Monthly Archives: March 2010

Austin going Google

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According to the Post Bulletin, Austin Minnesota is the latest community to apply to be the lucky Google group…

Austin Community Development Director Craig Hoium told the Austin City Council the idea came up at a recent meeting at the Hormel Institute. He said several major employers support Austin applying to become one of those test sites. The network would be tested in Austin with no cost to the city, he said. Hoium had already started an application, but went to the council for its blessing. The council gave him just that on a 6-0 vote.

I love to see more communities discussing broadband. We all know the odds of becoming *the* Google community back Vegas seem like a sure thing – but whatever the impetus, the Google initiative is getting people to talk.

Minnesota cable bill

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Rep. Sheldon Johnson has sponsored a bill (HF2852) that would make it easier for telephone companies to offer “triple-play” services — voice, video and Internet — by letting cities grant cable franchises to companies that already provide phone services. Here is the proposed language; c is the new part…

1.7 Subdivision 1. Requirement; conditions. (a) A municipality shall require a
1.8franchise or extension permit of any cable communications system providing service
1.9within the municipality.
1.10(b) No municipality shall grant an additional franchise for cable service for an
1.11area included in an existing franchise on terms and conditions more favorable or less
1.12burdensome than those in the existing franchise pertaining to: (1) the area served; (2)
1.13public, educational, or governmental access requirements; or (3) franchise fees. The
1.14provisions of this paragraph shall not apply when the area in which the additional franchise
1.15is being sought is not actually being served by any existing cable communications system
1.16holding a franchise for the area. Nothing in this paragraph prevents a municipality from
1.17imposing additional terms and conditions on any additional franchises.
1.18(c) An area for an additional cable franchise is not more favorable or less
1.19burdensome if the franchisee is a telephone company, as defined in section 237.01,
1.20subdivision 7, and the area of the franchise is no less than the area within the municipality
1.21in which the telephone company offers local exchange telephone service. This paragraph
1.22is in addition to and not a limit to the authority of a municipality to grant an additional
1.23franchise for cable service.

According to the Session Daily, the bill has been approved by the House Telecommunications Regulation and Infrastructure Division and now goes to the House Commerce and Labor Committee. A companion, SF2535, sponsored by Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Mpls), awaits action by the full Senate.

Minnesota Broadband Battles

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MinnPost ran an interesting article today highlighting some of the more contentious broadband issues in Minnesota: Battle over broadband: Minnesota slipping in efforts to get more high-speed Internet access. The first battle is the race with other states for ARRA broadband funding. The article say that, “Minnesota has not been a big winner so far of the funds being awarded by the U.S. departments of commerce and agriculture” and suggests that leadership at the State level might have helped in the pursuit.

The article maintains that Minnesota is mired in the middle ground. I did a little research into how much each states has received so far for ARRA broadband projects (not mapping) and found that the reporter (Sharon Schmickle) is spot on. So far 43 states (or regions) have received funding; Minnesota is ranked 24th in terms of the amount it has received. (I have tracked funding received by states.) It’s interesting to see but I don’t feel like the fat lady has sung yet; there are still grants in the hopper and anyone could pull ahead with the next announcement.

One silver lining is that the Minnesota broadband bill, which would create a broadband entity that might be able to play a leadership role next time around.

The next battle is the community versus providers especially in terms of the Minnesota telecommunications services bill currently in legislation. On the one side are providers who have invested in existing broadband infrastructure and are not interested in government-supported competition. On the other side are communities who are not satisfied with their broadband options.

The National Broadband Plan – A Minnesota perspective

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I’m torn between combing through the long awaited National Broadband Plan with fine-toothed comb or looking at the broad strokes. After reading Steve Borsch’s article Why the FCC Broadband Plan Matters, I’m going to shoot for the middle ground and look at what the Plan might mean in Minnesota – based mostly the executive summary, the March 16 FCC open meeting and various (early) critiques of the Plan. First, Minnesota has started with recommendations from the Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Task Force and the FCC recommendations are just that – recommendations. The FCC suggests that that executive branch continue the effort with an ongoing, multidisciplinary committee; the MN Task Force requested the same.

