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.

News from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force: Report is Out
The 2010 Broadband Advisory Task Force Report was posted on the Department of Commerce site late last week. The report offers updated statistics, news on significant changes in the broadband landscape since the first Broadband Task Force Report and details on Minnesota-based ARRA recipients. http://wp.me/p3if7-17Z Hindered by tight deadlines and big changes in the Legislature however, the report serves mostly as a baseline report and a promise for more in the future. http://wp.me/p3if7-18T

Minnesota Ranks 13 in New Economy Preparedness
According to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF) 2010 State New Economy Index, Minnesota ranks 13 in terms of preparedness for the New Economy. http://wp.me/p3if7-18B The Midwest states did not do well; Minnesota was the highest ranking state in the region. Recently, the Minnesota Commission on Service Innovation published a report promoting better use of technology in the state; perhaps that will improve our ITIF ranking in 2011. http://wp.me/p3if7-18e

Minnesota Ranks 32 for Speed
Speed Matters released their annual speed reports. Minnesota ranked 32 in terms of broadband speed. The report indicates that 49% of the US comes in with less than 4 Mbps connection. http://wp.me/p3if7-184 This statistic is in line with another recent report released by the FCC in December, which indicated that 58% of reportable connections were slower than 3 Mbps. http://wp.me/p3if7-17O

Blandin’s MIRC Project Finds Local Partners
The ARRA-funded Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) project took an exciting step forward last month when the 11 demonstration communities selected projects at the very local level to promote and support broadband expansion. Projects were selected through an RFP process. http://wp.me/p3if7-17x

Net Neutrality
A Net Neutrality bill passed that wholeheartedly pleased neither fans nor foes of Net Neutrality. Foes are worried about the potential barrier on future wireless traffic; fans are disappointed that it doesn’t go far enough with wired technology. http://wp.me/p3if7-18h

Local Broadband News

Cook County
Danna MacKenzie shares her experience developing and maintaining a successful online community discussion. http://wp.me/p3if7-18K

Hancock
The Hancock City Council approved a move forward with ebooks at the Hancock Public Library. http://wp.me/p3if7-18p

Jackson
ARRA recipient, the Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services Board, is preparing to promote their upcoming FTTH network to local residents. http://wp.me/p3if7-18w

Lake County
Lake County is receiving unwanted attention as one of the major players in their FTTH project has a past project that is running into trouble. http://wp.me/p3if7-18t

Lake County is looking for a Project Volunteer Coordinator for their fiber project. http://wp.me/p3if7-17I

Minneapolis
Minneapolis Wi-Fi received a good grade from customers, although the City of Minneapolis may be underutilizing their access to the network. http://wp.me/p3if7-188

E-Democracy shares notes on their successful online discussions using examples from Minneapolis community lists. http://wp.me/p3if7-176

David Keyes, Director the City of Seattle’s digital inclusion programs, speaks at a Digital Inclusion conference in Minneapolis. http://wp.me/p3if7-17B

St Cloud
St Cloud is testing a new, light-based Wi-Fi solution in local office buildings. http://wp.me/p3if7-18H

Stevens County
Stevens County announces 10 local broadband expansion projects that received funds from the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) program. http://wp.me/p3if7-18b

Twin Cities
ADC Foundation awarded $3.75 million to five community partners in the Twin Cities and Juarez, Mexico for technology-related projects. http://wp.me/p3if7-17F

University of Minnesota students are picking up extra cash and odd jobs through social media sites and online communities. http://wp.me/p3if7-17t

Windom
Students in Windom learn broadcasting skills with local sports events – soon to be broadcast online. http://wp.me/p3if7-18E

(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

As we all know, winter is a great time for communities to get things done in Minnesota! Over the next couple weeks, community leaders in two rural counties will begin work on initiatives through Blandin Foundation’s Community Broadband Resources (CBR) Program. For more information on CBR, go to http://broadband.blandinfoundation.org .

Both counties face similar issues – a large rural geography with most residents living in small communities served by one or more broadband providers. They also have people who live in the countryside with very limited or no broadband access. Many are small business owners or farmers who could use broadband. Some are older adults whose lives could be improved via better communications with friends and families and tele-health providers. Some are students who need to be able to access educational materials from their homes.

These counties fairly represent the remaining unserved areas of rural Minnesota that includes about 5% of all MN households. Through Community Broadband Resources, local leaders will begin to decide whether and how they will solve their broadband problems alone or in partnership, or whether they will just wait hopefully and somewhat impatiently for incumbent providers to serve them, enabled either by goodwill, technology innovations, regulatory reform or state or federal investment incentives.

Over the longer term, all of us will be affected by the changing nature of the Internet. We are already seeing this in mobile technology and the “apps” available for download. There is a very interesting article on the web site Ars Technica. http://tinyurl.com/32vxs96 The article discusses the advantages of current cable technology over more limited bandwidth DSL technology and cable’s ability to channelize content and manage specialized applications. With cable providers limiting their presence to cities and towns, rural residents maybe left without access to advanced broadband applications without FTTP access. With the federal stimulus and with continuing FTTP deployment by Minnesota’s rural telephone cooperatives, we may see a distinct digital divide emerging across rural Minnesota.