Monthly Archives: August 2011

Shoot the (instant) messenger?

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Many years ago I lived in London and for a short time I lived in Tottenham, so I’ve watched the riots in England in great interest. I’ve read the articles on the prospective causes (race, austerity, politics, police shortage, boredom born of unemployment) and I suspect it’s been a perfect storm of all causes. But one cause I think they can take of the plate is social media.

I read a few articles on the social media/riot connection and finally found one (shared by a friend on Facebook funny enough) that I thought did a really nice job of framing the role of social media (What the England Riots Tell Us About Social Media) in the a way that I think can be instructive for other communities. Here are some of the lessons I gleaned…

You can’t stop the technology

The article points out that generally Twitter and other more public forums are not the top choice to promote nefarious actions – because well it’s just a little too public…

Matthew Barnett, a youth worker in London, said politicians and commentators have focused on Twitter because it’s a buzz word. “Twitter is not a particularly popular medium for young people. It is public so does not lend itself to clandestine organizations,” he said.

It sounds as if Blackberry Messenger was used widely. But now that the tools are out there I think it will be hard to know which “channel” to turn off. Turning off all channels (say lock down broadband) might minimize communication for less savory purposes – but also shuts it off for folks who want to mobilize with a solution.

Keep the channels open for help in emergencies

Yes some folks used the technology to get better organized for mayhem – but more people used it to get organized to clean up and set a positive tone…

“There’s been a lot of good done on Facebook and other sites in the aftermath,” [student in England Grant] Byrne said. “Facebook is showing how people are coming together from all walks of life across Britain … The fact is, the online community has reacted faster than our government.”

A recent report by the Red Cross (unrelated to the incidents in England) indicates that…

More than half of the survey’s participants indicated they would sign up for emails, texts alerts, or web applications to keep them notified of emergency situations. From evacuation routes to road closures, a generation or web-savvy citizens are looking to keep instantly updated with the information they need to stay safe and secure.

Listen to the social media channels

Monitor use proactively as well retroactively. The information is out there to be gleaned. It may not be as simple as the following comment indicates…

On the BBC’s Question Time program on Thursday night, former Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddock said police did not monitor social networking sufficiently. A man in the audience said his children knew three hours in advance that there was going to be trouble via social networks, and questioned why the police were not prepared.

But the Red Cross survey indicates that the public thinks local government and public safety official already keeping a foot in the online world…

The Red Cross also discovered that 69% of survey respondents expected city governments and emergency responders to be monitoring social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in times of trouble to find those in need of help. Nearly three quarters of these individuals expected help to arrive within half an hour of their online request for help. Clearly, the public’s expectations are moving toward new ways for officials and aid organizations to communicate and collaborate with them, and local governments must respond to meet these expectations.

Online community is community

The article on the riots does a good job of highlighting the fact that many of the people involved do not separate online from offline community…

“Young people don’t make the same distinctions between online and offline communities as an older demographic,” he said. “It’s just an extension of their local or religious or school communities. It’s not a distinct bubble. It’s just a medium of communication. I don’t believe the incitement to riot was from social media any more than from the newspapers.”

That’s an important reminder for local governments in emergencies and all communication – you can’t forget the online world because it is part of your community. Although on a positive note – those online tools can be a powerful way to reach your community. Remember the “this has been a test of the emergency broadcast system” that would inevitably break in during your favorite TV show. When is the last time you saw it? Back in the 1970’s that was probably a great way to get the attention of most of your community. It wouldn’t have the same impact now – you want to reach folks now I think you have to be thinking cell phone and other handhelds and social media is a practical way to do that.

It will be interesting to see what happens in England over the next few months. Clearly there are unresolved issues, to understate the situation. Again I don’t think social media is a problem here – but I think that raising the issue of social media may help frame it in a way that makes it part of a solution.

eBooks – to do or not to do

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Earlier this week the Minneapolis Star Tribune posted an interesting article on ebooks for kids. It seems the jury is still out on the impact of ebooks on students….

But schools may want to pause before jumping on the e-book bandwagon. Recent studies suggest that printed books continue to have important advantages over digital ones.

Not only do they accommodate a wider array of learning styles, but they also encourage more attentive reading and study. And if there’s anything in short supply among students today, it’s attentiveness.

On the plus side though…

They can be updated quickly with new information. They promise cost savings, at least over the long haul. They reduce paper and photocopier use. And they’re lightweight, freeing students from the torso-straining load of
book-filled backpacks.

