 29th Board Development session. Part II is a technical status report from Ian Allen which outlines the research and progress to date. Decision Objective: To have the Board approve the plan in principle so that we may continue our research and development toward offering a graphical web site to our members. The first step would be to offer "FreePages and FreePlace" then to look at offering FreeMail and FreeWeb (SLIP/PPP services) at a later date. Getting software that can accommodate a system of our size is proving challenging so the testing phase may take several months. Part I ------ FreePlan: NCF's family of community network services ===================================================== v1.1 FreeNet The Classic. Introduction to online networking FreeMail Offline email for everyone FreePages Public cyber-place for WWW homepages FreePlace Public cyber-services FreePlan is about effective use of donations and creative application of existing technologies to serve our community. Community Perspective NCF Administrative Perspective FreeNet The classic FreeNet, based on The existing FreePort-based menu FreePort menus. A great way try system, tried and true; easy to the 'internet' (email, operate but difficult to extend newsgroups) and get community and difficult for non-english- information, using even old users. Resolutely stable operation computer hardware (old PCs and serving tens of thousands of 286's don't die, they just get users and community information passed on to parents, students, providers. To keep costs low, no friends, etc). further system software development or expansion of After learning the basics by services (a la Cleveland); no using FreeNet, most people will improvements, just usage. want to get an ISP account for Pyramid training and outreach graphical access to the internet ('get your granny online'). New and NCF's FreePlace. A typical IPs are accepted, but they are new user might donate roughly encouraged to also provide $25 and probably will master FreePages. FreeNet and get an ISP account within a year or so. telnet.freenet.carleton.ca FreeMail A public service for people who A useful and fundamental public are aware of internet services service that is low-cost and low- but only want quick-and- effort for NCF to operate, which convenient email. To keep costs also generates revenue to support low and make the service highly other NCF services. Based on accessible (compared to FreeNet standards so that people can get email), only off-line reading manuals and training from non-NCF and composing is supported, sources. Mail forwarding using standard multi-lingual supported (to give people a mail readers (e.g., Eudora, permanent address). Mailing Netscape, or Exchange). A lists supported (to give people a typical user might donate roughly way to do private collaboration). $15 per year (periodic email is used to raise donations). yourName@freemail.ncf.carleton.ca FreePages A public place to put web pages, A standard web server. No in 'any' language, for anyone and software development required, any organization, no matter how only configuration. No associated they get online (but oriented to modems (people use ISPs or FreeNet alumni). "One button FreeNet modems). Individuals publish". People put their have homepage URLs and IPs have homepage at FreePages (or a link organizational URLs. IPs would to their pages elsewhere) for tend to migrate their material to visibility (see FreePlace FreePages, accessible from the services). If people want more web and from FreeNet (via Lynx). than a standard amount of disk Finally, infrastructure that space or their pages get a supports more than just english! higher-than-normal hit rate, a compensating charge might apply. http://freepages.ncf.carleton.ca/ A typical user might donate ~yourName about $15 per year (donation- http://freepages.ncf.carleton.ca/ awareness-raising is done via yourOrganization email to page owners). FreePlace Public cyber-services. Indexing Standard services (augmented by of NCF content (pages, news- NCF and/or volunteer development, groups, files). Web-based if available). Showcase for collaboration tools (as they local partners' products. Host emerge), starting with an of NCF's official index into authenticated NNTP access to NCF FreePages pages (just pages that newsgroups. Authenticated IRC give a hierarchical view of chat into NCF chat groups. New FreePages similar to the existing services as they arrive on the menu hierarchy). market. http://freeplace.ncf.carleton.ca/ FreeWeb Full PPP support for graphical Standard PPP service, just like browsers (e.g., Netscape an ISP, but with only a few modem Navigator or Microsoft Internet lines. High congestion intended. Explorer), including access to Positioned as a 'taste' of what email, newsgroups, web pages is available from ISPs, and as an (multimedia), chat, and all experiment. Perhaps later tuned other browser-accessible to give preferential access to internet services. A typical IPs. user might donate about $25 per year. Question and Answer =================== Q: Where should Information Providers put their material? In FreeNet menus, or FreePages web pages? A: New information should go in web pages on FreePages, possibly with menu pointers in FreeNet pointing to the FreePages web pages (invoking the Lynx web browser). Web pages should be designed to be readable by both graphic and text browsers. Information text files on FreeNet will continue to be accessible from the web, but only web pages placed on FreePages will be indexed by the FreePlace indexing, and FreePages supports the scripts of more than just english, making it preferable to put information on FreePages. Q: There are over 700 existing homepages in FreeNet directories. What happens to them? A: Existing homepages can be transferred by users at their convenience. FreeNet homepages will be recognized during a transition period, after which they will not be served by the FreeNet web server. "One button publish" makes it very easy to create a home page (or organizational pages) on FreePages. Q: What is the difference between access and content? A: Access is what enables a person to connect to the internet, and content is the reason for connecting. NCF provides access services most suited to people with older technology (people with newer technology, e.g., graphical browsers, will want access services provided by ISPs). NCF provides content in the form of newsgroups, menus, FreePages; NCF acts as our region's public cyberplace, like an electronic public square or commons. NCF's content is accessible to any NCF community member on the internet, whether they get access using NCF modems or via an ISP. Q: How will people access NCF newsgroups? A: FreeNet users will use the familiar FreePort newsreaders. FreeNet 'alumni' (ISP users) will use NCF newsgroups by pointing their newsreader (e.g. Netscape newsreader) to the FreePlace authenticating NNTP news server, which will ask for their NCF id and password. This ensures that all contributors are identified, and also helps people remember the value they are receiving