Blandin Initiative Spurs Rural Broadband Use
Hot off the presses (Sep 5, 2006), Center for Rural Policy and Development surveys indicate that the first seven rural Minnesota communities participating in the Blandin Foundation Get Broadband initiative show local broadband adoption rates increased at a rate significantly higher than the state average. For details visit the Blandin Foundation web site.
Next Generation Broadband Conference – Oct 18-19
The Blandin Foundation broadband conference is just six weeks away! The conference agenda is engaging with demonstrations from power users, videos from Get Broadband communities, a candidate form, and much more. For a complete agenda and details, visit the Blandin Foundation web site. If you are interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at the conference please contact the Get Broadband team at broadband@blandinfoundation.org.
Get Broadband community leaders can register for the event here:
https://www.regonline.com?eventID=101111&rTypeID=76630. Others should go here: http://www.regonline.com/101111
Blandin Sponsors Online Gubernatorial Debates
As a precursor to the October conference, Blandin is sponsoring an online gubernatorial debate, organized by Minnesota E-Democracy.Org. All of the gubernatorial candidates will be invited to participate in this Internet-based debate. Over two weeks, candidates will answer questions from the public (submitted online) and offer rebuttals based other candidates’ response via email. Multimedia aspects are in the works to demonstrate the value of broadband for civic engagement. The debate will be available to the public via email or on the E-Democracy.Org web site .
Blandin is particularly interested in posing question regarding broadband policy and/or questions from Get Broadband community members. If you have a question you’d like to submit, please send it to your Get Broadband coordinator or send it directly to the gubernatorial debate coordinators at edebate@e-democracy.org.
Attracting and Sustaining Volunteers Workshop
Facilitated by Jim Krile, director of the Blandin Community Leadership Program, Attracting and Sustaining Volunteers is a highly interactive workshop that will help community leaders build a strong base of volunteers whose skills and interests match the activities they are asked to perform. Participants attending this three hour workshop will learn how to identify, recruit, orient, and sustain relationships with volunteers.
Participants will apply what they learn in the workshop directly to their work in building broadband use and awareness in their communities and leave with an action plan for recruiting and sustaining their volunteer base. Two people from each of the Get Broadband communities will have an opportunity to attend, free of charge, Attracting and Sustaining Volunteers on the afternoon of October 18 in Alexandria. Learn more or register online. (This is the same registration form as for the Fall Conference – just indicate, where asked, that you would like to attend the pre-event training.)
Net Neutrality – A Compromise?
Business Week recently ran an article that proposed a balance between the two sides of Net Neutrality (The War for the Net’s Future) by suggesting a solution that preserves creativity and rewards innovation with premium prices. Author Stephen Wildstrom takes a look at the issues from all sides, including the consumer’s perspective. Following the article are comments from readers, which are varied and interesting especially if you want to get different viewpoints.
(For another balanced look at the Net Neutrality issue, check out The Battle for Network Neutrality from KERA.)
Building Electronic Communities and Networks
The UN FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) recently released an online and CD-Rom based resource entitled: Building Electronic Communities and Networks. It includes 29 lessons lasting 15-90 minutes that cover the approaches, methods, and tools used to build electronic communities. The resource targets coordinators and facilitators of established or new communities. Though the audiences are those with shared interests in agricultural and rural development, the lessons are useful across a wide spectrum of issues.
YouTube – A Free Tool for Uploading Videos
With several Get Broadband communities participating in a video contest as part of the Next Generation Broadband Conference, it seems like a good time to mention YouTube, a repository and searchable catalog of short videos. Video producers are invited to upload their videos for free on YouTube as long as the video is less than 10 minutes, fewer than 100 MB and the person uploading the video has copyright or has permission to upload copyrighted materials. The instructions on YouTube are clear and useful. For a sample, check out the video uploaded from International Falls below (in the Communities section).
Most Wired US Cities – Minneapolis is ranked 25
Forbes.com recently published their list of the most wired cities in the US. Out of 30 cities, Minneapolis came in 25th. (They only looked at the largest 100 cities.) Rankings factored in the percentage of Internet users with high-speed access, the range of service providers within a city and the availability of public wireless hot spots. Minneapolis came in 11th for WI-FI spots and 29th for broadband adoption.
Iron Range Fiber to the Home Project Update
Dick Nordvold, a Blandin Broadband Strategy Board Member and former director of IRR's “Do IT” program, has been retained by Northeast Net (a Blandin Foundation grantee) to help put together a Joint Powers Agreement between communities that are interested in further exploration of an Iron Range Fiber to the Home project. This next step will help refine the feasibility analysis and identify the public funds needed for the project.
Pew Internet Life New Report
Pew Internet & American Life Project tracks Internet usage (and users) over time; they have recently made that information available in a new format – a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet tracks data from 2000 to present and helps put an historical perspective on the data. For example the number of survey respondents who went online was 46 percent in March, 2000; that number jumped to 73 percent in April 2006.
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