Monthly Archives: April 2010

Iron Range need a shot of Google

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Aaron Brown is a reporter who lives and writes on te Iron Range. I often enjoy his articles and perspective. He wrote a great wake up call to Iron Rangers the other day that I think could – maybe should – be read by other communities too. I’ll just excerpt two paragraphs (which I’ve taken out of order) here…

Maybe Google Fiber is a salvation; maybe it isn’t. Something else caught my eye. When Duluth was presented with the opportunity to pursue Google, it did so wholeheartedly and with a broad coalition that included more than the usual suspects. Duluth is pursuing Google Fiber with creativity, and yet with understanding of itself, both its limitations and potential. From YouTube to Facebook, from the Chamber of Commerce to students playing online video games, Duluth is trying something new.

We sit here waiting for Essar Steel to build a plant in Nashwauk that will not even remotely replace the jobs lost over the past 30 years. Even if the Essar project is wildly successful it won’t completely solve our problems, specifically the problems that face our local schools, cities and businesses. We need more. No one else will give us what we need unless we ask for, then demand, then create our own solutions. New industry, telecommuters and innovative ways to harness natural, renewable resources are the only way out of this anxious wilderness.

I’ve often said that I like the idea of the Google Fiber Community because it gets people talking about broadband. It gets them excited. Google is a long shot (if not lottery odds than at least carnival raffle odds, and I never win those) but once you’ve talked and committed and worked to convince Google that you’re worthy – well wouldn’t you have to believe if yourself and wouldn’t you go on to get it done? It’s a reason to make the first step. My Grandpa used to say – first you got to want to. Once you want to the rest is easy.

Aaron has gone even further with this idea – Google was an opportunity for each community to be creative, think big and make plans for the future. While the Google opportunity may be gone – the opportunity to be creative, think big and make plans for the future – and as the old saying goes, there’s no better time than a present!

Blandin eNews April 2010

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Here’s the news from our latest newsletter. It’s mostly a compilation of Minnesota-related stories from the blog in the last month – but sometimes it’s nice to have it compiled.

Blandin Awarded $4.7 million
The Blandin Foundation is pleased to report that their ARRA broadband application to the NITA was successful. http://tinyurl.com/yd82d9d The NTIA awarded Blandin and their 19 partners $4.7 million for broadband adoption, focused in 11 communities but creating networks that will serve the entire state. The local and national response has been humbling. http://tinyurl.com/yfznde3  

Minnesota ARRA Broadband Funding Recipients
The following Minnesota initiatives also received ARRA funding in March:

  • Mission Economic Development Agency received $3.7 million for public computer centers in several states, including Minneapolis, Minnesota. http://tinyurl.com/yg8jc69  
  • Northeast Service Cooperative received a $21,749,110 loan and a $21,749,110 grant to provide middle-mile, dark fiber, wavelength services to private-sector providers. It will pass through the following counties: St. Louis, Lake, Cook, Koochiching, Carlton, Pine, Itasca and Aitkin. http://tinyurl.com/yk9baaa  
  • Minnesota Valley Television Improvement Corporation received a $562,776 loan, a $562,776 grant, and $281,388 of private investment to provide a two-way broadband internet network to unserved and underserved areas of west central and south central Minnesota including the following counties: Pope, Swift, Kandiyohi, Meeker, Stearns, Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Jackson, Lyon, Martin, McLeod, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Redwood, Renville, Sibley, Watonwan, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln and Yellow Medicine. http://tinyurl.com/yk9baaa  
  • Halstad Telephone Company received a $3,277,500 loan and a $3,277,500 grant to provide FTTP broadband in five towns in Norman and Polk Counties using 320 miles of fiber optic cable and providing those locations with broadband capability up to 100 Mbps. http://tinyurl.com/yahokvw  

Minnesota Broadband Bill
The Minnesota Broadband Bill has been making its way through the legislature. http://tinyurl.com/yg63rxz It draws from highlights of the Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Task Force recommendations http://tinyurl.com/yl3zs3t. The bill has passed in the House and is expected to come up in the Senate this week.

