Names and the Internet

Although not much progress has been made on the website for Heritage Village, I have re-newed the name registration for http://www.inheritage.ca/ , at my expense. Enough people have expressed support for the idea of an interactive website for our retirees and residents that I felt it crucial to reserve the name. Some folks last year were angry at me because they felt I "stole" the name from the Inheritage magazine, the official magazine of the Heritage Village Recreation Club. The goal is to have a website that when built would be an on-line complement to the magazine and be an integral part of our Village life. "Inheritage" was a name that was selected by a Village-wide contest decades ago but never registered or protected.

With millions of websites now active on the Internet, short names have become scarce and some names are now banned. At http://www.mennoniteheritagevillage.com/ or http://www.heritagevillage.ca/ you'll find the pioneer villages in Manitoba and Nova Scotia . http://www.inheritage.org/ is a design studio that focuses on historical preservation organizations. Finding a name that reflects our community and is still available for registration is difficult. "Heritage Villages" exist world-wide, so we need a domain name that indicates our Canadian location. The Canadian Internet Registration Authority in Ottawa, custodian of the *.ca names, no longer allows registration of names containing "village", "town" or other designation that imply a government. When I discovered that http://www.inheritage.ca/ was still available, I knew we had to protect that name.

So how much is an Internet domain name worth? It depends on many factors: brevity, association to a product or place, website traffic (if already in use). There is an active market in names and anyone can offer to buy via http://www.certifiedofferservice.com/ or other sites. As shown in the chart above, for many names, the bidding starts at over $25,000 US, which is why it was important to lock in an available *.ca name for our website. Now if we could all just focus on building a quality site, we'd have something on-line worthy of the name.

Senior-friendly Computing on the Horizon

I have been following the next-generation developments in low-cost "Senior-friendly" computers as well as community wifi. We 're on the horizon of a new wave of technology.

The OLPC project at MIT has failed to live up to expectations with their first low-cost ($188 us) "XO laptop" and only some 600,000 units were distributed to children and geeks, not the billion expected. But a second-generation machine, that looks and works like a book was unveiled in May, 2008, and is scheduled for production in 2010. Meanwhile, the clunky Open-source operating system "Sugar" written by MIT professors, now faces the commercial alternative of a customized Windows XP from Microsoft. Better software and a book-like format, may just be the near-future solution for computer-shy Seniors.

"Senior" has a loose definition, as my wife and I discovered, during our August 2008 treck across USA and Canada. Hotels kick in a "senior's discount" of 10% after age 50 or 55, but if you are 60+ and savy enough to ask for the "SSV" rate, you get 20% discounts. But in the technology area, some baby boomers <65 color="#009900">"inHERITAGEwifi" has been on-line but essentially dormant these past few months, awaiting new technology developments and community acceptance. We're looking at the next generation access points and directional antennae. The back-end software monitoring system has been upgraded and we're looking at alternative and cheaper hardware as well as Open Source software solutions.

The free Internet access is still accessible for Kerry Court homes and others near Diana Park to Cherry Blossom Lane. The bandwidth is throttled but sufficient to use Google Earth, web browse and e-mail . It is not sufficient for excessive downloading, streaming video or VoIP. The splash-page logo for inHERITAGEwifi comes up once per day, per user.

While in B.C., I had the opportunity to visit Gerry Bakker of Liveport Co., the most knowledgeable fellow in Canada with respect to setting up a wifi-mesh. Since June 2007, he has set up low-cost Internet access for hotels and motels at more than 100 locations across Canada. Thank him for the free wifi connections you can now get at many Choice Hotels and at the 250 room Blackfoot Inn in Calgary.

Gerry's efforts can focus on the technology issues since installation requires only the consent of the hotel owners - free Internet to all their customers is a killer sales-pitch. Our efforts to bring low-cost high-speed Internet to Heritage Village via Wifi has the daunting task of convincing 360 households, numerous condo boards and a skeptical computer club. The Village naysayers already announced it can't be done. They havn't tried out inHERITAGEwifi.

