BCN Home Page

Boulder Community Network
 

ANNUAL REPORT
for the fiscal year
July 1, 1999 - June 30, 2000
 

3645 Marine Street
Campus Box 455
Boulder, CO 80309-0455
(303) 492-8176
FAX: (303) 492-4198

http://bcn.boulder.co.us
 
 
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Mission & Objectives

Volunteer Statistics

BCN Focuses on Information Technology

Serving Community

BCN’s Homepage

Virtual Chautauqua

BASIN

BCN Services

TekMatch

Y2K Resources on BCN

BCN’s Public Outreach

BCN Classes

Behind the Scenes at BCN of BCN

Technical Advisory Committee

Fundraising

Financials-at-a-Glance

Sixth Anniversary Celebration

Conclusion

Appendices

TekMatch Milestones

Web Design Clients

Board of Directors

Staff


 


INTRODUCTION

During 1999 and 2000, BCN continued to be an active part of bringing the Boulder County community together. We can look back at the past year and see significant gains, both in our services and our organizational development. Our volunteer program grew and our classes were consistently strong. BCN continued the ongoing collaboration with the CU School of Journalism on the Virtual Chautauqua project and the web design and communication component of the BASIN project with the City of Boulder.

In addition to these two big undertakings, BCN continues outreach projects like TekMatch, community WWW surfing and design classes and the continued development of the BCN community WWW site. BCN has also joined numerous non-profit organizations in exploring new partnerships to bring advanced technologies to meet the needs of community

This year BCN celebrated its Sixth Anniversary with the annual fundraising event. We continue to grow and use technology to benefit the community thanks to a concerted outreach efforts by staff, board and volunteers acting as ambassadors of BCN within the larger community.
 


Mission & Objectives

BCN’s mission is to facilitate the broad use of information technology to benefit the community. With an emphasis on Internet technologies, BCN also is concerned with innovation for public sector applications.

Objective 1: To transfer technology to community-based organizations, government agencies, educational institutions, and populations whose members encounter substantial barriers to technology use.

Objective 2: To help community-based organizations development online information in the public interest.

Objective 3: To innovate in the accomplishment of the above mission and objectives, based on the needs and issues of the public and non-profit sector.

Volunteer Statistics

BCN could not exist without its broad network of dedicated volunteers. Their input, ideas and generosity make BCN what it is. The following is a thumbnail description of the contributions of BCN’s volunteer backbone:

  • 3,032 recorded hours
  • year to date: 253 active volunteers
  • started the year with 190 active volunteers
    •  Volunteer Spotlight: http://bcn.boulder.co.us/volunteer/volspot.html

     
     
    BCN Focuses on Information Technology Benefiting the Community
    For six years, BCN has facilitated information technology to benefit the community, and nowhere is that better exemplified than the BCN home page, which provides easily navigable, current information of interest to both local citizens and out-of-towners alike. We ventured into the arts field and started working with performing artists and arts organizations to bring their content to the World Wide Web via the "Virtual Chautauqua" project. With the BASIN (Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network) project, BCN has created a website to bring current environmental data online and accessible for researchers, community groups, and the general public.

     
    BCN’s Homepage

    http://bcn.boulder.co.us

    BCN started the year with a new look on its home page. The puzzle pieces illustrate how BCN connects the community together with information, special projects and non-profit services. The BCN homepage averages 29,000 page requests per day.

    Virtual Chautauqua Project

    http://www.virtualchautauqua.org

    This $375,000 NTIA grant was awarded to the CU School of Journalism on October 1, 1998 and continues through October 1, 2000. During 1999 and 2000 BCN provided a key role managing the 15 partners and 150 artists whose work has become part of Virtual Chautauqua site.

    Executive Summary    http://bcn.boulder.co.us/vchautauqua/exec.html

    The purpose of this project is to make Colorado performing arts available to isolated communities: rural K-12 schools and people with mobility challenging disabilities.

    Project partners include: four Colorado traditional radio and television public media and performing arts sites, and disabilities and education related organizations. These strategic partnerships have forged the technological and social networks needed to make performing arts content available via streaming audio/video technologies on the World Wide Web.

