COMPUTERS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
A Conference Report
by Stan Pokras


On Monday, June 9 and Tuesday, June 10, 1986, a conference on
Computers for Social Change was held in New York City at Hunter
College.

Conference Description and Purpose:
===================================

"We are now members of the so-called Information
Society. But who is shaping this society and its
goals? To date, computer and telecommunications
technology primarily function to enhance the wealth,
power, and control of large corporations, the
government, and the military. Can these powerful new
tools serve community and political groups concerned
with the lives and rights of working people, women,
ethnic and cultural minorities, the poor, and the
disadvantaged? Can we make the Information Society a
truly democratic society?"

(from the conference materials)

Several books and numerous articles have been written about the
many ways that computers are used to control and even oppress
whole populations. But at Hunter College the image that non-
profit groups and community organizations are using new
technology to their benefit was in strong evidence. For one
thing, this conference was planned for a relatively small number
of people, but the response to it was overwhelming and people
had to be turned away. Nearly all of the conference sessions
were marked CLOSED on the schedule forms, due to overcrowding.

According to Terry Mizrahi of Hunter College's School of Social
Work, the conference stemmed from a series of meetings on
computers and social change. The newsletter "Reset", edited by
Mike McCullough ($1 per issue; 90 E. 7th St. #3A, New York NY
10009) played an important role in bringing the organizers of
the conference into contact and in revealing the need for this
event.

The role of the computer, according to another of the
conference's organizers, Jeremy Shapiro of the Felding
Institute, includes political information tasks, creating new
forms of solidarity, and the redefinition of issues in terms of
information.

Richard Perez: A Voter Registration Project
===========================================

As Richard tells the story, a major problem for his project was
to learn to use its equipment grant: an IBM PC. They didn't
know that they needed software for each process and their
funders didn't know that the project people couldn't manufacture
software! A great deal of pressure was put on this project to
just get started.

They wanted to keep voter records and learn to deal with high
turnover of registrants. They also wanted to pull names in
various demographic categories, but had to discover first how
hard it is to get the names INTO the system. Consultants all
seemed too expensive until they finally found a good consultant
who worked almost free.

After summarizing the project's problems, Richard told about the
happy ending: a 50% increase in the number of voters in the
first primary they worked on.

Joanne Sandler: An International Women's Network
================================================

Sandler, of the International Women's Tribune Center (305 E.
46th St., 6th floor, New York NY 10017) works with third world
women's groups. About eight groups in their network purchased
microcomputers after investigating several funding options for a
cooperative grant.

At present the individual organizations in the network are
involved in integrating the computer into their administrative
processes and little data is shared among the groups in
electronic form. However, Ms. Sandler seemed quite pleased with
the project's progress since each group is becoming well versed
at managing its own information and writing needs using the
computers.

Ed Madara: New Jersey Self-help Clearinghouse
=============================================

The Clearinghouse has helped to develop over 340 new self-help
groups in New Jersey! Ed feels that bulletin boards and
conferencing systems are going to be one of the major sources
for self-help, especially for the handicapped and the homebound.
He described existing online meetings for handicapped and forums
for this activity. He participates in online forums via
CompuServe (70275,1003). The Clearinghouse makes its database
and the program they developed available to other self-help
clearinghouses. Write c/o St. Clare's Hospital Community Mental
Health Center, Pocono Rd., Denville NJ 07834.

Housing: Anti-Arson, Anti-Displacement, Tenant Organizing
=========================================================

Mary Breen, of the New York Neighborhood Anti-Arson Center,
explained that the main use for computers in the area of housing
concerns making information on real estate and the real estate
market place available on a community level. Among the crucial
tasks is the definition of the housing stock: investigating
ownership, sale, and rental patterns, who the owners are and the
condition of what exists. Information on security, heat, water,
lighting, trash disposal and such can be collected via survey.
Profiles on occupancy are needed to find what properties are
being utilized or underutilized. A good deal of information is
available from public sources.

Mary circulated a report titled GUIDE TO NYC PUBLIC RECORDS by
Barbara Kronman, available from Community Resource Exchange, 17
Murray St., New York NY, (212) 349-8155.

Another issue of concern, especially in New York's real state
market place is arson. Bruce Dillenback described the anti-arson
program of the People's Fire House. They developed a database
designed to predict the likelihood of arson through statistical
analysis of which buildings are susceptible to arson. It is
possible, in some cases, for an owner to increase profits by
burning a building to remove the tenants. Bruce circulated
copies of the report PREDICTING ARSON by Royer Cook.

Women's Issues and the Women's Bulletin Board
=============================================

Women's Bulletin Board: (212) 885-0969, 300/1200 baud, 24hrs,
using Telemaster software. Voice number: (212) 885-1687 (call if
you want help).

The session presenters, Angela Luecht and Beva Eastman of the
Seeger Micro Computer Center, described their system which has
been running since February 1986. Before going public, the
system's moderators spent two months learning how to use the
board and in some cases how to use a computer from scratch! The
system has a separate moderator for each topic area, many of
whom put in more than an hour each day writing new material and
responding to issues raised by the callers.

This is one of very few, if not the only BBS in the country
devoted solely to women and their concerns.

CONCLUSIONS
===========

The conference may not have taken into account all of the
possible ways for people to use computers to leverage their
control over the world around them. For example, it had only
one barely-attended session on a national computer conferencing
system! But there were over twenty different presentations
ranging from a basic hands-on workshop in word processing to
discussions on "Democratizing Information and Communications."

In his closing talk, Benjamin Barber, author of the book "Strong
Democracy: Politics for a New Age", encouraged the participants
to use the means available to them to counter the selfish
interests in the market place. He strongly urged that computers
be used in political work by community groups concerned with
their own welfare. He warned that ignoring democratic
opportunities weakens democracy, and that the new information
technologies can, and are, being used to the disadvantage of
average people. The only way to counter this trend, Barber
stressed, is through political power, which can be increased in
good proportion through the effective use of small computers.

CONTACT
=======

For information on possible future events or access to the
conference presenters, contact: Education Center for Community
Organizing, 129 E. 79th St., New York NY 10021.

-----

Author's note: Stan Pokras is a member of the ENA's "Non Profit
Networks" cluster. He is also active in the Apple Computer Grant
network and in local non-profit computing in the Philadelphia
area. He teaches conferencing and computer bulletin board
technology to non-profit groups and has set up numerous BBS
systems serving non-profit goals.