Before I dive in I want to remind folks of the webinar opportunity tomorrow: the Free Google Broadband Initiative Educational Webinar Wednesday, March 10, 2 p.m.

I have watched half of the Digital Inclusion Summit (find archive here) so far today from my home office in Dublin, Ireland. There are days when the power of broadband hits me – like when I can attend a meeting from across the world. It’s as if distance doesn’t matter at all! Time however might matter so I thought I’d get half of this online while we’re on break – as it’ll be pretty late for me when the session ends.

It was great to hear from the policymakers about how broadband is a solution, not a problem. The focus today was on adoption, not deployment and of course I think most of us are listening with an eye towards the National Broadband Plan that is set to come out on St Patrick’s Day next week. (Several speakers noted that – it’s not just me.)

Broadband was touted as a means for public engagement by Rep Markey and a way out of poverty by Commissioner Donovan. As he pointed out you can predict a child’s future tomorrow based on their zip code today. That just isn’t right – broadband will help change some of that because broadband brings amenities, such as education, health care and job opportunities to your door.

Past policy successes for promoting broadband were mentioned, such as the e-rate. (Did you know that 95 percent of US schools are connected via broadband?) Universal Service Fund (USF) was mentioned by Representative Lee Terry. He mentioned that it was been a lifeline to rural residents and that reforming the USF is a necessary component to a successful broadband plan.

I also noted that there were a lot of discussions of local success – starting with Commissioner Donovan who talked about a nonprofit group in NY that had breathed life into a poor and dying community in 1977. That local impact made all the difference. We heard from about half a dozen recent converts to broadband – or others who are helping recent converts become the initiated (including a representative from the CTEP program working at Rondo Library in St Paul, MN. It was great to hear how training has made a difference to broadband interest and adoption. (Glad to hear that affordability came up too and many speakers alluded to the recent report that said, “Broadband access is increasingly a requirement of socio-economic inclusion, not an outcome of it—and residents of low-income communities know this.”) Mentioning local success in a national plan, it seems like partnership will play a starring role. I hope that they will find new ways to support partnership.