Free Web Tools For Community Building

A major component of many Internet businesses is to give away free services and useful software tools. This practice is making available, at not cost, a vast array of tools that have the potential to assist our local communities.

The resources below consist of only a limited sample of the vast resources available on the Internet:

• Free internet access. Anyone with a computer and a modem can connect to the internet at not cost. These services typically have strict time limits; unlimited usage may be available for a monthly fee. One company still offer two free internet access services which include free email accounts.
  Juno http://www.juno.com/ Limited to 10 hours per month per household.
  NetZero http://www.netzero.net Limited to 10 hours per month per household.

• Free email accounts. All community members can have their own email accounts which can be accessed through any Internet connection! A number of companies offer free email accounts.
  Hotmail http://www.hotmail.com
  Yahoo! Mail http://mail.yahoo.com/
  GMail (Google) http://gmail.google.com/
  Bluebottle http://www.bluebottle.com/
  FastMail.fm http://www.fastmail.fm
  Free Email Address Directory http://www.emailaddresses.com Lists many other services, including some which provide support for non-English characters.

• Personal Computer Security: Free Tools. These is freeware available for download to scan for virus, spyware, and adware.
  AVG http://free.grisoft.com/ Download the free AVG free anti-virus protection tool developed by Grisoft for home use.
  Ad-Aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ Download the free personal edition to find hidden adware and remove it from your computer.
  Spy-Bot Search & Distroy http://www.safer-networking.org/ Download the personal edition to find hidden spyware and remove it from your computer.
  

• Free PDF Converters. These offer solutions to convert documents to PDF format at no cost.
  CutePDF http://www.cutepdf.com/ Download tool and driver and create PDF files on your computer.
  PrimoPDF http://www.primopdf.com/ Download tool and driver and create PDF files on your computer.
  PDFOnline.com http://www.gohtm.com Creates PDF online and emails it.
  PDF995.com http://www.pdf995.com Download tool and driver and create PDF files on your computer.
  

• Free Multi-services ("Web Portals"). Some sites offer more than one service like email accounts, news, search engines, free web hosting, instant messaging, internet phone, etc.
  Google http://www.google.com
  Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com
  About.com http://www.about.com/
  MSN http://www.msn.com/
  

• Free Electronic Money Transfers. It is now possible to transfer funds over the web, without having to accept credit cards directly. People who want to donate funds or buy t-shirts, house tour tickets, etc can do so through a separate website. You just need to set up your organization's account on that site.
  PayPal http://www.paypal.com/
  Network for Good (For direct contributions to registered 501(c)(3) organizations) http://www.networkforgood.org
  

• Free Fax service. Receive faxes wherever you can check email.
  eFax http://www.efax.com To send faxes, you would need to pay for the eFax Plus service.
  

• Free Phone service over the internet. PC phone calls over the internet can connect you to anywhere in the world. Although many such services set up in the 1990s no longer exist or now charge per-minute rates, a few new free internet phone services have been developed.
  Skype http://www.skype.com/
  FreeWorldDialup http://www.freeworlddialup.com/ Includes video, voice, or text communication. Requires a high-speed Internet connection.
  Sony InstantVideoEverywhere (IVE) http://sony.glowpoint.com/ Free video-phone service over the Internet.
  Free Conferences http://rsvp.conferencemgr.com/ Free phone conferences for businesses, organizations, and individuals
  

• Instant Messaging (IM). Unlike free phone service, instant messaging is usually text-based. Some also support audio between two computers, but not between a computer and a phone.
  ICQ http://web.icq.com/
  AOL Instant Messenger http://www.aim.com/
  MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.com/
  Yahoo! Messenger http://messenger.yahoo.com/
  Miranda Instant Messenger http://www.miranda-im.org/
  Google Talk http://www.google.com/talk/

• Free Greeting cards. This is an easy way to build good will and show appreciation to your neighbors and community leaders. You can also send out notices and build e-mail RSVP lists using services like eVite.
  Ecards http://www.ecards.com/
  BlueMountain http://www.bluemountain.com
  eVite http://www.evite.com/

• Free web page hosting. This can easily allow the integration of neighborhood residents into neighborhood webpage. Most residents have special areas of expertise (i.e., plastering, rehabbing, gardening, etc.). Integrating personal webpages can be an easy way to build a bank of knowledge for your neighborhood.
  For organizations or individuals: Google Page Creator http://www.googlepages.com/
  For individuals: Tripod http://www.tripod.lycos.com/
  For individuals: Yahoo! Geocities http://geocities.yahoo.com/
  

• Free Online Business Creation. These types of resources can assist your local neighborhood businesses to establish a presence on the internet and sell their goods and services on-line.
  E-Bay http://www.ebay.com/ Fees apply for sales; but not for purchases. PayPal is the payment mechanism.

• Free online diaries / weblogs / "blogs." Anyone can easily and quickly create a "blog." Several services allow for creating these online diaries, with no web page creation skills necessary.
  Blogger http://www.blogger.com
  LiveJournal http://www.livejournal.com/
  Movable Type http://www.movabletype.org/
  Xanga http://www.xanga.com/
  

• Group-editable/collaborative web sites ("Wiki") hosting. The concept of a "Wiki" popularized by Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) is that anyone can edit the content of any page on that site. Sometimes editing may be restricted only to registered users. This can be a useful way to prepare and continuously update documents like resolutions, bylaws, and other chunks of information about a neighborhood or anorganization.
  BluWiki http://www.bluwiki.org
  SeedWiki http://www.seedwiki.com/
  Wikicities http://www.wikicities.com
  For more information - MediaWiki http://www.mediawiki.org

• Local online bulletin boards. Services like Craigslist allow anyone to post classified-ad type notices online for free.
  Craigslist St. Louis http://stlouis.craigslist.org/
  Postaroo http://www.postaroo.com
  
  
• Email Lists for Your Organization

The St. Louis CIN thanks Frank B. Odasz of Lone Eagle Consulting for inspiring us to create this resource for our St. Louis Community.