Thanks to Bernadine Joselyn for sending me info on Digital Dirt Road in North Carolina.

InterentforEveryone is an organization that strive to “to shed light on the millions of Americans who live without regular Internet access or lack the training or equipment to get online.” Their members include the American Library Association, Google, American Distance Education Consortium, Free Press, The Main Street Project, Twin Cities Media Alliance and loads of others.

They have been trekking through the road less traveled in North Carolina talking to folks without broadband. They have posted videos from their conversations online. Sadly most of the people featured can’t see themselves from the comfort of their own home – but the stories are powerful.

I love the idea of coupling this with some of the mapping projects. The maps are important but there are gaps that can’t really be addressed with a map. Hearing that 92 percent of a state is covered with broadband is great – until you talk to the other 8 percent. As the videos indicate – those people want and need broadband.

It would be great to see some of the stories of Minnesota’s digital dirt road – or snow trail as the case might be.

Bernadine’s great idea is to roll some stories into the Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force’s plan to visit rural Minnesota this summer.