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The following two sites are being developed by the same private enterprise, and are situated within a block of one another. Although these two centers are under the same direction and serve the same neighborhood, they fulfill two different functions. The Birch Lane telecenter offers access to a wide range of information-related utilities on a fee-for-service basis; this provides flexibility for casual as well as consistent users. The Davis Telework Center is dedicated to telecommuting. Marketing strategies for both sites have targeted employees by means of community outreach; specific activities include direct mailing to the surrounding neighborhood, and distribution of door hangers and flyers. However, employer referrals from other RABO telecenters are contributing increasingly to recruitment results.
Developed and operated by a private entrepreneur, this site is a computer lab in an elementary school, and doubles as a teaching facility during school hours. Operating hours for the telecenter are from 3:30 in the afternoon until midnight. These hours have made the site largely inaccessible to the majority of workers whose normal work hours coincide with the times the facility is in use by the school. Marketing plans for this center are thus largely confined to employees with swing-shift hours, students, and drop-in users. One-time usage fees for drop-in users are $6.00 per hour for non-students and $5.00 for students. Those who wish to can subscribe to unlimited usage by purchasing a monthly pass for $42.00 for a single person, or $69.00 per month for a family pass. The facility offers 16 80486 25 MHz personal computers with CD ROM drives, multi-media capabilities and internal fax/modems. All computers are linked by a token-ring local area network providing access to approximately 300 different software packages, including Microsoft Office, WordPerfect, Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Access, Lotus Freelance and Omni Page. Patrons can also use the color ink jet laser printer with duplex capability which services the network. The CD ROM library includes over 500 disks; additionally, the center is equipped with a Hewlett-Packard 400 dot per inch color scanner. Video-conferencing capabilities are not available at this time, although the developer plans to institute an IBM Person to Person computer conferencing system that may be accessed via the Internet. The site personnel offers Internet courses and general computer support for a fee, as well as specialized functions such as database programming.
As a center supporting diverse computing needs for the surrounding community, this site is successful. The center averages a weekly volume of 10 to 30 persons employing the facility for various purposes. These users include subscribers and walk-in users, many of whom are students.
The Birch Lane Telecenter occupies 1,300 square feet of a 10,300 square foot building, and is composed of sixteen cubicle workstations arranged in a horseshoe shape around a large room. The surrounding neighborhood is residential. Nearby amenities include two fast-food restaurants, a health club, child-care facilities and a drug store, all within three blocks. Revenue from user fees is supplemented by support from the Davis Joint Unified School District, which is underwriting rent and utilities for the center.
The site has been in operation since February 1994. However, with the recommencement of the school year in the fall, the hours the facility was available did not adequately meet the needs of most telecommuters. The second Davis site, Davis Telework Center, is designed specifically for telecommuting.
This is the second Davis site developed by the same private enterprise operating the Birch Lane Telecenter. Newly developed and operational, use of this site is reserved for telecommuters in and around the Davis area. It is located in a small office complex immediately adjacent to a large residential neighborhood and a small commercial development. The site occupies 932 square feet in a 5,000 square foot building, and has ten workstations total. The center comprises one large room with a reception area and three cubicle workstations, and three offices, two with two workstations and one with three. There is no separate conference room, although the developer is planning to implement the same IBM Person to Person computer conferencing system described in the Birch Lane narrative. The phone system is Centrex. The developer is planning to equip the workstations with a combination of IBM-type personal computers and Macintoshes. The IBM-type personal computer configuration will be nearly the same as those installed in the Birch Lane Telecenter; that is, 80486, but with a clock speed of 66 MHz.
Currently, the center is being used by three telecommuters collectively working two person-days per week at the site. All have either technical or management occupations in non-profit or public agencies.
Because of its proximity to the Birch Lane facility, nearby amenities for the Davis Telework Center are the same for both. Both facilities are serviced by bus lines which have stops within a block of the centers. The Davis Telework Center is closer by one block to the restaurants, drug store and health club described above. The center itself supplies breakroom amenities, including a water cooler and coffee maker.
Additional support for this center has been provided by the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District in the form of supplemental cash funding.
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