Louisa County
Louisa County Report
Introduction 219K, about 30 seconds over 56K modem
Narrative 5M, about 12 minutes over 56K modem
April- June '04 Quarterly Summary
The Louisa County TLT experienced another loss of personnel this quarter (and the third over the life of the project) when Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) agent Sarah Cooper resigned from her position. The Technology Leadership Team (TLT) met on May 27 in the Louisa County Office Building. Jaime Shetrone, Project Coordinator, Bill Sanders, incoming Director of the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV), and Virginia Tech's Pamela Gibson, attended that meeting. Gibson led the TLT through the TOP evaluation process and discussed the Louisa County Electronic Village developed through this project.
On June 23, Sanders and Kevin Inman, TOP Grant Program Support Specialist met with VCE agent Judy Stevens to discuss ongoing projects within the county. She mentioned that she was planning a bilingual section of the e- village to cater to the growing Hispanic community in the county. BEV offered support with this since Inman had previously worked as a Spanish to English translator. Other topics discussed included the POWER (POWER Offers Web Economic Resources) internship program which is designed to give both local and remote volunteers real world experience working on Web site designs for community organizations and businesses. Following this meeting, Judy Stevens scheduled a Web site training session for September 2004 and secured travel funds to allow Carol Cornish, BEV Services Support Manager, to participate.
Stevens had recently participated in an online training course that involved Website development. She was able to offer related suggestions for BEV's online content management system, currently under development. Her suggestions are being incorporated into the tutorials BEV is writing to accompany the program. Over lunch, the mayor, a local cattle farmer, discussed his highly successful online sales using the Web. This is a good example of how the Internet can serve businesses in a predominantly rural community.
January - March '04 quarterly summary
The Louisa County TLT met on January 13 at which time they discussed the Technology Assessment developed by J. Nichols of Communications Network Services (CNS) of Virginia Tech who recommended that community leaders participate in this assessment. Plans were finalized for a web site design workshop held on March 17 to introduce citizens to the Community Connections and Virtual Business Incubator programs on the Louisa site. At that time five TLT members received transition training in preparation for the independent maintenance of the community network. A focus group evaluation addressing TLT member perceptions of the TOP program and process, conducted by P. Gibson, community initiatives specialist with VCE, will take place this spring.
October - December '03 quarterly summary
Progress in Louisa has been slowed as a result of the resignation of one VCE agent and the transfer of another VCE agent both of whom had provided initial leadership to the project. Despite these setbacks, Louisa held a Community Readiness Workshop on 10/29. It was led by volunteers S Toler and J Baldwin on marketing online and search engine optimization. They estimated that about 25 citizens/business owners attended this event. The Louisa County Technology Leadership Team met on 12/2 to discuss project related events. Louisa was also one of two counties this quarter to provide online incubator services to businesses and community organizations in the county.
July - September '03 quarterly summary
The Louisa TLT continued to meet over the summer to discuss the continuing development of their community network and features that would be of use to local users. The TLT and the local VCE agents are working with the Louisa Chamber of Commerce to organize a series of workshops addressing market segmentation, direct marketing strategies, electronic media planning and analysis, website design, and search engine optimization for start-up and small businesses. Two local business representatives from Mosbygrey, LLC and NetBaldwin/Adroit CO have agreed to serve as speakers for these events. Unfortunately, one of the VCE agents carrying major responsibility for this program left Louisa County to assume a similar position out of state, and her position is now being advertised. A new staff member representing the Agriculture and Natural Resources area was formerly affiliated with local government and likely can contribute to the development of further partnerships with government and business interests.
At the TLT meeting held on September 17th, R. Roberts demonstrated the community discussion board. TLT members were provided a hands-on opportunity to experience its capability.
The equipment (software and hardware) needed for running the Community Network in Louisa County has been deployed and is fully operational. It has been tested by members of the project team, Louisa County technology leadership team and the residents of Louisa.
September 25, 2003
Here are the minutes from the Louisa County TLT meeting on September 17th.
April - June '03 quarterly summary
Louisa County held 3 TLT meetings this quarter, on April 22nd, May 14th, and June 18th. The TLT completed the development of their community network and presented it to their Board of Supervisors. The Louisa Electronic Village went live on May 27th and can be viewed at http://www.louisaelectronicvillage.net. Development and publicity efforts continue.
J. Johnson, VCE Area Technology Specialist, and S. Cooper, C. Laws, and J. Riddell, VCE agents assigned to Louisa County, have led several community initiatives and meetings in support of the TOP program. Meetings of the TLT in April and May were devoted to final review of the community site before it became operational and brainstorming ideas for getting all citizens of the county informed about and involved with the community web site. Presentations to the Louisa County Extension Leadership Council and the Louisa County Board of Supervisors were successful in addressing the potential of this project for community development and gaining the support of these bodies. Since the site has become operational, surveys have been collected to determine topics and perceived needs for community readiness workshops. Preliminary review of the responses indicated an interest in workshops focusing on word processing equipment and software, financial management software, the impacts of doing business on line, and a telecommunications business open house. Host sites and speakers are now being recruited.
