Assistance Program

TIIAP, the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure
Assistance Program, is a matching grant program administered
by the Department of Commerce through its National
Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA).  You
can find full information about the program at the NTIA web site,
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/>.  To quote from the 1996 Notice of
Solicitation of Grant Applications, "TIIAP assists eligible
organizations by promoting the widespread use of advanced
telecommunications and information technologies in the public
and non-profit sectors.  By providing matching grants ... this
program will help develop a nationwide, interactive, multimedia
information infrastructure that is accessible to all citizens, in
rural as well as urban areas."

Why should the museum community care about TIIAP?  Several
reasons.  TIIAP is one of the few funding sources specifically for
infrastructure -- i.e., getting wired.  This year the TIIAP program
listed among its funding priorities "Lifelong Learning," including
"Projects that bring information, education, and enrichment
services on-line through public libraries, MUSEUMS [my
emphasis], cultural centers, literacy organizations, or other
non-profit organizations."  This emphasis resulted in a vastly
increased number of applicants from partnerships involving
museums -- an underrepresented group in the 1994 and 1995
grant cycles.

Previous museum "winners" have included (as noted by Diane
Zorich) the Computer Interchange of Museum Information (CIMI)
consortium in 1994, and in 1995 a grant to the Los Angeles
Unified School District included as project partners the Los
Angeles Public Library, the California Afro-American Museum,
the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, the Japanese American
National Museum, and the California Museum of Science and
Industry.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to whether or not this is
a program worthy of your support.  To me, it is.

James M. Bower
Getty Information Institute

>>> Christine Wolf <[log in to unmask]> 08/06/96
06:12am >>>
At the risk of sounding terribly ignorant, what is TIIAP? and why
should we support it?  Thanks for the info.

Cris Wolf