Monthly Archives: September 2011

Stearns County has best web site?

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Congrats to Stearns County. According to their web site…

Stearns County’s web site was named the best county government web site in the country in the Center for Digital Government’s Best of the Web awards.

Best of the Web spotlights the top 10 state, county and city web sites throughout the United States each year that demonstrate the highest levels of innovation, functionality and efficiency. The web sites are judged on a wide range of categories, including site accessibility, innovation, cost-savings, ease of use and exceptional service to the public.

Particularly, Stearns County’s web site was highlighted for its straightforward navigation, interactive mapping features, online payment systems, and use of social media.

They do have a really nice site. It’s available in English, Somali and Spanish. You can get a ton of information. I tried looking as if I were relocating (thinking of Ben Winchester’s Brain Gain research) and found they had easy to access to information on specific towns, economic development and recreation. They seem to have a building social media strategy in place too (26 Facebook fans and 219 Twitter followers!).

Blandin Broadband eNews September

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News from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Governor Dayton Calls for Task Force Applicants
In August, Governor Dayton announced intentions for the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband. The Governor’s goal is “border-to-border high-speed internet and cell phone access throughout Minnesota.” The tasks outlined for the Task Force are ambitious. http://wp.me/p3if7-1nJ Anyone interested in being on the Task Force is invited to submit an application; the application is available today. http://wp.me/p3if7-1oo The deadline for applying is September 27, 2011.

Bond for Broadband?
Minnesota has recognized the need for broadband in reports produced by earlier renditions of the Minnesota Broadband Task Force. Funding options have not yet been offered. Original Task Force Chair Rick King suggests state bonding. http://wp.me/p3if7-1nU

Broadband and the Rural Brain Gain
University of Minnesota Extension Service’s Ben Winchester has reported on the rural Brain Gain – observing that while rural areas may lose college-aged residents, they also see an influx of folks who are slightly older (30-49). Ben has done follow up research on why people moved to rural areas and how they selected new hometowns. Broadband came up in two ways. Broadband helps boost employment opportunities by offering telework options and making it easier to start home-based businesses. Also potential transplants use broadband to find out about prospective towns. Communities with broadband and good promotional web sites have an advantage over other communities. http://wp.me/p3if7-1mO

Fall Broadband Conference – Nov 16-17
This year the Blandin Foundation and Connect Minnesota join forces to provide conference goers a snapshot of policy and progress being made both inside Minnesota’s borders and on the national level at the Policy and Progress: Border to Border Broadband conference held November 16-17 in Duluth, Minnesota. The conference will include a series of webinars leading up to the event and a broadband film fest. http://tinyurl.com/44qgnxg Please watch the Blandin on Broadband blog for more details. http://blandinonbroadband.org/

Local Broadband News

Anoka
Anoka County will be celebrating progress with its ARRA-funded fiber network with a groundbreaking on September 13. http://wp.me/p3if7-1ok

Blaine
A Minnesota hacker receives an 18-year sentence for tormenting his neighbor with online activities. http://wp.me/p3if7-1mV

Cannon Falls
President Obama visits Cannon Falls. Broadband leader, Gary Evans gets an opportunity to highlight broadband success in Minnesota and praise broadband stimulus efforts. http://wp.me/p3if7-1n8

Community Development Director works with local broadband provider to improve broadband in local industrial park. http://wp.me/p3if7-1nD

Carver County
Senators Klobuchar and Franken attend the groundbreaking for the ARRA-funded fiber network in Carver County. http://wp.me/p3if7-1nd

Duluth
Enventis breaks ground on its ARRA-funded middle mile fiber-optic network across greater Minnesota connecting health care facilities, schools, libraries, higher education institutions and public offices. http://wp.me/p3if7-1nx

Eagan
Eagan posts a Request for Proposal, seeking help with fiber optic cabling. http://wp.me/p3if7-1nn

Granite Falls
Minnesota West Community and Technology College collaborates with Minnesota Telecom Alliance (MTA) to offer a Telecommunications Technology Program to address a growing need for professionals trained on new technology. http://wp.me/p3if7-1oe