Minnesota Telecommunications Bill
The Senate is currently discussing a bill that as introduced would have made it easier for local governments to provide telecommunications services by requiring only a simple, not super majority vote of approval from the community. http://tinyurl.com/yl3k78b The bill has been changed significantly since being introduced; stipulations have been added to the simple majority requirement. http://tinyurl.com/yfy2dof  

Klobuchar introduces Broadband Consumer Protection Bill
Senator Amy Klobuchar filed the Broadband Service Consumer Protection Act, a bill requiring Internet Service Providers to accurately advertise their delivered broadband speeds. http://tinyurl.com/yfe4jzx  

Minnesota Cable Bill
Rep. Sheldon Johnson has sponsored a bill 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. http://tinyurl.com/yh6qcjm  

National Broadband Plan
The FCC unveiled the National Broadband Plan in mid-March. It includes six major goals starting with 100 million U.S. homes with actual download speeds of at least 100 Mbps and actual upload speeds of at least 50 Mbps. http://tinyurl.com/yh3tcmj.  

Google Fiber Communities
Google invited local governments and residents to express their interest in being a part of Google’s fiber optic trial. At least ten Minnesota communities applied http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m; Duluth/Twin Ports was one of the earliest communities in the US to decide to participate and received great notoriety for their efforts. http://tinyurl.com/yhpk5sn

Libraries Help Bridge Gap
Research indicates that public libraries provide broadband services to a wide range of patrons. Patrons come even when they have broadband at home because of improved access and technical support provided at the library. http://tinyurl.com/ygxwcuc

Local Minnesota News

Apple Valley
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m  

Austin
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yfocsup  

Bemidji
Bemidji local newspaper supports the National Broadband Plan. http://tinyurl.com/yfe87tt  

Blaine
Blaine opted out of a countywide ARRA broadband application in Anoka when the City Council voted down the option to participate in the proposal. http://tinyurl.com/ylpwjzj

Burnsville
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m  

Dakota County
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m

Duluth/Twin Ports
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yhpk5sn   

Eagan
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m  

Grand Rapids
Senator Amy Klobuchar visited with Blandin Foundation staff to talk about the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) projected recently awarded $4.7 million by the NTIA. http://tinyurl.com/ykw4gm8  

Falcon Heights
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m  

North St Paul
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m  

Northfield
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m  

Ramsey County
Ramsey County made ID Insight’s Fastest 25 Broadband List, which ranks cities in the US. http://tinyurl.com/yglx6cv

Red Wing
Applies to participate in Google’s Fiber Community program. http://tinyurl.com/yj3ca4m  

St Paul
The St Paul City Council authorized the Office of Technology and Communications to submit an ARRA NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant request. http://shorl.com/dragrahistydrydo

(Many stories are gathered from local online newspaper. Unfortunately each newspaper has a different policy in regards to archive news and therefore we cannot guarantee access to all articles cited.)

Coleman’s Corner

Receiving word from NTIA that the Blandin Foundation BTOP grant had been approved was an exciting moment. As you can imagine, the reality of the commitment quickly begins to set in and you ask yourself and your team, “How are we going to implement this project so it makes a real difference now and into the future?”

Blandin Foundation’s operational theory of change is “Framing x Social Capital x Mobilization = Healthy Community.” This formula seems especially relevant to our Demonstration Community project component. We are asking:

How can we infuse the broadband discussion with local relevance? 

How can we identify and recruit the right blend of the local social capital? 

How do we mobilize the community with a bias towards action rather than excessive deliberation?

To be successful, our NTIA BTOP broadband project must spur increased broadband adoption and enable new and improved useful applications of technology that will enhance greater Minnesota as a place to live and do business.

MIRC Partner Intros: Main Street Project

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It was a full week even before Wednesday with all of our MIRC meetings – and on Wednesday we met with folks from the Main Street Project. We met with Kat Vann, Director of Communications and Development, Steven Renderos, Media Justice Organizer and Niel Ritchie, Treasurer for Main Street Board of Directors and Executive Director, League of Rural Voters.

Main Street Project promotes and supports civic participation especially among new Americans using new technologies. Their Justice 2.0 project provides hands-on training for organizations and communities of color on media justice, digital storytelling, and how to effectively use social media tools to combat anti-immigrant and racist voices. They work with communities of color to help get their voices heard; they also encourage leaders in rural areas to reach out to other underrepresented voices.

