Are we disqualifying an entire population because of Net access?

That is my favorite line from a recent editorial in the St Cloud Times, written by an Avon resident who is frustrated by dialup access. The story is familiar – a rural Minnesota resident goes from being frustrated with no access to broadband to having limited choices, none of which are affordable.

As the author points out, some folks might say that she has chosen to live in a rural area. She has traded in her broadband for no rush hours. Unfortunately, broadband is becoming less of an elective – more of a requisite. Broadband is no longer a time-saving luxury it opens the doors to resources that are at least as necessary in rural areas. Broadband is required for most online job applications, grant applications, research and more.

Anyways the editorial is worth the read!

This entry was posted in Blandin Foundation, Digital Divide, MN, Rural by Ann Treacy. Bookmark the permalink.

About Ann Treacy

Librarian who follows rural broadband in MN and good uses of new technology (blandinonbroadband.org), hosts a radio show on MN music (mostlyminnesota.com), supports people experiencing homelessness in Minnesota (elimstrongtowershelters.org) and helps with social justice issues through Women’s March MN.

4 thoughts on “Are we disqualifying an entire population because of Net access?

  1. I did enjoy that editorial. I wish more people would realize that expanding broadband to rural areas is good for urban folks like me because networks are more valuable the more people that are on them. Expanding broadband is not charity, it is a win-win and a must for our country to succeed in the coming decades.

  2. That’s a great point. I think some people treat networks like information – those who have it are at an advantage – but a network to a limited number of folks just isn’t as valuable as you point out.

  3. Pingback: Telecommuting: a transportation issue « Blandin on Broadband

  4. Pingback: » Telecommuting: a transportation issue Telematika Pedesaan

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s