Dickenson
The public launch of dcev.net took place on April 28, 2004 and since that time the TLT has taken advantage of several community events to market the site to residents, businesses, and civic groups in Dickenson. Visits to the Dickenson County Electronic Village and to the Village Mall, in particular, continue to grow. The unique accomplishments of the program in Dickenson County are described below.
- A strength of the project in Dickenson was the discovery of some very talented residents with strong technical expertise who have anchored their TLT. Others with limited technology backgrounds have made an effort to move beyond their former boundaries to assume positions of responsibility with the site. Early in the project, the TLT discussed the potential mentoring of local residents in web page development and that may still be a possibility. The technical support provided by these volunteers ensures the continued availability of competent web site administrators.
- The TLT has forged a working relationship with the DCWIN (Dickenson County Wireless Integrated Network) project which now provides high speed Internet access to all areas in Dickenson County. The availability of high speed access is critical to the growth of the Dickenson County Electronic Village, and cooperation between these two groups will benefit both.
- A team effort of the TLT and the Dickenson County Chamber of Commerce brought the attention of the business community to the Dickenson County Electronic Village. A TLT member was invited to make a presentation describing dcev.net and the business opportunities that it provided at the Chamber?s Annual Business Appreciation Dinner in May, 2004. A computer was available on site so that those attending the dinner could sign up as Villagers or add their enterprise to the Business Directory.
- Attractive 'rack cards' designed by the TLT have been distributed to area businesses and other high traffic locations within the County. This attractive and cost-effective marketing tool may also attract the attention of visitors or others passing through the County.
- The Dickenson County Electronic Village has unlimited potential to support tourism in Dickenson, a major opportunity for economic growth in the County. At this time there are 18 businesses posted on the Business Directory, although only one business registered for the Virtual Business Incubator. At the same time there have been nearly 1,100 visits to the web site Business Directory. As more and more tourists plan both day trips and extended vacations using the Internet as a guide, family owned businesses providing services or special attractions that invite visitors need to become visible. Crafts and local products representing the Appalachian culture are of interest to Internet shoppers in Virginia and worldwide, and the potential for local businesses to increase sales is enormous.
- Visits to the Dickenson County Electronic Village surged to 900 in June 2004, likely related to the publicity received at the Chamber of Commerce Business Appreciation Dinner and through the rack cards. In fact about half of the total visits to the site (1,885) occurred in June. There have been 606 unique visitors since the site was deployed in October 2003, and 470 or about 75% of these visited since the public launch in April 2004. At this time 36 Dickenson residents are registered as villagers and nine nonprofit organizations are registered on the Community Organization Directory.\. Several community events and the regular meetings of the Remote Medical Services have been posted on the new Community Calendar.
- An on-going problem for the program in Dickenson County is the large number of residents who do not have access to a computer at home or elsewhere. Since the first meeting, the TLT has developed a shared vision as to how they might make computers available to children and youth who at this time do not have a computer at home. A program to recycle computers that are being replaced by individuals or businesses or government agencies is being organized, and could place computers into many homes that have been without. Grant opportunities might also provide resources to make computers available to more folks in Dickenson.
- A virtual launch of the Dickenson County Electronic Village sponsored by the TLT, DCWIN, Dickenson Chamber of Commerce, and other representatives with local business interests including the Department of Business Assistance confirmed the potential of technology for business and education. The major speaker at this event held in Clintwood was William Sanders, the Director of the Blacksburg Electronic Village, who spoke from his office in Blacksburg, and described the contributions of a community web site to economic development.
- One goal of the TOP program was the identification of resources within the community that could spur the creation of small businesses and add jobs to the local economy. One such enterprise is a web services business that has flourished with the heightened awareness of the need for businesses of all sizes to have a web site to market their products or services. This web service has provided a job for the web master and occasional part time work for an additional person. This outcome is a perfect example of what this project hoped to accomplish.
- This project has also brought intangible rewards to individuals and communities in Dickenson County. In the words of one TLT member, 'the project holds the potential to break boundaries for small communities. The village can open lines of communication within the community and to the outside world. It makes you less egocentric by seeing what other groups are doing.'