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8. The main goal of civic networking is the development
of local community. To what extent objectives listed below were the aim
of your civic networking? And what impact did they make upon your community?
(Comments are necessary).
Project goals:
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To improve provision of social services via Internet
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To extend interest for local cultural activities
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To increase the local population�s participation in political
life
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To increase the employment of local population
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To promote the economical development of your town, region,
country
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To provide telecommunication services
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To improve the quality of health services
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To increase the efficiency of interaction between local government
and local population
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To promote cultural enrichment
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To extend educational opportunities
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To help coordination between regional information services
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To establish contacts and partnership relations with other
regions
The following project goals are considered our priority goals:
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to promote cultural enrichment, to extend interest
for local cultural activities.
These two goals are closely connected. They are being
achieved by attracting all interested users and publishing a wide range
of materials within the city and region directories (�Welcome to Voronezh�
and �The Central Black Soil Region�). These big directories hold information
on the city and area history and culture, feature important economic facts
and event calendar, etc. All materials are timely updated to ensure awareness
of the local community of upcoming cultural events. We have 12 personal
pages created by Voronezh artists, poets, philosophers and other people
of creative professions. Due to Internet capabilities, all this information
may be reached anywhere in the world within seconds and thus awake interest
to Voronezh culture in most remote places that otherwise wouldn�t have
known of Voronehz. This opportunity to present Voronezh culture to the
world greatly assists local culture�s further enrichment and development
as cultures develop through �dialoging� with each other. Cross-cultural
dialogs benefit local cultures and help to form the world�s multinational
culture in the end.
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to provide telecommunication services and help coordination
between regional information services.
This goal perfectly coincides with our �dialog policy�.
As we have stated in the project proposal, the Civic Network project was
meant to compensate for the existing communication vacuum and provide its
technical resources to the maximum possible number of community members
and institutions. This is supposed to assist faster forming of civic society�s
structures in Voronezh and area. Approaching this goal, we plan to hold
a big press-conference along with the �Alliance�, the municipal association
of public institutions, in the nearest future. We maintain constant contacts
with mass media, various clubs, unions, and representatives of various
congregations.
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to increase efficiency of interaction between the local
government and local population
Currently we are discussing participation of the Civic
Network project in work of the Municipal administration Internet Hot Line
service. We plan to support the �grass-root� initiatives and protect the
population�s interest. As an example of such cooperation in the past, we
can address the environmental project that we carried out jointly with
radio station �Diapazon�. We managed to protect the park areas in the downtown
city that were planned to be destroyed and the land was supposed to be
used for construction of some new buildings. The problem of the environmental
safety is one of the most serious problems currently in Voronezh. Our efforts
brought the government�s attention to the problem of parks and even led
to development of a new regulation at the municipal level.
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to extend educational opportunities
Further integration of Russian Federation into the international
economics requires more specialists with international experience. However,
due to peculiarities of Soviet society the information on international
education could never be accessed outside the very limited circle of high-rank
officials. Access to the web, this interminable information source, changed
this situation forever. Communication of international educational opportunities
to Voronezh people is a very important work that is done by an NGO �Voronezh
Regional Educational Advising Center� (VREAC), a project participant that
houses a PAP for persons seeking opportunities to study abroad. This institution
provides the whole range of information and advising services related to
education free of charge, thus, as similar non-profit projects, they cannot
buy commercial hours of Internet and they entirely depend on it as their
primary source of information. Approximately 90 per cent of all advising
materials were obtained through the Internet.
VREAC�s audience includes high school seniors and their
parents, undergraduate and graduate university students, school and university
teaching specialists, scholars, and others interested in degree studies
and professional internships abroad. VREAC has already handled approximately
3,000 information requests since the beginning of the 1998 academic year.
In accordance with their primary goal to promote international education
opportunities in Voronezh, VREAC provides information and instruction on
the following: academic and professional exchange programs, academic and
professional internship programs, proposal writing, college application
and admission issues, financial aid, standard admission tests, visa issues,
pre-departure orientation. VREAC�s activities may be presented as a number
of programs:
-
�Web Lab� program.
Currently, Civic Networks provide two hours of Internet for VREAC�s visitors
daily which will soon be changed to an unlimited access via a leased line.
