Make no little digital plans, group tells Chicago Mayor

MAKE NO LITTLE DIGITAL PLANS, GROUP TELLS DALEY
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Jon Van]
Chicago should undertake a communitywide campaign to become the nation's most advanced digital city, a mayor's advisory committee report urged Friday. Instead of only seeking to extend connectivity to underprivileged neighborhoods, the city should help poorer residents get subsidized computers, get needed instruction and make digital communications an integral part of community activities, said the report presented by Julia Stasch, an executive at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Mayor Richard Daley's former chief of staff. She unveiled the report at a Community Media Summit, a gathering at Columbia College of about 150 policymakers, philanthropists and others concerned with promoting neighborhood communications. Called the "City That Networks," the report said that rather than merely seeking to close the digital divide that separates cyberspace haves from have-nots, the city should pursue digital excellence, which Stasch defined as "universal, active and meaningful participation" in the digital world. The report calls upon Mayor Daley to appoint two local business leaders to head a private campaign to rally citizens toward digital excellence.
http://feeds.chicagotribune.com/~r/chicagotribune/business/~3/125308184/...
http://feeds.chicagotribune.com/~r/chicagotribune/business/~3/125184742/...

* Chicago Report on Digital Excellence
http://wrythings.net/2007/06/16/chicago-report-on-digital-excellence/

* "A very special day for community in Chicago and for Chicago community media."
http://www.afcn.org/node/271

* More coverage of the Summit:
http://www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/e17dd6a94826afb586256923...