The High Tech Future is Possible Now

People are already using new technologies to tell their own stories and build community online. And once trustful relationships are built, by whatever means, amazing things can happen. The following fictional examples, extrapolated from actual or planned projects, indicate some ways that people are beginning to use, or hope to use, new technologies. They suggest a vision, not only for how interactive media can solve community problems, but for how information about problem-solving efforts cam be readily available to interested citizens:

• Ron wants to ensure that future transportation plans include bicycles and personalized rapid transit. He starts a "Stars Without Cars" website. It profiles people in the region who choose not to drive automobiles. It has links to cyclists' chat areas, pedestrians' advice rooms, and examples of innovative transit systems in communities throughout the world. It also invites residents to send regular messages to public officials and city planners to make certain that alternatives to cars are on their "radar screens." Local media copy the idea.
  
  
• Cicely wants to create community among senior citizens, going beyond those who live in the same neighborhood or housing project. She works with a senior service agency to create a program which trains seniors to use computers in public libraries and Senior Centers, and sets up ways for them to meet each other according to interests, hobbies, such as travel destinations or new skills. She also provides ways for them to link with schools, service agencies, and others who can use their vast expertise.
  
  
• Corrie and Jeremiah's family decide they want to do something about homelessness after attending a community Thanksgiving feast. Corrie leaves a notice on the community action bulletin board of the Seattle Community Network, and instantly finds three places where she can volunteer her skills as a health care professional. In exchange for the hours put in working for those agencies, the family receives community barter credits which give them access to a myriad of classes and services. Their son uses his to produce a multimedia presentation about the homeless families he met, which airs on a community access television channel and on his school website.
  
  
• Sherry wants to make her neighborhood more safe, so she starts "Safe Stewart Street." She begins by going door to door to see if neighbors agree it's needed, and that they would be willing to contribute — time, money, know-how. She monitors and posts crime statistics, and ways to curb crime, on a website. Now, crime in that area has gone down by 70%, thanks to a computer network that allows neighbors to share information and strategies. Not incidentally, the network is run by young people who used to commit crimes and it's funded by a local software manufacturer.
  
  
• Thomas wants to do an oral history of his neighborhood starting with neighbors who knew Kurt Cobain. He begins interviewing and putting transcripts on the Internet. Before long, others volunteer. Musicians, artists, teachers, and other students add poems, music, and new elements of community history. This archive of neighborhood experiences and wisdom becomes a regular source for planners, new residents, and the media.