Volume 4. No 6 Information Technology News of the University of California, Davis March 1996

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Network Will Be Built on Partnerships

by Virgil Palmer

Community leaders and campus representatives recently agreed that collaboration is the key to building a "smart" community. That was just one of the conclusions reached at the "Yolo Smart Region Telecommunications Summit" recently held on campus in the Beuhler Alumni/Visitor Center.

Representatives from both the public and private sectors attended the Feb. 27 event, which was organized by Vicki Suter and Joan Gargano of Information Technology and co-hosted by the Davis Community Network, a local non-profit organization.

Attending were representatives from UC Davis, Davis Unified School District, Yolo County, the City of Davis, the City of Woodland, the Davis Chamber of Commerce, State Department of Education, Davis Downtown Business Association, local businesses and Davis Community Television.

Calling themselves the Yolo County Regional Net, the group agreed to hold regular meetings to discuss their experiences with computer technologies - to talk about their goals and the obstacles encountered trying to meet these goals.

"Smart" refers to a community that changes the way it works by using information technology, and by making that technology available and user-friendly to its residents.

As a result of the summit, the following action items were slated for further collaboration:

• Map the existing network infrastructure in the region;

• Map the training and technical resources and develop methods for sharing and leveraging existing resources;

• Establish public kiosks throughout the Yolo County region;

• Provide a regional training and demonstration center to use for training and demonstrations to educate, inspire and persuade;

• Provide a regional help desk;

• Recruit private sector involvement immediately;

• Present a series of follow-up meetings and seminars to attract additional regional agencies who wish to join this collaborative effort.

One such event to further understanding of the current networking environment is the Odyssey '96 technology showcase, scheduled for May 23.

Also in store are future meetings promoting partnerships between the public and private sectors.

For further information on the work of the Yolo County Regional Net, look on the World Wide Web at http://rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/intlcomm/smart.html