They had some good advice for us in terms of making sure that MIRC efforts are as inclusive as possible. They emphasized the importance of reaching deep enough into non-majority communities to ensure that we’re not just dealing only with those individuals who are comfortable volunteering to speak on behalf of others. Self appointed “representatives” aren’t always so representative.

We realized that one step we could take would be to explicitly articulate project values, including importantly inclusivity, in print,at our initial launch meeting, and throughout the entire project. And we hope to continue to learn from Main Street Project about working effectively with vulnerable and historically marginalized populations to ensure that the benefits of MIRC are widely shared.

MIRC Partner Intros: PCs for People and DEED

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On Tuesday Bill Coleman, Jack Geller, Ann Treacy and I continued our meetings with new partners in our ARRA-funded Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) project.

PCs for People

We started the day with Andy Elofson, Casey Sorenson and Sam Drong at PCs for People. PCs for People takes donated computers and rebuilds, refurbishes and redistributes them to people with limited access to technology. About 85 percent of their computer recipients have never owned a computer before. Many have used computers, at a library or public kiosk, but they haven’t owned one. After receiving a computer, 85 percent of PC for People’s computer recipients sign up for broadband.

Andy, PC for People’s founder, is a social worker in his “day job.” He started PCs for People in Mankato in 1988. It started with a donation of a computer to a local teen at risk. The boy had been expelled from school and was floundering. Andy helped him get involved in computer rehab and building web sites and making plans for the future. Since then, PCs for people has distributed over 4,000 computers. They have a waiting list of over 1,000 families. (So if you’re looking to deal with an outdated computer around your house or workplace, please consider checking out their donations program.)

Workforce training is a big part of PC for People’s program. They offer job training to unemployed workers who are nearing the end of their benefits. PC for People staff help the unemployed work on general employment skills in the first few weeks and then move into computer skills, including diagnostics and repair.

Obviously, getting computers into the hands of new owners is core to PCs for People’s mission. Individuals receiving a computer are asked to provide a small donation to cover costs associated with warranties and support. They are also welcome to buy accessories at reduced rates. PCs for People also provide repairs for a flat fee of $25.

We’re looking forward to working with PCs for People but we’re also just excited to get them in contact with more people through the project, both in terms of helping them build their computer supply chairs but also to help them get more computers into the hands of new owners – especially in rural areas. Meeting with them and hearing about their project and their needs reminded us that the strongest link in the project is the relationships built through the partnership.

Minnesota Workforce Centers – DEED

Tuesday afternoon we met with Jim Wroblesky, Kathy Sweeney, Anne Olsen and Judy Mortrude at DEED. I was looking forward to learning more about the Workforce Centers from some DEED insiders. There are so many moving parts to DEED it can be confusing to figure out their “org diagram.” DEED’s Workforce Centers help job seekers find employment, help businesses find workers, and help anyone at any stage explore and plan careers.

DEED operates 50 Workforce Centers across the state, and there are no charges to the recipients of their services. Our DEED partners told us a bit about a new project that they have been working on, LearnerWeb, which is a web site that compiles information for adult learners. We suggested that they be sure to talk with the folks at the Learning Commons who are working on a clearinghouse for education resources for k-20. Again, I was reminded that new connections will be a great benefit of the partnership.

The Workforce Centers will be providing outreach and recruitment for MIRC, as well as developing and delivering eight addition hours per center of digital literacy training for work seekers. We are also pleased to be able to help the Workforce Centers stay open longer hours.

MIRC Partner Intros: Extension Services, AMC and MN Learning Commons

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Now that we’ve received official word that our broadband stimulus grant will be awarded, project staff Bill Coleman, Jack Geller, Ann Treacy and I have moved out of cautious hold-your-breath mode into active project launch preparations with a series of ‘courtesy calls’ with our new project partners.

Our visits have been very energizing – and have surfaced a few surprises. In many ways we will get the greatest value from the surprises; an early start will help turn surprises into opportunities, not issues.

On Monday we met with University of Minnesota Extension Service, Association of Minnesota Counties and the Minnesota Learning Commons.

University of Minnesota Extension Service

We started the day in Coffey Hall on the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul Campus meeting Joyce Hoelting and Dick Senese from the Extension Service’s Community Vitality and Public Engagement Program. Extension’s mission is to connect community needs and University resources, and they have a long history of working in agriculture, wellness, leadership capacity development and decision support, and more recently, helping communities use technology. Many readers will be familiar with their Access.E curriculum. Through MIRC, Extension Services with be able to update and develop training and technical assistance to more businesses.

