http://lone-eagles.com/oregonarticle.htm    By Frank Odasz, frank@lone-eagles.com

Lone Eagle Consulting will be presenting for NE Oregon communities strategies and resources for youth-driven rural Internet awareness, May 7-9th, 2001. Models will be shared for providing social incentives, and ongoing community self-assessment, for generating local Internet awareness, local skill and innovation capacity, and successful Ecommerce businesses.

Rural communities today are facing the challenges of how to bring high speed Internet to town in order to be competitive with urban areas. Most communities, however, are not prepared to address the issues of how to raise citizen awareness as to the Ecommerce and social potential of the Internet. They also do not know how to engage citizens as motivated self-directed learners supporting one another on an ongoing basis to meet the shared challenges of staying current in a world of accelerating change. There’s a great deal of benefit that rural citizens can realize through existing Internet connections, of which citizens need to be made aware!

Frank Odasz will discuss local program models for community members to engage in learning new skills, grow self-confidence, and grow the collaborative capacity of the community by everyone learning to share what they learn. He will also present ideas for providing social incentives and ongoing community self-assessment for Internet awarneess, local skill and innovation capacity, and successful E-commerce businesses. The more local citizens that find assistance to grow a personal vision, and can find the help they need to grow their knowledge and skills, the more sustainable that community becomes. A special youth focus will show how today's youth can lead their community in Internet awareness.

"The reality of what the Internet offers is that we ALL can be both learners and teachers all the time. We're all now faced with the same big question " What free web tools, in combination with learned attitudes, perspectives, and skills, will produce the greatest benefits for the most people with the least investment of time and money?" says Mr. Odasz.

Topics that Frank Odasz will discuss in a presentation titled "Youth Leadership for Community Internet Awareness" include youth leadership, E-commerce for beginners, and social networking strategies for building a sustainable community. Youth today are key technology leaders and technology change agents in all communities. Learn how youth can use digital photography, art and music to motivate citizens to learn to use the Internet to become self-directed learners and to self-publish locally and globally. An online "Train-the-Trainers" Internet Guide will be presented (http://lone-eagles.com/guide.htm ) along with a review of many self-teaching Internet training resources. A dozen low-cost, short-term youth-driven citizen engagement initiatives will be showcased.

Born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1952, Frank Odasz has been a carpenter, oil field roughneck, dude ranch manager, college professor, and is now a "Lone Eagle," an independent instructional entrepreneur. In 1982, Frank attended the University of Wyoming to learn the benefits computers and telecommunication could bring to rural citizens. As one of the early pioneers with both online learning and community networking, he founded the Big Sky Telegraph in 1988, offering online courses to rural teachers in one and two-room rural schools.

Frank Odasz's tour is sponsored by the Northeast Oregon Economic Development District, Region 13 Workforce Investment Board, the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce, and the Oregon Career Network. For more information please call Marya Nowakowski at NEOEDD 426-3598

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