HOW IS INFORMATION ORGANIZED AND WHO LOOKS AFTER IT? The
hierarchy menu system of the current Freeport software
affects the way that people may access the entire system. The
politics that are associated with the administrative
decisions as to who and what goes where can sometimes be a
great concern. Items that are in sub-menus may not get
accessed very often because they are difficult to locate. It
was suggested that every community that is considering
establishing a Freenet should ensure that they access the
cataloging and organizing skills of the community s library
staff. It was also indicated that the Freeport software is
probably only a starting point and that in the near future it
may be possible to eliminate it totally by using key word
searches for the topics of interest to each individual user.
CAN JUST ANYBODY PUT STUFF UP ON THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
FREENET? No, it can be done only by "trusted users", who are
given access to do so, frequently on behalf of a community
organization. Some important legal advice to keep in mind is
to keep minimal editorial control over what your information
providers are putting up on your freenet. The reason is that
if you act simply as a common carrier for their information,
you ARE NOT LEGALLY LIABLE for what your IPs put on the
system, either in terms of quality or content. Freenet in
Ottawa provides gateways to other organizations with their
own databases, which remain resident on their own systems. An
example of this is Revenue Canada - Taxation. Such providers
are responsible for providing their own dedicated line into
their system. This can to a certain extent alleviate the
problem of getting information that is not in a .txt file,
although if you're accessing such information from a VT100,
you're going to have a problem with displaying this
information, regardless of where it is resident. But for
information being mounted on Freenet, the requirement is that
it be in a .txt file only. The issue of disseminating
database information without the permission of whoever
compiled it (eg., mailing lists) was raised. There is the
possiblilty that misuse of information that is of potentially
great commercial value could be construed as "piracy".
Logging user pattern information could be of use to
information providers because it can have long-term impact on
what information they will continue to put up on Freenet. Log
files monitor how often a specific file is looked at. There
was a suggestion that this information be made available on
Freenet and that it be updated on a regular basis (say, once
a month.) WHAT ABOUT MENUS? You can only display a maximum of
17 menu items on screen at one time and if you have more menu
items than this number, you have to display them all before
you can choose one. So, if you have more than 17 menu items,
consolidate similar topics wherever possible and then break
them down in a second-level menu. This will cut down somewhat
on user frustration. Remember that most users will begin to
lose patience after three levels of menus. HOW MUCH ACTIVITY
IS THERE ON THE PART OF THE ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS
THAT ARE PROVIDING INFORMATION ON THE FREENET, TO KEEP IT
CURRENT AND TO RESPOND TO INQUIRIES THAT ARE POSTED FOR THEM?
So far it has been found that the existing communication
strategies of organizations do not lend themselves to the
Freenet very well. Many organizations are timid about being
accessible by the general public through a medium which they
do not yet fully understand. Many of these organizations are
being carried on the Freenets right now even though their
participation is low because it does not really increase the
costs. HOW CAN INFORMATION PROVIDERS BE ENCOURAGED TO POST TO
THE FREENET? Getting information on the Freenet is a
challenge. An "Information Providers Kit" would be an ideal
way to help and encourage information providers to submit
stuff. Help is needed to overcome phobias, technical
problems, etc. Equipment shortages can also be a problem.
FreeNets should try to arrange for equipment to be donated or
loaned to "poorer" information providers from old government
equipment/donations. It must be a clear responsibilty of info
providers to update their info. One possible way of
encouraging them would be to provide them with usage
statistics, so they would know how many people look at which
items. This would also help to convince them that the
"passive" information is not as well used as the more active,
communications sections. HOW DO YOU RECRUIT MODERATORS AND
ADMINISTRATORS FOR A FREENET AND WHAT KIND OF TRAINING IS
NECESSARY FOR THEM AND INFORMATION PROVIDERS? It was pointed
out that most people were recruited because of their
affiliation with a particular organization with an interest
in Freenet. Most of these people already have the skills
necessary to participate in the development of the network.
When the systems became operational, it was found that people
volunteered to participate as SIG moderators and volunteer
other services. There is very minimal training required to
become a SIG moderator. In the NCF, Warren Thorngate
(aa004.freenet.carleton.ca), has produced a comprehensive
package for training individuals to be a information provided
on the Freenet. Another group also discussed moderating
special interest groups. Moderators should act as
facilitators or animators, not as cops or censors. For expert
advice on the subject of how to be a good moderator, two
sources were recommended. One is the Study Circle Resource
Center, which has produced guides for moderators and the
other is Medisystems Design Group (MDG). Both of these are US
sources and MDG can be accessed on Internet. HOW CAN YOU BE
SURE THE INFORMATION IS GOOD? There was concern over the fact
that the information you maybe receiving may not be correct
(not necessarily an expert opinion), but others were quick to
point out that the information received is often based on
consensus/mass consultation - there is a self-corecting
mechanism involved with enough people participating in a
discussion.