As anyone with kids in school today knows the back issue is not to be overlooked. Heck I can barely lift my grade schoolers’ bags. But I know myself from reading online it is different from reading offline. And taking notes on the Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force has taught me that taking notes on a laptop is different – although I know feel like I can take notes and take in the information. There must be a time and a place for all forums – because not only are there advantages to each but as the world goes progressively online they will want to have the skills to work within it.

Klobuchar talks about broadband at Farmfest

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We have been doing the Blandin on Broadband blog since January 2007. Back in the day, some posts had a pretty tenuous connection to broadband – but we made it fit because we wanted to write something to get folks thinking about broadband. Since then the broadband game has changed considerably. I have had to really focus on events and news that have a direct connection to Minnesota. If I didn’t I’d never sleep trying to catch up.

I thought of this today because I ran into an article that mentions that Senator Amy Klobuchar spoke about broadband at Farmfest – this is the kind of article I would have fallen over four years ago – today I had to think about whether it was worth mentioning, since it’s a pretty general comment. But in honor of how far we’ve come raising awareness of the importance of broadband, especially in rural areas, I’d like to quote AgriNews on their story on Senator Klobuchar’s talk at Farmfest…

Klobuchar talked about rural broadband and its importance in rural areas. Development of those broadband systems, through Rural Development programs, means companies can tap into global markets.

Cyber bully in the ‘hood

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Sometimes I’m thrilled to share info on broadband use in Minnesota. Sometimes I’d like to change the name of the location to protect the innocent location. Just be glad that you don’t live next door to this guy. According to WIRED…

A Minnesota hacker that prosecutors described as a “depraved criminal” was handed an 18-year prison term Tuesday for unleashing a vendetta of cyberterror that turned his neighbors’ lives into a living nightmare.

Barry Ardolf, 46, repeatedly hacked into his next-door neighbors’ Wi-Fi network in 2009, and used it to try and frame them for child pornography, sexual harassment, various kinds of professional misconduct and to send threatening e-mail to politicians, including Vice President Joe Biden.

Yikes! According to District Court verdict…

Indeed, there is every reason to believe that the victims identified in this case are not his only victims.

So that’s a little scary. In the end he was convicted of child pornography and aggravated identity theft. I was curious if there was a technology related charge for something like this. It doesn’t appear as if it has been invoked if there is, but it does seem like the potential for repeat offense due to the ease of computer-based crime was a factor in sentencing (again from the court document).

When Barry Ardolf is released from prison at the end of his term of commitment, he will do something like this again to someone else who has angered him, only this time he will be even more careful. The only way to prevent that is to incarcerate him for a very long time.

Carver County Groundbreaking Aug 16

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Tis the season for groundbreakings – and a happy indication of ARRA-funded fiber deployment projects deploying successfully. The Chaska Herald reports on Carver County’s upcoming groundbreaking…

Both of Minnesota’s U.S. senators plan to attend the Aug. 16 kick-off ceremony for Carver County’s new fiber network.

The optic ring, over 122 miles long, will connect 86 entities at 56 sites throughout Carver County, including city, county and township governments, schools, fire departments, public safety towers and law enforcement agencies.

U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken are among the planned speakers at the 2:30 p.m. Carver County Open Fiber Initiative event, held at the Carver County Public Works building, 11360 Highway 212 in Cologne.

Fiber optic construction equipment will be displayed, and workers will give demonstrations on how fiber optic cable is spliced together in the field.

Relationship between brain gain and broadband in rural areas

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This summer I’ve had a renewed interest in Ben Winchester’s report on Rural Migration: The Brain Gain of the Newcomers. The theory is that while rural area may be losing youth (brain drain) they are gaining folks who are slightly older…

There is rural population growth in the 30-49 year age cohort. In many rural counties, this in-migration is just about equal to the out-migration of the 18-25 year age cohort. This in-migration is composed of adults in their prime earning years. These findings will remind us that the changes we witness across rural Minnesota are complex and reflect not just challenges, but significant opportunities.

It appears the questions should not necessarily be “how do we get these newcomers?” but “how do we keep them?” The factors related to staying in these new communities include job opportunities and security, feeling of belongs, suitable housing, and opportunities to join local organizations. What can your community do to build on this trend?

