Advance announcement: 25th October - Utilising the Internet: the personal, educational and commercial use of Network global information networks Organised by South Yorkshire branch of British Users' Computer Society 6.30, Pennine Lecture Theatre, Hallam University Pond Street Site Forum Admission will be free, but by ticket only - further details to follow. News sheet No.1 - August 1995 Forum Snippets

Upcoming meetings relevant to the Working with GPs and the health sector? Network Users’ Forum: The Forum has contacts with three organisations that may be interested in using networks, including the 5th September - Community Networks for South Internet, to provide information updates and Yorkshire communications for general practitioners. If this is In association with Department of Information also of interest to you, please get in touch with Studies, University of Sheffield David Jennings at the address below.

1.30 - 4.30 (approx.), Department of Information Trading with South America & the Caribbean? Studies, , Portobello St, Sheffield. The Forum has been approached by a business A participative conference to identify the needs for interested in establishing networked tourist and community information networks and the best business information systems for travelling and means of meeting these needs. Free to all trading in Guyana. We have obtained details of a participants, but please contact David Miller first, development organisation working with small for more information - Tel: 282 5092 - Email: businesses and technology in that South America [email protected] (particularly Uruguay). There is also a possible tie- in with training events to help people understand the 6th September - Electronic Networking cultures of overseas markets. Is anyone else Experiences: Good for Your Business interested in ideas that might link with this? If so, In association with Sheffield Small Business Club please contact David Jennings. 7 for 7.30, Novotel, Arundel Gate, Sheffield Looking for someone to design and develop Web A short presentation on the potential benefits of pages for you? electronic networking for small and "micro" businesses, followed by group discussions on issues In addition to reduced rates from professional firms of interest to the participants (e.g. more effective that Forum subscribers can take advantage of, the marketing using networks, reducing communication Forum may also be able to put you in touch with overheads). Free to all participants. freelance people with experience of designing for the World-wide Web. Contact David Jennings for more information.

15th September - Create Your Own Web Page: HTML for Beginners Contact: 4.00 - 6.00, Room K17, , University Subscription info & admin - The Regional Office, of Sheffield (Hounsfield Rd, opposite side of The University of Sheffield, 9 Mappin Street, Western Bank from ) Sheffield S1 4DT - Tel: 0114 282 5100 - Fax: 0114 275 8154 - Email: [email protected] A tutorial workshop for people interested in Other - David Jennings, The Workstation, 15 publishing information on the World-wide Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX - Tel: 0114 249 Web/Internet. Familiarity with Windows 2206 - Fax: 0114 279 6522 - Email: applications and/or a text editor would be helpful. [email protected] Contact Verity Brack or David Jennings for more Email information service - To subscribe and information - Tel: 282 4806 - Email: participate in on-line discussions, send message [email protected] subscribe snuf-l to [email protected]

URGENT: Does anyone have any PCs they can spare? DART (Disabled Access to Resources and Technology) recently had all its PCs burgled. If you have any spare computers available for loan (any specification), please ring Laura Lewis or Nick Fleischmann on 0114 276 8526. Please help this charity-funded project to continue to operate in any way you can. 1 University on a Multimedia Centre, due to open How is Manchester Using its Networks? Summer 1996 Report Of "On-Line Services And The • Manchester does not want to target just the Internet - A Poptel Seminar" "switched on" businesses. Some very small businesses are using networking, e.g. those in Manchester Town Hall, 31 July 1995 import/ export in the textile industry, who are required to use EDI (Electronic Data David Jennings Interchange), for example, if they want to keep customers like Marks and Spencer Three of us who have been involved with the Forum • The Council sees its role partly to provide the shared a car over the Pennines to see what we could "public transport" on the Information learn from Manchester's experiences of using Highways, as through its four Electronic networks. This article summarises some of the main Village Halls (one for the Asian community, facts, sprinkled with a few of my own judgements one targeted at women, one in Chorlton, and and opinions. one in East Manchester) • The Council has done some research into the Headlines: possibilities of teleworking for groups that are • 600 people had registered to attend the event, disadvantaged in the jobs market (e.g. women which ran from 10.00-4.00 returners and people with disabilities), but they • The day was run by Poptel, a network service have found that one of the main things these and access provider, who have been running the people want from a job is "to get out of the "Manchester Host" for five years house" and enjoy the social contact from work • Poptel clearly enjoy a close partnership with • The Council therefore is more likely to Manchester City Council who stated a "long encourage telecentres and other forms of remote term commitment" to the electronic/information working (e.g. links between central offices and sector offices out of town, by the Airport etc.; telecentres in the city centre which might draw • Poptel and Manchester do not appear to have people in during the day and keep them for any special advantages that would explain the theatres, sport and eating in the evening) high level of local interest they attracted, other than the fact that they have plugging away at • The North West has been selected as one of six this consistently and for a long time (relatively regions across Europe for trial development of speaking) Information Society services by the European Commission. About Poptel and the Manchester Host General points and conclusions • Poptel is an employee-owned cooperative, with a clear commitment to working with the • One thing that I noticed about Poptel's attitude community sector and the labour movement, as is that they seemed concerned throughout to well as businesses (unions like Unison use make allowances for users who do not have the them, as does Tony Blair) most up-to-date PCs and web-browsing software. They appear to have an approach • As well as the Manchester Host, Poptel supports which is genuinely developmental and the Kirklees Host (live since 1993), a inclusive, rather than mainly targeting the whiz- Host, and a Wakefield Host kids and leaving others to catch up if and when • They have considerable experience of on-line they can. databases, and have recently moved into the • Poptel also put some stress - rightly in my view field of supporting publishing on the World - on the benefits of plain old email for its Wide Web connectivity and convenience, rather than • As well as individual accounts for access to focusing exclusively on the "flashier" services, they offer Group and Club accounts, demonstration potential of the World Wide and various forms of Local Area Network- Web. Internet connections and software

Manchester's progress so far • A speaker from Manchester City Council's § Economic Initiatives group explained the role they see for networking as a basis for economic and social regeneration • The Council believes it has a responsibility to provide some information for free, but where information has a commercial value it can be traded, and this provides the opportunity for economic development • As well as working with Poptel, the Council is working with Manchester Metropolitan 2