Now let’s look at the goals:

Goal No. 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.

Minnesota’s Task Force speed recommendations were well below these speeds; subsequently the speeds in the current Minnesota broadband bill are also slower with a universal broadband goal – 10-20mbps up / 5-10mbps down and be top 5 in US, and top 15 internationally. However Minnesota calls for 100 percent coverage; National Plan does not. (I think I saw someone say 100 million households was out of 114 million)

Want to test your connection speed today? Check out the Speed Test on the FCC site; it’s one of their new consumer tools. You can compare your speeds with the rest of Minnesota on the Connect Minnesota site. (Or test your speeds reported on the FCC site with the tests reported on the Connect MN site.) FCC will be using the tests in a report to come out next February.

Goal No. 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.

As seen in the excerpt above Minnesota is shooting to be a world leader but Minnesota’s Task Force plan was purposefully technology neutral. (And the way the FCC handles mobile innovation is not a discussion at the state level.) Though I have to give special mention to Representative Juhnke who asked about cell coverage when the Task Force brought their recommendations to the Capital. Rep Johnke was talking about simple cell phone coverage, but that’s required – in rural areas especially – before we can see any innovation!

Goal No. 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.

The FCC is already receiving grief about this one. National Public Radio has accused the FCC of ignoring its own international study (by Benkler) on broadband cost…

The FCC got Benkler’s report and basically said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Blair Levin, executive director of the FCC’s broadband initiative, says forcing companies to open their circuits to competitors — what’s called “open access” — just won’t work in the U.S.

What they have done instead is plan to shift up to $16 billion over the next decade from the existing Universal Service Fund (USF) Program to support broadband. Yahoo! reports that the FCC might have issues with this option too…

Tapping this pool of money for broadband could be an uphill push, too, because the long-distance revenue base that supports the Universal Service Fund is shrinking. The FCC plan offers several options to pay for the new broadband programs, including one that would require no additional money from Congress and one that would accelerate the construction of broadband networks if Congress approves a one-time injection of several billion dollars.

The FCC may also need to sort out questions of legal authority. Existing law and policies say Universal Service money can only be used for telephone service, not broadband.

Goal No. 4: Every American community should have affordable access to at least 1 gigabit per second broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.

The Minnesota Task Force recognizes the importance of anchor tenants in a community, but doesn’t necessarily suggest a higher speed for those centers…

Local government entities (i.e., cities, counties, townships, school districts) and regional library consortia can form collaboratives to improve connectivity between them and/or combine their
purchasing power in the aggregate. This level of connectivity can serve as the anchor tenant for existing service providers and be one way to encourage them to build out the existing network.

Goal No. 5: To ensure the safety of the American people, every first responder should have access to a nationwide, wireless, interoperable broadband public safety network.

Locally, the Task Force looked e.emergency (pg 92). I don’t think it was super fleshed out or made a top priority – but there are recommendations to create entities to look into e.emergency is greater detail. So in short, I think the US and MN recommendations are in alignment here. Any action on the National level will support Minnesota’s efforts. …

Minnesota’s public safety and emergency response organizations need broadband so they can rapidly share information between public health, safety, and emergency responder entities and private entities. Broadband is also required for cybersecurity, 24/7 availability, fault protection, and to support seamless disaster management between branches and levels of government, as well as to expand capacity and connectivity for the Public Safety and Homeland Security Networks of Minnesota.

The Task Force believes that it is necessary to ensure a network connection to every public sector emergency responder facility (i.e., sheriff, police and fire, PCA, public health locations) as well as each of the 63 National Guard armories and training centers.

Goal No. 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption

I don’t know of Minnesota movement that aligns with this goal. I like to see broadband offered as a solution – and I think many reports and recommendations seem to focus on broadband as a solution.

The goals are braced up with a 4-prong plan:

1. Establishing competition policies. Policymakers, including the FCC, have a broad set of tools to protect and encourage competition in the markets that make up the broadband ecosystem: network services, devices and applications and content. The plan contains multiple recommendations that will foster competition across the ecosystem.

