Little bros, sisters to get computers

By Brian Carlo
Old Gold and Black Reporter

More children in Forsyth County will be bridging the "digital divide" thanks to a new program sponsored by a university-affiliated technology group and the Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Forsyth County.

WinstonNet, a nonprofit, volunteer-based corporation affiliated with the university, will distribute used Pentium 2 desktop computers to 10 little brothers and sisters in a training session held at Information Systems Sept. 26.

According to a university press release, "children will also be given an e-mail account and Roadrunner Internet Connectivity will be installed in their homes."

Jay Dominick, an assistant vice president and chief information officer, said the computers will serve as a new means for the "littles" to connect with their school, their "bigs" and each other.

The project will utilize an idea he described as a "community desktop."

"The idea is that once a person has an account, he or she could use that account from a computer in a recreation center, school, library, church or at home," Dominick said. "Since all the files are stored on the central server, the user will find all of their files, programs and customizations available to them regardless of where they log in."

Johannes Boehme, president of WinstonNet, said the program is just a small part of one of WinstonNet's bigger goals: bridging the "digital divide" in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

"In this information and technological explosion, a lot of people don't have access to a computer in their home," Boehme said. "We can put computers in recreation centers, libraries and public facilities like drug stores and supermarkets. Then people can have access to this technology.

"There are 20-plus recreation centers in the city. With the help of public transportation and some operational, low-end computers, you can pop in to play a game of basketball and then type up a letter and surf the Web," he added.

According to Dominick, since the computers that will be donated to the little brothers and sisters are "disposable castoffs from other businesses," the maintenance for the project should be minimal.

"If a computer breaks, we just throw in another one, attach it to the network, and it is operational," Dominick said.