Monthly Archives: October 2008

Does broadband benefit rural areas?

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Thanks to Matt Rezac from Blandin for sending me a recent article from the Daily Yonder (Scholars Stew over Broadband’s Rural Benefit). It’s a summary of sorts of a recent Economic Research Service conference in DC. (I asked before if they would be archiving the conference. Sadly no, but apparently there will be a report.)

According to the article, the big questions were “whether rural areas indeed do lack access to broadband technology and whether high-speed connectivity can appreciably diminish the “rural penalty” – chronic disadvantages in personal income, employment, health care services, and education.” It sounds as if there were some mixed answers.

The article is definitely worth reading but for the time challenged, I’ve condensed it to a simple scorecard.

Not enough broadband in rural areas
Pew – stats show that rural areas are behind urban counterparts for broadband and 24% would get broadband if they could
University of Nebraska – and we’ll feel it in access to online learning

Enough broadband in rural areas
FCC – though those stats are strongly disputed because they are not granular enough

Broadband is great
Brandeis – Internet helps some industries more than others

Broadband isn’t necessarily great
Brookings Institute – little evidence saying broadband creates jobs
University of Chicago – broadband doesn’t help students
Kansas State – broadband doesn’t help diminish rural penalty
Ohio State – people who hadn’t been online had higher hopes for the impact than those who had

OK I took some serious liberties in deference to brevity – but in a nutshell that’s what I read.

Judge rules in Monticello lawsuit

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Here’s the lastest from Monticello…

As regular readers will know, Bridgewater Telephone Company, an affiliate of TDS, sued the City of Monticello in May, challenging the City’s authority to use revenue bonds for a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) system. On October 8, the court issued its ruling dismissing the lawsuit on the merits. In his ruling, Judge Jon Jasper concludes that “the City has express authority” to “issue bonds to fund the FTTP project as an ‘other public convenience.’” He also concluded that “the City is not proposing to impermissibly use funds gained from issuing bonds for ‘current expenses’ as prohibited under the statute.”

(A copy of the ruling is available here as a downloadable PDF)

Blandin October eNews

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Here’s the news from our latest newsletter. It’s mostly a compiliation of Minnesota-related stories from the blog in the last month – but sometimes it’s nice to have it compiled. Also I’ve added Bill’s column.

Minnesota Broadband Task Force
The Minnesota Broadband Task Force met for the second time in September. They ironed out regulatory issues of future meetings and set an agenda for items to be addressed throughout the year. (http://tinyurl.com/45ynh7) Bill Coleman posted a video open let ter on the blog where rural citizens gave advice to the Broadband Task Force members. http://tinyurl.com/454cu2

Bemidji
State Representative Brita Sailer, DFL-Park Rapids, depicts the need for broadband in rural Minnesota with the story of a woman whose employer in Bemidji said she could work from home two or three days a week, and save on transportation costs. Unfortunately she only has access to dialup, which cannot support telecommuting. http://tinyurl.com/492egc

Brainerd
Crow Wing Power celebrated one-year of using a 700 MHz licensed wireless broadband communication network to better serve their customers with remote metering services. http://tinyurl.com/3tryja
Eden Prairie
Eden Prairie-based Video Guidance is receiving attention for their telepresence services. http://tinyurl.com/3ztlhy

Fergus Falls
The Fergus Falls Daily Journal promotes the use of the Internet and broadband with a how-to article on creating crafty holiday presents using technology. http://tinyurl.com/5xddga

Marshall
Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard spoke at the Premier Leadership Event at Southwest Minnesota State University saying that rural areas will be THE place to be for new and emerging businesses over the next 30 years. Karlgaard pointed out that “Improvements in Internet and wireless communication technology mean cities in the heartland aren’t isolated”. http://tinyurl.com/49a4cz

Minneapolis
Minneapolis Wireless projects ran into a hitch when transmitters used to spread the wireless network damaged decorative light poles in certain neighborhoods, costing the city $1 million for replacements. http://tinyurl.com/4rn3u2

Monticello
Despite the barrier of a lawsuit (http://tinyurl.com/4s2gx7), the City of Monticello began construction of a fiber loop in their community. The fiber build includes construction of 11.19 miles of fiber optics that is an important subset of the larger FiberNet Monticello project. http://tinyurl.com/4prqbs

Morris
The University of Minnesota, Morris is offering free student help for community-based projects in 12 west central Minnesota counties — Big Stone, Chippewa, Douglas, Grant, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Pope, Renville, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, and Yellow Medicine. The applications deadline is November 7, 2008. http://tinyurl.com/4qkel4

Staples
The LightSpeed project in Staples is going well; six telemonitoring units are deployed and on active duty, monitoring daily vital signs and assisting the nurses in tracking their clients’ health status. Now they are working to promote a content-management platform that allows access to information from any internet connection and to disease specific content management. http://tinyurl.com/3mmxy9