Using technology to revitalize community: Making a difference by connecting community needs and University resources to address critical issues in Minnesota.

Dick and Joyce and their team bring to the project deep knowledge of community capacity building and extensive-on-the-ground technical experience. Joyce and I met through the Humphrey Institute’s MPA program, and she introduced me to Dick shortly after she went to work for him at Extension. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to work more closely with Extension ever since, and now we have that chance in spades. Dick and Joyce both had some good ideas about organization and information management tools that could help keep all 19 project partners well informed about what’s happening with everyone and across the entire project.

It was also interesting to hear about Extension Service’s new “Roadside Advertising in the Digital Age” GPS workshops. The training is based on the premise that more and more, travelers are using GPS systems such as Magellan to learn about the areas where they are visiting and vacationing. So it makes at least as much sense to make use of advertising on those online maps as it does to invest in traditional billboards. I don’t have a GPS locator yet, but I’ve driven with plenty of folks who do – Bill for example. I’m glad our demonstration communities will have a chance to learn more.

Association of Minnesota Counties

Next we headed over to downtown St Paul to meet Anne Olson, Director of MN Workforce Council Association and Laurie Klupacs, Membership Services Manager at the Association of Minnesota Counties. AMC is a voluntary association of counties – although all of Minnesota’s 87 counties are currently members. AMC represents their members to state government, striving to get the counties what they need; they also provide educational programs, training, research and communications for county officials.

Our conversation focused on healthcare needs – well technology-related health care needs — and it is clear that the counties could use some help. The lingering economic downturn continues to hit many rural people hard, and the state budget deficit is cutting into local government aid that counties have previously relied on. Technology planning, vision, capacity and support in each county is uneven. Some have highly performing, interactive web sites, other counties’ internet sites are static, some have nothing. Electronic health records need to be online by 2015, but there is little to no funding to make that transition. County social services are responsible for administering many different programs, but more often than not program data bases are not integrated, with few resources in sight to improve, rationalize, or update systems. It will be exciting to see how the MIRC project can help AMC help local counties extend and improve the delivery of mental health care online.

Minnesota Learning Commons

We finished out our first day of meetings with Gary Langer and Jerry Johnson at the Minnesota Learning Commons. The Learning Commons is both a clearinghouse of online curriculum (for kindergarten through college and beyond) and a pathway to help learners create an educational plan to meet their needs, whether you’re an exceptional first grader or returning vet interested in new skills. The clearing house includes curriculum for instructor-led classes to support teachers and classroom materials for students and parents. We hope MIRC can help raise awareness and use of this free and innovative resource for all Minnesotans; life-long learning is a core value of the Blandin Foundation.

The Minnesota Learning Commons will be creating new curriculum for MIRC to help workers learn more about career paths and options in the new information economy. Our shorthand for the new curriculum so far is: “knowledge worker course.” By that we mean a class that will introduce folks to the many new jobs and careers that are growing along with the new information economy, and the pathways to those jobs. The class will be online, but instructor-led, so that students have the support they need on-site to help them. Learning will happen on many levels: students will learn about knowledge worker career opportunities, they’ll learn how to better use technology, and they will have learned how to take an online course, which should open the door to greater learning.

So far a great group is emerging.

Great coverage of MIRC

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If you’re a regular reader, you’ve heard us talk about MIRC – the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Community initiative. Blandin received $4.7 million of the ARRA broadband stimulus funds to deploy the project. Obviously we’re all excited; Bernadine Joselyn and Becky LaPlant have been posting updates on how the project is going. We have also been excited to see how the news has stimulated news and discussions in the following places….

MinnPost – Seeding ‘a culture of broadband’ in rural Minnesota – Sharon Schmickle highlights the importance of broadband – especially to rural areas and recognizes the potential of the MIRC project to get broadband to more people…

Rural residents have as many or more reasons to embrace broadband as any city dweller.

High-speed connections are a small town’s best hope for stopping the devastating drain of businesses and bright young people.

The Minnesota Daily – Broadband expansion underway in Minnesota – The University of Minnesota newspaper shone a light on the opportunities arising from the grant. (The University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality is one of the 19 MIRC partners.)

