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- Functional Objective - Chebucto Suite (CSuite) is a group of
software applications / tools that together:
- provide individuals, community groups, and organizations access to
a (local) community information resource
- facilitate two-way communications between individuals and organizations
- make this (local) information available worldwide via the Internet,
- provide users of CSuite with access to a global information base through the Internet.
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- Potential Application(s) of CSuite - The CSuite software offers a cost effective, reliable, and feature
rich environment for:
- Groups that wish to establish a 壮tand alone' community network *
- Groups who wish to partner with other communities to establish autonomous community
networks *
Sharing Hardware and/or a common Internet connection to establish 'Virtual' Community Networks.
- School boards, or other organizations who wish to develop a network within the organization *
* With or without an Internet connection.
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- Component Groups - CSuite includes:
- application software that provides connectivity for most Internet services including the four
primary services, World Wide Web (WWW), E-mail, News and file transfer (FTP).
a variety of software tools that assist in the development (publishing) of local community
information
- numerous software tools*** that assist in the administration of a community network. These tools
simplify the creation of user accounts, changing passwords, etc. . . .
- software components that support system security, user confidentiality, and system maintenance.
on-line (user) documentation, training materials, tutorials, and software applications used to
provide support both to individual users and community groups.
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- Hardware / Operating System Requirements - The CSuite software is native to the Unix operating
system and can be used on a variety of equipment ranging from 租esktop' IBM type PC's (using
Linux) to mini-computers/mainframes. CCN currently maintains both a Sun and Linux installation.
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- 'Logon' Connectivity - The Chebucto Community Net currently
supports:
- Dial-up connectivity at (up to) 28,800 baud (CCN is currently
operating 72 phone lines)
- Direct Connect through a dozen Public Access Terminals located
in Libraries, schools and other locations (eg. senior citizen centres).
Public Access Terminals (PATs) utilize either Cable TV system or
the phone system to connect to CCN.
- Telnet access via the Internet from any other Internet site
world-wide.
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- Guest Connections - The Chebucto Community Net currently
supports:
CSuite will soon include functionality to provide additional
services for 'authenticated' guests, who are registered members of
associated community networks.
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Modest Bandwidth Requirements - CSuite uses the Lynx (World Wide Web) Browser. All
dial-up access to CSuite utilizes this software. The Lynx Browser does not normally retrieve
and display graphic images. This reduces the 礎andwidth' requirement for any given number
of simultaneous users and offers a noticeable increase in access speed through any given
connection to the Internet.
It should be remembered that the only restriction CSuite places on the interface is with respect to
dial-up which currently support only a text browser. Visitors from remote parts of the Internet or
users of the Public Access Terminals can use a graphical WWW interface.
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- Entry Level Equipment Requirements - Using CSuite, a community
can establish a community network utilizing similar computer equipment
similar to that used in many homes, and small businesses. The ready
availability of this equipment offers a community organization additional
opportunities with respect to sponsorship and donations.
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- Expansion Potential - The CSuite software can (if necessary)
be migrated from a personal computer to a larger computer if required to
support growth of the user base. (Continuing hardware advances should
make this unnecessary in most instances.) It can also be distributed
across multiple machines to allow increased growth while retaining capital
investment.
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- Remote Support - For small communities, the availability of
remote technical support and maintenance allows a community network to be
established that offers much lower technical requirements than would
normally be expected. This support also allows system performance, trend
analysis, and estimates of future requirements to be developed in light of
the experience of other similar sites. This can be used to predict upgrade
requirements and if necessary develop local strategies to allow upgrade to
be scheduled in coordination with local fundraising, or solicitation of
equipment donations.
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- Overview - The nature of Community Networks suggests that a
wide range of activities, including those of paid and volunteer staff, and
CSuite features that support the activity of community groups, should be
considered 爽ser' activities. Each of these features and activities can
be viewed as supporting the development and sustainability of community
networks, schools, or other organizations that will rely on volunteers and
the ability of users to 租o for themselves'.
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- Publishing Control - CSuite includes a significant number of
security features that extend control over the creation (and revision) of
information directly to the individual or organization. This is
accomplished using menus and forms and does not require the user to be
familiar with the Unix shell. Few commercial Internet Service Providers
utilize systems that are designed or configured to allow both individuals
and groups to publish documents directly. In most cases this will limit
the number of editors with who can access an organizations information or
may even restrict an organization to submitting documents to a system
administrator who will then 叢ublish' the document.
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- More than a Home Page - While most organizations create what is
generally referred to as a 践ome Page', CSuite allows community groups an
opportunity to create an extensive information base that may include:
archives (newsletters, background documents), data bases (continuing
education programs, recreation facilities, public transportation
schedules), and mailing lists (public/private) for communication within
the organization and with the community (local and Internet) at large.
CSuite also supports a growing list of features including: automatic
updating (daily) of bulk or batched information , custom survey, and
activity reports.
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Volunteers
- Community Networks depend heavily on volunteer effort to sustain
development. CSuite includes, several data bases (user / IP), support and
training systems, and software features such as searchable mail archives
that leverage the efforts of volunteers and have a positive impact on
sustainability (user satisfaction, fundraising).
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Other Staff
- CSuite includes a group of administration tools that automate:
account activation, membership renewal reminders, financial accounting,
monitoring system usage, and significant number of system level
diagnostics and warning systems that automatically reset modems or page
technical staff if problems are detected.
The availability of remote support noted above offers significant
benefit to local technical staff, by increasing the hours during which
equipment is 僧onitored' and thus reducing this component of the local
technical volunteers' responsibilities.