Professor Catherine Middleton, Ryerson University published a review of community Wifi in June, 2008 at the International Telecommunications Society Conference (Montreal). Our efforts with a Meraki wifi-mesh in Heritage Village received mention. But opportunity to be the first adult lifestyle community in Canada fully connected to the Internet, everywhere, 24/7, is fading fast.

Wifi: Enabling Tool for Seniors ?

I havn't posted a new blog for quite a while - I was too busy with making progress in the real world. Some of this progress related to technology issues for Heritage Village: low cost, user-friendly computing and Internet access. Before Christmas I told you about the One-Laptop-Per-Child program which made world-wide news, including two articles in the Economist magazine. My XO laptop arrived in January, and I spent the next two months testing it out via a Meraki wifi mesh over our local community with the help of neighbours.

Technology can be a great enabler for people restricted by age related problems. My neighbour Richard (in photo), on the other side of our cul de sac has no Internet access and is wheel-chair restricted because of a stroke some years ago. But he still has a keen mind, and with a background in military radio, a keen interest to explore new wifi "radio" technology. Our goal was to determine if the rugged little XO laptop, costing under $200 and designed for children in third-world countries, could also be an enabling technology for Seniors.

The XO comes out of the same MIT labs as Meraki wifi mesh technology, and has a built-in router and rabbit ear antennae that can create a wifi mesh with other units, or join any "hot spot". The XO laptop easily connected to our own wifi mesh, which was fed by one DSL link and 4 mesh repeaters. Normal home wifi routers would not have been able to span the distance. Our prototype public wifi generates a "splash page" (above) which showed up on the XO with a strong signal even inside Richard's home. Most "municipal wifi" systems can't do that!

The small size of the keyboard and screen was not an issue - but the unique user interface "Sugar" and the other open-source software was. We discovered, like the reviewer for the Economist, that this laptop was not ready for prime time. The concept of a very rugged small laptop for e-mailing and web browsing - with the ability to "mesh" via wifi, and convertible into a tablet was great. But without an operating manual, with bug infested beta-stage software and with non-functioning keys , the XO laptop was an exercise in frustration for even a seasoned computer user: certainly not yet suitable to help children or seniors new to technology.

I re-flashed the operating system twice with upgrades, downloaded from the OLPC website, but by end of April, I decided to abandon the project for now. The open-source community is still working on bug fixes, and perhaps the other 300,000 XO laptops distributed to date, are getting better usage by now. We'll monitor the XO technology development, but we're also looking at other low-cost computing solutions.

New Logo for Our Web Site

Some concerns were expressed regarding the use of a modified version of the logo of Heritage Village Recreation Club (see our first post) . It was intended to reflect the Village content but not to claim "official status" or put burden of responsibility on the Club. A new logo has been designed which could be used in the future for both the Web site and the Community Wifi portal.

For 20 years, the signage at Heritage Village has displayed a galloping horse. Some say it is a rocking horse, some say it gallops on a meadow. Our project for a Web Site and Community Wifi wants the old horse to take flight, into cyberspace to lift our spirits.

Pegasus is the flying horse from Greek mythology, symbolic of knowledge and inspiration. According to legend, the birth of both wine and art occured when Pegasus' hooves unleased the sacred Spring of the Muses. Today he can be seen in the sky as the star constellation Pegasus, and is still the symbol for immortality of the soul.

For Heritage Village residents who feel that a rocking horse is more appropriate for a retirement community, our new logo is also a "rocking horse-fly". Alice met such a mythical creature when she went Through the Looking-Glass. We want to inspire more Seniors to seek the Looking-Glass of their computers, and see the new world of the Internet.

For Christmas: 1 laptop per needy Child

This past month saw the first production run in China of the new educational tool, the " XO-Laptop" developed by One Lap Top per Child Foundation of Cambridge, Massachussetts. Read about it at: http://www.laptopgiving.org/

If you think that education of children is important to bring third-world communities out of poverty, this charitable project may be of interest. Between now and December 31, 2007, you can donate a laptop computer to a child in one of the poorest nations of the world, and at the same time, receive an XO Laptop, to give to a child in your life. The XO Laptop was initially called the "$100 Laptop" but cost over-runs during development drove the price closer to $200. For the Give One, Get One program, the donation of $400 (US) covers the gift to the needy child and the gift to your own child.

