CyberCitizens of Oak Park & River Forest

CYBER CITIZENS OF OAK PARK & RIVER FOREST

Who We Are

The CyberCitizens of Oak Park & River Forest is an informal group of people in Oak Park interested in developing the role of the internet in our town. We began with several meetings in Fall 1995 and Spring 1996 about the role of the internet in Oak park and River Forest, especially concerning its uses in the local schools and library.

The Oak Park River Forest area has its own ListServe, at the email address OPRF-L@uic.edu. This ListServe is sponsored by the University of Illinois at Chicago, whose faculty is well-represented in Oak Park and River Forest. This ListServe typically posts emails about a variety of miscellaneous topics concerning Oak Park and River Forest: occasional comments on local politics, listings of houses and condos for rent, or activities of local organizations of general interest . To learn more about the OPRF-L ListServe, we offer a basic OPRF-L ListServe Quick Guide.

Past Meetings

The first informal meeting of this group was held Sunday evening, September 10, 1995 providing an opportunity for those interested to get together to meet, discuss common goals, plans, & problems. The September Minutes of the meeting give an idea of the issues raised. The meeting seemed to be a success, both as a pleasant evening and after the initial chit-chat, there was a "salon" for the second hour in which quite a lot of informative discussion took place.

The second informal meeting of this group was held Sunday evening, December 17, 1995 attended by approximately 30 people who had their holiday shopping done! The agenda was substantial - Ted Field opened the meeting with a demonstration of OPPL's library's online public access catalog (OPAC), a.k.a. ERNIE, which was in development. The December Minutes of the meeting give an overview of the other issues discussed.

Our third informal meeting of this group was held Thursday evening, February 29, 1996 in the Library of the OPRH High School. It was again attended by approximately 30 people - about one half were new. Jim Ritter from the Chicago Sun Times interviewed many of the participants during the course of the evening. The brief February Minutes give a fuller account of the evening.

The next planned meeting, for Summer 1996, never materialized, as the principals were traveling, and no good date for a meeting emerged. What has happened in place of this is the formation of smaller interest groups, especialy concerning the schools. For example, the OPRF Cool Kids/Parents joint project between the area schools is very active. Today, the internet has become a popular topic, and there are many educators, web developers and others in the community promoting its uses.

Membership & Future Activities

Membership in the CCOPRF today consists of a list of people who have been in contact regarding internet activities in Oak Park & River Forest - if you want you name added to the email list, send a brief note to Steve at hurder@oprf.com. If you have a personal web homepage, send me the URL and it will be added to the list of Oak Park - River Forest Citizen Homepages.

After a more than a year of quiet activity, we are currently planning to organize another meeting for early Fall 1997. All members of the OPRF-L ListServe and who have sent their email addresses will be notified by email when a date is set.