News from the Blandin on Broadband blog (Monthly Recap)
Minnesota Technology Not Ranking – Again The NTIA recently released a report naming the top 15 States with the greatest broadband access at 10, 25, and 50 Mbps. Minnesota did not make the list. http://wp.me/p3if7-2eZ (Results are similar to the Akamai report that came out in April, 2013.) More bad news, Target has opened an office in San Francisco, where it plans to scout for tech talent to build its ecommerce and mobile technology efforts. Good news for San Francisco but raises questions about the perceptions of technology aptitude in Minnesota. http://wp.me/p3if7-2eX
Technology & Broadband Policy
While a lot of bills related to broadband and technology were introduced in the 2013 Legislative season, few were resolved. With the bills that were addressed, the good news is that an Office of Broadband Development has been established. http://wp.me/p3if7-2eR But not all of the news was good. Minnesota will require major online ecommerce websites to collect Minnesota’s 6.875 percent sales tax starting July 1, 2013. http://wp.me/p3if7-2f5 Also, the telecom industry is unhappy with recent changes to Minnesota tax law, specifically repealing the sale exemption for Central Office Equipment. http://wp.me/p3if7-2fg
Grants for Broadband Use There are a few opportunities for enterprising communities and individuals interested in making good use of broadband. The Bush Foundation recently announced Community Innovation Grants with awards between $10,000 up to $200,000. (Deadline to apply is July 11, 2013.) http://wp.me/p3if7-2fo The Anita Borg Institute is seeking applications for female high school students to attend the October 2-5 Grace Hopper Celebration in Minneapolis. It will be focused on technology and tech careers. http://wp.me/p3if7-2fa Applications are now being accepted for the Google Academy for Teachers, which will be held July 24-25, 2013 in Chicago. It’s a great opportunity for intensive technology emersion for 40 teachers. http://wp.me/p3if7-2f8
Minnesota Broadband Task Force The Minnesota Broadband Task Force welcomed two new members: Fred Underwood, Director of IT at Fond du Lac and Andrea Casselton, Director of IT for the City of St Paul. The May meeting focused on the impact and potential impact of broadband on healthcare in Minnesota. http://wp.me/p3if7-2ey
Minnesotans Believe Technology Helps Job Creation In May, the Blandin Foundation released the 2013 Rural Pulse, a look at perspectives in rural Minnesota. One interesting finding: most rural and urban residents believe improved technology could assist with job retention and creation, and feel their local area works together to maintain and grow job opportunities. http://wp.me/p3if7-2ev
Local Minnesota Broadband News
Cook County
Fiber installation continues in Cook County. Progress on backhaul is being made. Work has begun on power poles in Lake County. http://wp.me/p3if7-2eN
Dawson
Main Street businesses talk about their successful use of social media in Lac qui Parle County. http://wp.me/p3if7-2eU
Deer River
Students from Deer River High School perform and celebrate the arts with their peers during a cross-country telepresence event. http://wp.me/p3if7-2f3
Eagan
The city of Eagan and Frontier Communications have reached an agreement under which Frontier will become the first telecommunications provider on AccessEagan, the city’s wholesale fiber network. http://wp.me/p3if7-2fd
Edina
Edina-based Inspiration Medical is using crowdsourcing techniques to conduct the R&D and marketing work they need to bring their medical product to the market. http://wp.me/p3if7-2ea
Lake County
An official from the Rural Utilities Service gave the Lake County Fiber project a clean bill of health for the project’s finances and found no oversights. Lake Connections is advertising for jobs. http://wp.me/p3if7-2eq
Minneapolis
Zayo Group expands its Tier 1 IP backbone in the Minneapolis market. Now they can provide extended IP services in Minneapolis, up to 10Gbps. http://wp.me/p3if7-2es
Target is teaming with Facebook for a new digital-sales program, called Cartwheel, one of the biggest efforts by both companies to bridge the worlds of social media and real-world commerce. http://wp.me/p3if7-2el
Upcoming Events
June 11: Minnesota Broadband Task Force (location to be determined) http://tinyurl.com/7n2syt8
June 13: Local Broadband Initiatives: Finding a Model That Works for You (webinar) http://tinyurl.com/n8lh2pw
July 29-30: eLearning Summit (St Paul) http://wp.me/p3if7-2dj
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
The nine Blandin Broadband Communities http://tinyurl.com/8d78g5g have now received approvals for the projects that they prioritized and developed through a good community process – good in that it involved lots of community folks and moved from needs assessment to project planning to project funding in a relatively short period of time. Now onto coordinated implementation tasks that will create great events that attract strong participation. Thanks to these community teams for their great work!
One of the challenges these small teams of community leaders presented is the abundant and different opportunities to improve their community. Should a community work on achieving the state broadband goal across their entire community, rural areas and all? Or should infrastructure discussions focus on bringing Gigabit service to schools, hospitals, large businesses and government entities? Or both?
On the adoption side, similar questions emerge. Should efforts focus on getting the slowest adopters online for the first time or should a community implement strategies that will move those already online, both as content providers and consumers, towards significantly higher levels of sophistication? Or both?
As community broadband leaders feel a bit overwhelmed, they should consider who benefits from successful broadband projects. Getting more community residents online certainly benefits the local Internet Service Providers so getting them involved makes sense. But other organizations also benefit – more people online increases the opportunities by local institutions to deliver cost-effective e-solutions in health care, education, government and business. I have been a part of recent discussions that are focusing on the increased costs to health care and education of their clientele not being connected, either through lack of a capable network or because of digital inclusion considerations.
Having a great network spurs adoption. Valued applications drive adoption. Reach deep into your community leadership to spur their engagement in your broadband promotion efforts. Help them to understand their value proposition of better connectivity and more sophisticated users.
More users + more uses = more value for everyone. The net result is a better community for all.