• Women Get It!
  
• The Women's March Against Poverty
  
• Homeschooling
  
  Part One
  Part Three

Working Together On-line
by Liz Rykert

As a new user of computers and a community organizer from way back, learning to add the virtual landscape as a new and powerful dimension, has meant new relationships, support, and building of common ground among people I would never had have had a chance to connect with.

When I started out I didn't have a clue...I was no techie...but I did have a strong understanding of how to work with others.  One of the great things about this medium is its capacity for letting people learn as they need to know something.   I began with the basics, dialling in, posting messages and learning to download.  As I needed to know something I used two mentors as steady sources of information to help me figure things out.  As women we know our children, upon being born, present us with life's longest learning curve.  We don't sit down and take a course on how to rear our kids from birth to adulthood.   Learning about electronic communication is the same thing.  I don't worry about the gaps in my knowledge. If I am wrong people are always quick to let me know.  Learning on an as needed basis means I retain my new knowledge because I use it as I learn it.  This is true for how we use the internet in our own individual adventures in learning on any topic.

The "Information Highway" with all the images it generates, implies moving from one place to another, carrying packets of information and the faster the better.  What does this have to do with gathering around the kitchen table and settling in for long chat?  Well I guess we have to have the means to get the kitchen...but once there, it is what we talk about, how we support we each other, and what we do together that keeps us coming back to gather.

Working with others means social process. Working with others on-line and concentrating on the social process of how we do this generated a new metaphor coined by Sam Lanfranco, the virtual workspace. The virtual workspace (playspace) as a metaphor complements the notion of the information highway but adds depth and breadth to it.

Women are socialized as communicators and practical ones at that. Understanding how adding the electronic venue as part of what we do, and not as an add on to our already busy schedules, makes sense to us. As we make the journey on-line, with technical support from each other, understanding how we combine our efforts in the literal (tangible presence in time and place) space with our work in the virtual space will lead to greater openness and collaboration.

Growing Up Healthy Downtown (GUHD) is a large community action program for children funded by Health Canada. There are eight community agencies who work together as partners. The transition to using the virtual workspace for GUHD was a carefully planned and respectful process. Prior to getting on-line I was responsible as the coordinator to flow information in and out to the project partners. As we introduced the networked environment we introduced a transition period. I and others would post in the conference guhd.net and let others know it was there by phone/fax. Over a three month period we slowly shifted from a distribution of information to having partners access the information as part of their work on the project. This has had the effect of building in participation and ensuring people working on the project at all levels in the organizations are equally informed.

By combining the literal space with the virtual space a degree of transparency to the process is introduced. I refer to this as limiting "crazy making behaviour". Saying one thing and doing another is a common source of mistrust, competition and influenced by who holds the power. Having the capacity to gather and discuss our issues, agree and disagree, and, form new positions of consensus means we can build our sense of accountability with each other. As trust and accountability are enhanced the likelihood of increased opportunities for collaboration emerge.

Collectively, as women and as citizens, we recognize the power in access to knowledge and information. Claiming the space in the context of a deep understanding of the social processes at play, means as women we need to turn to what we already know.

Liz Rykert, email: lrykert@web.net  

Coordinator, Growing Up Healthy Downtown,                                                                                        Family Service Association of Metro Toronto  Tel (416) 927-8500; fax (416) 927-8291                            facilitator: web conferences- bright.futures.net, guhd.net, act.cuts.ont

CLICK4HP

The listserv was conceived as a lead in to the workshop to be held at the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) Conference in Vancouver, BC on July 3, 1996. As we all venture out to explore our capacity to work together, without the barriers of time and place, we will need to rely on each other for the implications this new venue holds both in the literal and virtual realms.

To subscribe to CLICK4HP send an email to listserv@yorku.ca in which you leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE CLICK4HP Your-Name       Do not append a signature file. The software will capture your email address from the email header.

 Co-facilitators: Alison Stirling and Liz Rykert

ACT.CUTS.ONT

Act.cuts.ont is a public conference running on Web Networks. The conference is co-facilitated by Liz and a group of on-line activists in act.cuts.facilitators. The discussion focuses on the political environment in Ontario, sharing resources and planning strategies. You can participate by email or as a Web Networks subscriber. If you are a Web subscriber add act.cuts.ont to your conference visit list and join in. If you want to participate by email send a message to maureen@web.net  and ask to be added to the list. (Maureen is a real person who volunteers to repost the conference content by email daily!)

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for the Women Marching Across Canada May to June 1996 and for all of us who joined together online and on the streets to make our message clear

by Jo Sutton

The Women's March Against Poverty set out from the Canadian East and West coasts in mid-May and arrived in Ottawa a month later. Many of us joined in a march and rally in our home town to welcome the women, share our concerns and support the March as it pursued its' circuitous route to Parliament Hill.. Organized by the Canadian Labour Congress and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women the march theme was "For Bread and Roses" "For Jobs and Justice".

