To this end, the Huntington County Community Network will seek to:
- Enhance electronic access to the publicly available information of Huntington
County's governing bodies, its charitable institutions, its businesses, and its artistic,
cultural, educational, health, and social service organizations.
- Support the related technological initiatives of the all Huntington County schools.
- Expand electronic access to the County's libraries.
- Promote economic development.
- Continually improve and expand community network offerings and services.
Toward these goals, the steering committee planned to offer
three
key services:
- Sponsor a site on the World Wide Web devoted to information of, by, and about Huntington
County.
- Offer dial-up access to this community-building information and to the global resources
of the Internet.
- Provide dedicated access to the state-wide information network created by Access Indiana
through the sale of tail circuits to area schools, libraries, government agencies, and
businesses.
 After months of work and several
revisions, their Access Indiana proposal and acceptable use policy were accepted in October 1995. The Huntington
County Community Network was incorporated, bylaws were drafted, and a board of
directors was elected.
In early 1996, the not-for-profit corporation received the first disbursement of its
$42,000 grant from Access Indiana.
Because the grant amount was only about two-thirds the sum originally requested, the Board
was required to revise some of its ambitious plans. For example, the original proposal
called for toll-free, dial-up service to be extended county wide. Now, the Board was
forced to delay dial-up service to the communities of Warren and Roanoke until strategic
alliances could be forged with businesses, schools or libraries who could help share the
costs of extending services to those areas.
 Our first year of operation was
marked by notable successes, as detailed in our 1996 annual report to
Access Indiana and our monthly minutes. Throughout
1996 and 1997, much additional information about Huntington County was
posted to the HCCN web site. Dedicated access to the Internet was extended
to the Huntington City/Township Public Library, Huntington College,
Huntington North High School, and the Huntington County Courthouse. HCCN
became a charter member of the Indiana
Community Network Association.
In 1997, dial-up service was extended throughout Huntington County,
thanks to strategic partnerships with CTLnet and Fort Wayne Internet.
These companies provide dial-up service, web page design/hosting and
dedicated services. In return for HCCN's promotional and referral
services, both ISP's promised to rebate a portion of service fees
collected from end-users to help fund HCCN's content development efforts.
These two established ISP's provided a high level of service to
individuals and businesses throughout the community.
With the explosion of the internet industry in the late 1990's, the
marketplace changed, and it was no longer necessary for HCCN to foster the
deployment of dial-up service or broadband networks in the local
community. Instead, the HCCN board focused its attention on developing the
World Wide Web's most comprehensive portal for Huntington County and on
providing web homes free of charge to local non-profit organizations.
To this end, HCCN purchased a new server, automated many
content-creation processes, and established a cadre of volunteers
to assist local non-profit organizations with their online needs.
In 2001, with the advent of an official City/County web site, HCCN's
changed its URL from www.huntington.in.us
to www.huntingtoncounty.org.
The HCCN board was proud to have held the public domain name in trust for
six years until local government was ready to establish a site of its own.
Today, the Huntington County Community Network web site is the most
exhaustive online resource for our local community. Yet, much more remains
to be done. If you would like to join our efforts, contact any member of
our Board of Directors. |