The PAP at VREAC seats 4 visitor simultaneously. Besides, with the help
of the Civic Networks programs officers, VREAC designed and published a
web site called �Virtual Adviser�, which turned out to be a very efficient
tool helping to get to the bottom of international education �technology�.
It is especially beneficial for those people who cannot attend consultations
in person. The site is regularly updated, has a listserv and news delivery
and practically can substitute an adviser by featuring all advising materials
that are available at VREAC. It has been visited by more than 1400 persons
so far for 4 months.
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�Become an exchange student� program.
VREAC offers information and application forms on more than 40 annual European
and American government-supported educational programs. Advisers constantly
update the information on those, consult on proposal writing and assist
program officers in testing and advertising their programs in Voronezh.
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�Find your university� program. Visitors
learn in what respect European or American education systems are different
from Russian and are advised on issues relative to individual placement
to colleges. They are taught to work with college directories, university
web sides and catalogs, find necessary information about education opportunities
in their respective fields, and, as a result, evaluate their own chances
to be admitted. Visitors learn to write college information requests, fill
out application forms, apply for financial aid. Upon receiving information
from colleges, educational advisors help to select the most adequate program
in every particular case.
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�Resource Base� program. VREAC�s reading
hall houses test preparation textbooks, audio and video materials, computer-based
training programs. Test preparation courses are very expensive for the
students. Usual monthly income of an average student will not be enough
to cover one half of a book�s price. Therefore, students are very excited
to get access to these books in Voronezh.
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�Test orientation� program.
VREAC provides orientations on standardized admission tests � TOEFL, GMAT,
GRE, SAT, MCAT, LSAT, etc. Visitors are offered: assessment of their English
proficiency through diagnostic testing, information on the standard test
formats and contents, standard test writing practice, individual score
improvement recommendations from teaching specialists, lectures and individual
consultations.
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To improve the quality of health services (Refer to
Clause 14)
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To establish contacts and partnership relations with
other regions
This goal represents the very important, yet not very
well developed direction of our work. However, we performed a number of
activities to advance in this direction. Firstly, the project officers
have participated in the conference of Christian Youth that was attended
by a delegation from the Kemnitz, Germany. Secondly, on request from the
Governor of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, Russia, to assist the organization
of the teleconference, we placed the banner of the on-line conference with
the Governor on our server. The banner of Voronezh Civic Networks was placed
on the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District Governor�s server. Third, we received
requests from the public and youth organizations of the cities of Irkutsk,
Kaliningrad, Psokv, and Severstal� to assist them in establishing contacts
and partnerships with similar institutions in Voronezh and the area.
9. Give the statistics on web-server:
-
The number of web site hits per month? Number of hits
from the very beginning?
Number of hits according to TOPLIST resource rating
system:
March - 9
April - 515
May - 469
June - 515
July- 335
August - 218
Overall - 2125
Regional News
Public Life News
Public Institutions
Personal pages
Welcome to Voronezh
Guest Book
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Have you 1)the schedule of public access points functioning?
2)description of their location? 3)description of equipment and services
that can be provided to citizens and organizations?
We have a separate directory �About the project� with all
above mentioned information on PAPs.
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How many organizations and private person have published
the information at your server? What kind of information?