The key is asking what communities can do to build on the trend. Ben followed up his research with a report in December where spoke with folks about brain gain- by folks I mean realtors in rural areas, new residents to rural areas (the brains gained), local leaders (brain gainers) and others in rural areas of Minnesota. Some of the reasons people moved to rural areas were easy to guess – the expense of the city, the safety of the rural areas, family – but I was surprised how often the opportunity for self-employment was listed as a reason to go rural.

I was also interested in what role broadband might play in the decision to move to a new area. It turns out that broadband and the Internet played two roles. First, the Internet is a great promotion tool. One of the main questions asked of new residents was “How did you find a particular community?” And the typical answers were: “Family, internet, job postings, EDA and Chamber.” I think that’s a great lesson for anyone looking to lure the brain gain to their areas.

The second role was even more interesting to me, access to broadband opened doors to new possibilities. A community with access might make a move possible. A community without access might get left off the list. Also an employer open to remote workers might be rewarded with an appreciative employee. Here are some of the responses that struck me (special thanks to Ben for allowing me to share!):

(I changed the company names as you’ll see just to save disputes with unnamed sources)

Company X has a footprint in town, but they are not servicing the town, which just drives me absolutely nuts. We have really two dividers here ones Company Y and the other one is Company Z. If I had my choice I would go with Company X and local service.

Company Z is run by the community, I have voice over internet and I have to work separately because evidently, Company Z even though it’s broadband it is not wide enough the tech tried to tell me that, even if the Company Z check guy says it is better than Company Y.

I got Company Y at home,

I’m thinking about switching.

I mean, the only reason I got it is because they offer better service, more bandwidth.

It’s interesting to hear firsthand how the intricacies of providers and service area make a difference to the users – and one solution surprised me…

We had to get a T1 line,

Awesome!

That was not cheap, but we could do telemedicine, which is providing you know, we wanted to get a dermatologist was our first thing that we wanted to get to offer dermatologist services, we can not find anyone who wants to do telemedicine out here because they don’t think that they’ll have enough patients. Can you imagine?

They have to build for it.

But can you imagine how many patients they would have? I mean all the parent’s who take their kids to Willmar and Sioux Falls, if they could just drive down town?

My thing would be, you hit it right there, was with the kids. How many parents do you get out here that go to a children’s hospital for a ten-minute checkup? I mean, it seems kind of bulletproof. But if you go to a local hospital with a video conference and have a local physician?

Again interesting to see how decisions made by providers have an impact on the customer and quite frankly the lengths people will go to get broadband. Also reminds me that it’s difficult to make these decisions based on current use. Current use may be low because it’s not available. Once available and marketed something like telemedicine could take off in a rural area.

I came out here praying that I would be able to keep my job and at part time, I said, we already had the house and I told my boss, “We’re going, you can keep me or I’ll I don’t know, work with Dad or do something. We are gonna go.” So I said we are going and he said ok, well, they didn’t have anyone to replace me and I didn’t want to say anything, before I said anything, I found the stores with hi speed internet what do ya got, this is what I need to get my engineering done. Ok, fine, then we get on the farm and I make an office space, than we got broken off so I had all these things typed out and I gave them to my boss. And he said, “Alright, we’ll try it part time.” At part time, so I came out here three times a week, cut my salary, but it’s better than nothing. After two months he decided I was working out so well, it was great I was about ready to ask and we were renovating our farmhouse. So anyway, and I said my company is up and down and oh my god, you know if I could hang onto this job, they actually got me where they wanted me, what am I going to do? What am I going to use to leave with? I can’t say give me a raise or I’ll walk, but it is a fantastic opportunity. The stress is minimal, the commute time is eleven minutes flat, unless you get stuck behind a combine. Productivity went way up.

This is a story I’d like to share with every potential employer – especially in rural areas.

And finally I wanted to add something for city planners, economic developers and providers…

One thing, and this doesn’t particularly speak about Ortonville, but we probably couldn’t have done this telecommuting arrangement without some pretty serious infrastructure changes but just because we live closer to the telephone utilities. We had telephone utilities from Chokio who was dropping a cable in the country and we said could you run two more miles of cable for us. They did.

Otherwise we wouldn’t be able…

I often hear broadband providers say that if someone asks, they will provide the service. It worked in this instance – but I have to admit (and this harps a bit back to the first role of the Internet) I might not make the call if I were browsing web sites for a potential new home. If an area wasn’t served, it would be off my list.

Interesting I think to read the reports in light of what rural communities can do to make sure that they are poised to attract the brain gain.

