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Read the Boston Globe article.
Shortly after their formation, the Melrose Silver Stringers were asked to write a story about themselves, so they crafted the following mission statement:
The Silver Stringers is a group of senior citizens who are fascinated by the future. The group includes some twenty such citizens from the suburban city of Melrose, MA who have joined forces with members of the MIT Media Lab (Walter Bender, Jack Driscoll, Rebecca Prendergast and Marko Turpeinen) to enhance use of the Internet as it relates to individual communities around the world. The result has been the formation of the electronic "rag" called The Melrose Mirror. "The Lab's purpose," Lab advisor, Jack Driscoll, said, "is to facilitate, at the community level, the use of computers and the Internet, creating a community within a community. While watching the group's success, and analyzing its stumbling blocks, we are now able to develop not only new software, but recognize and develop solutions to the technical and physical problems they encounter." In the meantime, the Silver Stringers have produced -- and published in the Mirror -- several dozen news articles, four travelogues, a dozen poems, schedules of coming events and even one crossword puzzle. On the other side of the team, the Media Lab continues to hone a software package to facilitate accessibility, and is adapting several new ideas in application hardware. Virginia Hanley, this month's group leader, said that the successes of both halves of the association have been "encouraging". The other Silver Stringers subsequently voted that her comment was exemplary in its understatement. The members feel that, suddenly, something wonderful has loomed on the horizon -- an exciting opportunity to explore the world, to meet interesting people with whom to exchange information and ideas, and a challenge for self-expression. They want to be involved in the world around them and to have the ability to reach out into cyberspace. They are a living patchwork quilt of ideas, opinions, projects, talents. With past experiences to support them, they want to be able to use the current and future technology to stay in touch with the world and to contribute what they have learned and experienced.
Two
years, two Research Assistants (Ingeborg Endter replaced Marko Turpeinen), and
two versions of software tools later, the Melrose group is flourishing. They
have produced hundreds of articles, photos, cartoons, drawings, and even a
theme song.