Blandin Broadband Conference and Awards
The Blandin Foundation broadband conference, Connected Communities: Making the Net Work for Minnesota, will be held on December 3-4, 2008 in Eden Prairie, MN. (http://www.blandinfoundation.org/BBConf08) The conference will feature the brand new Minnesota Broadband Community awards, recognizing communities, companies and community institutions that are successfully implementing strategies that improve deployment and use of broadband. (http://www.blandinfoundation.org/BBConf08/application.html) Pre-conference events include three free webinars on Fiber to the Home Networks (Oct 22), Wireless Technologies (Nov 5) and Broadband Policy (Nov 19). http://www.blandinfoundation.org/BBConf08/webinar.html

(Many stories are gathered from local online newspaper. Unfortunately each newspaper has a different policy in regards to archive news and therefore we cannot guarantee access to all articles cited.)

Coleman’s Corner

New technologies put pressure on old rules and ways of doing things. Schools need to adapt to students with cell phones. Workplaces need to adopt new policies for dealing with personal email and web surfing. Political campaigns need to ensure that they are using technologies in ways that do not violate campaign laws. Sometimes, it is easier to just say no to new technologies than it is to thoughtfully develop new policies. I want to encourage you, as community technology leaders, to push your own organization forward and to support others in the community who are willing to work on these adoption issues. Our Lightspeed grantees are doing a great job pushing through these non-technical barriers. They are working with their own staff, regulators and clients to smooth the adoption of new technologies. Several of our grantees have paid extraordinary attention to these details and it is paying off as these technologies are deployed. Learn more about their efforts at the Connected Communities conference in December.

Presidential Candidates on Broadband Issues

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I live in a very politically mixed neighborhood; I’ve learned to keep silent or prepare to be lectured. So, I haven’t really been looking forward to writing about the candidates on broadband but I thought I probably should. Well, I thought I should at least compile what others have said since I lasted trakced their opinions on rural broadband in August.

Annenberg has tracked the candidates on a few technology/media issues, including Universal Broadband and America’s Digital Decline and Network Neutrality.

Here’s the summary on Universal Broadband:

Both candidates express support for the general goals of universal broadband access and enhancing the country’s international standing in broadband development. Where the two candidates differ is in what problems are acknowledged and the assumptions as to what will stimulate broadband deployment. Obama’s platform notes the virtual duopoly many Americans face in broadband provision, if they even find that. McCain recognizes no such problem, largely offering further calls for letting ‘the market’ (such as it is) lead in stimulating growth and deployment. McCain favors continued spectrum auctions to commercial providers; Obama explicitly seeks to investigate new uses and standards for spectrum utilization, perhaps even opening up swaths of government-controlled spectrum for use, something McCain’s platform does not address. Both express interest in “public-private” initiatives, a common (and largely meaningless barring further details) trope in broadband policy today. (Certain public-private initiatives as ‘Connected Nation,’ a popular model in Congress, have come under fire for primarily seeming to buttress the powerful positions of the largest broadband giants in the US.)

McCain’s policies look a great deal like those of the last two decades, with emphasis on private industry to solve deployment and access problems, perhaps with new tax incentives. This seems potentially problematic, as massive consolidation in the telecom and cable sector has occurred during this time, changing the landscape considerably; this remains unaddressed in his platform even as he stresses ‘protecting consumers’. Obama’s platform remains vague as well, to be sure, but points to a nuanced understanding of present dynamics, as well as a seemingly fuller understanding of the role federal policy can play in providing space for new wireless initiatives that hold much promise for getting the unconnected online.

Here’s the summary on Net Neutrality:

Perhaps the best way to summarize this area is to examine what problems the campaigns acknowledge, since both stances remain vague on details. Obama’s stance on network neutrality indicates that he sees a twofold problem. First, it reflects that Americans have a dearth of choices when it comes to broadband access—generally, the telecom provider or the cable provider, a situation quite unlike that of the dial-up era, in which several ISPs were on offer no matter who provided telecommunications services to the end-user. Second, Obama recognizes and seeks to address preemptively the possibility that with such a hold over the market, providers might seek to profit from the resulting scarce access to users in favoring certain services or content over others, either by policy or for a fee. Such a fear appears justified, as “deep packet inspection” has come to the fore as an issue (in that certain ISPs teamed up with marketing firms to collect user data with the barest of opportunity for users to opt-out) as well as Comcast’s willingness to thwart access to BitTorrent.

