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Founded in September 1992 by people affiliated with Carleton University, National Capital Freenet (NCF), is a non-profit community organization internet service provider, with the goal of linking people in Canada's capital of Ottawa.

NCF was the second free-net set up world-wide. Within a year of its establishment it had over 10,000 members.

Mission

The stated mission of NCF is:

"The National Capital FreeNet is a free, computer-based information sharing network. It links the people and organizations of this region, provides useful information, and enables an open exchange of ideas with the world. Community involvement makes FreeNet an important and accessible meeting place, and prepares people for full participation in a rapidly changing communications environment."

History

General

"The National Capital FreeNet (NCF) in Ottawa is considered to be a Canadian model of successful community networking. It was established in 1992 as a non-commercial, co-operative, community project with the active participation of volunteers, Carleton University, and private industry (which donated modems and the communications equipment for connecting the FreeNet to the local public library)."

NCF was started to ensure that no one in Ottawa would be excluded from internet access.

The early days of this free-net featured dial up service and web access using the Lynx browser. Members typically used the system to access usenet, telnet, e-mail and Gopher. As the web became popular many new internet users became NCF members before they went to a PPP provider for graphic access to the web. As the web evolved NCF began offering dial up PPP access.

1992

The first NCF board meeting was held on 10 December 1992 with David Sutherland as Chairman of the Board. At that point the organization had a total of 4 dial-up lines, a logo custom design by a graphic artist and Cdn$2120. The start-up funding was made up of Cdn$1000 dollars from the City of Ottawa Community Health, Cdn$1000 dollars from the Carleton School Board, a private donation of Cdn$50 and Cdn$70 in cash on hand. The board indicated that the "correct spelling for FreeNet was confirmed at this time as " FreeNet ", with both the "F" and "N" capitalized."

1993

In April 1993 Julie Chahal,head of the NCF's Public Access Committee presented a public assess policy that was accepted by the board. This policy set free public access as a priority for the organization:

Public access terminals are a key element to meeting the National Capital FreeNet's objective to meet the present information needs of the people and public agencies in the region, and to prepare the community for full and broadly based participation in rapidly changing communication environments. They ensure that the Freenet is available to anyone interested, including those who may not own a home computer with a modem. - Julie Chahal

By April 1993 NCF had reached the limit of their first server in offering 58 dial-up phone lines and started upgrading to faster 14.4 Kilobaud/sec modems.

In the summer of 1993 the organization had its application for charitable status turned down by Revenue Canada, as did another early freenet in Victoria, BC. NCF spent much of the year in fund raising activities to meet its mandate in the face of rapidly rising demands for service and the need to purchase new hardware on an ongoing basis. The organization hired is first Office Manager, Kyla Huckerby and committed to hiring a System Administrator as well.

By the end of the year NCF had over 11,000 members.

1994

Early in the year Ian Allen was hired as NCF's first System Manager, reporting to the board. The association took delivery of its first Sun Microsystems SPARCstation computer and a new terminal server in April. At the end of the first quarter of 1994 NCF had 19,000 members.

The success of the free public terminals at the Ottawa Library was identified in a survey of users at that facility as problematic. The survey showed that some users were dominating the computers and this made it hard for others to access them. NCF dealt with this through a technological solution of limiting sign-in time on the oublic computers to one hour and one log-in per day.

1994 also saw NCF make French language access a priority, forming a committee to make recommendations on ensuring that Francophone users in the nation's capital had equal access to NCF and registering the name Libertel as the French equivalent to FreeNet. By the end of June 1994 NCF had 97 dial-up phone lines and was in an expansion to a total of 120.

By the end of 1994 NCF had published an Internet Survival Guide aimed at both members and the general public. The publication was free to members on the internet and sold on paper to non-members. NCF activities had attracted the notice of CBC-TV who completed a news program on the association. Telephone help services were provided at the NCF offices by unpaid volunteers, a practice that continues today. NCF finished the year with 160 dial-up phone lines operational.

One of the early supporters of the NCF community internet project was Dr. José Luis Pardos, the Spanish Ambassador to Canada who brought the Embassy of Spain online using NCF.

1995

At the start of the year members were limited to two hours internet usage per day with a one hour time limit per log-in.

2005

In September 2005, NCF introduced DSL service for members, acting as a cooperative. The fees from DSL access, set at $29.95 per month, are used to help subsidize the dial-up service for less advantaged residents.

Membership

This community network hosts many non-profit organizations and provides free Internet service for Ottawa residents. Fees are collected but no one will be turned away for lack of money. NCF is mostly volunteer run with a board of directors and four paid staff.

Over the years 75,000 people have been NCF members, although many have moved out of the area or moved up from NCF's original dial-up only service to commercial providers. The organization had about 8000 current and active members as of 2009.

Many NCF members have gone on to careers in the Ottawa hi-tech industry after beginning with NCF dial-up access.

Servers

NCF's servers are housed at Carleton University and run Solaris 8.

References

1. ^ National Capital Freenet (undated). "An Introduction to the National Capital FreeNet". Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
2. ^ Secretary of the NCF Board of Directors (2009). "NCF Board of Directors". Retrieved 2009-01-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
3. Ouellette, André (2002). "The new National Capital FreeNet". @monitor.ca. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
4. Shade, Leslie Reagan (1999). "Canadian Journal of Communication, Roughing It in the Electronic Bush: Community Networking in Canada". Retrieved 2008-03-13.
5. ^ CJOH Television (2003). "National Capital FreeNet Tenth Anniversary". Retrieved 2007-12-16.
6. Hughes, David (1992). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
7. ^ Hughes, David (1993). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
8. Hughes, David (1993). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
9. Hughes, David (1993). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
10. Hughes, David (1994). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
11. ^ Seaman, Al (1994). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
12. National Capital FreeNet (1994). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
13. Seaman, Al (1994). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
14. Seaman, Al (1994). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
15. Seaman, Al (1995). "Minutes of the National Capital FreeNet Board of Directors Meeting". Retrieved 2009-01-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
16. National Capital Freenet (undated). "High-Speed DSL Internet Access from NCF". Retrieved 2007-12-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
17. NewRO Television (2003). "National Capital FreeNet Tenth Anniversary". Retrieved 2007-12-16.
18. Netcraft (2008). "Site report for www.ncf.ca". Retrieved 2008-11-30. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• National Capital Freenet

• Organizations based in Ottawa
• Bulletin board systems
• Carleton University
• Canadian websites
• Internet in Canada
• Internet service providers of Canada