2. Ensuring efficient allocation and use of government-owned and government-influenced assets. Government establishes policies for the use of spectrum and oversees access to poles, conduits, rooftops and rights-of-way, which are used in the deployment of broadband networks. Government also finances a large number of infrastructure projects. Ensuring these assets and resources are allocated and managed efficiently can encourage deployment of broadband infrastructure and lower barriers to competitive entry. The plan contains a number of recommendations to do accomplish these goals.

Reading with Minnesota eyes, I have to give credit to Senator Amy Klobuchar for the dig once model!

3. Creating incentives for universal availability and adoption of broadband. Three elements must be in place to ensure all Americans have the opportunity to reap the benefits of broadband. All Americans should have access to broadband service with sufficient capabilities, all should be able to afford broadband and all should have the opportunity to develop digital literacy skills to take advantage of broadband.

4. Updating policies, setting standards and aligning incentives to maximize use for national priorities. Federal, Tribal, state and local governments play an important role in many sectors of our economy. Government is the largest health care payor in the country, operates the public education system, regulates many aspects of the energy industry, provides multiple services to its citizens and has primary responsibility for homeland security. The plan includes the recommendations designed to unleash increased use, private sector investment and innovation in these areas.

And a few of the early critiques of the Plan. Continue reading →

Update on the Super Majority Bill

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I wrote a while back on the Super Municipal Telecommunications Services bill in the legislature – the bill that would eliminate the need for a super –majority to approve a municipal plan to provide telecommunications services. I got the heads up on the bill’s progress from Chris Mitchell. Chris, from the Institute for Local Self Reliance, follows broadband closely especially when it comes to anything related to helping or hindering a city’s chance of providing service (and becoming self reliant).

Chris had an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune yesterday that does a good job of outlining the history of the bill, it’s recent progress in the Legislature and the impact it will have on municipalities looking to provide telecommunications services.

MN looks for State web master

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In the spirit of Sunshine Week, I was glad to see that the State is looking for a web master to (according to Politics in Minnesota) “oversee the development of coordinated, information-generous state government websites and to make the data presented there more readily accessible and useable for the public.”

What a good idea! I love the idea of making information more accessible. I’ve searched some woeful sites for information and a concerted effort could really make a difference. It seems as if it might even open the door to greater use of new media tools that would allow citizens to track action in the State and communicate more directly with officials and maybe other citizens.

Unfortunately not everyone is so pleased. Again according to Politics in Minnesota…

The bill’s path through the Legislature has touched on a point of contention that is unique to the high tech industry. As the bill currently is written in the House version, the webmaster would develop “standards” for “enhanced public access to state electronic records.”

Some who have followed the bill say that the call for standards is controversial for software companies like Microsoft Corp., who are worried that governments might embrace open-source software solutions that would leave their proprietary products out in the cold. Mike Dean, the executive director of Common Cause — which supports the bill — said he’s observed that some software firms are concerned that the bill will steer the state toward open-source technology options.

So the Senate has changed standards to policies; but the House is not planning to make the change. It will be interesting see what happens.

Happy Sunshine Week

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It’s going to be a busy week. The National Broadband Plan is expected to be released on Wednesday. (Did they not know that March 17 was St Patrick’s Day?!) The Minnesota broadband bill may make it to the legislative floor this week – although that’s not set in stone and next week may be more likely. And it’s Sunshine Week!

According to the Sunshine Week web site…

Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.

Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of News Editors and is funded primarily by a challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami.

Though spearheaded by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.

I know that’s kind of long but I wanted to fit in the part about enlightening and empowering people to play an active role in government at all levels – because I think that ties in so closely with one of the basic reasons that the government is and should be interested in broadband. Because as more and more government information is being made available online (sometimes avialble online only), it is important that every citizen have equal access to that information – brodband is the medium. Also broadband can give voice to the citizenry that was previously hard to hear – but only those with broadband have that advantage.