Jackson
Local leaders are conflicted about what to do with the city’s cable network in light of ARRA-funded fiber coming into the community. http://wp.me/p3if7-1n4

Lac qui Parle County
The LqP Computer Commuter receives Community Pride award at the Minnesota State Fair. http://wp.me/p3if7-1oa

Minnetonka
Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission decides not to fund local efforts for a community fiber network. http://wp.me/p3if7-1mz

Moose Lake
Moose Lake is striving for an improved Community Access/Public Safety Network but is running into slowdowns. http://wp.me/p3if7-1o6

Redwood County
Redwood County is hoping to move forward with a fiber feasibility study. http://tinyurl.com/3o4tman They have been having public meetings on the network for several months. http://wp.me/p3if7-1ng

Southwest Minnesota
The Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services (SMBS) progresses in bringing ARRA-funded fiber to Southwest Minnesota and several local news outlets talk about the advantages. http://wp.me/p3if7-1nP

Stevens County
The Stevens County Economic Improvement Commission, Inc. (SCEIC) is offering free one-year subscriptions to Atomic Training to businesses in Stevens County as part of their MIRC initiative. http://wp.me/p3if7-1o0

Todd County
With the support of Blandin Foundation’s Robust Broadband Networks Feasibility Grant Program, Todd County is moving forward with a fiber feasibility study. http://wp.me/p3if7-1o3

(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.)

Events

September 13 – Anoka County Fiber Construction Celebration http://wp.me/p3if7-1ok

September 19 – TEDx1000Lakes (Grand Rapids MN) http://tedx1000lakes.com/

September 22 – QR Code: What, How Why? (webinar) http://tinyurl.com/3qvmw5s

October 6-7 – MN Telecom Alliance Fall Conference (Minneapolis) http://tinyurl.com/3jp7qq9

October 13 – Minnesota Association of Community Telecommunications Administrators Annual Conference (Lake Elmo, MN) http://tinyurl.com/25re5wp

November 3 – Tekne Awards (Minneapolis) http://www.tekneawards.org/

November 12 – CityCamp Minnesota (Minneapolis) http://citycamp.govfresh.com/

November 16-17 – Policy & Progress: Border to Border Broadband (Duluth) http://tinyurl.com/44qgnxg

Looking for more events? Check out TechDotMN’s calendar http://tech.mn/events/. Many events are based in the Twin Cities but it is a comprehensive list. (If you have an upcoming event, consider submitting it.)

Coleman’s Corner

Broadband discussions continue across the state. For locations that will benefit from stimulus funds, stakeholders are negotiating agreements with vendors, contractors, federal officials and their project partners. For those who missed the stimulus, their discussions are more preliminary. “What do we have? What do we need? How are we going to get there?” Applications to serve on the new state broadband task force will be online by the time this newsletter is published.

I have noticed an uptick in the number of incumbent telephone providers who are now attending and actively participating in community broadband meetings. They know they face a steep challenge to meet the state broadband goal of 10 – 20 Mb by 2015, especially outside of municipal boundaries. They know the costs of network upgrades, how many prospective customers reside in these rural areas and how much customers are generally going to be willing to pay per month for broadband. They also watch their line counts drop as mobile phones replace land lines in home after home. They know that the traditional business financing and ROI requirements are not going to support significant network investments.

The easy and quick answer is “public-private partnerships”. Easy to say; not so easy to do. Many, many questions emerge. Clearly some form of public financing is required. Past state broadband chair Rick King recently suggested state bonding for broadband and that is a likely answer. But the hard questions still hang there. Will state financed networks be privately owned? Will they be required to be open access? Will deals be financed at the county level, statewide or by traditional exchange boundaries? Who owns the risk for repaying the bonds? Does the financing government have regulatory influence on pricing or quality of service? Will publicly-financed networks be built in areas that already meet the state broadband goal or just in unserved/underserved areas? Will there be any cost-benefit analysis required or is 100% coverage really the standard as it is with wireline telephone service? Does the public sector need to get involved in middle mile networks in areas where those are inadequate to support robust local networks?

