The Seattle Community Network
A Brief Informal History (June 1989 to April, 1996)Doug Schuler
Secretary, SCNA
douglas@scn.org[This is a very incomplete draft document (updated: April 24, 1996).]
-- Please supply me with additional information. --The first indication of strong interest in community networking came at the October 16, 1990 meeting of the Seattle chapter of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR). Jon Jacky's living room was packed and several people had driven up from Portland for the event.
At that meeting Doug Schuler presented his findings on a nascent community networking movement by reporting on the few systems that existed at the time: the Public Electronic Network (PEN) in Santa Monica California, the Big Sky Telegraph system in Dillon, Montana (spreading over much of rural Montana), the New York Youth Network, and the Cleveland Free-Net.
Now, approximately 7 years later there are nearly 300 existing community network systems and approximately 200 more in the planning stage and SCN is acknowledged as an important and innovative system in many ways.
It took some time after that early meeting on the subject before the members of CPSR/Seattle actually decided to adopt the project. After viewing the NPTN (National Public Telecomputing Network) videotape "If it plays in Peoria..." at the January, 1992 CPSR/Seattle meeting the chapter voted unanimously to make the Seattle Community Network an official project.
(Those present in the early days included Heather Holmback, Phil Hughes, Phil Harrison, Aki Namioka, Randy Groves, Lorraine Pozzi, Ken Gillgren, Sharma Oliver, Doug Schuler, and others (let me know who I have forgotten!).
From the start there was a lot of excitement and participation. In the early days there was also a certain amount of confusion and disagreement (if I may be allowed some editorializing...). It became obvious that important decisions needed to be made; decisions about how the project would be organized, what type of decisions needed to be made and how they should be made, and what types of affiliations SCN should make.
One of the earliest discussion centered around whether to affiliate with the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN). NPTN was the creation of Tom Grundner who based this new organization on the Cleveland Free-Net that he also founded. Tom's vision of "Free-Nets" was based on that of a public library where access is free and universal and that everybody can be a contributor.
At this early stage, Lorraine Pozzi suggested that we hold a meeting at Kay Bullitt's house, the setting for the launching of many activist projects in Seattle. Kay was amenable and invitations were sent to 50 or so community leaders in the region.
At the talk Aki Namioka and Doug Schuler presented the vision of a free, public access computer system that would help a community keep in touch with itself, a vision that was also reflected in an op-ed that Doug had written for the Seattle Times (A Community Linked By An Electronic Network, February 24, 1993). Although the presentation was undoubtedly somewhat naive and there was some skepticism the mood was optimistic and many attendees at that early meeting are enthusiastic SCN supporters.
Yvonne Chen and Jim Taylor of the Seattle Public Library were among the earliest supporters. We began a dialogue with them that night at Kay's and ultimately reached an important agreement with SPL. SPL allows SCN computers to be located at the public library and provided some telephone lines to us. More importantly the library provided access to SCN from the downtown library and all its branch libraries, bringing us closer to our goals of universal access.
The SCN relationship with SPL is an important strategic alliance, the likes of which we'd like to repeat with other civic organizations in the region.
Around this time we were trying to figure out how to organize. We originally launched five committees -- outreach (Kevin Higgins), services (Ken Gillgren), hardware/software (Randy Groves? David Barts?), policy (Aki Namioka), and staff and facilities (Sharma Oliver).
A coordinating council (consisting of representatives from each committee and two at-large representatives (Doug Schuler and Joel Ware) was also formed at that time to act as a steering committee.
An advisory board including Michael Grant, Liz Stroup, George Zander, Andy Gordon, Sheryl Burgstahler, and Hazel Wolf was formed to help SCN think strategically on how better to make an impact in the community.
In January, 1994, SCN first came on-line. Hosted on a donated 386 running a donated copy of BSDI UNIX and using FreePort as the user interface software, we began running the system quietly as we looked for bugs and crashes.
In June (?) of 1994, SCN was officially unveiled to approximately 100 people in a "Community Introduction" at the main meeting room at the downtown Seattle Public Library. The introduction featured many brief speeches including those from Bob Mascott, Aki Namioka, Doug Schuler and then City Council president Jim Street and SPL City Librarian Liz Stroup. Randy Groves gave a live demonstration of SCN and three kids, Barney (last name forgotten temporarily), Isabel Wohlstetter, and Reed Schuler, inaugurated the system by sending out a note to all the systemUs electronic well-wishers including people from all over the world, Washington State governor Mike Lowry, and several members of congress.
Since SCN was originally a CPSR project and many of the founders came from a CPSR background, it was obviously very important to think of why we were doing the project and what policies would guide it. The principles document, hammered out at Sharma Oliver's house over the course of many coordinating council meetings, ultimately consisted of a commitments: to access, to service, to democracy, to the world community, and to the future. The policy statement, shepherded by Aki and the rest of the Policy Committee such as Karen Sy, reflects important policy goals such as freedom of speech and expression, privacy, and the right to a due process.