Budget cuts for Open Access Connections

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A couple of weeks ago I posted information on a report (and event) sponsored by Open Access Connections (formerly known as Twin Cities Community Voice Mail) to address the broadband needs of people who are homeless. So I was sad when Carol Walsh from DEED sent me word that Open Access Connections was going to be seeing some deep budget cuts. According to Minnesota Public Radio…

St. Paul-based Open Access Connections did not receive a $37,000 grant it had been expecting from the Department of Human Services, board chair Mike Menner said today. The nonprofit has also lost $20,000 in funding from private foundations. The cuts amount to about one-fourth of the nonprofit’s annual budget.

…

Department of Human Services spokesperson Beth Voigt confirmed that the agency cut grants to several organizations, including the voicemail program. Voigt said the cuts were needed because the state had been relying on $10.6 million in one-time federal stimulus dollars to fund homelessness prevention and related programs. That funding expired on June 30. State funding for homeless shelters has not changed, Voigt said, despite rising demand.

Faced with increased homelessness throughout the state, the agency also decided to cut back on some grants to metro-area programs so that it can fund new shelters in Greater Minnesota, Voigt said.

I wouldn’t presume to know to where the funds are best spent. I suspect we are looking at many difficult cuts in the future but it is unfortunate to see reduced access to technology when for many people the connection to technology was a way to stay in communication with family, prospective employers, healthcare providers and others. Ironically it was just this summer that the United Nations released a report declaring Internet access a human right an earlier this week that Minnesota’s own Christopher Mitchell quoted Comcast president David Cohen is calling broadband access the “rights issue for the 21st century.”

Focus on Transportion, Energy, Broadband for NE Minnesota

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Over the weekend, Senator Klobuchar headed up north to celebrate the ARRA-funded broadband project being led by Arrowhead Electric Cooperative. Fox 21 News reports…

It’s a region of Minnesota lacking something many take for granted; high speed internet. But now, a massive project is under way to finally help Cook County get connected.”I always argue that we should be focused on three things: transportation, energy and broadband,” declared Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.

…

Currently much of Cook County uses dial–up, satellite, or DSL internet connections- all which are unreliable. “There’s no way we’re gonna compete on the national or international stage if we don’t have internet,” said Sen. Klobuchar.

It will also help bring jobs to region. Jobs, that without internet, may have gone elsewhere. “We can agree that these jobs should be in Lutsen. They should be in Grand Marais. They should be in Schroeder. They shouldn’t be in Mumbai, India or Shanghai, China,” said Sen. Klobuchar.

The Arrowhead Electric Coop recently posted some project updates on their web site, including a video, a construction status map and answers to frequently asked questions…

Materials and Equipment for the construction of our fiber optic network have started arriving in Lutsen. Construction has begun along the Caribou Trail. Underground crews are working in the Tait, Clara, Christine and Cariobu Lake areas. Once completed the underground work will move towards Deer Yard Lake and the Jonvick Creek subdivisions. Crews building between the road and the home on private properties will begin work in 1-2 weeks. Once completed with the Caribou Trail, construction crews will begin working westerly to the Lake & Cook County line.

Sam Knows report is out – see how the providers did

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Sam Knows has been tracking actual broadband speeds in the US since the beginning of the year. They got volunteers to run speed testing equipment on their regular broadband connections. Apparently more than 78,000 consumers volunteered to participate and approximately 9,000 were selected and supplied with specially configured routers. (I was one of the selected volunteers.) The goal was to do a comprehensive study of actual and advertised speeds for wireline broadband connections – fiber, cable and DSL.

Their first Measuring Broadband America report is just out. For the report, they focused on performance during peak usage times , which they found to be weekdays from 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm local time. Good news for providers; the results indicated that the actual speeds aren’t really very far off the advertised speeds for downloading or uploading. Fiber performed closest (actually better) than advertised speed, then cable and finally DSL.

Also they found that for web browsing speed isn’t much of an issue – especially once you get past 10 Mbps. VoIP worked well in all environments; the quality had more to do with what else was happening on the local (home) network. Streaming video also worked well assuming that the user chose the steaming (standard or high density) that best suited their connection.

One quick note – they clearly did not look at mobile connections – but there is discussion about how to look into it further especially given its growing prevalence in the field and the National Broadband Plan focus on wireless.

I wanted to share a couple of graphs from the report the first two just show performance. The third diagram is a nice look at the different components of a broadband connection – as you can see some are under the control of the broadband provider and some are not.