The June meeting of the Louisa County TLT addressed management procedures and responsibilities of designated administrators of the site. J. Shetrone, BEV Project Coordinator, updated the group on community calendar development and discussion board procedures. The TLT also discussed the need for legal counsel relative to public access and policy in respect to organizations eligible for posting.
TLT members are making individual efforts to promote the Louisa County Electronic Village around the county and within organizations they represent. A display booth at the annual Louisa Chamber of Commerce “Pig-nic” provided visibility for the project with promotional postcards with the URL, flyers giving general information about the site and how folks can become involved, and an e-commerce fact sheet.
June 24, 2003
Here are the minutes from the Louisa County TLT meeting on June 18th.
May 27, 2003
Here are the minutes from the Louisa County TLT meeting on May 14th.
Also, the following PowerPoint presentation was given at the Board of Supervisors meeting.
May 16, 2003
The Louisa County TLT has put together the following Powerpoint presentation about their community web site.
May 2, 2003
Here are the minutes from the Louisa County TLT meeting on April 22nd.
January - March '03 quarterly summary
Mathew Mathai, Project Director and Jaime Shetrone, Project Coordinator met with the Louisa county TLT in January and discussed the development of their community network. Jim Riddell, the VCE agent explained that Louisa County had gone through a very thorough comprehensive planning process that had process outcomes very similar to the Take Charge process. Dr. Eleanor Schlenker, VCE Project Lead and Pam Gibson, VCE Take Charge specialist met with Jim Riddell and reviewed the plan and the process used to generate the plan to ensure that it was equivalent to the Take Charge process. They subsequently notified the project management team that they were satisfied with their findings that the comprehensive process was equivalent in scope and effort to that of the Take Charge process. Louisa County TLT members met with Jaime Shetrone in March and have started working with her to develop their community network Web site.
Louisa County TLT members are enthusiastic participants in the development of their community network because they understand the potential benefits for socio-economic development in Louisa County.
Details about Louisa county activities pertinent to this project can be found at http://top.bev.net/counties/louisa.php
March 5, 2003
The following are notes on the February 11, 2003 meeting of the Louisa TLT.
The group welcomed Erin Paul, Public Information, Louisa Co. Public Schools.
The group decided to name the network--Louisa Electronic Village--and wants to purchase the domain name.
It was suggested that under the title of Louisa Electronic Village, there be a tag line to summarize the project. Something quick to read and catchy. Suggestions for this tag line included, " Where community and technology come together," or "Where people and technology come together in Louisa County".
From the November meeting, the Louisa Electronic Village would refer and highlight the issues identified in the recent Louisa County Comprehensive plan--which includes community derived information on: Where Are We Now, Where Do We Want To Go, and How Do We Get There.
The following headings were decided to go at the top of the first page (those named beside each heading are asked to go ahead and compile the starting content for that section by contacting organizations and businesses and by gathering links):
- People Directory -This is where people register to list personal info (similar to BEV's ecommunity)
- Local businesses - Bernice Kube and Tom Filer
- Community Groups - ALL
- Search / Help - Search Engine, Site Map?
- Education - Erin Paul
- Health - Vickie Southall
- Government - Matthias Smith
- Youth - Sarah Cooper
- Seniors - Paula Groome
- News/Calendar -
- Sports/Recreation - Paula Groome
- Arts/Entertainment - Connie Laws
- About LEV?
- Someone still needs to sign up for News/Calendar.
- Bernice said she would contact the webmaster for Louisaonline.
- There were questions for Jaime about legal issues (managing discussion boards and filtering what people put on the site).
- Would discussion boards go under each heading or be separate?
The group assigned the tract areas above for content needs--each member listed agreed to have all basic information in place by Mar. 14, the next meeting. Attached are two forms for use with Local Businesses (malllisting) and Community Groups (orglisting)Please come on Mar 14 with the following information concerning your track and content websites.
Name of Website---the actual URL
One Example---Track----names of units below--and URL for each site.
Government
Louisa County--/www.louisacounty.com/default.htm
Treasurer---http://www.louisacounty.com/treasurer/default.htm
Please provide it in electronic form if you can.
Any other information we will provide by email to Jaime to expedite the processess.
October - December '02 quarterly summary
Technology Leadership Team (TLT) is formed and will begin meeting in January. Louisa has already completed a process similar to Take Charge, and will be providing documentation for comparison.
July - September '02 quarterly summary
Louisa County is in the process of choosing the Technology Leadership Team.
