From: JaNickrson@aol.com Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1999 19:33:11 EST Subject: GRASSROOTS INFORMATION COORDINATION CENTER (GICC) TO TRACK COMMUNITY IMPACT OF Y2K To: Y2KConnect@aol.com

I'm one of the co-creators of this grassroots information coordination center. I hope you'll consider posting some of your own first-hand experience, or emailing them to me (at JaNickrson@aol.com) for posting, so many others will be able to see patterns emerging on Y2K impact.

Jan Nickerson Y2K Connections Building Community Not Crises ~ the ONLY Y2K game in town www.Y2KConnections.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GRASSROOTS INFORMATION COORDINATION CENTER (GICC) TO TRACK COMMUNITY IMPACT OF Y2K

1999.12.24

Electronic Version at http://www.coalition2000.org/GICC.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ -------------------------------------------- CONTACTS: Steve Davis, Coalition 2000 and DavisLogic Inc., Columbia, Maryland. Phone: 410.730.5677, cell: 301.346.8623, e-mail: steve@davislogic.com

Jennifer Bunker, Governorms Coalition for Y2K Preparedness, and Joint Information Center (JIC), State of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Phone: 801-334-6490, cell: 801-540-2022, e-mail: Jen@BunkerGroup.com

Gary Gach, Foundation for American Communications, San Francisco, California Phone: 415.771.7793, e-mail ggg@well.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ -------------------------------------------- Anticipating that getting good information on Y2K impacts will be difficult, a grassroots effort has formed to quickly collect and provide accurate information on Y2K impacts at the community level. The Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) announced today that they are providing a unique Y2K information resource as a trustworthy adjunct and grassroots alternative to government and industry information sharing efforts. GICC is providing a forum where volunteers will "follow the sun" on New Yearms Eve and long afterwards to provide late-breaking news of Y2K-related events. This is expected to provide the public a truly unique information source as well as a public history of how the Y2K event unfolds at the community level.

In a truly democratic process, the project provides a participatory, open space where anyone can post and view Y2K incident reports. These reports will subsequently be independently verified and analyzed for trends by GICC analysts. Analyst reports will then be included at the forum. Topics are arranged by subject category, and sorted by date.

The web-based forum, located at http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/index.tcl will go live on December 30th.

GICC has its origins in the efforts of the State of Utah (y2k.state.ut.us) and Coalition 2000 (www.coalition2000.org). Coalition participant Jennifer Bunker is a member of the Utahms Governorms Coalition for Y2K Preparedness, and initially suggested using Utahms Joint Information Centerms to collect the communityms perspective of Y2K events as they occurred. This suggestion quickly grew to a grassroots initiative to monitor the crossover period not only locally but nationally and internationally as a way to both understand events as they unfold and as a means to help in recovery efforts. Founders of the GICC felt that such a site could counter misinformation, as well as provide a viable alternative to other information sources. MORE

GRASSROOTS INFORMATION COORDINATION CENTER (GICC) TO TRACK COMMUNITY IMPACT OF Y2K

1999.12.24 Page 2

No one owns GICC. Rather, it's autonomous, widespread, self-organizing, and "chaordic," cutting across traditional lines of generational and political affiliation, and is on the cutting edge of the kind of grass roots civic initiatives changing the face of contemporary society.

Only a little more than a week old, its history is as follows. Seeing the need for keeping the public informed and vigilant, Jennifer Bunker of the Utah Governorms Y2K Coalition, teamed up with Coalition 2000 founder Steve Davis and 20 other individuals to build the system and combine resources of many Y2K community action groups nationwide. National eyes will be directed at the Utah Center, where Senator Robert Bennett (R Utah) will be watching the world as the millennium ticks over.

Timebomb 2000 System Operator (SYSOP) Diane Squire brought the essential SYSOP expertise to the group. Based on here experience with the Timebomb forum she was quickly able to establish the necessary web-based sites using Philip Greenspunms LUSENET software.

At the same time, the nascent GICC reached out to the Center for Y2K and Society (http://www.center4y2k.com), who've targeted their efforts in support of the vulnerable members of our society, and have begun their own Y2K newswatch. The Center picked up the project's torch and they are now carrying it to America's nonprofit sector.

Through the publicity efforts of Coalition 2000 and others, plus consultation by co-founder Gary Gach, of the Foundation for American Communications (www.facsnet.org/y2k), GICC is reaching out to the media who are already interested in the Utah project due to the involvement of Senator Bennett.

For more information, please contact Steve Davis at 410.730.5677, Jennifer Bunker at 801.334.6490, or Gary Gach at 415.771.7793.

How to find GICC on the web: The GICC web page is at www.coalition2000.org/GICC.htm The GICC Y2K forum will be available on Dec. 30th at http://greenspun.com/bboard/ by selecting Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) from the list on that page. The direct URL for the GICC Y2K forum is: http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-challenge.tcl?topic=Grassroots%20I nforma tion%20Coordination%20Center%20%28GICC%29. Additional Y2K watch sites can be found at http://www.davislogic.com/. The Center for Y2K and Society site is at http://www.y2kcenter.org/.

END

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Tom Atlee * The Co-Intelligence Institute * Eugene, OR http://www.co-intelligence.org http://www.co-intelligence.org/Y

-- Jean Wasp (jean@sonic.net), December 28, 1999