nercomp 2002 networks, town and gown: collaborating with the community pat cronin & bill davis...
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NERCOMP 2002
Networks, Town and Gown:Collaborating
with the Community
Pat Cronin & Bill DavisBridgewater State College
Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Copyright Pat Cronin and Bill Davis, 2002. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.
NERCOMP 2002
Overview
Project Background
Starting Point & Early Lessons
Infrastructure & Applications
Challenges of Partnership
NERCOMP 2002
Project Background
Swap college technology for abandoned town building
Leverage a college strength Jumpstart stalled town technology
initiative Mend strained town/gown relations
through partnership 3-year $900,000 project
NERCOMP 2002
Starting Point
History of town/gown tension- traffic, noise, parties
Starting from scratch- very limited technology in town
Cumbersome political processes- town meetings, dozens of hearings
Suspicion and lack of trust
NERCOMP 2002
Early Lessons
A simple vision is essential- constituents have different, sometimes
conflicting needs Communicate frequently and openly
- on many levels, selectmen, VPs, project managers, community stakeholders
Be flexible, but stick to the vision
NERCOMP 2002
What we’ve built High-speed network Additional computers New business software systems Technology access for employees and
community Training on many levels New structures for collaboration
NERCOMP 2002
Infrastructure
Networked buildings using fiber, private dsl, broadband inet, and wireless
Wired 75 desktop locations Networked 100 computers
NERCOMP 2002
Applications File sharing, printing, email, web and
office productivity software 150 employee user accounts Implemented assessor, treasurer
and emergency applications Developed AUP for town employees Offered extensive training on all
applications
NERCOMP 2002
Successes
Town offices on the Internet New town web presence at
www.bridgewaterma.org Town IT employee hired Town ahead of peers Video of Stakeholder Comment
s
NERCOMP 2002
Town Web Page
NERCOMP 2002
Challenges at the College
Getting staff buy-in for major project that seems to be outside of mission
Convincing town of importance of IT staffing and strategic planning
Expanding access to technology and impact of project for town residents
Supporting new external constituency
NERCOMP 2002
Challenges in the Town
Difficult to balance needs of government and citizens
Politics is important Town departments don’t always
work well together Bureaucracy moves slowly Change is scary for some
NERCOMP 2002
The Bottom Line
Project visibly demonstrated college’s commitment to service
Success of partnership creating new opportunities for collaboration
Great improvement in town/gown cooperation and spirit
