THE PARTICIPATORY PHASE In view of previous experiences at other FreeNet sites, we estimate that the preparatory stage will last about one year. When the Board believes that enough information is available to sustain general community involvement, the NCF will be opened to the entire community. This will begin the participatory phase, which we plan to last two years We expect that in the beginning of the participatory phase, citizens who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about computer communication will be among the first to use the NCF. Such individuals can provide invaluable support for the nascent service by adding information to it and by encouraging others to become involved. They will be encouraged to do so. Special efforts, however, must be made to encourage other citizens with insufficient computer experience or equipment to participate fully in the NCF. The NCF Board will all be challenged to provide an effective outreach programme to encourage the involvement of individuals and groups who are curious but shy about the service. Such individuals may include the elderly, persons on social assistance, immigrants and refugees. It will be especially important to demonstrate that the NCF is not a passive medium, and is more than merely "pamphlets on screens." As part of the outreach, therefore, citizens will be shown how to send comments and questions to each other and to the individuals in organizations who provide the information they read. They will also be shown how to use the medium to encourage replies. In these ways we hope the NCF can give voice to the silent majority. In order to increase public access to equipment necessary for use of the NCF, the Board will work with local libraries, community centres, schools, churches and similar institutions to provide at least one public computer terminal in each. By the end of the demonstration project we hope that the majority of citizens who want to use the NCF will spend no more than 10 minutes reaching a point of access. Community organizations will, of course, continue to add and update public information during this participatory phase. As well, the FreePort software will likely be updated and augmented by programmes that provide more user-requested services. It is possible, for example, that users will request the ability to post classified ads or to post their resumŽs for perusal by potential employers. The NCF is not intended to provide or to compete with commercial services. At the same time, the NCF is "user driven" and will attempt to provide whatever nonprofit information services can meet community needs.