If I were going to read this report again – I might skip the executive summary and go right to the good parts.

Tonkaconnect Paused

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Earlier this week, the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission decided not to fund local efforts for a community fiber network.

According to the tonkaconnect web site…

tonkaconnect is an initiative of the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission. Our objective is to bring community owned and operated, world-class access to television/video, Internet and telephone services to every residence, business, library, school, city, public safety organization in our members’ and affiliate cities’ areas.

But it looks as if the effort has been put on ice. According to the Chanhassen Villager…

In a special meeting Tuesday night, the LMCC executive committee decided to recommend no funding for the next phase of the fiber project in the 2012 budget. LMCC representatives will finalize the budget at an August 16 meeting.

“I think [the LMCC executive committee] realized that if a municipal fiber network is ever going to be built, the cities need a considerable amount of time spent in educating and understanding the significance of building such a system,” said a memo from Sally Koenecke, LMCC executive director.

The $81 million proposal sought to provide 25,000 households in communities from the 17 member cities with Internet, phone and cable fiber optic services.

It sounds as if the progress started unraveling a week ago when Victoria City decided that they did not want to proceed with funding. Other cities were intending to vote next week.

This comes despite the fact that tonkaconnect was positive about the results of a market survey released earlier this summer that indicated that…

If the price is low enough, people in the area would be interested in becoming customers of a fiber-based network operated by the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission (LMCC).

Unfortunately I think that having interest if the price is low enough might not be enough to motivate a community through the perils of community supported fiber. But I always remember the folks in Monticello saying that each set back in winning over the residents just made them stronger in the end. They were talking about the super majority referendum required for them to pursue their community network – but the same may apply here. You need full community support and interest to see a community network to fruition.

Blandin Broadband eNews Aug 2011

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News from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Minnesota Broadband Ranking – Not Great
The Minnesota Broadband Bill strives to make Minnesota a top state for broadband speed, ubiquity and adoption by 2015. Recent reports indicate that there is work to be done. In January, Minnesota made the grade with some Akamai broadband ranking. http://tinyurl.com/5uvxvtz Unfortunately Minnesota does not make the latest Akamai rankings. http://wp.me/p3if7-1ma A separate report released by Pando Networks indicates that Minnesota (indeed the entire Midwest) experiences slower download speeds than the rest of the country. http://wp.me/p3if7-1mj

Public-Private Partnerships
One strategy for reaching the Broadband Bill goals is collaboration. The original Minnesota Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force report promotes public-private partnership to encourage border to border access. http://www.ultra-high-speed-mn.org/ The Blandin Foundation recently compiled a list of partnerships that have developed in rural areas; many based on efforts of the ARRA-funded MIRC program. http://wp.me/p3if7-1lt

Broadband Can Boost Rural Health
Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group released a report that highlights the disparities in healthcare in rural versus urban areas across the US. Telehealth strategies are offered as a tool to help bridge the gap. http://wp.me/p3if7-1mf Recent studies on the impact of telehealth, especially with children, demonstrate the validity UnitedHealth’s findings. http://wp.me/p3if7-1ly

Broadband Policy
Most Minnesota policies have been on hold during the July government shutdown but that hasn’t stopped League of Minnesota Cities, the Suburban Rate Authority and the Minnesota Association of Community Telecommunications Administrators from posting comments on rights of way issues to the FCC. http://wp.me/p3if7-1m2 On her visit to National Rural Assembly, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn indicated that the FCC is working on issues such as rights of way, Universal Service Funds and Intercarrier Compensation. http://wp.me/p3if7-1l8

Tech Winners in the Omnibus
The July Omnibus bill provides tax credits to data centers http://wp.me/p3if7-1lL and provides $5,659,000 to design and build a state data center. http://wp.me/p3if7-1lP

Fall Blandin Broadband Conference – Nov 16-17
Please save the dates for the 2011 Fall Broadband Conference. Blandin is partnering with Connect Minnesota on an agenda intended to celebrate broadband success in Minnesota and inspire more broadband activity. The event will take place in Duluth. Details and the title will be unveiled soon. http://tinyurl.com/44qgnxg

Local Broadband News

Bemidji
Broadband allows Bemidji to broadcast a local live radio program online. http://wp.me/p3if7-1lc