“I recently heard someone say, ‘access denied is opportunity denied,’ and I think the University is all about opportunity,” Joselyn said.

Minneapolis Star Tribune – Blandin will use stimulus for Net – The Star Tribune spoke with Blandin Foundation president Jim Hoolihan to learn more about the grant. In fact I think they did a good job os succinctly describing what the grant will entail…

The grant will be used to expand hours of rural workforce centers, distribute refurbished computers, extend small business technical assistance and training, train individuals and business leaders, and otherwise crank up community interest in high-speed Internet.

Getting business and community leaders to buy in is critical, Blandin officials say. Communities need to know how high-speed Internet can improve the quality of lives before committing to the service.

Several other new sources helped to announce the project and funding:

Minnesota Public Radio
StimulatingBroadband
Twin City Daily Planet
Alexandria Echo
… an others

FCC plan for next open meeting on April 21

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The FCC just released their agenda for the open meeting planned for April 21 – a plan to discussion implementation of the National Broadband Plan. Here’s their tentative short list of topics, taken from their press release…

• USF Reform NPRM and NOI: A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes common-sense reforms to the existing high-cost support mechanisms to identify funds that can be refocused toward broadband, and a Notice of Inquiry that seeks comment on the use of a model to determine efficient and targeted support levels for broadband deployment in high-cost areas.

• Mobile Roaming Order and FNPRM: An Order implementing rules to ensure the availability of reasonable automatic roaming arrangements for voice service and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on roaming arrangements for mobile broadband services.

• Network Gateway NOI: A Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on best approaches to assure the commercial availability of smart video devices and other equipment used to access the services of multi-channel video programming distributors.

• CableCARD NPRM: A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes changes to the CableCARD rules for set-top boxes used with cable services, to improve the operation of that framework pending the development of a successor framework.

• Survivability NOI: A Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on the present state of survivability in broadband networks and potential measures to reduce vulnerability to network failures.

• Cybersecurity Certification NOI: A Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on whether the Commission should establish a voluntary program under which participating communications service providers would be certified by the FCC or a third party for adherence to cybersecurity objectives and/or practices.

I see a lot of broadband plans but I always think the devil is in the deployment. We can pay lip service to an awful lot – but we can only accomplish so much at a time.

On a completely unrelated note, I’m having one of those days where broadband makes or breaks me. I’m on a bus from Dublin to Belfast and I’m online – or at least I will be until I cross the border into Northern Ireland. Ironically last week I was in Minnesota and completely offline one day. I realized that proximity is no longer a factor in my job. I can work anywhere so long as I can get online. I’m like so many other small businesses. If/when I consider relocation (temporary or permanent) only those towns with broadband make the cut for me.

As an added unrelated note, I’m making my slow way to Scotland where I hope to visit Dundee, one of the top ranking Intelligent communities.

End of the Broadband Task Force

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The Minnesota Ultra High Speed Task Force is happily closing up shop. Rick King, the Task Force Chair , has posted a nice parting note on the Task Force web site. Here’s an excerpt…

Well, we did it. And today, almost two years after its inception, the Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force ceases to exist. In what seems like the perfect farewell gift, the Minnesota Legislature will very likely approve a bill capturing our recommendations, and the Governor will sign it into law in the next two weeks.

The Task Force studied broadband in Minnesota and came up with recommendations for the State. As Rick’s note indicates, the bill is currently at the Legislature. It has passed in the House about a week ago and the Senate is expected to look at it after the break.

I had the unusual pleasure of attending almost all of the Task Force’s monthly meetings as a blogging fly on the wall. I think Rick and the whole Task Force did an amazing job. There were some strange bedfellows in the room but the goal was a consensus report and that is what they were able to present. I remember the first meeting I attended and there was a lot of discussion on use of technology, transparency, data practices and open meetings. They’ve come a long way! There were a couple of meetings where the discussion got passionate, but almost disappointingly for those of us who attended every daylong meeting, the sparks were few and far between.

There were a few wrong roads or false starts in the process. The opportunity brought about by ARRA funding led to a diversion in the discussion but I think the group wisely decided that they couldn’t take on the stimulus funds as well as complete recommendations in the time allowed. The team focused and accomplished the goal by being realistic and pragmatic – and I think that has carried through to the recommendations, which are also realistic and pragmatic.