Rumor has it that significant state telecommunications laws will be rewritten this next legislative session, presumably before the state broadband task force really has a chance to get up and running. If this is the case, we all know that the process timeline is upside down and that rural broadband access will likely suffer. Legislators crack open these big telecom laws only so often and the legislation written before a task force report is issued is likely to have been written more by telecom lobbyists than rural broadband customers.

This fall, Blandin Foundation will be hosting two webinars on these two important topics – federal and state policy on October 12 and public-private partnerships on October 26. Watch for more information soon!

Bill Coleman helps communities make the connection between telecommunications and economic development. As principal in Community Technology Advisors http://tinyurl.com/3f4dx7g for ten years, he assists community, foundation and corporate clients develop and implement programs of broadband infrastructure investment and technology promotion and training. Bill is working with the Blandin Foundation on the MIRC Initiative http://tinyurl.com/2c6mhh4, Community Broadband Resource Program http://tinyurl.com/cseu7e and other broadband projects.

Governor’s Task Force on Broadband – Applications now open

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I think a few folks were keeping their eye open for this. Last month the Governor announced the formation of the Task Force. The Secretary of State’s Notice of Vacancies is now online – and so the application process is now open.

Here’s the announcement:

GOVERNOR’S TASK FORCE ON BROADBAND

85 E 7TH PLACE, #500
ST PAUL, MN 55101 651-284-4213
EXEC. ORDER 11-27
Appointing: Governor
Compensation: None
Vacancies: Fifteen (15) – Members
To develop, implement and promote state broadband policy, planning and initiatives to achieve State broadband needs and goals. Inventory, assess and report on various aspects of broadband. Develop a Minnesota Broadband Plan outline. Membership includes a maximum of 15 members, representative of both metro and greater Minnesota. A balance of broadband interests, include: consumers, education institutions, health care institutions, telephone companies, cable companies, wireless companies, metropolitan areas and rural areas. Meetings will be held at least monthly in St. Paul, MN.

You can download a registration form and get other details online. Details are not specific to the broadband opportunity – but will tell you more about the general application process.

And here are more general notes:

When submitting your application, please include the following documents:
– Open Appointments Application Form – completed, signed & dated

  • Particular Notes:
    •  The line that asks for “Agency Name” – should reflect the name of the group to which you are applying
    • The line that asks for “Position Sought” – should reflect the title of the seat listed in this announcement

– Letter of Interest
– Resume or Biography

Submit By Mail or in Person:
Open Appointments
Secretary of State’s Office
180 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
St Paul, MN 55155-1299

Submit By E-Mail:open.appointments@state.mn.us

Submit via FAX: 651-296-9073

Finally, it looks like the deadline for application is September 27 – although that may be a soft deadline:

Applications submitted by September 27, 2011 are assured of full consideration by the appointing authority. Appointing authorities for these agencies may choose to review applications received by the Secretary of State after that date. Applications are kept on file for a one year period.

I know that the documents say that they will meet in St Paul, however in the past, Task Force members have been able to join the meetings remotely. The original Task Force decided at one of the first meetings that remote attendance would be OK; although I seem to recall that remote attendees may not have been able to vote. I imagine the new Task Force will have to make a decision on remote attendance – with support from legal experts – but it seems like a precedent has been set to allow for it.

If distance is a barrier for application, I encourage you to call the numbers included for more information. I will see if I can get more info – and will post here if I get any news.

Construction Kickoff in Anoka County – September 13

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Anoka County will be celebrating progress with its ARRA-funded fiber network with a groundbreaking next week. Here are the details…

Please join us in celebrating the kickoff of construction on Connect Anoka County. The new fiber optic network will connect 145 public sites in Anoka, Ramsey, and Isanti Counties through a 286-mile fiber optic network. It supports emergency, educational, and government services, and boosts the competitiveness of area businesses.
Connect Anoka County Kickoff
September 13th @ 1:30 p.m.
Connexus Energy
14601 Ramsey Boulevard NW
Ramsey, MN 55303
We invite you to join elected officials, business leaders, and educators in celebrating this landmark.
We invite you to share this information via email and social media. Thank you, and see you on September 13th!