Locally, Sunshine Week will be celebrated on March 16 when the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information awards Reed Anfinson, recipient of the 2010 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award. (Get details on event.)

Anfinson is publisher and owner of the Swift County Monitor-News, based in Benton, MN. According to the MN COGI web site…

In this role he has published frequent editorials and articles on open government, including articles on the state’s Data Practices Act, open meeting regulations and discussions of the impact of video and digital technology on public access.

The keynote speaker is Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson. He will be speaking on the open approach used in the contentious Senate recount and the impact on the public perception of the outcome. He will also address the Court’s decision to initiative a new test of cameras in the court in Minnesota. I think of the impact The Uptake had on the recount – filming and posting the recount online. It’s just one aspect of the importance of broadband.

Broadband brings us an eagle

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At the Digital Inclusion Summit, I heard that by 2012, 90 percent of the info online will be video. Amazing! While part of me finds that hard to believe, I don’t really doubt it.

So much of the video seems silly – but some of it has opened new doors such as the Eagle Cam. I just learned about it on the Minneapolis Star Tribune site…

My [blogger Travis Frank] mission was to bring live Bald Eagle action to the web. It’s been done before, but it has been Ron’s [Schara] dream to do his own, and my research has shown that it can be done better. I teamed up with a local company called Broadband America. They specialize in bringing wireless internet out to the country and hard to reach locations. Once we figured out that small wireless internet puzzle piece, we needed to broadcast the feed across the world. Enter the folks at WildEarth.tv. They are an African based company that does just that – rebroadcast our live signal to the masses.

So with the technology in place they scouted out a place to see/record an eagle and found a place. You can watch it anytime. Not earth-shattering for most of us – but imagine the things they’ll learn! It’s a good reminder that rural areas need to be connected, not just so that they can get information – but so that they can share information (regardless of species).

Blaine not going for broadband

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Anoka County has been working on an ARRA broadband stimulus grant. According to ABC Newspapers, Blaine will not be moving forward with the County to seek funding for broadband.

The article outlines many of the potential advantages Blaine would reap if they were part of the project, assuming they got money. But the City Council voted it down. There seemed to be great concerns about public funding getting into private business and/or providing an unfair advantage to one business.

Anoka County will be working with Zayo Broadband. They will be providing an open access network, which many readers will recognize means that other providers will be able to take advantage of the infrastructure. Zayo will be in more of a wholesale position.

One resident seemed to speak for many when she said…

“It’s the carrot and stick [approach],” she said. “I’m against public and private partnerships. We need to allow the private sector to provide Internet services.”

Also there seemed to be frustration with the whole NTIA/RUS broadband stimulus initiative…

[Mayor] Ryan said he was dissatisfied with the federal stimulus process but pointed out if local government entities didn’t apply, any money awards would go elsewhere.

[Councilmember] Hovland disagreed with Ryan’s view.

“I don’t see where this will stimulate the economy and create jobs,” Hovland said. “Somewhere, we have to stand up and say no.”

[Councilmember] Clark said if the county’s broadband initiative had been presented at part of a national policy initiative, he would have had a better understanding of why the city would be support it.

In the end the City Council voted unanimously against it.

Broadband part of Irish solution in job creation plan

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Here’s the headline from my newspaper this week (Irish Times March 10, 2010):

Innovation taskforce says 120,000 jobs can be created: Changes in bankruptcy law, maths and broadband are key.

The report, which came out the day after the article, calls for ubiquitous broadband by 2010 and speeds of 1Gbps by 2012. Here are their specific recommendations:

Key Recommendation
Given the critical need for advanced broadband services in building a highly innovative enterprise sector, the nationwide roll-out of Next Generation Network (NGN) services, for bandwidth up to and surpassing 1Gbps, should be prioritised.