    The project encourages and supports interactivity between K-12 students and teachers, people with disabilities, and artists. Technical assistance has include Internet training for all, equipment and technical assistance such as RAM upgrades and software configuration for people with disabilities, and web site development awards and training for artists.

    During the past year BCN activities have included:

    Virtual Chautauqua is an example of technology benefiting the community in what it enables for many Colorado constituencies: online samples of the work of Colorado performing artists; new channels for communication between artists and audience members; access to performing arts not before available to isolated communities; and new avenues of involvement for artists with disabilities, as well as the use of performing arts to educate about disabilities. The project will model strategies for cooperation among traditional radio and public TV media and community networks for integrated applications beyond the arts.

    The artist and public site are on-line at http://www.virtualchautauqua.org


     

    BASIN  (Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network)

    http://basin.org

    During 1999 and 2000 BCN has played a key role in the BASIN project, a collaboration led by the City of Boulder which included with the University of Colorado, the US Geological Survey, the Boulder Valley School District, Community Access TV, Boulder County Health Department, the Boulder Creek Watershed Initiative and and Boulder County Healthy Community Initiative.

    BASIN is funded by a two year grant from the EPA’s EMPACT (Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking) program, which aims to improve access to time-relevant environmental data.

    The BASIN project began in January 1999. During the past year BCN participation in the BASIN has included:

    In addition to expanding the information resources provided to the community, BASIN has helped BCN build strong partnerships in an ongoing alliance of governmental, educational, non-profit and private entities involved in watershed monitoring, management and education.

    This partnership has brought BCN a lot of public visibility; but most importantly and supported BCN in further fulfilling its mission to bring public interest information resources to the public.


     

    BCN SERVICES

    TEKMATCH

    http://bcn.boulder.co.us/tekmatch

    This is BCN’s volunteer matching program, administered by BCN Volunteer Coordinator Jim Harrington. In light of our first mission, technology benefiting the community, BCN recognizes that many non-profit organizations could be more effective with technology. They are limited because of a lack of knowledge, funds or resources. Thus, TekMatch volunteers step in to aid an organization that otherwise may be left behind in the information age. BCN matched 26 Boulder County non-profit organizations with skilled volunteers for 43 projects in the past year. Projects included database design, networking computers, consulting, email troubleshooting, and configuring World Wide Web/Internet access. A list of organizations assisted and the types of projects is available in the Appendix. This year also marked the start of the Computer Exchange, a BCN-hosted website listing organizations and their needs, along with information on where donations of computer and other equipment can be taken.

    http://bcn.boulder.co.us/tekmatch/exchange/
     

    Projects this year:
     

    completed  Currently active Currently requested
    web design (for non-profits) 21 20 1
    training (in software and database) 2 8 1
    technical assistance (hardware) 17 3 1
    consulting (formal advising) 0 0 0
    administrative (in-house work) 3 6 1
    special (individualized projects) 8 4 0
    TOTAL 51 41 2


     
    Y2K Resources on BCN

    http://bcn.boulder.co.us/y2k

    BCN volunteer Ernie Stiltner created a Y2K resource center to provide a variety of year 2000 computer compatibility issues. The Y2K center proved so useful during the Y2K transition period that Ernie expanded and reformatted these resources to create two new BCN centers; the Media Center and the and the Internet Center.


    BCN's Public Outreach

    Free and low-cost classes taught by BCN volunteers continue to be the most important way for BCN to introduce people to the World Wide Web. Both the classes and the volunteer instructors continue to get good reviews and participants do feel they fill a need.
     

    Classes:
    Basic Surf the Web

    TOTAL 177
     

    Basic HTML

    TOTAL: 37

    Both classes were taught in Spanish at various times.
     

    In addition to the free and low-cost classes, BCN expanded instructional activities into two niche communities during 1999/2000. BCN independently developed classes to specifically meet the interests of Boulder Senior Citizen community, offering 12 "Senior Surf" classes throughout the community. BCN also teamed with Kalmia Low Income Housing Project to provide basic computer skills and WWW surfing classes to members of this underserved community. BCN found that the kids in the Kalmia community were more responsive to these class settings and plans to focus future efforts on development of classes for younger participants.

