News from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force The latest Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force http://wp.me/p3if7-1tC met for the first time in November. They are working on tight deadlines to complete two reports for the Legislature. A state of broadband in Minnesota is due December 30, 2011; a more strategic document is due in January 2012. Get full notes from their first meeting online: http://wp.me/p3if7-1wl

Several past Task Force members and other broadband and community leaders had advice for the new Task Force http://tinyurl.com/6qrjfzy, including some very detailed advice from Mike O’Connor http://wp.me/p3if7-1tS.

Policy & Progress: Border to Border Broadband The Blandin Foundation and Connect Minnesota cohosted a broadband conference http://tinyurl.com/44qgnxg held in Duluth in November. There was a good blend of participants interested in broadband deployment, adoption and policy. Highlights include a presentation from students on what one can do with 100 Mbps http://wp.me/p3if7-1vb and a panel discussion from Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) representatives who spoke about projects happening in rural Minnesota today to help more people use and access broadband (please see links to individual community links below in the Broadband News Around Minnesota section).

Access full notes from the conference online http://tinyurl.com/7hq8rp2 or cut right to the final thoughts on the conference from Blandin Foundation’s Bernadine Joselyn http://wp.me/p3if7-1vw. Or for a catchy tune, check out the Broadband song, written and performed by conference attendees. http://wp.me/p3if7-1uM)

Turning the Digital Divide into Digital Inclusion
Reports indicate that the bottle neck for broadband penetration is adoption, not access. That means that people are not taking advantage of the broadband access available. We see this on a national http://wp.me/p3if7-1w9 and local level http://wp.me/p3if7-1st. Top reasons people don’t go online include lack of interest and cost (of connectivity and computers). The problem was highlighted in a recent article in the New York Times, which explained why slow adoption is a national concern. http://wp.me/p3if7-1wt

There are national and state efforts to improve the situation. The Institute for Museum and Library Service promotes a framework for addressing digital challenges http://wp.me/p3if7-1w6. Locally, the Technology Literacy Collaborative hosted a Digital Inclusion Forum in November to gather proponents in the field to share resources and talk about solutions. http://wp.me/p3if7-1tj

Local Broadband News

Benton County  Benton County provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video http://wp.me/p3if7-1uq

Brainerd
The Region Five Development Commission (a MIRC partner) teams up with PCs for People to create an affiliate PCs for People organization to refurbish computers to give to low income households in the five counties within Region5. http://wp.me/p3if7-1vC

Cook County  Cook County provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video http://wp.me/p3if7-1uk

Deer River / Brainerd
Schools are making plans to use technology, but need the necessary infrastructure. Hear from school leaders in Brainerd and Deer River about their plans. http://wp.me/p3if7-1th

Duluth PCs for People hosts a computer drive in Duluth as part of the 2011 Broadband conference. http://wp.me/p3if7-1ub

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video http://wp.me/p3if7-1uo

Houston
Justin Treptow, head of Minnesota Virtual Academy (MNVA) out of Houston, MN talks about the importance of broadband infrastructure for online students. http://wp.me/p3if7-1vV

Kanabec County As Kanabec County plans for broadband, they are using the media http://wp.me/p3if7-1ts to help further conversations with the incumbent provider. http://wp.me/p3if7-1tI

Minneapolis Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt visits Minneapolis. http://wp.me/p3if7-1wr

North Central Minnesota
Rural Development Broadband Loan Program funds will be used to extend Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative’s existing FTTH network to serve rural communities in North Central Minnesota. http://wp.me/p3if7-1tN

Southwest Minnesota
Windomnet is six months ahead of schedule with fiber; they hope to get 1100 homes connected in Southwest Minnesota before the ground freezes and stalls deployment. http://wp.me/p3if7-1vN

Redwood County Redwood County is looking at a broadband feasibility study. http://wp.me/p3if7-1vk

St Paul The St. Paul Public Library has been awarded $100,000 to create special computer labs for middle and high school students. http://wp.me/p3if7-1wn

Thief River Falls  Thief River Falls provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video http://wp.me/p3if7-1uy

Upper Minnesota Valley Upper Minnesota Valley RDC provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video http://wp.me/p3if7-1uw

Willmar Willmar provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video http://wp.me/p3if7-1us

Windom Windom provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video: http://wp.me/p3if7-1uA

Winona Winona provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video http://wp.me/p3if7-1um

Worthington

Worthington provides an update on their MIRC project at the 2011 Broadband Conference. See the video http://wp.me/p3if7-1uu

Events

December 6-8 – Minnesota Government IT Symposium (St. Paul) http://mngts.org/itsym/

December 15 – PCs for People will host a used computer drive (Duluth) http://www.pcsforpeople.com

December 19 – Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force – watch the Blandin on Broadband blog for more details http://blandinonbroadband.org/

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.)

Stirring the Pot

Quite a year! What a busy year for broadband activity in Minnesota!!

• Our Blandin Foundation MIRC project is running on all cylinders; all of our partners are doing great work across greater Minnesota.  If you were at the recent Broadband Conference in Duluth, you could not help but get excited about all the projects, going from good to great through collaboration with state and local partners.
• Rural counties and townships are working aggressively to ensure that their communities meet the state broadband goal, always seeking partners with incumbent and neighboring providers, but not letting any barriers stop them.
• Stimulus projects are under construction with new advanced services to be delivered to bandwidth hungry customers in 2012.
• A new state broadband task force with an exciting mix of members is in place.
• New federal regulations and programs have been announced but their potential impacts are not yet understood.
• More communities are using the Intelligent Community framework to unite their broadband and economic development strategies.

Thanks to all the great leaders who are making these great things happen.  If you are reading this newsletter, you can look in the mirror and see one!

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.