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Poster: 2muchtv Date: May 11, 2003 4:33pm
Forum: etree Subject: Re: Ogg Vorbis?

Thank you, I appreciate that.

I'm a left over angry sixties radical who is way to wound up about disparity in digital access.

None of this is the fault of anyone here, and I shouldn't be so cross. Going ballistic in this forum won't improve accessibility, either :)

I've been volunteering since 1985, teaching basic computer skills in small, rural communities, libraries and colleges. I currently teach classes in MS apps, HTML and FTP, PC/MAC maintenance and crash recovery.

I walk around angry because most net users aren't aware of these folks because non-users never log on and tells us who they are, what they need, or that they even exist.

For example: (from the Pew Internet Project - these are last years figures, I hope they've improved)

Only a little over half (58%) of all Americans are on line, only 12% have broadband.

Only 23.5% of Black and only 23.6% of Hispanic households are on line.

Only 12.7% of households earning less than $15,000 per year are on line.

Only 11.7% of households headed by persons with less than a high school education have Internet access.

Rural areas, though still lagging behind urban areas, have surpassed inner-cities in Internet availability and use - Urban 42.3%, Rural 38.9%, Central City 37.7%

38% of disabled Americans go online, compared to 58% of all Americans.

24% of all Americans are *truly* offline; they have no direct or indirect experience with the Internet. Can you imagine such a thing? One FOURTH!

And online doesn't mean broadband, or even good dial-up. Many small public dial-up systems (libraries and colleges) still use 28.8 dial-ups with a 2 hour per day limit. I can give you some phone numbers and id/passwords for access, if you'd like to relive the glory days of 28.8 :)

I'll go drink some tea now and say "ommmmmm"

Reply [edit]

Poster: Diana Hamilton Date: May 12, 2003 11:46am
Forum: etree Subject: Donations, LMA> bricks and mortar libraries?

Hmm, the mention of libraries in this context suddenly reminded me of an idea some folks had a couple years back in etree.org and environs. They wondered about making copies of some of their tradable shows and just donating them to local public libraries, since these days libraries tend to have CDs along with books and videos.

At the time the consensus was that it would probably just be a hassle for the library, given the lack of solidity from their point of view- having to take a fan's word for it that the band was OK with it, no "paperwork" etc.

But what about now that there's this online, respectable library that people could point to as a source? A slip of paper could be put in witha CD labelling it as from the Internet Archive (perhaps with relevant urls for librarians to check into). Maybe it'd similar in spirit to the Bookmobile printing out copies from the text archives for little libraries.

So, would it be doable/allowable for altruistic, broadband music fans to strike off copies of a few favorite shows for the public library or school library down the road?