1. Black Soil Affiliation of the Mass Media Defense
Foundation (General goal-and-objective information, activities, contact
information )
2. Voronezh Regional Juvenile Library (Library�s
organizational structure, books� specifications, work schedule, types of
services, contact information)
3. Intellectual Development Center (general information
on goals, objectives, activities of the following member organizations:
�Lik� poetic cafe, �Parus� author�s song club, �Rovesnik� club, �Peace
through culture� association, �Omni� English club, performing hall �Debut�,
�Art-Psy� practical psychology club, �Student�s town� young journalists
club, librarian school, �Solaris� computer club)
4. Voronezh affiliation of the �Peace through culture�
association (basic activities, contact information)
5. Public Human being Institute (General goal-and-objective
information, activities, contact information )
6. International Humanitarian Center �Grace� (General
goal-and-objective information, activity directions, contact information
)
7. Association of women�s defense from violence
(General goal-and-objective information, activities, contact information
)
8. Society of protection and support of the invalids
"Rainbow" (Activities, goals and tasks, contact information)
9. Voronezh regional association of parents of paralyzed
children - invalids "Hope". (Activities, contact information)
10. Youth public organization "Russian bridge"
( Goals and tasks of the organization, contact information)
11. NGO "Center of humanitarian technologies" (
General information on the center, purpose of creation, contact information)
12. Regional junior school of adaptive physical culture
for the invalids (General information on school, activities and tasks,
plans, contact information)
13. Association "Z" (General information, contact
information, samples of work)
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The private persons who have published the information
on server of Voronezh Civic networks:
1) Vsevolod Smirnov (information on self and
publications)
2) Inna Antonova (selection of materials about
Rerih's creativity)
3) Svetlana Stepicheva (verses)
4) Vadim Gorshkov (information on self and stories)
5) Vera Kovaleva (photo art works)
6) Roman Kovalev (art works)
7) Berta Dyhanova (information on self and an article)
8) Valeria Taglina (schoolgirl about the interests
and hobbies, compositions)
9) Yurii Storchakov (an article)
10) Acoustic group "Sand-glass" (history of the
group, selection of publications about the group, contact information)
11) Roman Lynov (verses)
12) Alexander Degtiarev (verses)
10. What is the average educational level of user?
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secondary or high school � 5.26 %
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some college � 10.68 %
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bachelor, master degree � 84.06 %
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other (specify)- 0
Average educational level of user
|
|
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Secondary or high school |
35 |
|
Some college |
71 |
|
Bachelor, master degree |
559 |
|
Total |
665 |
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11. Have you formed a Board of Directors (Coordinating
Council)? What part does it play in your project? (for example please).
Does this Board of Directors include representatives of local administration?
( Comments please).
The general management of the project is carried out
by the Coordination Council. The Coordination Council consists of the representative
from the following participants of the project: Voronezh State Technical
University, Regional Centre of New Information Technologies, Mass Media
Defense Foundation, Regional Juvenile Library, Voronezh Regional Educational
Advising Center, Committee on Education of the Voronezh Area Administration,
Information-methodical Centre of Education Management of Administration
of the Voronezh area. All participant institutions are represented by one
delegate from each instituitons, who are entitled to equil rights. The
sessions of Coordination Council are held on a quarterly basis.
At sessions of Coordination Council:
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The coordinator of the project delivers reports on the current
status of the project development.
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The council members review and analize the results of work
under the project.
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The council plans new activities focusing on realization
of the goals and objectives of the project.
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The council members discuss various remarks and recommendations
regarding the work of the Civnet Management Center.
Daily coordination and supervision of activities of
the Civnet Management Center is carried out by the Civnet project coordinator.
12. Does your web-server have the information about structure
of local administration, schedule of its operation? What kind of information
about local administration do you provide at your server?
What kind of local, regional problems can be solved
with the help of civnet together with local administration? (Detailed comments
please).
-
The following sections represent Voronezh city and area administartions:
- "Administration of the city of Voronezh "
- "Administration of the Voronezh area "
- "Projects and initiatives of administration
"
The section "Projects and initiatives of administration "
is administered and updated directly by the participants of the project.
The Civnet project officers and volunteers select materials from the official
documents released by the Voronezh administration, investment projects,
resolutions, press releases, announcements of forthcoming events. News
section is updated daily.
Sections "Administration of the city of Voronezh " and
"Administration of the Voronezh area " present a complete range of references
to the corresponding sections of official servers maintained by the city
and area administrations. They offer information on structure of administration
of the city and districts of the city, administrations' heads, bodies of
municipal self-government, city council, regulations. Also, the telephone
directory, online reception, the information on the area prosecution office
(changes in the legislation, structure, addresses and telephones, questions
and answers) are offered. The Voronezh Civnet server also has references
to the Voronezh regional branch of Fund of social insurance, Voronezh regional
committee of state statistics, and Management of the Voronezh regional
office of Motor Vehicle Inspection.
-
Curently the Civnet has carried out a number of meetings
and reached cooperation agreements with the following representatives of
local administrations:
- V.F. Uhin, executive director of Fund of social protection
of the population at the city administration;
- S.A. Rogachev, chairman of the Committee on education
of the Voronezh area administration;
- Chairman of Committee on work of educational institutions
of higher learning and technical education of the Voronezh area administration;
- L.V. Kisil', director of the Municipal information center
of the city administration;
- V. Shenshin, chairman of Committee on information resources
and telecommunications of the Voronezh area administration;
- V. Ya. Kolyshkina, chief of the Department of recreatonal
activities of Committee on culture at Voronezh area administration.