Cook County
Cook County began laying fiber on July 25. http://wp.me/p3if7-1l6

Hennepin, Dakota and Olmsted Counties
Hennepin, Dakota and Olmsted Counties each made the Center for Digital Government’s Digital Counties top ranking for counties of their populations. http://wp.me/p3if7-1kX

Lac qui Parle County
LqP has worked out some financial hiccups in their ARRA-funded project and is waiting for fiber to become available to move forward with construction. http://wp.me/p3if7-1l6

Lake County
Lake Communications has taken over the ARRA-funded fiber project in Lake County. http://wp.me/p3if7-1l6

Lakefield
Construction begins for the ARRA-funded, Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group led effort to bring fiber to end users in eight communities (Jackson, Lakefield, Windom, Round Lake, Bingham Lake, Brewster, Wilder, Heron Lake and Okabena) in Southwest Minnesota. http://wp.me/p3if7-1lS

Norman and Polk Counties
The ARRA-funded project led by Halstad Telephone Company in Norman and Polk Counties progresses; they will be the first customer to deploy the EXA Powered E7-20 multi-terabit Ethernet Service Access Platform (ESAP). http://wp.me/p3if7-1kV

Northern Minnesota
Construction begins for the ARRA-funded, Eventis-led Greater Minnesota Broadband Collaborative Project. The network will provide Middle Mile fiber to anchor institutes in Northern Minnesota. http://wp.me/p3if7-1m6

Perham
Telecommunications company, Compass Consultants, has added 42 employees to their staff since the beginning of the year. http://wp.me/p3if7-1kD

Red Wing
Red Wing unveils a new community web site and social media strategy. http://wp.me/p3if7-1lG

Redwood County
Redwood County is still considering their broadband options. http://wp.me/p3if7-1l6

Sibley County
Sibley County has obtained signatures from 1500 area residents that are interested in a community broadband network; they are striving for 3000 signatures. http://wp.me/p3if7-1l6

Southwest Minnesota
Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group is looking for staff. http://wp.me/p3if7-1lB

Todd County
Todd County is doing a fiber feasibility study with support from the Blandin Foundation. http://wp.me/p3if7-1l6

Twin Cities
Comcast is offering reduced prices for broadband access, training and computers to families with children in the national school lunch program. http://wp.me/p3if7-1lZ

BRIDGEdotMN was created to help underprivileged students in grades 5 – 12 throughout the Twin Cities increase their technology skills and facilitate the exploration of STEM careers. http://wp.me/p3if7-1kS

Windom
Windom began construction of their ARRA-funded network. http://wp.me/p3if7-1l6

Emergency vehicles in Windom get laptops. http://wp.me/p3if7-1kG

(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.)

Events

September 19 – TEDx1000Lakes (Grand Rapids MN) http://tedx1000lakes.com/

November 12 – CityCamp Minnesota (Minneapolis) http://citycamp.govfresh.com/

November 16-17 – Fall Broadband Conference (Duluth) http://tinyurl.com/44qgnxg

Looking for more events? Check out TechDotMN’s calendar http://tech.mn/events/. Many events are based in the Twin Cities but it is a comprehensive list. (If you have an upcoming event, consider submitting it.)

Coleman’s Corner

“Work with your existing providers.” A simple statement written in almost every community broadband planning document. It is similar to health advice like “Eat less, exercise more” — easy to say, hard to do.

Improving infrastructure and services is generally the most difficult place for collaboration between communities and providers, yet this is where most and earliest interaction occurs. Communities have high hopes for infrastructure improvements; providers have expectations for high return on investment. In rural areas, these two objectives are generally incompatible. We have seen through the stimulus process that building new broadband infrastructure in many rural areas, especially ubiquitous fiber in the countryside, requires a long investment horizon plus significant subsidies.

At countywide broadband meetings, I am happy when I see the existing providers in the room and lately I am seeing more of them. The incumbent telco always feels the heat from rural residents wanting broadband. The cable company and any CLEC providers are quite happy that they are not in the telco’s position, but show no interest in investing outside municipal boundaries. With budgets as they are, rural county governments are reluctant to even consider taking on a countywide broadband project hoping that someone else will address this problem. Citizen committees are frustrated as they see no solution coming from either private or public entities, yet know that broadband is essential for economic vitality.

As I look at the Connected Minnesota maps, it seems that the most cost-efficent way to meet the state’s border to border goal of 10-20 Mb broadband service would be to upgrade existing provider networks to a fiber to the node network. These improvements may be in the providers’ long term plans, but way beyond the 2015 statewide goal timeframe.

