BRIDGING A DIGITAL GAP - The University of Pennsylvania's Center for Community Partnerships has launched a program to close the digital divide in the West Philadelphia area. A $171,000 federal grant is helping to fund the three-year project, which will place university students in West Philadelphia schools and churches to lessons on computers and technology. The program will also provide training that can be used to seek tech-related jobs and will recycle old university computers. "The idea is to combine academics with real, practical community services," said Paul Vinelli, a University of Pennsylvania graduate who is the project's coordinator. The program has drawn student volunteers from work-study programs, and a group of students is taking part through the AmeriCorps program. The University of Pennsylvania is one of six universities to receive a grant from the Corporation for National Service. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 3 May 01 - Edupage, 4 May 01)

FINDING FREE INTERNET ACCESS FOR THOSE WITHOUT - Although 98% of public schools in the US are wired for Internet connections, access for many low-income students disappears when school ends. To help close this gap, a group of nonprofit organizations is working to keep those students connected during the summer. These organizations are building and distributing a directory - in both English and Spanish - of more than 20,000 locations nationwide that offer free Internet access. The ConnectNet database, launched in late March, is zip code searchable and and delivers detailed maps showing the locations of free access points in a given area. Its Spanish language counterpart Conectado, also operates a toll-free telephone number: 866-583-1234. The Kaiser Family Foundation is promoting the effort through a series of television advertisements, directed at teenagers, that will air in English and Spanish throughout the summer.

America Online's AOL@School is working with ConnectNet providing operators to staff the toll free number and is creating a virtual summer camp that will include free teacher training on how to make full use of the Internet. The AOL Time Warner Foundation has made "a big grassroots push to make sure every place that touches kids knows about this," said foundation Vice President B. Keith Fulton. "Anybody who has technology centers is reaching out. Really for the kids we're trying to reach, we're going through TV and other popular community centers." For the full article CLICK: http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/stories/index.cfm?key=136

ACCESSIBLE WEB PAGES - Many organizations are beginning to mandate or recommend that their web pages, including web course materials, follow accessibility guidelines to increase access to people with disabilities and to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. For example, the University of Wisconsin-Madison policy endorses the web accessibility guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium, known as W3C. Several months ago the university stated that all web pages published or hosted by the university must comply with the W3C guidelines by January 2002. Such guidelines can also benefit others by improving ease of navigation, faster download time and alternative media formats. If you're looking for accessibility resources, here are some to check out:

- World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative, CLICK:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/

- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, CLICK:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/

- Summary of webpage accessibility checkpoints in table format, CLICK:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist.html

- Federal IT Accessibility Initiative (Section 508) CLICK:
http://www.section508.gov/

- Bobby, a free tool that analyzes webpages for accessibility, CLICK:
http://www.cast.org/bobby/

- National Library of Medicine and National Institute on Aging, CLICK:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/checklist.pdf
(from Bruce Dewey, UW-Madison DE Certificate Program)