Jim wrote, a few columns ago, about developing a sense of leadership in the computing community. I want to expand on that theme a bit, and talk about ways of developing and expanding your own sense of community using computers and the Internet. With more people working from home or telecommuting, some people may be feeling like Cathy in the comic strip, isolated from the office community, and looking to develop their own ways of feeling connected with the outside world.

If you’re not yet telecommuting, you might find some tips and statistics for persuading your employer to let you use the computer at home once in a while at http://www.svi.org/PROJECTS/TCOMMUTE/webguide, the telecommuting guide developed by the Smart Valley project. If you’re running a business from home, you can find some good resources at http://www.bizproweb.com, a nicely laid-out Web site for small business professionals and home office entrepreneurs.

Many community service organizations are taking advantage of the Internet these days by hosting their own Web sites. You can find information on some national organizations for community services at: http://www.excite.com/lifestyle/communities/community_services. Information on the San Diego area community and services can be found on ATT’s Local Eyes site at http://www.localeyes.com/1US6SAN/04.html.

Some local Web sites for service and charity groups include: http://www.reentry.org, a ministry service for prisoners re-entering society, including an excellent resource list, http://www.meals-on-wheels.org, which provides meals to local area homebound and elderly people, and the San Diego Rescue Mission at http://www.sdrescue.org. There are many more—try doing a web search for your favorite charity.

If you’re running a nonprofit organization, or would like to, check out the information at http://www.nonprofit-info.org, which has a ton of information on creating and running nonprofit organizations, and http://www.nonprofit.gov for information on government programs and grants. Impact Online, at http://www.impactonline.org, has information on "virtual volunteering," using the Internet to find and organize volunteers. The San Diego Community Foundation Web site at http://www.sdcf.org is another source of funding information.

Other sources for developing your own sense of community are local Web sites that can offer information about your city and about local services, including places to volunteer your services to local charities. A Web search on your local community name might lead you to sites such as: http://www.carlsbad.ca.us, http://www.ci.san-marcos.ca.us or http://www.coronado.ca.us.

Your local ISP can offer a sense of community, if you belong to one of the smaller ones where people actually have time to pick up the phone and talk to you, and not just when you have a problem. If you can get along without the personal touch, a larger ISP is fine, but the existence of so many smaller ones proves there is a need for the kind of personal service they can provide.

The Internet community once relied on Usenet newsgroups to share information. These groups can still give you a chance to talk with others who share similar interests. I found out about this column-writing opportunity through the newsgroup sdnet.computing, for example. If your ISP doesn’t carry the local sdnet newsgroups, you might ask them to consider adding them (another advantage of using a local provider). For "all the FAQs" about newsgroups, check out http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html.

E-mail is still the biggest advantage of getting online. You can set up your own mailing lists of business clients, or use e-mail with friends and family as a way of staying in touch with people you might not otherwise see or call. Your ISP may or may not offer a mailing list service. If not, you can set up your own mailing lists using most e-mail packages. And please, don’t use them to spam (send junk e-mail to) people you don’t know. Spam just annoys people, and won’t help your business. Offer something of value with your e-mail—a newsletter of interesting information for your business clients, for example.