I am planning to attend and will post notes and/or pictures.

Free Software Training for Stevens County Businesses

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I like to post periodic updates on what’s happening in various communities due to the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) project. It’s great to see that the project has spurred a partnership between Stevens County Economic Improvement Commission, Inc. (SCEIC) and Atomic Training (out of Little Falls, MN). According to the Morris Sun Tribune…

The Stevens County Economic Improvement Commission, Inc. (SCEIC) is offering free one-year subscriptions to Atomic Training.com to businesses in Stevens County. Any business in Stevens County is eligible for a free one-year subscription to a creative and very beneficial on-line software training company (Atomic Training.com) that allows individualized and comprehensive software training for those who have no experience with 149 software programs for PC or Mac based computers or for those who just need a refresher on specific functions of a software program.

It’s the stone soup approach we wrote about last summer. If you can get a project on a successful path, others will join in.

Community Pride Broadband Connections

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Minnesota Rural Partners (co-sponsored by the Minnesota State Fair, MinnPost.com, and InCommons.) has hosted a Community Pride competition and the winners will be recognized at the State Fair this weekend. Here’s a description of the competition from the invitation to enter in June…

As in previous years, the Showcase will recognize communities statewide for their efforts to move beyond current economic challenges with creative and proactive community and economic development innovations. The Showcase is designed to reward, inspire, showcase and share the collaborative work already going on in Minnesota towns and neighborhoods to improve quality of life.

I thought I’d highlight a few of the winners who are featuring their broadband-related activities:

Two projects involve local online publications:

  • Twin Cities Runoff
    Because we believe a healthy community is built upon its stories, culture, and history, Twin Cities Runoff gives local writers and readers a chance to explore their metropolitan community through in-depth storytelling—primarily written, but ultimately including visual art, audio, and multimedia. This weekly online magazine works with local writers and artists who want to explore a specific topic about the Twin Cities metro area, whether it be opportunities for women and LGBT communities to explore biking, an introduction to a local interfaith Christian-Islam prayer service, or exploring late-night Twin Cities coffee shops. A combination of long-form alt-weekly-style journalism and 21st century internet exploration, Twin Cities Runoff seeks out new local writers and storytellers and provides them with magazine-quality editorial services, as well as compensation. The finished product: a collection of compelling stories that connect readers and writers to what’s happening in their neighborhoods, and an overall awareness of what’s happening in the Twin Cities as a whole.
  • Twin Cities Daily Planet neighborhood pages
    Residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul need convenient and timely sources of information about what is happening in their neighborhoods. By publishing hundreds of neighborhood news stories every year, as well as republishing many more stories from our media partners in the neighborhood, community and ethnic press, we help to meet that need. But Twin Cities residents need more than just information – they also need tools that enable them to deliberate, organize and build stronger connections to their neighborhoods and to each other.
    Twin Cities Daily Planet’s 98 neighborhood pages do more than just provide news and information – we also provide interactive tools that make that information more useful. Using software that associates many different kinds of content – articles, blog posts, event listings, profiles of registered users with geographically defined areas, we are able to provide neighborhood residents with a rich source of information about neighborhood events, issues and resources.

