2. PRIMARY TECHNICAL ISSUES

2.1 The System

The BCN principal investigators (PIs) decided early in BCN's development to keep services limited to information only. They decided that BCN should not be in the account management business because of the already existing base of Internet access providers that service Boulder County.

The decision to not offer communication services such as e-mail and personal accounts has not been met with full agreement, because some people do not think an information service alone fits the evolving definition of a "community network," where participants can easily contribute to the development of the network. However, Oliver McBryan has implemented a communication tool that allows people to give feedback to BCN developers (http://bcn.boulder.co.us/bcn/sendmail.html). The feedback mechanism is being further developed to provide the community with a mechanism for corresponding with local, state and federal representatives. BCN will soon be offering newsgroups for the discussion of local political, social and recreational activities.

2.2 Platform

World Wide Web (WWW) and gopher were the only two platforms considered for BCN. Even though the WWW was in its early infancy in spring of 1994, it was clear that the Web was the most feasible and powerful platform. While advanced users could use the Web with graphical user interfaces (GUIs), all Internet users could access BCN using the non-graphical Lynx interface. If BCN had decided on a gopher platform, users would have been limited to the gopher protocol. Unlike the gopher protocol, the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) used by WWW browsers provides hypertext with inline graphics, stylized text, MIME datatyping, audio and movie capabilities, and more.

2.3 Interface

User interface design had to address the distinction between the capabilities of different browsers. We decided that Lynx had to be the lowest common denominator, because we assumed a great percentage of the population would be accessing BCN via modems with baud rates below 14000, and most user accounts at the time were "shell" only. The decision to remain sensitive to the non-GUI user has had a strong impact on BCN page design strategies. Keeping graphics to a minimum and stressing meaningful content are important. We have thus far not explored the multimedia capabilities of the Web, which include intensive graphics, audio, and video. Exceptions include the Online Campus Press, and the Weather Center.

2.4 Lessons Learned: Technical

1. We feel that WWW was definitely the way to go. It has given us not only a very flexible mechanism for organizing and presenting local information, but also a means of being integrated into the global hypertext information space.

2. Be very clear about who your target audience is, and how they will be accessing your system. The method of access should affect system design and development.

3. Address the issue of maintaining up-to-date information early on. Dedicate engineering resources to do good analyses, and to develop any necessary tools (to eg., check for expired information).

4. Carefully consider the implications of not providing communication services as part of your system. They will have to be woven back into the system, at some point.

5. Ensure that some percentage of public access sites are placed in areas where people who otherwise have no access can make use of them.

6. Consider identifying and focusing on "target sub-communities."

7. Remaining sensitive to the impacts of user interface on different populations assures the broadest possible audience.