Supporting Recommendations

  • Extend building regulations to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband;
  • Ensure that the provision of broadband infrastructure is intrinsic in all State investment plans (e.g. roads, water distribution and meters, drainage works, smart electricity meters, etc.), including Local Authority plans;
  • Reduce the costs of providing telecoms and broadband services by reviewing planning rules, reducing charges, and developing consistent charges and processes across local authorities;
  • Facilitate provision of access to public ducting infrastructure by establishing the planned “one stop shop”;
  • Ensure a clear, predictable and technology neutral, regulatory approach to NGN;
  • Government procurement should be used where appropriate to stimulate the provision of high quality symmetric broadband (e.g. eSchools, eHealth and eGovernment initiatives).

I thought that this would be a good reminder to folks back home that as we move our broadband plans forward, everyone is else is moving forward too. Ireland is much smaller than Minnesota, so in many ways developing infrastructure is easier – but when we’re both courting the same businesses size won’t matter. Infrastructure will.

Minnesota Broadband bill through Gov Ops

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The update today is short but sweet, not much posted on the Legislative web site yet, but…

The House version of the broadband bill was voted out of the Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee yesterday and is now heading for scheduling on the floor. We should see action on the floor of each chamber next week or more likely the week after.

What is NTIA looking for?

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As Minnesota Public Radio pointed out earlier this week, so far only two of the 50 or so applications for constructions funds from ARRA broadband stimulus pools have been successful. One of the frustrating aspects of the application process has been the fact that little to no feedback has been given to those you have applied and not been successful.

This frustration is magnified by the fact that many of us are applying again. (Blandin has been fortunate enough to have been contacted by the NTIA to provide more information on their NTIA application, but they will not know if they have received funding until after the deadline for Round Two funding has passed.) How do you reapply when you don’t know how close you were the first time or what aspects of your project did not appeal to grantors?

I was able to glean a little bit of information from the MPR story…

Federal officials aren’t offering a lot of details on why Lake County lost out while others got money. Rural Utilities Service administrator Jonathan Adelstein says in general, the government is looking to help the most rural parts of the nation.

“We emphasized projects that would be able to bring high band width, very high quality service to unserved or underserved rural areas that had a possibility of being there for many years to come,” said Adelstein.

Adelstein says one reason the southwest Minnesota project was picked was because it will build on an established business. The city of Windom, which is included in the project, has operated its own fiber optics system for about five years.

St Paul moves a step ahead with plans for BTOP funding

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Yesterday, the St Paul City Council consented to Resolution – 10-242 – Authorizing the Office of Technology and Communications to submit an ARRA NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant request. (GS 3099816-Ward 7).

So what does that mean? According to the Pioneer Press, the plan (for St Paul and Ramsey County) will “link the governments in a truly high-speed Internet network and, proponents say, lay a base infrastructure that eventually could lead to the same top-quality service to businesses and residents, as well as needed support for growing 4G wireless networks.”

I don’t want to say the first step – as I know many hours of work has gone into getting the application this far – but this is a step towards requesting ARRA broadband stimulus funds and loans to build the infrastructure. It also cements a relationship with two local businesses, UniTek Global Services and Minnesota Fiber Exchange. They would build and manage the network.

According to Minnesota Fiber Exchange…

Our goal is to provide carrier neutral-dark fiber-open access networks to carriers and ISPs to allow them to expand their business base in the community. Especially in an area such as St. Paul and Ramsey County where currently there is a dearth of fiber assets for lease; we believe that this will be an exciting way for providers to increase customer reach. Our goal is to provide a competitively priced dark fiber service that will allow ISPs to grow business. The new network will replace the existing network in St Paul, which is a free network provided by Comcast.

Why are they doing this?

Again according to the Pioneer Press…

Hoping to save taxpayers money in the long run and boost the region’s march into the digital age, a host of officials from throughout Ramsey County are pushing a $30 million plan to build a new network of fiber-optic communication cable.

Notes from Free Google Broadband Initiative Educational Webinar

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Like the webinar today, I’m going to dive right in. The big topic was the Google Fiber Network opportunities. It was an interesting discussion. We heard from a range of panelists. Some seemed to speak directly to community members and leaders who might be planning to submit a proposal to Google. Some seemed to be speaking to public broadcasters about how they can use and join the broadband discussion.