One promotes broadband adoption:

  • Lac qui Parle Computer Commuter
    Increasing digital literacy in a rural county of west central Minnesota was the primary goal of the LqP Computer Commuter, a handicapped accessible mobile computer lab that weekly travels to six communities within Lac qui Parle County. Twelve local partners from the public and private sector came together to create a project that provides free access to computers and broadband with personalized assistance from an onsite trainer. Increasing the availability of technology and broadband access with the intent to improve digital literacy for all ages, the LqP Computer Commuter targets the following groups: low-income, low-skilled workers, unemployed, underemployed, persons with limited or no technology access, and those wishing to improve their computer skills. Collaborative partners for this project included: Farmers Mutual Telephone Cooperative, Frontier Communications, City of Bellingham, City of Boyd, City of Dawson, City of Madison, City of Marietta, City of Nassau, Minnesota River Valley Adult Education Services, TDF Foundation, Blandin Foundation, and Lac qui Parle County Economic Development Authority.

One project uses social media to extend their reach:

  • Brainerd Rotary – A P(+)sitive Charge 
    By offering community members an easy, no-cost way to express what they love about the Brainerd Lakes Area, Brainerd Rotary felt that an attitude of excitement would allow people to highlight the positives we all can share. This project was titled “A P(+)sitive Charge” and featured black and white photos of community members holding hand-written signs displaying their statement and having fun in solo shots or group photos, with pets, props or anything goes! We asked them to share a favorite positive statement, or simply answer the question, “Why do you love living here?”
    There was no cost to participate in the program, and open photo shoot days were advertised throughout the area in newspapers, radio and television ads, as well as YouTube and Facebook to encourage participation by as many people as possible. During the three-day photo shoot over 1,000 people participated, resulting in almost 300 different photos. The enthusiasm and excitement that was generated over this project was incredible. People were extremely creative in using costumes, props and the variety of signs was fabulous.

If you have a minute it’s fun and inspiring to take a look at all of the projects. Thinking of attending? You can get the schedule of the day from the Bush Foundation web site.

Minn West offers Telecommunications Technology Program

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You know how you tie jobs to broadband easily? You train folks to build broadband. That’s what Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Granite Falls is doing. Here’s the scoop from the Advocate Tribune…

New this year to the Granite Falls campus is the Telecommunications Technology Program developed by faculty member and Computer Support Technical Advisor Pam Jensen. According to the program’s outline, the program is a collaborative effort by the Minnesota Telecom Alliance (MTA)—a consortium of telephone companies that serve the state—and Minnesota West. The program addresses a growing need for professionals trained on new technology that has been sweeping the industry in recent years. The need for qualified technicians is also being pushed by the federal government’s National Broadband Stimulus project, an initiative that advances broadband services to rural communities across Minnesota and the nation.

Funny enough I took a telecommunications class when I was studying for my MLIS (Master’s in Library and Info Science). At the time I worked for MRNet, a regional Internet service provider. My complaint with the class was that it was out-of-date. I was a little worried about the timeliness this class until I read that the professor (Pam Jensen) who developed the class had been working with folks in the field (Minnesota Telecom Alliance)…

“A lot of the telecommunications programs that have been out there have a lot of old stuff in them, like climbing telephone poles,” said Jensen. “Those are being replaced now, it’s almost all underground cables. So, teaching someone to climb a pole is now not deemed part of a program. But, having someone go out to one of those boxes that sits along the road and having them figure out what wires go where, or to work with fiberoptics and learn how to connect fiberoptic cables that’s what has changed.”

Finally I was also delighted to read that there are hopes to make this available to more students through distance learning.

Redwood Falls is moving ahead with Fiber Feasibility Study

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Redwood County has been talking about broadband for a while now. They are a community that seemed to have been spurred into action by the Connect Minnesota maps. And according to the Redwood Falls Gazette, the Redwood EDA is going to take a significant step forward…

Redwood County’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) opted to move forward with a broadband feasibility study that would determine just what the county would need to do in order to get fiber to every premises.

Known as fiber to the premise (FTTP), the concept is part of an effort to meet state and federal broadband goals to have high-speed service available to all portions of the country.

The study, which is being conducted by the Blandin Foundation through what is known as the Robust Broadband Networks Feasibility Grant Program.

[The project has not actually been funded by Blandin Foundation; Redwood has decided to apply for funds.]

The grant, which includes up to $40,000 for the county as it addresses the needs of every community and farm site from one end of the county to the other, requires matching funds, which are available through the county EDA.

