Early Websites
Senior Connects 1.0
Senior Connects was the first program that launched this nonprofit in 2003 and the original name of the company. The first officers and board of directors were comprised of middle school students, since state law did not preclude minors from serving as officers and directors. The corporation’s scope was officially expanded and the company’s name was changed to Net Literacy in late 2004 when the Verizon Foundation offered Net Literacy a $50,000 if the bylaws were changed to include adults to sign the grant agreement. This site was launched in late 2004 and refreshed periodically. In 2009, the site was updated with Spanish and Russian content. By 2010, the Senior Connects program had increased computer access to well over 50,000 senior citizens.
Net Literacy 1.0
Construction of this website was originally constructed in 2005 and updated periodically. This shows the last version, updated in 2008. By 2010, Net Literacy had increased computer access to over 150,000 individuals. The site was constructed with a flash header, as were most of the early Net Literacy programmatic websites.
Safe Connects 1.0
Deployed in early 2008 with content that included Internet safety PSAs, PowerPoints, and other collateral materials, Safe Connects has increased Internet safety awareness to 100,000s of individuals through students-teaching-students in-school training, via the production of dozens of safety PSAs shown on television, and by producing 250 short safety videos that enable teachers, parents, and youth workers to start an interactive conversation about safety topics.
Community Connects 1.0
Launched in 2009, this site showed a Net Literacy programs that increased computer access to well over 100,000 individuals by 2010. It also includes a range of programs including constructing dozens of computer labs in churches, community centers, and charter schools. One summer project designed a website that helped mobilize a community together while aggregating important community resources. Through the use of rich media, dozens of community leaders were interviewed. The website used a Word platform, as was requested by NESCO, Net Literacy’s client. The interviews and website were completed in ten days. The website can be viewed at www.nescocoumminty.org, and has been kept current by NESCO. Another Community Connects program taught students Dreamweaver and paired the executive directors of some nonprofits unable to afford an online presence with students. Dozens of websites were constructed, and the site further honored the Community Development Law Center, a nonprofit law firm that provided pro bono services to almost 100 nonprofits each year.
Net Literacy “Thank You” 1.0
Constructed in 2009, Net Literacy used rich media to thank some of its long time partners in a web savvy way. Thereafter, Net Literacy has worked to thank current funders through a variety of websites constructed by students as projects.
Computer Connects 1.0
This site was launched in 2009, the year that Net Literacy student volunteers repurposed and donated 4,500 computers to schools, community centers, senior centers, libraries, churches, and other nonprofits. By 2016, Net Literacy donated over 40,000 computers since the company was founded in 2003.
Net Literacy Alliance 1.0
Constructed in 2009, this site represented Net Literacy’s vision of creating an network of digital inclusion nonprofits and other organizations that worked to reduce the digital divide. This was Net Literacy’s first WordPress website.
Financial Connects 1.0
The site was deployed in 2010 and constructed with PHP. It housed the beta version of Net Literacy’s financial literacy program, including 20 student storyboarded, scripted, produced, and edited videos, together with 200 “best of web” videos and interactive web-based games based upon an exhaustive review of 5,000 websites. Based upon the impact of this program, Net Literacy received $140,000 in additional funding from State Farm, Lilly Endowment, the Lumina Foundation for Education, and Intel to construct a national financial literacy website with 100s of student created videos.
Digital Literacy 1.0
After a visit to Hong Kong in June, 2010, the concept of a “best practices” website was innovated by Net Literacy. The site was constructed during one week in August, 2010 in alpha format using WordPress to showcase the impact of a digital literacy and digital inclusion website at a meeting held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September 2010. By the end of the meeting, the website was supported by Internet associations representing 225,000 Internet organizations on five continents. Three months later, Net Literacy had received over 300 best practice submissions from around the world. By September 2011, Digital Literacy had been endorsed by over 265,000 Internet organizations on six continents, with new associations joining representing countries ranging from Argentina and New Zealand.
Net Literacy 2.0
In 2011, Net Literacy’s website was rebuilt and expanded to serve as a single umbrella site and consolidated all programmatic sites and resources. Developed in WordPress, it provided a branded and streamlined look and feel. Monthly website visitors continued to increase and sometimes exceeded 15,000 unique visitors per month. Click on the image or the link to visit Net Literacy as it was at Google’s Way Back Machine (aka archieves.org) – https://web.archive.org/web/20161020031209/https://www.netliteracy.org/