Some quick takeaways:

  1. The Google opportunity is a long shot – but it’s an opportunity to start the broadband conversation locally
  2. The conversation needs to be local and should start with a compelling story
  3. A compelling story will lead to a vision – that vision will help you improve broadband in your community with or without Google
  4. Google is not hoping to become a provider; they are hoping to create a test bed and share their lessons with providers and communities

The webinar will soon be archived. In the meantime here are the notes from each presenter… Continue reading →

Minnesota’s portion of the Digital Inclusion Summit

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Whew – it’s been a day. I just finished the final segment of the Digital Inclusion Summit – the panel hosted by James Farstad and the Knight Foundation in Maplewood. Panelists for the event were:

• Rick King, Chair, Governor’s Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force
• Catherine Settanni, Founder, DigitalAccess.org
• Sam Levy, Vice President and CIO, University of St. Thomas
• Susan Nemitz, Director, Ramsey County Library
• Mike Reszler, Director, Digital Media, Minnesota Public Radio|American Public Media
• Craig Taylor, Director of the Office for Business and Community Economic Development, University of Minnesota

They were a brave group who just opened themselves up to the following questions…

Q: National Broadband Plan promotes 90 percent of Americans by 2020 – what do you think of that?

RK: Minnesota is looking for ubiquitous coverage by 2015. We think it might take 2 years or so to get almost there – but the remaining portion will take longer.

Minnesota went for a world class as compared to the rest of the world as well as speed goals to help keep us competitive. Right now we’re at about 24th; the US is at 16th so we have some work to do.

We want to hear what the definition of broadband – not 768k, the current definition. That definition is not sufficient.

Q: The Feds are looking for a best practices clearing house. What best practices do we have to share?

CS: The best initiatives come from the community. CTEP came from nonprofits in the area. They had lots of donated computers – but the computers remained untouched. They needed people to mobilize technology and digital literacy skills.

Oftentimes the work of the nonprofit isn’t documented – but hopefully that will change.

Q: What are the core information needs and how can we continue to meet them?

MR: The support systems to maintain information are not cheap. How do you support organizations that are dedicated to making information available.

We need to focus on need, not technology. We need to imagine our need and let the computers meet those needs. The technology is great – but we still need people to post the parking tickets, death records, whatever online in a way that’s accessible.

Q: Access to broadband is said to have a direct impact on education outcomes. Is that true?

SL: Our connections to the community run deep. Kids are wired differently in some ways. They can’t remember a life without PCs. That makes it hard on the institutions to meet the needs. Computing is ubiquitous.

4G will make a huge difference. By 2012, information on the Internet is expected to be 90 percent video. We need to get high speed bandwidth out there to the people who need it.

Q: The FCC emphasizes the importance of tech access in the libraries? Do people really use technology in the library?

SN: Go into a public library if you haven’t been for a while. People are using the technology. We’ve seen double-digit growth. We provide Internet access; we see a 30 percent increase in hours used each year.

When the library opens, there’s a line to get to the computers. There’s another huge rush once school gets out. Students run into issues because the computers are home are too old, or many they have more siblings than computers, maybe printer is broken. Kids without access at home are at a huge disadvantage.

Seniors are probably the second largest demographic using computers. Often they are short on skills – even to do basic online tasks such as emailing grandkids.

Q: How do you think we can impact social infrastructure with broadband adoption?

CT: The U of M has invested $7 billion. We work with neighborhoods and communities. We found a disparity and a way to help breech the digital divide. We have focused on the need and built a solution to meet that need, using the advantages we have at the University. In low income households we saw that they didn’t have computers and/or Internet access.

Q: Ann Alquist from TC Daily Planet – how will the State address the rural inequity? Why doesn’t the FCC use the term Digital Divide now?

RK: Inclusion sounds warmer; divide sounds tough.

We heard from Public Safety folks and the state is putting in a network for first responders. They have a plan in place. It does relate to parts of what we were doing. We hoped to build upon the public safety network/infrastructure when possible to meet community needs. (Such as wireless towers.)

