Is There Volunteer/Community Involvement?
Almost every initiative was partially or totally reliant on volunteer involvement. Very few computer instructors are getting paid for their efforts, usually only the ones who also run the facilities. Programs which concentrate on training senior volunteers so they can train their peers (such as the Wallingford Senior Center and SeniorNet of Puget Sound) report favorable results and increased interest. Do Participants “Produce” Or Just “Consume” Information? Most programs were still at the stage of teaching seniors how to become familiar with the world of information technology and to consume its information. Only a few were engaging seniors in producing information for distribution to others. Exceptions included programs where seniors created and mounted their own web sites or web-based materials, such as oral history and local nostalgia projects. Also, several programs, especially the intergenerational ones, involved seniors in doing on-line research and presenting their findings via
