"The online community is starting to reflect and augment the geographical community." --Rennie Innis, Mendocino Community Network To reach the original offices of the Internet provider that is hosting the "No Back Roads" Web site, begin by going around to the back of the Mendocino High School. Make your way past the ever-present group of skateboarders, head toward the small yellow building, and then turn right when you see the sign. You've gone too far if you find yourself in the gym. The Mendocino Community Network (MCN) is a non-profit business operated by the Mendocino Unified School District. In 1995, a three-year NASA grant that had brought Internet access to the local schools had run its course. Selling Internet access to the community would bring in enough revenue to keep the schools wired. Eventually, its profits would go into the school district's general fund. The community would benefit, the students would benefit, and the school district would make more money than it could by holding bake sales. The MCN crew (left to right): Shannon Ratcliffe, Rennie Innis, Mitch Sprague. Not pictured: Kathy Wylie MCN's modems opened for business in 1995, and today serve over 1800 dial-up customers. It also offers ISDN and frame-relay connections. Yours truly enjoys the former; although I live nine miles from Mendocino, I'm in the same telephone exchange, and that enables me to have a 24-hour Centrex connection -- something that, in an urban area, is only available within a small geographic radius around the ISP. Once local Internet access is available to us rural dwellers, we often enjoy higher-quality service than our urban counterparts. (Busy signals, for example, are as rare here as traffic jams.) In the spirit of a community network, MCN provides email discussion servers to neighboring towns and organizations as well as Internet access and free Web site hosting for local non-profit business and organizations. Among the most interesting of these is for a project called Fort Ross Global Village. It's described on the next page. IN THEIR OWN WORDS Rennis Innis talks about MCN's history, goals, and challenges. RealAudio 14.4 RealAudio 28.8 Help YOUR TURN Thoughts about MCN or Mendocino? Add your comments here SIDE TRIPS The Mendocino Community Network Lark in the Morning TOP OF PAGE NEXT PAGE: FORT ROSS GLOBAL VILLAGE Rev A- [an error occurred while processing this directive] -985 (c)1997 by Jim Heid