I mentioned earlier this week that the MIRC folks met in Alexandria last week to talk about broadband adoption and expansion. Quick reminder to new readers – MIRC (Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities) is an ARRA-funded project led by the Blandin Foundation to increase broadband adoption in rural Minnesota communities. One of my favorite sessions brought three great research projects together to paint a great picture of what’s happening in Minnesota in, around, aside, because of broadband. It feels like things are happening so fast in the broadband world these days – it was interesting to hear from folks who

The Challenges of Measuring Broadband Adoption

Jack Geller presented on The Challenges of Measuring Broadband Adoption. Many readers will know Jack’s work monitoring and measuring computer, Internet and broadband use in rural Minnesota over the years. It’s largely due to Jack’s work that we have an idea of what’s happened in terms of adoption and can predict (by way of Rogers Theory of Diffusion of Innovations and other theories) what is likely to happen in the future. And I think when we can predict, we are better able to prepare the future. In this case that means getting more people to adoption broadband.

We have learned that broadband adoption has increased at a faster pace in MIRC Communities than the rest of the state.

With these caveats in mind, at the beginning of 2012 we estimated that broadband adoption increased 7.4 percent in the MIRC communities, while the rest of rural MN increased by 5.7 percent.

… Well doesn’t seem like much of a difference!

While this difference may seem quite modest at first glance, it is important to recognize that this means the pace of broadband adoption in the MIRC communities is actually 29.8% faster than in the rest of rural Minnesota.

Assessing the Digital Presence of Rural Minnesota Businesses

Next we heard from Hans Muessig and Tara Daun on Assessing the Digital Presence of Rural Minnesota Businesses. I wrote about their research earlier – and their work to track what small businesses are doing in terms of using broadband to market themselves. Looking at their research would make sense for anyone working with (or who owns) a small business to use their ranking scale to judge their own use. Their statistics indicate that there is plenty of room for progress.

The Rural Brain Gain and Regional Recruitment

Finally we heard from Ben Winchester and Dawn Hegland on Rural Brain Gain and Regional Recruitment. I’ve written about the Brain Gain in earlier posts. It’s the idea that while young adults may leave rural areas, often for scholarly pursuits, a new demographic of slightly more seasoned residents (age 30-49) move in, accompanied by a secondary bubbles of kids age 10-17. These folks move for quality of life; they don’t leave for jobs. In fact, they seem to leave despite the job situation, which might indicate to me some great opportunities for telework programs. Ben and Dawn talk about strategies for community leaders interested in attracting the Brain Gain to their area.