Even though it may look like a toy, the X0 laptop is an amazingly capable machine with features not available on any retail laptop. For example, it is "Wifi mesh" capable, meaning it can connect to any other WiFi-enabled laptop within a few hundred feet, and to the Internet through a WiFi hot spot. It is so energy efficient, it can run on solar panels. It is rugged enough to drop from a 4 foot table, having no hard drive to damage, using instead a 1GB flash memory.

Could this educational tool also work for seniors who don't have computers but would like to e-mail and browse? I'm going to find out. Marge and I have donated to the One Lap Top Per Child program. We still have one child in our house looking for a Christmas toy: me.

E-mail and Web browsing without Computers

We are in an age of technological change like no other. Yesterday's purchase is history before we have had time to learn its feaures. Such rapid change in the computer industry and telecommunications is causing many seniors to throw in the towel and just ignore the new opportunities provided by the "information age".

At a time when some seniors are losing their mobility and traditional contact with relatives and friends, they should be taking advantage of new ways to communicate and "see" the world. The World-Wide-Web has opened up "virtual travel" to anywhere for everyone. E-mail and Instant Messaging and video conferencing allows people to interact and even "meet" visually if not physically. Many seniors have embraced such new technology and their lives have been enriched. Others shun it because of the cost and complexity if they don't have a computer geek in the family to set things up. Is there a better way to spread the benefits of the technology revolution? Can seniors without computers and Internet connections participate?

New hand-held devices less intimidating than fully loaded computers can now handle the functions of e-mail and web browsing. Internet access can now be set up as a wireless connection called "WiFi". Out of sight, out of mind: only the computers and cell phones know it is there.

I am currently investigating two devices that have the potential to help seniors communicate: the XO Laptop, a new Wi-fi enabled tablet computer designed at MIT, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a hand-held Internet tablet from Nokia, the Nokia N800. Anyone who has some experience with these devices, please leave a comment.

SeniorNet Computer Learning Centers

Computer training for seniors has been a key purpose for the Computer Club in Heritage Village, and volunteer instructors such as Bob B., Don G., Art MacK., Harry D., Pat K. and others have done an admirable job for many years, under tough circumstances. It is not easy teaching computing in a classroom when the audience doesn't have a computer to play with, or the same technology at home. Training materials must be assembled ad hoc, from scratch, in a world of ever changing technology with limited funds. Is help available? Yes.

SeniorNet is an international non-profit organization dedicated to assisting adults 50+ with computer skills and Internet technology. It has been operating for 21 years and has chapters in most states of the USA as well as Japan, Malaysia, Sweden. I don't see a chapter in Canada but I see the need. Canadians can join or visit their web site at:

http://www.seniornet.org/

SeniorNet has taught over a million seniors through a network of Learning Centers, staffed by volunteers, using proven methodology and equipment. Founded in 1986, SeniorNet grew out of a research project funded by the Markle Foundation to determine how computers and telecommunications could enhance the lives of older adults. SeniorNet provides an extensive curriculum of over 30 courses, delivered by thousands of volunteer instructors and mentors at SeniorNet Computer Learning Centers via a proven ‘seniors teaching seniors’ methodology.

This doesn't come cheap. There's a startup fee of $6,000 to establish a Learning Center, and an annual support fee of $500 US. Setting up a computer classroom costs about $8,000. But the benefit of an International organization to support volunteer instructors should not be underestimated. The funding level can easily be accomodated through existing government grant programs from Ontario or the Federal government. We only need to ask.

Heritage Village is the best established 50+ adult community in the Niagara Peninsula, at a time when the seniors' population is expanding. Next door we have new bungalows mushrooming into another adult complex. We are ideally positioned to offer a world-class Senior's Computer Learning Center, to our residents, and perhaps to other seniors of Vineland. If we build it, they will come: students and volunteer instructors alike.