Part of last week's WATPA meeting was devoted to discussion of the role
WATPA might play relation to changes in Westchester County government as a
result of last Fall's election.
I have updated material on the traditional role of the PathMaster and
tried to define a new role. The opportunity exists for the designation of
official contemporary Pathmasters, a cadre of qualified volunteers,
willing to assist local communities in things Internet. The following
draft represents areas where WATPA/PathMasters might make a contribution.
This is being posted to the list for comment and help in further defining
appropriate areas for WATPA/PathMasters to operate and to further flesh
out the qualifications for official designation.
Please post somments to the list or back to me if you prefer.
Bill Langham
WATPA Secretary
The PathMasters
The old thorofares are being improved and new lengths of road take the place of
impracticable old ones..." stated the Reverend Wm S. Coffey writing about the
period 1783 - 1860 in J. Thomas Scharf's History of Westchester County (1886).
Roads have historically opened trade, facilitated the transmission of news and information, and
improved life. From Revolutionary times until after the Civil War, towns and villages appointed
PathMasters to lay out the roads and provide for their maintenance and care. The Path Master was
responsible for making sure that the community's roads were "being constructed and ready access
afforded to the mills, to the villages..."
The increasing digitization of life in Westchester County can be expected to contribute to dramatic
societal change - in the way we work, live, and play. The introduction of the personal computer and
its connection to the telephone enables extraordinary new means to accomplish daily tasks in the
workplace, at school and at home. It is becoming increasingly evident in the way we conduct our
government business. Many local governments and school districts have installed sophisticated
operating networks; now many Westchester school boards and local governments are being
challenged by their constituencies to open their systems, permitting external access to information
and the ability to conduct appropriate business remotely.
Inevitably such requests raise questions not only about how to achieve such access technically, but
also about who should have access to what. In today's rapidly changing environment, answers to
such questions sometimes appear beyond the reach of local officials - the Mayor and President of the
Board of Education have enough to do without worrying about whether their legacy system will
turn into the equivalent of juice cans and string in two years. Selecting, installing, maintaining,
utilizing and determining application of the new technology is not unlike the challenge overcome by
community talent and effort during that period in American history when pathways and trails were
transformed into roads by the PathMasters.
A cadre of voluntary PathMasters, mustered and qualified by the Westchester Alliance of
Telecommunications and Pubic Access (WATPA), would advocate and facilitate appropriate use of
interactive communications networks for the delivery of government information and services to the
citizens of the County.
Among WATPA's membership are people with demonstrated skills in the examination,
implementation and application of information technology to many of the problems facing
Westchester communities today - selecting appropriate technology; website design and development;
internetworking; types of services appropriate for online delivery; examination of legal, legislative,
privacy and security issues; and such other areas as needed and deemed appropriate.
Westchester's PathMasters might undertake a study of what information strategy the County might
pursue, including analysis of what technology-based information to provide and how to access it.
Other activities could include the compilation of a Westchester FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions
and their answers) and creation of an online Citizens Help Desk, providing inquirers "expert"
answers to their questions regarding government services and how to obtain them. PathMasters
would be available to provide citizen guidance to local government and schools about matters of
concern - cellular telephone equipment, aspects and impacts of distance learning on their schools,
Website development and maintenance training of local community employees and or volunteer
webmasters (a Webmaster's Training/Boot Camp). PathMasters could function as policy advisors in
such areas as the installation and impact of E-Z Pass devices and traffic tele-monitoring, implications
of local telephone competition, and cable TV de-regulation.
What qualifications should contemporary PathMasters possess?
A minimum of 20 hours of community service in the area of computer literacy training, website
design and development, actionable research in a related field (telecommunications, information
management, information policy, technology planning), or enduser training. Other...
WATPA, the Westchester Alliance for Telecommunications and Public Access, has its members,
experts in many of the areas mentioned. WATPA's experience in developing the county's leading
not-for-profit host website, its ability to gather and disseminate unbiased information on matters of
public concern and its ability to stay abreast of developments in community applications of the
Internet provide the foundation from which to grow enough PathMasters to adequately serve
Westchester. Appointment of PathMasters would aid development of the County's information
infrastructure and ensure that these new pathways are the ones to take us into the next century.
Bill Langham
March 19, 1998
Revised March 23, 1998