According to Julie Rath of the Redwood Area Development Corporation, the hope is also to get local network providers to invest in the program, too, adding broadband meetings already conducted in the county have been well attended by representatives of those providers.

It sounds as if the meeting held on Monday helped the community make a decision. They heard from other countywide efforts in Minnesota: Lac qui Parle (which received ARRA funding) and Sibley County (which didn’t).

Moose Lake: All broadband is not created equal

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Moose Lake was one of Blandin Foundation’s 29 Minnesota Get Broadband communities, which means they received financial support and expertise from the Blandin Foundation to help promote broadband locally. Each Get Broadband project had a unique vision and goal to address local strengths and challenges.

Moose Lake’s goals were twofold. They wanted to bring broadband to local businesses, residents and government. (The local school, library, hospital and state facilities already had it.) The also had a strong focus on public safety – in part I’m sure because of MCF-Willow River/Moose Lake, the Level 3 Correctional Facility in town. In 2009, local broadband leader, Bill Carlson provided Blandin on Broadband with a thorough update on broadband progress in Moose Lake. In short the local utilities provider took on the job of providing broadband. They set up wireless access to area businesss and began providing access to community residents. Here’s a snippet of Bill’s report…

The current demand on the capacity and speed of the community network has prompted the Water & Light Commission to build a fiber optic backbone which extends the length of the city. Public Safety has always been a priority of the community and this added bandwidth will allow the monitoring of the electrical distribution system, the back-up electrical generators, the community surveillance cameras and emergency management and notification communications system. Community server/software and GIS mapping projects are also in the development stages. The fiber optic cable also passes by an area that is slated for economic development.

I had an opportunity to speak with Bill about the latest news in Moose Lake last week. Bill is frustrated because while they have broadband, it seems that as soon as they get close to achieving or goals, the emerging technologies forces them to redirect our focus. There are plans to move their network forward. Apparently the service to residents and local businesses is thriving – but upgrades aren’t necessarily improving public safety. They are looking at Video over IP Community Access/Public Safety (CAPS) Network utilizing digital security cameras to connect key community critical facilities and for local broadcast of community events. (You can get more details on the plans in the PPT below or the script from a recent City Council meeting.)

Recently it seems like I’ve been able to post so many positive stories of groundbreaking and construction on ARRA funded projects. And the ARRA funds (and maps) have stimulated discussion in other towns. But I think it’s instructive to look at what’s happening in Moose Lake.

They are a community that has been paying attention to broadband for years. They have a local broadband champion – although I suspect after 30 years he may be thinking about retiring at some point. So they are a town in a precarious position. And I think it’s one concrete example where the tiered definition of broadband raised by the National Broadband Plan (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. And 4 Mbps download speed for the rest.) will be a serious disadvantage to rural communities.

The major employers in town are tax exempt institutions. It means unemployment is generally low – but Bill mentioned that it has been difficult to recruit qualified employees who have spouses would also want to work. Improved broadband might help rectify that problem. One possible solution is to develop a program that would make broadband available for telework and home type businesses. It would also allow spouses to maintain cultural and family connections with their hometowns. Also the presence of many commuters working in the community might draw more interest in terms of improving local public safety. The question is whether the town’s slow progress will be enough to support their future. And are there other towns in similar positions.

Todd County Approves Broadband Feasibility Study

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The Browerville Blade (Aug 25, 2011) reports…

County Administrator Nathan Burkett received approval to accept $40,000 in grant funds from the Blandin Foundation. The money will be used to cover part of a feasibility study to determine if Todd County can support a broadband interest service. Burkett said the feasibility study will start immediately. The study, conducted by U-reka, will determine such things as the cost of a broadband internet network and level of interest among Todd County residents. Burkett said the study will be done in three to four months.

John Schultz from U-reka Broadband adds…

We are excited to see the continued interest of Telephone Companies and Cooperatives in partnering with the public sector to deliver next generation broadband to rural Minnesota.