    Behind the Scenes at BCN

    Technical Advisory Committee

    http://bcn.boulder.co.us/bcn/tac/minutes

    The BCN technical advisory committee committee continues to explore a range of internet and WWW hosting technical issues, in particular issues of on line forms support, domain name hosting, and security. The Technical Advisory Committee recommends policy and procedural changes to keep up with the changing world and demands of information technology.

    Fundraising

    http://bcn.boulder.co.us/bcn/friends.html
     

    Fundraising is the lifeblood of all non-profit organizations. During 1999-00, BCN began new and ambitious efforts in this arena, expanding activities to secure new funding from both public and private sources. BCN is largely grant-dependent, but the past year continued efforts to bring in many new "Friends of BCN," our program for individual and corporate giving. These donors are recognized on the BCN home page with a listing on a with each company's logo as well as their names.

    The year 2000 saw the second year of our most ambitious fundraising activity, the annual fund raising dinner. BCN's Sixth Anniversary Celebration was held on March 16th 2000 and raised donations from companies, foundations and individuals totaling $14,746. BCN is very grateful to all of its supporters, each and every one of which truly enables us to be a "community" network.

    Financials at-a-Glance

     

    FINANCIAL STATEMENT
     
     

    General Gifts & Donations $3,654 
    Income from Services $6,345
    Special Fundraising Events* $5,672
    Federal NTIA Grant $63,426
    Other Grants $13,246
    Interest & Misc. Income  $1,129
    TOTAL Income  $93,472
    Payroll & Benefits $82,818
    Operations $4,877
    TOTAL Expenses  $86,174
    Year End Balance   $5,777

    * 6th Anniv. Event
     


     

    BCN Sixth Anniversary Party

    With the theme of "Technology Creating Community," this was the second fundraising dinner for BCN. Thanks to the skills of BCN staff and volunteers and a lot of advance work, a enthusiastic crowd of 125 networked at a reception held at The Regal Harvest House on Boulder Creek. The ceremony featured an ongoing presentation of the extensive WWW sites hosted and supported by BCN at the end of its first six years. Howard Rheingold, internationally recognized pioneer in community networking (Whole Earth Catalog, the WELL) presented a stimulating talk on the role of the internet in community development and support.

    CONCLUSION

    As BCN enters its sixth year of operation, its staff, volunteers and supporters can pride themselves on having established a diverse, dynamic and useful community resource online. More people than ever before are visiting, volunteering for and supporting BCN and its mission of information technology serving community. With this foundation, the future is promising for the continued growth of community networking in Boulder County, Colorado, USA. During fiscal 1999-2000, we hope to build upon the advances made in the past year in fundraising and organizational development, and to further broaden BCN’s base of support and community involvement.
     
     

    APPENDICES


    TekMatch and WWW Design Clients
    FY 1999-2000




    BOARD OF DIRECTORS
    1999-2000

    President: Neal McBurnett
    Software Engineer, Lucent Technologies

    Vice President: Jim Waterman
    Principal, Enfo

    Secretary: Pierre Malraison
    Senior Software Engineer, Spatial Technology

    Treasurer: Eric Gertler, Past President
    Director of Finance , Solant, Inc

    General Board Members

    Philip Dubois
    Philip L. Dubois, P.C.

    Ken Fricklas
    Director of Internet Development
    Mallfinder.com, Inc.

    Karen Herz
    Graphic Packaging Inc.

    Mallory Kates
    Vice President, Marketing
    Product Buzz.com

    Ken Klingenstein, Past President
    University of Colorado at Boulder

    Art Rifkin, Past Treasurer
    Retired Engineer, Grumman Aerospace

    Katrina Salem
    PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.
     


     
     

    BCN STAFF

    Joelle Bonnett
    Executive Director     		Jim Harrington
    Volunteer Coordinator     		Karen Kos
    Operations Assistant