Lacking a current statewide funding mechanism, how might a rural county and incumbent provider partner(s) develop a partnership to stimulate the necessary investment? What would it cost per household to upgrade to a FTTN network with shorter copper loops? Do existing providers know what this would cost? Would they share this information and work with a county to explore the various funding possibilities (DEED infrastructure grants, revenue bonds, property tax assessments, 2012 state bonding bill, other)? Would this open the way for a statewide solution? Blandin Foundation’s Robust Networks Feasibility Fund might be used to develop mechanisms for making this work. http://tinyurl.com/43zxrmr

Building market demand for broadband should be a simpler way to collaborate. More broadband customers means sustainability and profits or providers; their interest is clear. More users and more sophistication of use creates a smarter, more productive, more prosperous community. The Blandin Foundation’s new Digital Inclusion Community Partnership provides an opportunity for providers and communities to work together in a win-win partnership. Lack of a computer is a top barrier to the use of broadband; lack of skills is also important, but without a device to connect to the network, skills lack value. Grants of up to $25,000 are available. http://tinyurl.com/3qupbdp

My advice to communities – 1) keep asking your providers to participate in your broadband initiatives. 2) Have some quiet talks with your providers about their plans for your community. 3) Identify priority improvements that you need in your community to meet specific customer requirements and community goals.

My advice to providers – 1) Show up when invited because relationships matter; communities would rather have the local technician who knows the issues and the community than either an empty chair or someone from management who they will never see again. 2) Develop a thick skin. 3) Minimize the use of “proprietary”. In most rural markets, there is no competitor to hide information from. Lacking evidence to the contrary, communities assume that no announced plans for improvements mean no planned improvements. 4) Participate in digital inclusion initiatives that build your customer base and enhance the community’s future.

Bill Coleman helps communities make the connection between telecommunications and economic development. As principal in Community Technology Advisors http://tinyurl.com/3f4dx7g for ten years, he assists community, foundation and corporate clients develop and implement programs of broadband infrastructure investment and technology promotion and training. Bill is working with the Blandin Foundation on the MIRC Initiative http://tinyurl.com/2c6mhh4, Community Broadband Resource Program http://tinyurl.com/cseu7e and other broadband projects.

Broadband and post offices: a room for both

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Would I be dating myself to ask if anyone remembers the “Video Killed the Radio Stars” song? (Quiz: who sang it?) I don’t know if video killed the radio star – but it certainly was a game changer and I think the same is true of broadband and the Post Office.

According to MPR News, the USPS is proposing to close 117 post offices in Minnesota. MPR reports…

That’s more than 10 percent of Minnesota’s retail postal facilities, leaving some people in the affected communities unhappy.

The cuts come as part of a massive effort to keep the postal service in business. Postal Service officials said they expect to run out of money to operate later this year unless costs are cut

Broadband certainly plays a part in the decision. Atlantic Broadband reports on the national numbers…

The Postal Service operates 31,871 retail outlets across the country. In recent years, business has declined sharply. The agency lost $8 billion last year.

Atlantic Broadband makes the connection between broadband and the closings…

The Postal Service, which has been losing money as customers use the Internet in increasing numbers to do business instead of using the mail, said space in local stores, libraries and government offices may be used to offer postal services in some areas where post offices are ultimately closed.

I don’t know if it’s *the* cause, but it’s definitely part of the changing game. Another way to read it is that the closing post offices really makes the case for the importance of broadband access in rural areas – and by access I mean deployment and adoption. I was emailing with Jennifer Bevis at Blandin Foundation on the topic; she noted…

Since I heard the news, I just keep thinking about how that makes rural broadband even more important. I know internet use likely has contributed to the need to close post offices, but the closures also seem to up the ante in terms of getting rural folks, especially some of the groups of rural residents that are the focus of MIRC work, connected and comfortable with using broadband.

We both immediately thought of our in-laws. Neither is particularly adept with technology. Also neither are currently served by a post office that is closing – but someone’s mother or grandmother is.

Maybe there’s a business opportunity here. In the Atlantic Broadband quote above notes that some post office services may be moved to other locations – well maybe the post offices could be annexed to become public computer centers. They could become places to increase broadband adoption through training and access to facilities – and it would also help retain a public place for community in the community, which I think is equally important for many rural areas.

(Quiz answer: The Buggles)