Show-Me Net held a public meeting on May 6, 1997 at 7:00 pm at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Sixteen people attended including Board Members, Loos, Sides, Roth, and Bock. The meeting was chaired by board president Larry Loos.
Loos welcomed all those present and thanked those who had made particular contributions. Fred Keller was thanked for his work on the home page and members were urged to visit the page often. The members were informed that the community information available would be increasing significantly in the near future.
Tom Blevins was thanked for his assistance with southern users along with Neil Dittlinger for his help on Easter Sunday with the phone company to keep the system operational and for the orderly arrangement of equipment.
Members were urged to share their knowledge and wisdom with others. This included assistance with construction of individual home pages and a meeting to teach others. In the near future those who have constructed their own pages will meet to teach others how to. Members were also informed that Missouri Extension will be holding an Internet Master class in the Fall with the expectation that members of that class will fulfill a public service component following graduation.
Loos informed the group that our total user base is now 427 and that we are financially solvent with $14,000 in the bank.
Loos informed the group of our acceptance of the Missouri Express grant to help create Community Information Networks in the state. He explained that initially we have defined our community as Cape county and Scott City with the expectation that the defination may be expanded. He explained that we were more concerned here with the off ramp functions of the information super highway than the on ramp (access) functions.
He further explained that MOREnet, our provider, would be performing functions now provided locally. These include hosting web pages, e-mail, user authentication, backup, etc. As a result of the grant Show-Me Net will get equipment, specifically a bank of 24 modems and a communications server. When that equipment is received our intent is to expand the modem bank in Benton from 10 to 20 modems in our communications server there and to move the existing communications server in Jackson to Perryville to provide a bank of 20 modems there.
A brief discussion was held on training to be conducted at MOREnet and who would be attending.
Extended discussion took place on modem usage in both Jackson and Benton. Graphical displays of the modem page were handed out along with a summary of usage of both modem pools. In the discussion which followed it became apparent that growth and usage in Benton were significantly higher than in Jackson. It was also revealed that four people in Benton average usage over 5 hrs/day. Ways to handle that problem were discussed.
User input is needed to help the board decide any change in current policy, e.g. 30 minute idle timeout, 5 hour session limit, 2.5 hour limit during peak periods. New software includes a latency period during which users will be unable to sign back on after reaching a session limit. The possibility of using the latency during specific peak time periods was discussed. No specific action was taken.
Loos announced that volunteers are needed in a number of areas. Specifically to assist at the Veterans Home, and with personal home pages. To assist at the Veterans Home, contact Art Dockins 243-9923 or e-mail Larry@showme.net. The desirability of putting up a volunteer page was mentioned.
Finally, a contest for a new Logo was announced. An appropriate prize will be given. Art work or files to Larry@showme.net.
To suggest changes or additions, send e-mail to: HelpDesk@showme.net