-
The Civnet project officers reached an agreement with the
Committee on youth affairs of the Department of social policy of the city
administration regarding assistance in organization of the center of public
access point on the basis of Voronehz Regional educational Advising Center.
As they have recently won the contest and were selected by Educational
Testing Service to administer international English proficiency test TOEFL
in Voronezh, they are going to be very useful in further development of
the international connections of the Civnet project.
-
The Civnet project officers reached an agreement with A.
V. Chaplygin, the chief of the information-methodical center of Educational
management of the Voronezh area administration. They agreed to participate
in realization of the Civnet project and assist in creation of two pages
on the Civnet server with databases "Prospective Student" and "Ratings
of secondary schools of the city of Voronezh". Database "Prospective Student"
is supposed to concentrate on the data on higher education institutions
of Voronezh and the Central Black Soil Region, departments, specialties,
admission rules, examinations etc. Database "Rating of secondary schools
of the city of Voronezh" is supposed to report each school�s admission
rates (how many high school students managed to get into colleges and universities.)
-
The Civnet has helped to solve one of the environmental problems
of the city. By attracting public attention to the problem of park disappearance
in the downtown area of the city, we managed to stop further destruction
of parks and made the city administration pass the appropriate regulation
prohibiting cutting the trees in the downtown.
13. How did you use or going to use mass media for promotion
of civnet idea? (Comments please).
-
According to the concept of �dialogue� introduced by the
Civnet, other MASS-MEDIA forms are of major importance and represent the
integral part of the project. Especially it is necessary in Russian province,
where the number of people constantly having access to a Network is very
limited due to low standards of living of the population. So, for four
months, the Civnet officers have been fruitfully and actively cooperating
with the Voronezh State TV and radio company (radio station "Range"). A
few general project presentations went in the air as well as the project�s
parts e.g., a number of personal and interactive pages, chats, educational
programs). All these activities assisted further promotion of the Civne
in Voronezh and extended the number of institutions and organizations being
aware of the Civnet and its activities and willing to participate in it.
Presently, the Civnet has the agreement with the Voronezh State TV and
radio company on organization of a cycle of broadcasts illuminating our
activities.
-
Besides, we have established an information exchange with
a weekly municipal magazine "The Coast". The magazine�s executive secretary
Andrey Korobanov maintains his personal web page at the Civnet�s server
devoted to the city�s history and culture.
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The cooperation with the State TV and radio company will
continue as well, and we plan to have TV programs about the Civnet�s activities.
As a whole, according to the concept of the Civnet project, conventional
mass media and Internet-base media (Civnet included) are in a constant
dialog discussing the most urgent city and area problems such as environment,
educational and issues, status of the city, congregational and interethnic
relationships, etc.
14. How does your civic network take part in the work
of local medical organizations. How can it help to solve medical problems
in the region?
Currently, our project cooperates with Voronezh
Regional Clinical Diagnostic Center, which is a unique institution in the
region by organizing public health services on the basis of a wide range
of medical services in the field of diagnostics, that as is known as a
key factor in any disease treatment and prevention of any kinds of diseases.
Civnet provides Internet access for the local network
of the Diagnostic Center consisting of 39 linked computers. That network
can be accessed by the employees of the diagnostic center as well as other
city medical experts.
The qualification level of the diagnostic center�s analysts
is so high, that the center is housing the All-Russian diagnostic expert
preparation courses in various branches of medicine and especially in sphere
of ultrasonic diagnostics for a long time function. A task of our project
with regards to the Diagnostic Center is assisting connections between
the medical specialists of the diagnostic center and students of the courses.
Having access to a network, which is provided by the Civnet, offers a unique
opportunity of receiving the necessary information about the latest achievements
and the most advanced methods in their appropriate specialization areas.
Besides, they may timely receive the specialized information on various
spheres of medical diagnostics.
Civnet�s Central PAP is used by by the employees of the
Regional Center of AIDS prevention and diagnostics.
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