The Canadian Women's Internet Association (CWIA) took the initiative to use both their WWWeb site and women-l mailing list to keep us up to date with events. In many cities individual women wrote to the mailing list reporting on their events. The malestream newspapers did not report the huge turnout in Edmonton, the great send-off in Vancouver, or give us the feeling of the evening rally in Moncton. But, other women did keep us connected to the March, and to their experiences, through email. It was the same sort of connection I felt to the Beijiing conference - I couldn't be there, but women took the trouble to email and make me, and many other women, feel included.

The CWIA set the foundation for a "Supporting Wall" for the March, which was begun at the Vancouver send-off.  Anyone with access to the World Wide Web could go to the CWIA Web site and add a message of support on the Wall.  It grew day by day, people saying how excited they were to be taking part - both in the streets and in the virtual networking.  There were congratulations for the March, greetings and welcomes to Marchers.  Some came from individuals and some from organizations, some spoke for their groups - women with disabilities, lesbians, women of colour.  Many spoke out against government policies which are leading to the further impoverishment of women and children.  

Thank you, Canadian Women's Internet Association, for stepping in and keeping us connected to women across the country. To subscribe to the CWIA mailing list women-l, email majordomo@women.ca and in the body of the message type: subscribe women-l

Another important WWW site for the March Against Poverty was Du Pain et Des Roses. This website discusses the follow up of the 1995 Women's March across Quebec, the priorities set for this year and the actions planned for a 2500+ women's chain surrounding the National Assembly. Strategies for the action were shared and women invited to participate in the June 1st-2nd events. A 24 hour vigil was organized, with music, poetry, speeches and dance, followed by a rally for women, and men arriving in support of the vigil from across Quebec.

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by Scarlet Pollock

Looking for homeschooling resources? The Internet abounds with Websites designed for child-centred independent learning. Here's just a few Canadian Resources to get you started.

"The Canadian Alliance of Home Schoolers was founded in 1979 by Wendy Priesnitz, as Canada's first support network for families who were practising home-based, child-centred, independent learning.  It has become a trusted source of information on deschooling and maintains links with thousands of home-based educators around the world."  Contact with other deschooling families is encouraged.  Here is a list of Canadian Home Schooling Support Groups, as well as links to related groups around the world.

The Canadian Homeschooling Resource Page was started to provide a place for all Canadians to find information and links relating to homeschooling in Canada. It is important for homeschoolers to know what other homeschoolers across Canada are doing and how they are dealing with Canadian homeschool issues.

Here you will find a comprehensive set of resources by province, including support groups and provincial rules and regulations on homeschooling. There are valuable educational links and fun things for kids to learn. Links are provided to information on:

Frequently Asked Homeschool Questions,

Canadian Universities accepting homeschoolers,

Canadian Books, Catalogs and Resources

General Canadian Homeschool News/Information

Canadian Links and Homeschool Homepages

Other Homeschool Links

Web Pages done by Homeschool Kids

Search Engines

The site is maintained by Jill Campbell in Manitoba, Susanna Eve in Nova Scotia, Sandra Hoffman sandrap@flora.ottawa.on.ca in Ontario, Mary Burke in Alberta, Tia Leschke in BC, and Margaret Mcleod in New Brunswick. "If you have any news from your part of the country that you would like to share with other homeschoolers we would be glad to post it. We need your input- after all homeschool news rarely makes the late night news! Please contact us."

The Canadian Homeschool mailing list and archives can also be found on the site. You can follow the discussion by date or thread and click on the messages you want to read. If you prefer to join the homeschool mailing list: Send an email message to majordomo@flora.ottawa.on.ca Leave the subject line blank, and in the BODY of the message type: subscribe homeschool-ca

The Unschooling Homeschooler site offers an exciting range of Internet links on curriculum topics including Animals, Music, Literature, Math, Science, Art, Government, Geography, History, World Cultures, Words and Writing, Astronomy and Adventures Online.  Bonnie Bedford writes: "As opposed to homeschoolers who recreate school at home, we feel that the entire premise of schooling is wrong and damaging to children...Because our children aren't isolated in an ivory tower they can participate fully in the adult world, rather than be hidden away from it for 12 or more years. We don't "study subjects", we follow passions and explore interests."

This is just a beginning. Many well-developed Websites exist on this subject as parents explore the Internet and its educational possibilities with their kids.

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Women'space Home Page
Part One Summer 1996, volume 2 no.1
Part Three Summer 1996, volume 2 no.1