from their donation to NCF. Q: How will NCF ensure that FreeNet modems are available for its target group (new network users, and people with old technology)? A: There will always be old computer equipment that is perfectly matched with the old FreePort technology, and people with older technology will be always be well-served by FreeNet. However, most people, once they've determined the value of online networking, will want to obtain a full-service account with an ISP, especially so that they can use graphic browsers, Java applets, audio, etc, and perhaps as well decide to invest in more capable computer equipment. People will expand their network horizons when they sign up with an ISP. Wherever they go, we hope they'll put their homepage in NCF's FreePages, put FreePlace in their list of favourite web sites, and continue reading and posting in Ottawa's most popular newsgroups and chat channels (we've got them hooked!). Q: Why not just upgrade FreeNet to be web-based? Why not just buy more phone lines and offer SLIP/PPP? A: Thousands of people benefit from FreeNet just the way it is, and find it to be an accessible introduction to online networking. Also, it turns out that to stretch FreeNet technology to cover the full range of user equipment (from VT100s using text menus to Pentiums using multimedia browsers) and to make it multi-lingual would require expensive and risky custom software development. Rather than trying to stretch FreeNet, NCF can operate FreeNet with no changes and augment it with additional services, based on recently-available, low-cost, easy-to-operate packaged software. This approach allows NCF to offer more services for less cost by freeing donation-supported staff from fussing with expensive low-level UNIX custom projects. NCF can spend less time developing technology and more time applying technology to help the community. Offering SLIP/PPP would simply make NCF yet another ISP. The community is already well-served by ISPs, and it is unlikely that NCF could add much value (there is no indication of gouging by ISPs; the business is very competitive and prices are low). If the need arises, NCF can always augment its services by becoming an ISP (expand FreeWeb). Q: Will francophone users and content-providers find new NCF services easier to use? A: Yes, FreePages, FreePlace, FreeMail, and FreeWeb all support content and usage in french as well as english (and the scripts of other languages too, e.g., chinese). NCF welcomes the new affordable technologies that make this finally feasible, and looks forward to use and content by non-english community members. Unfortunately, the manufacturer of FreePort does not plan improvements and the technology used by the FreeNet part of NCF is not easily extended, so FreeNet will continue to awkward for non-english users. Fortunately, most new users will probably go direct to the newer and more capable web-based services, regardless of their language. Q: Will donations dry up if people don't log in via NCF? A: People donate when they perceive value, and certainly a large part of the value that NCF provides now is access to the internet. FreePlan maintains that existing value (FreeNet) and adds new value (FreePages, FreeMail). All services have mechanisms that allow NCF to stay in contact with people and remind them of the value they are receiving. Q: Does FreePlan solve all NCF problems? A: FreePlan is an action-oriented and realistic plan for NCF that can be implemented in short order. Then we can see what makes sense next. Part II -------------------------- FreePlan: Technical Status -------------------------- June 12, 1996 Submitted by: Ian D. Allen, idallen@freenet.carleton.ca In addition to the preservation of the existing "FreePort" menu system and dial-up service, the introduction of "FreePlan" by the Board Planning Committee this Spring puts priority on three new or enhanced services to the NCF membership: - offline Mail - remote News - World-Wide-Web (WWW) and associated services Two of these services -- offline Mail and remote News -- are brand new, and the existing NCF WWW service is to be improved and expanded. To speed up implementation, increase reliability, and reduce administration and software maintenance costs, NCF is selecting standard, supported, "plug-and-play" packages that provide these services. This will re-focus NCF's technical efforts on *using* software to build community, rather than on writing and maintaining basic software infrastructure. NCF doesn't build its own computers or maintain its own computer operating systems; it doesn't need to write or maintain its own news, mail, or WWW software. All of the new packages must be able to support NCF's 57,000 accounts now, and a hundred thousand accounts over the next few years. (This is not toy software!) Packages must be current and well-supported by their suppliers, so NCF can manage the software easily and move its services to new hardware and operating systems as new opportunities present themselves. Account maintenance, such as name and password changing, is a significant part of NCF office overhead. NCF is selecting software that will use a common account database to avoid having separate account systems for each new service. NCF thus avoids member confusion about which account applies to which service, and it avoids tripling the amount of work required of the NCF office. I surveyed existing providers of these software services and found only one vendor who is planning to provide an integrated three-service package that runs on NCF's hardware: Netscape. I obtained sample software for all three products and gave a functional demonstration of all three services to the Executive Director this month. I am now researching and installing production implementations of the services for limited testing. NCF will train key volunteers on the features of the new services as they come online this month and begin full-scale training and operation later in the Summer. By using standard software, NCF links itself with the wealth of professionally-written help and documentation available both online and in print. With these new services, members will be able to use their standard home computers, including all their favourite editors and other software, as full participants in the NCF online community and the greater Internet community. Research Contributors: ---------------------- The following external individuals assisted me in acquiring information about providing these services: Ingenia Communications Corp. Tyler Burns Mike Shaver Sun Microsystems Bob Seeley Micro Works Ann Knechtel Kendall Lougheed Steve Wilkinson Meridata John Ganz Newbridge Chris Hawley Federal Government - GTIS Todd Ross Flora Community Net Russell McOrmond Netscape Communications Corp. Suzanne Roberts Kathy Wilson Anthony Lee Barry Gauthier Ben Horowitz William Reviea JF Sullivan ott.online Various people -- ** Lisa K. Donnelly, Executive Director ** * National Capital FreeNet/Libertel de la Capitale nationale * Telecommunities Canada, Board of Directors (613) 241-9554 voice & fax (613) 241-2477