All messages are password pro tected. Moreover, if a participant writes four messages he gets his fifth for free. Two thousand people each month use Community M emory to share ideas and inspirations, exchange goods and services, meet, talk, gossip, debate, an d support each other. Over 200 small businesses and community groups use Community Memory to announce me etings, publicize events, promote services, recruit new members, find volunteers, advertise for staff, and assist in community organizing. Still the primary users of Community Memory are ind ividuals, who as a rule do not have computers at home, do not make their living from the manipulatio n of language, use public transit, and generally are an atypical group of computer networkers.
Participants develop other uses.
Berkeley's cable TV consultant answered queries from cable subscribers as part of her community needs assessment. An Ecology Center board member fielded questions about recycling. In response to the troop build-up before the war with Iraq, Country Joe MacDonald pulled together a group of veterans to create an interactive War Memorial. An out-of work musician created a Musician's Exchange to share information about professional opportunities . People often interact with each other on-line who otherwise would rarely interact.