You know the saying be careful what you wish for? We are still enthusiastic and thrilled that we were awarded ARRA funding for our BTOP project – but it has been a whirlwind. We have been seeped in MIRC (Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities) project since our launch in May. We thought we’d post monthly or so updates on the Blandin on Broadband blog just to keep everyone up on how it’s going.

Last week I was in Chicago with some of the Blandin Team at NTIA’s workshop for Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) grantees. We heard from some heavy-hitting and inspiring speakers such as Department of Commerce Senior Advisor Rick Wade, NTIA Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and US Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra.

Taking full advantage of the learning opportunities BTOP presents is a particular priority of NTIA. Strickling signaled NTIA’s interest and intent to move beyond measuring outputs to understanding the outcomes – the “So What” — of these investments. He said, “Shame on us,” if we squander the opportunity to learn from these investments, and to share what we’re learning. NTIA is working on processes to collect best practices and share them.

While talking about his passion for broadband, Quinn quoted the Old Testament: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Having known President Obama for a long time through their mutual association in Illinois politics, Quinn took pains to assert that the President has a big vision of the power of broadband. He can see the future and understands how important broadband is to that future. He doesn’t believe in a ­­two-tiered system, he wants us to help him defeat the digital divide for the benefit of all Americans.

Back at home the whole MIRC team has been busy laying the groundwork for broadband adoption across the state. Our community coaches and champions, Bill Coleman and Karl Samp, have met with the 11 demonstration communities and even held Steering Committees meetings in most towns. All of the partners (demonstration communities, Regional Development Centers and service providers) have etched their master plan and goals in stone – or at least in a document we presented to the NTIA in Chicago.

We’re still getting a handle on all of the moving pieces and how each organization best fits in. We’re created an intranet of sorts using Ning, which has worked very well for us. We use it to post updates, questions and opportunities. For example the University of Minnesota Extension is looking for a Program Director to coordinate their MIRC activities.

We’ve started weekly webinars where we learn about specific service provider partners or talk about broadband trends or tools. We’ve really just started and we’re hoping to post any meetings that might be of interested to a broader audience that only MIRC partners. Also we’re working on a directory of technical assistance providers who serve rural Minnesota and help boost deployment or adoption of broadband. (In fact we’re collecting info on TA providers, if you are or know someone we should include, please let us know.)

It’s been great to see the communities share their progress with each other – especially shairng tips and suggestions. It’s easy to that right now we’re still moving parts – eventually the sum of the parts will be greater than total.