Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the RTPnet Papers #5297, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Judith Hallman of Chapel Hill, N.C., in September 2006 (Acc. 100514) and July 2017 (Acc. 103113).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Jessica Sedgwick,p November 2006

Encoded by: Jessica Sedgwick, November 2006

Updated by: Mary Oliva, July 2017

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Community information services--North Carolina.
• Computer network resources--North Carolina.
• Computer networks--North Carolina.
• Computer networks--Social aspects--North Carolina.
• Electronic villages (Computer networks)--Illinois.
• Electronic villages (Computer networks)--North Carolina.
• Internet--Political aspects--North Carolina.
• Peoria (Ill.)--History.
• Political participation--Computer network resources.
• RTPnet.
• Research Triangle (N.C.)--History.
• Research Triangle (N.C.)--Intellectual life.
• Research Triangle (N.C.)--Societies, etc.

• RTPnet online archives: http://www.ibiblio.org/rtpnet/

Click to access website (http://www.rtpnet.org/).

RTPnet is an online community network for the Research Triangle Park area (including Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, and surrounding towns) of North Carolina. It is a volunteer-driven, membership-based service of Public Information Network Inc., which is dedicated to helping North Carolina nonprofit organizations leverage Internet tools to promote and support their missions. Public Information Network Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation incorporated in August 1990, doing business as RTPnet, and previously known as Triangle Free-Net.

The collection documents the organizational progress, 1989-2015, of RTPnet, an online community network for the Research Triangle Park, N.C. Included in the chronological files are drafts of policies, meeting agendas and minutes, organizational charts, user guides, materials related to RTPnet publications, conference materials, project descriptions, correspondence regarding requests for public access terminals at the Chapel Hill Public Library, quarterly status reports to Orange County, financial information, grant proposals, NCTech4Good materials, and Community Networking newsletters, among other items. Clippings and copies of local news articles and other publications from the 1990s that discuss affordable Internet access and its potential benefits, the emergence of electronic democracy, and other technology issues are also included. Subject folders contain tax information, user guides, certificates, bylaws, attendee lists, evaluation forms, emails, and other items. Other materials include correspondence between RTPnet and individuals and groups that used RTPnet's Internet services and disk space and a videotape, "Community Computing: If it plays in Peoria ...," which describes the Heartland Free-Net of Peoria, Ill., one of the largest freenets of the early 1990s.

• Videotape (VT-5297/1)