Universal Service/Network Democracy
Week Three (September 9 - September 15)

In the third week of the Universal Service/Network Democracy on-line seminar, we will go over the following topics:

• Summary of the Second Week of the Seminar

• New Developments in the Seminar

• Topics to Discuss in Upcoming Weeks

• Allocation: Who Gets the Subsidies and Under What Conditions?

• Assignments

• How the Seminar Functions
• What is Authoritative
• Registration
• What's Required
• How to Post
• Etiquette
• Library Resources
• How This All Works (coming soon)

• Schools and Libraries: 13 people, 26 messages
• Non-profit Organizations: 8 people, 12 messages
• Universities: 7 people, 11 messages
• State and federal government: 3 people, 3 messages
• Business: 6 people, 10 messages

Thanks to Laurie Maak for continuing to develop these statistics. I want to repeat my thanks to everyone who has helped to keep the discussion going on the complex issues with which we have been dealing. In the upcoming weeks I hope that an increasing percentage of the registered audience will add their voices to the discussion.

The principal topic for the second week's discussion had to do with the scope of Universal Service subsidies for schools and libraries. Several major points emerged. I'll list them in the same framework that I employed last week, adding new topics as appropriate:

• Resale. While there exist interesting examples in which school districts have developed self-sufficient networking operations financed by the resale of services, this is probably not a viable option for the majority of school districts.
• Training. Training or professional development are major concerns for the successful implementation of new telecommunications services for schools and libraries. Since these activities are typically carried out within a school district or library and are not services traditionally supplied by providers of telecommunications services, these are not plausible candidates for Universal Service support. Nonetheless it is clearly important that Universal Service subsidies for schools and libraries should be structured so as to encourage and facilitate the necessary component of training and professional development.
• Technical Support. This issue is similar to professional development in that it is not on the traditional menu of services offered by telecommunications providers. Unfortunately, it is also not an area that the majority of school districts and libraries are well-equipped to handle on their own. We probably need further discussion within the seminar on how best to approach this question.
• Equity. This remains a major concern of seminar participants, having been cited in about 20% of the recent messages on-line. Approaches to consider include subsidies targeted for rural areas and subsidies targeted for low-income areas.
• Educational Basis. Many of the participating teachers and librarians continued to emphasize the educational goals of a widespread deployment of telecommunications technology. Several suggested that Universal Service subsidies should cover the evaluation of programs which employ this technology. This is another topic which deserves further discussion, even though it would appear at first glance to be far-removed from traditional telecommunications services.
• Scalability. Several participants emphasized the importance of building a basic infrastructure which can easily expand to serve the needs of all students, teachers and library patrons. The Internet provides a good example of how effective a scalable architecture can be.
• Community Networks. There is a strong sense in the group that Universal Service should mean access to network services from wherever people may be at whatever time they might be interested in accessing these services. For students and teachers, this means access from sites outside the schools, whether they be community centers, homes or other locations. For library patrons it means having multiple access points and facilities available around the clock.

The assignments for the second week were a continuation of those in the first week, namely to participate in the on-line discussion and to provide materials for the library of on-line resources. Many seminar participants have been working on these assignments, and you can see their results in the on-line discussions and the on-line library.

Several developments have taken place in the last few days which will serve to enhance the content of the seminar and its significance.

On Friday we were able to announce that the University of Pittsburgh will be able to offer college credit for seminar participants who carry out all weekly assignments and apply for credit to the University. Please send a message to info@info-ren.org if you are interested in this option. The University has agreed to waive student fees and to provide course credit at their in-state tuition rate. This credit is of course nationally recognized and should satisfy any local requirements for incremental or recertification credit.

A second development which will be available starting this week is the facility to conduct on-line surveys as part of the seminar. We have been trying to think of ways to expand the base of active participation. While I have been encouraging everyone who has registered to post messages at least once a week, we might all have trouble with the resulting message volume if everyone took this to heart.

What we'll do with the on-line surveys is to take an issue which has been discussed in the seminar and open it up to general evaluation through a form which all seminar participants can access through their Web browsers. The format will be similar to that of the registration form which you used to join the seminar, so it's safe to assume that everyone will be able to use it. Through this mechanism we hope to bring participation in some of the discussion topics up to the point where everyone will be taking part, if not at level of weekly postings, at least at the level of weekly expressions of opinion. The first on-line survey will deal with issues relating to the scope of Universal Service subsidies and will be announced on Monday, September 9.

• Scope. What services should be covered by the Universal Service subsidies?
• Aggregation. How can schools and libraries share services with each other and with other community groups to maximize efficiency and effectiveness?
• Allocation. Who gets the subsidies and under what conditions?
• Integration. How will new discounts fit in with existing programs?

I would like to mention two other issues, which we can either weave into discussions of the topics listed above or break out as separate issues:

• Other Proceedings. The present seminar is focussed upon Section 254 of the Telecommunications Act. Other sections of the Act are also of importance for schools and libraries, and in some cases there are separate proceedings under way for these other topics. Some mention has already been made of the proceeding which deals with wireless technologies. I would like to summarize these other proceedings and try to indicate their relevance for schools and libraries.
• Competition. An important principle underlying the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is the idea of enhanced competition. We need to consider how Universal Service subsidies can be structured so as to enhance the competitive environment. Many examples exist which show how such an environment can benefit schools and libraries, but it is not a given that true competition will arise without planning and forethought.

This week's major topic will be the question of how the Universal Service subsidies for schools and libraries should be distributed. Here are a few of the issues which commenters in the current FCC proceedings have raised on this subject:

• Should there be cash grants or vouchers available directly to schools or school districts?
• Should there be an "E-rate" (educational rate) defining special discounts for schools and libraries?
• Should school districts have to complete state-approved technology plans in order to qualify for Universal Service subsidies?
• How should one define a bona fide request for telecommunications services? What minimal justifications should a school, library or school district have to offer in support of such a request?
• Should Universal Service subsidies extend to groups which provide educational materials or support for educational organizations, such as universities and colleges or community centers?

• Continue to develop summaries of the Comments, Reply Comments and Further Comments in the On-line Repository. Send your summaries to library@info-ren.org so they can be linked into the Web site as part of the Participants' Contributions.

• Post to the on-line discussion group on this week's topic - the allocation of Universal Service subsidies.

• Complete the on-line survey on the scope of Universal Service subsidies.