There are pockets of un-served areas throughout the State, which is why sometimes you see people outside rather than in.

CS: Language matters. Digital Inclusion is about what am I going to do about this problem. We need to be careful about how to talk about this.

Q: How can we get traditional media to use technology?

MR: We went out with the sesquicentennial to rural areas to get folks to tell their stories. First we asked folks to video and upload – but we learned that people weren’t ready to do that so we did it with them.

We’ve launched the Public expert network where people can self-select as experts and we can draw on those folks for more info.

Q: Where the videos close captioned?

MR: Yes

Q: Can we roll the 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act of 2009 into our broadband plan?

CS: If you remove some of the politics sometimes things can happen more quickly. Approaching it from a regulatory perspective might be better.

JF: The FCC will discuss broadband and disabilities issues tomorrow.

Q: Rita Rogers from Office of Technology: The last half mile for people with disabilities is the computer. You have video and audio with no transcripts. The ADA rules are just not being applied. Could the CTEP group work with government agencies and nonprofit organizations to build better web sites for people with disabilities?

CS: We have been working with the Pacer Center, libraries and others.

One issue is that there’s never any money for accessibility. And if it’s not in the budget, it won’t happen.

CT: At the U of M we will be able to build more computer centers; part of what we will do is hiring about 42 people to build curriculum to address needs such as those affecting people with disabilities.

Q: How do you form and sustain effective partnerships?

SL: We need to talk about what we all agree on. I don’t have a problem with incumbents. Rather than talking about issues with incumbents we need to talk about our aspirations. That might draw in more people.

Q: What can we do locally to draw on resources of national libraries in a collaborative environment?

SN: Partnerships. We need to share aspirations. We are all working on digital literacy and curriculum. We need to benchmark and catalog to make sure we don’t recreate the wheel. There are

Libraries are taking cuts. We have computer centers that are open during the day – we need to work together to create depth as well as breadth.

Q: Peter Fleck from PFHyper: I see a lot of proposals from libraries and computer centers. I’ve wondered why we haven’t been better using our libraries and librarians. A big issue is 24-hour access. Why aren’t libraries spearheading efforts for 24-hour access and training?

Kit Hadley from St Paul Library – There is a certain territorial spirit that has led to the problem. We need to think of a plus-plus strategy. Libraries should be pushing for digital literacy and access. We need to take leadership here. There is more and more discussion on this topic throughout the State.

CS: Community computer centers started outside of libraries and other non-government centers. Computer centers wanted to be where the people were – and some folks won’t go into libraries.

Minnesota is a regional economy. Did you hear from the agriculture industry?

RK: The task force was made up of 23 people, including a librarian and several of folks outstate. We held 3 outstate meetings. We heard testimony from many people in rural areas. We heard that the service options they had were not robust. They didn’t have speed they wanted to use various applications. We also heard from folks who felt well served, but maybe wanted more competition. There are some great services in rural areas – but the infrastructure that looks like Swiss cheese – with holes in the service.

Of the 6 percent un-served – that is disproportionately rural.

Q – What is your advice to the next governor?

SN: The governor needs to have a vision – such as with the Task Force recommendations

RK: I hope that’s a task for the current governor – not the next governor. I hope we’ll have a more focused entity in the government to watch broadband issues.

MR: The vision is very important. We are thinking about people accessing info on mobile devices – not wired devices. Imagine your 70 in a rural area and your medical records are all on your handheld. You don’t have to go into town. In the third world they are skipping desktops and moving right to wireless.

Q: What do you want to see happen?

PF: I’d like to see the super-majority clause in the community telecommunications provider referendum change. There’s a bill SF2532 that’s trying to get rid of the super majority.

Mike Reardon – Thanks to Jim and the Knight Foundation. It was great to see the engagement locally and nationally.

CS: Like to see institutional partners do an annual conclave.

AA: The Twin Cities Daily Planet is working on a conference in September or October. The gutting for money for library and public information has been brutal.