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| Vol. 17, No. 22 | March 5, 1998 |
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| Vol. 17, No. 22 | March 5, 1998 |
DiamondNet, Delaware's Online Community Network, is now available on the World Wide Web. Located at www.diamondnet. org, the service-for nonprofit, state and local government agencies, community-based organizations and members of the general public-is a state-of-the-art system that allows agencies to communicate electronically internally with the public and with each other.
With the web transition complete, DiamondNet is now an intranet, combining electronic bulletin board and web functionality in a well-defined area of cyberspace. (For clients who prefer, access via direct dial-up remains available.)
Organizations with virtual offices on DiamondNet can make double use of those sites as organizational home pages on the web.
"This will not only drastically reduce the costs of maintaining a web site, but it is also less time consuming and confusing," said Steve Peuquet, policy scientist in UD's Center for Community Development and Family Policy and one of the founders and designers of DiamondNet.
Additionally, DiamondNet has recently negotiated an agreement with Internet service provider, DCANet, which will allow registered DiamondNet users to purchase discounted access to the rest of the Internet.
DiamondNet not only provides vital information on a wide range of organizations, volunteer opportunities and human service job listings, it also creates a sense of community as users contribute recipes, movie, music and theatre reviews and more. Anyone with
World Wide Web access can find everything from want ads for puppies to the homepage for the Delaware Housing Coalition through DiamondNet.
A growing list of registered users are "constantly finding innovative and exciting ways to harness the capabilities that DiamondNet has to offer," Peuquet said.
The "Commons" area provides a forum for the free exchange of ideas, thoughts and data to assist agencies throughout the state in developing new and more effective ways of addressing community issues.
With the click of a mouse button, organizations can coordinate service delivery between agencies and automate client referrals; collaborate and plan with other agencies; advertise events and available services; pursue fund-raising and advocacy activities; and conduct on-line discussions with other agencies on relevant and timely topics.
Navigating within DiamondNet continues to be a "point and click" process, and agencies can choose several ways to construct their home page.
DiamondNet was created with seed money from the Delaware Community Foundation. Delaware is the first state to offer such a program and, since its introduction, news has spread quickly. Other states are considering similar systems; and the program has attracted attention from the federal government, including the Department of Health and Human Services.
Some of the agencies with information that can be accessed via DiamondNet include The Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Delaware, the Delaware Association for Children of Alcoholics, The Delaware Housing Coalition, The Delaware Volunteer Servicenet, the Food Bank of Delaware and many more.
-Beth Thomas