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POLITICS & COMMUNITY by Kevin Kanarek More on MAIN:

y older brother Michael, his wife Smadar, and their three kids live in North Carolina, where Michael has worked as a blacksmith and a timberframer, and where he now makes his living as a firefighter. This winter, like most winters, I flew down to visit. As usual, I showed up on their doorstep sick from deadlines and generic New York City stress. They always prepare extra food, herbal remedies, and advice for me, along with a pile of firewood to be cut and a supply of go-devil handles for when I split them instead of the logs. (Over the years I've learned to make the replacement handles myself.) This year I had the additional goal of helping them connect to the Internet. In the process we learned a lot about the various configurations of MacTCP, issues of rural connectivity in general, and an Internet service provider/online community in particular called the Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN). Finding MAIN was sort of like rediscovering the early days of the WELL, only mapped onto the social and geographic topography of Southern Appalachia. Based in Asheville, North Carolina, MAIN is a non-profit ISP and bulletin-board community that links libraries, community centers, universities, and individuals who share a concern for community and civic issues. It serves 12 counties in western North Carolina, an isolated mountainous region and historically one of the most economically and informationally underdeveloped in the nation. There are many examples of physical community being extended and enhanced in the online world. But what makes the story of MAIN distinctive is that, unlike the pilot projects of Time Warner in Elmira, New York, or @home Network in suburban California, it's not about bandwidth or whether video-on-demand will play in Peoria. No focus group chose western North Carolina as being representative of the American market for cable modem services. As online communities and BBSs such as MAIN, ECHO, or The WELL also become full ISPs, new issues arise regarding funding, regulation, and free enterprise. Along with training sessions and workshops, MAIN offers full TCP/IP connection to the Web for individuals. Its cost is lower than the market standard $25 a month and, though it's not yet even complete, it is already considerably more accessible in the region than AOL. Like several similar enterprises, MAIN benefits from federal funding through the Department of Commerce, and its grant is up for renewal. Other ISPs have complained that this funding amounts to arbitrarily subsidized competition. But people working with MAIN stress that it's more about community and locally generated content than generic access to the Net — that they're trying to leaven the pie rather than get a free slice. The importance of a decentralized network with lots of local dial-ups is especially acute, they note, in a region where the nearest school or community center is usually a long distance phone call away. And through outreach, workshops, and local special interest content like microclimate weather maps, MAIN tries to bridge the many communities that share the same mountainous land. But the question of who wires the back country is part of a larger issue: Who is going to build the nation's information infrastructure, and whom will it most serve? Who uses MAIN? The wiring of western North Carolina opens up worlds of opportunity — financially, culturally, and socially — in this physically isolated region. Interview: Wally Bowen The founder of MAIN talks about community, the marketplace, and the challenges of bringing the Web to the woods. Celo A look at the activities and artwork emerging from one North Carolina community affected by MAIN. List of resources Links to more than 25 online communities, articles, and items of general interest. Kevin Kanarek is a writer, producer, and student of interactive media at ITP/NYU. When not occupied with the above, he can usually be found catching up on his sleep.