McCain’s statement, in contrast, admits to none of these issues or worries. He assumes away issues of market power users face in the ‘last mile’ and leaves the solution to “the market” such as it is. In sum, McCain sees the duopoly many Americans experience as ‘competitive enough’ to prevent the type of discrimination advocates of network neutrality fear. He offers “tax breaks” for further deployment of facilities; as much as these could be part of a solution, past policy decisions themselves have been much larger drivers in determining the online environment in which the US finds itself today than build-out incentives. With Comcast’s explicit blocking of applications in full view in the BitTorrent case, McCain still has nothing to say on the matter. While Obama offers few specifics as to the mechanics of a network neutrality regime-in-practice, it seems that the lack of consideration given the concerns that could generate the need for a preemptive network neutrality policy of some stripe is a serious omission in McCain’s platform.

Here are some highlights from the Christian Science Monitor: Continue reading →

Twin Cities Media Alliance Forum Oct 4

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So I came to the Twin Cities Media Alliance Forum sponosred by the Twin Cities Daily Planet mostly for myself and for a range of projects. Not so much with a Blandin hat on – but as I sat here I thought that some readers might be interested in the topics discuseed – mostly readers in rural areas who are using broadband to encourage citizen participation.

I’m terrible about guessing attendance but I’d say there are maybe 100 people here and more than half have computers of some sort. Half of us are Twittering as we watch. We check the speakers facts on Google as they talk; they know we will because if there were sitting they’d do it too.

So it’s fun to see the impact of broadband on community activists and storytellers (that’s the general attendee demographic) at a conference. And then it’s been fun hear about the impact of the Internet (and to some degree broadband) has had on community activists, storyteller, and media.

One fun, broadband-based project is The UpTake. They give cameras (or use video applications of cell phones) to citizen journalists and upload the video in real time. They came about for the RNC but the reach and focus has expanded. So the volunteers tape news as it happens and viewers can see it as it happens. (I knew about The UpTake – but didn’t get the real time aspect of it before today; they also archive video.)

Here are my notes from the morning… Continue reading →

Fiber Loop Construction Began September 22 in Monticello

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Just wanted to pass on the latest news from Monticello. Also if you’re in or around Monticello, you can get a chance to meet them as Fibernet Monticello will have a booth at the Business Expo held at the Monticello High School gymnasium (5225 School Blvd). This event will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Stop by if you can attend!

This fiber build includes construction of 11.19 miles of fiber optics that is an important subset of the larger FiberNet Monticello project.

The Fiber Loop will connect important commercial, industrial and civic facilities thereby allowing commercial and industrial users to have access to high-speed fiber optics for data only services via 100% fiber optics thus contributing toward the achievement of economic development goals. This fiber loop will also connect City Hall, Community Center and Public Works facilities to improve communication/data speeds and reduce Internet access expenses. The service provided at this time would include high-speed data only and no telephone or cable TV.

This projects includes the ability to connect up to 200 businesses that it will pass along the fiber route including the downtown area and most of the industrial park. Construction is anticipated to commence by the end of the year 2008.

To view photos of the construction work go to: http://www.MonticelloFiber.com
NOTE: You can click on any image to enlarge the view.

Hot Sites article on Election Resources

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I think I’ve mentioned the Blandin Hot Sites article series before. They feature web sites and online tools that address a specific topic or issue. The primary purpose is to introduce rural citizens to online tools that can help them save time, save money, learn about a topic or have fun. We write them to be redistributed. (So, feel free to check it out and/or pass onto others.)

Well I think we have a particularly timely article this month – Election Resources. I’m partial to the Fact Checkers we lsited. I used them after last week’s debate and I suspect I’ll be using them tomorrow after the VP debate tonight.

Speaking of debates … I hope folks noticed that broadband was mentioned at least once in last week’s debate. I haven’t brought it before because the mention wasn’t detailed enough to merit a whole post but as I recall Obama mentioned the need for broadband in rural areas when talking about the economy.

Rural Scenarios for Broadband

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Matt Rezac at the Blandin Foundation turned me on to the Daily Yonder. It’s a blog that publishes articles that, “Keep It Rural”. The stories are engaging and thoughtful. I ran into a prime example today..

This week they’ve done an article on the need to promote broadband demand and enforce broadband supply (Rural IT: Let’s Look Beyond Friday Night Lights). It starts with two scenarios that may sound familiar to many readers. One small city mayor watches as her street is ripped up to deploy fiber; unfortunately the provider is bypassing her community to serve a larger town nearby. So her community will not be getting broadband soon. In the second scenario, a town celebrates their new state-of-the-art high school football stadium while the teachers worry that their IT system will leave students unprepared for the workplace.

It’s a short article and worth reading – more than that I think it’s the kind of article you could send you your elected official or incumbent provider who maybe needs a nudge to get it.

The author, Timothy Collins, gets at the need for some level of public-private partnerships by pointing out that vendors have a corporate responsibility to serve all customers and policy makers can play a role by subsidizing coverage where the market lacks a compelling business case and they can build demand by promoting training and technical assistance.