ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601150024
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: CLAYTON BRADDOCK SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
This city, home of a university and a growing base of industry and technology, has launched itself into cyberspace.
The city is creating its own Radford Electronic Village, or REV, modeled after its widely publicized neighbor, the Blacksburg Electronic Village.
City Council this week endorsed the plan to jump on Internet's World Wide Web and establish an electronic community. The first 18 months of the venture, proposed by Councilman William Yerrick, will be financed by part of a $266,710 federal grant to BEV for educational projects.
BEV, an innovative effort by Blacksburg, Virginia Tech and Bell Atlantic to link residents of this college town by computers, will provide Radford a web site, which is a place on the Internet for community information, as well as train city employees so they can duplicate BEV services in Radford.
Even though City Council does not have to underwrite the plan or agree to pay for it, it will play a supportive role, said City Manager Robert Asbury.
BEV will train Radford employees "so they, in turn, can educate Radford citizens. It will be up to city employees and the Radford library staff to make the system happen," said Andrew Cohill, who has headed up the BEV project at Virginia Tech. He stressed that an electronic village is not as much a technological effort as one of community education and organization.
BEV and Radford will not provide modem access or e-mail accounts to the city's residents as there are now two private companies in the New River Valley providing that service, Cohill said.
One of the most significant benefits of the new electronic network, will be creation of a home page about Radford on the Internet's World Wide Web, said Yerrick, who is director of the telecommunications program at Radford University and will head the REV steering committee.
Other objectives for the venture include:
Development of future electronic information services offered by the city, public agencies and the private sector.
Creation of an electronic community connecting all Radford residents with the resources of the Internet.
Yerrick had urged City Council to seize this opportunity "to enhance our economic competitiveness and encourage a strong educational environment."
Other members of the REV committee include Jill Barr, economic development director for Radford; Jess Cantline and Sandy Aldridge of the city's finance department; Ann Fisher and Brack Stoval, officials of the Radford Public Library; and Bruce Criswell and Dave Dabay with the Radford school system.
Stoval will serve as "point person" for setting up an Internet home page for Radford, Yerrick said.
During the first six months of 1996, he said, the new project will train personnel, gather information, design and create web pages, educate government officials about the Internet and the web, promote the project with teachers and business leaders and other residents, and establish Internet access accounts.
Another part of the project will be to make decisions about future development and the city of Radford's role in it, according to Yerrick's proposal.
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