From the early days, we recognized that SCN should not reside under the CPSR's organizational mantle indefinitely. The organizers felt that SCN needed a regional focus and that the issues facing SCN were different (though usually complementary) than those facing CPSR.
After a one-day retreat with about 15 attendees it was agreed that a new non-profit organization, the Seattle Community Network Association, should be formed. This association would oversee the administration of SCN but would also take part in other important activities relating to access to communication technology of all types.
In addition it was decided that SCNA would be membership based (although dues could sometimes be waived) and SCN members could run for the SCNA board and serve on the SCNA board. Having dues meant that SCN would get some revenue stream (ensuring a reliable and enduring revenue stream for community networks has been a chronic problem afflicting more community network enterprises). It is important to note that SCNA membership is not required to use the SCN system.
Some time after these decisions were made, the articles of constitution and the by-laws were filed with the Washington State Secretary of State. An election for the first three SCNA board members was also held. Aki Namioka was elected as president, Randy Groves was elected as treasurer, and Doug Schuler was elected as secretary.
In February, 1996, a letter was sent to all SCN users asking them if they'd like to become charter members of SCNA and about 10% of all SCN users joined SCNA. Currently SCNA has about 750 members and clearly represents a potentially important force for democratic technology in the region.
Lots of public presentations - Aki gave two talks and Tom Sparks gave one at the University of Washington Computer Fair. Bob Mascott and ... have given lots of talks (I could use some details here).
In 1994 (?) SCN partnered with KCTS/9, Powerful Schools, and other community organizations to submit a CWEIS ("Community-Wide Education and Information System" proposal to the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). The proposal was funded and provided funds for SCN to hire Nancy Kunitsugo to assist with the project. Ti Locke was hired by KCTS/9 as part of the grant and has worked with Nancy and SCN volunteers to set up some innovative programs like "Ask the Governor" and "Teen-Talk" on SCN.
One of the most imprint outreach efforts has been the SCN Road Show organized by Jim Horton. In these road shows, Bob and others (who?) Also talk about the mentor workshops...
Logo contest - Doug Schuler won and Greg Byrd incorporated the design in our much-admired but never duplicated logo.
When we first started SCN, no one forecasted the speed with which the World Wide Web became the dominant application on the Internet. For that reason we have been moving towards a more web-based system. A new Webmasters committee was formed with Tom Sparks, (I need this list!)
I plan to mention lots of SCN volunteers here: help desk, software, registration, etc. etc.
Anti censorship rally - January, 1996.
Current organizational users (c. 1996) ... WHEEL, disabilities page, Fremont and other neighborhoods, SCOPE, etc. etc. (lease let me know about these!)
SCN continues to have monthly meetings in the University branch of the SPL every month on the 4th Wednesday. We introduce ourselves and hear reports from the committees.
There are lots of other stories to tell: SCN was used by researchers from the RAND corporation in their universal e-mail proposal. SCN has been the study of numerous studies and master's theses. Although the story is really just beginning, the Seattle Community Network and its dedicated cadre of volunteers has already made history. Thank you for your help - both for time spent previously and for that you'll spend in the future!
CPSR/Seattle was asking for funding for SCN through United Way in mid-1992.
January 4, 1994 PI article about SCN
SCNA was incorporated July 28, 1995.
Quite a bit of SCN history is also in New Community Networks: Wired for Change (especially chapter 10).
Two masters theses have been written about SCN, Yvonne Fischer and Mark Herwick; One PhD thesis, David Silver.
1974 Community Memory (Berkeley) started; First community network
1981 Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) founded
1985 The Well BBS started (California)
1986 Cleveland Free-Net started
1988 Big Sky Telegraph launched in rural Montana
1989 Santa Monica (California) PEN started; first local government
community-wide network.
National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) started.
1990 First community network presentation in Seattle.
First BBS established in the Soviet Union.
1992 Victoria (Canada) Free-Net opens
1993 The Digital City launched in the Netherlands.
Agenda for Action published by Clinton-Gore administration
1994 SCN goes online.
First Apple Ties That Bind conference.
Telecommunities Canada formed
1995 SCNA incorporated as a non-profit educational organization
1996 NPTN filed for bankruptcy.
AFCN founded (at community networking conference in Taos, New Mexico).
First discussion of global organization
1997 1st European Community Networking conference (Milano, Italy).
1st Community Area Network (CAN) conference (Tokyo, Japan).
Microsoft Sidewalk started
1999 Microsoft Sidewalk sold
2000 Cleveland Free-Net shut down.
1st Global Community Networking (Barcelona, Spain).
2001 2nd Global Community Networking (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
2002 3rd Global Community Networking (Montreal, Canada)
2003 UN/ITU World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, Switzerland)
2005 UN/ITU World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, Tunisia)