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According to a Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project study, "The Mobile Difference," nearly 40 percent Americans have positive and improving attitudes about their mobile communication devices, thereby further immersing themselves into a more robust digital lifestyle.
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How will broadband affect burgeoning controversies over health care? The answers to this question and more came courtesy of a Broadband Cenus-hosted, hour-long panel discussion. View a video of the discussion.
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President Obama on Innovation and Sustainable Growth. President Barack Obama has new plans to strengthen the economy that will all favor people with hi-tech educations. View Now
Elevate Miami, a comprehensive Digital Inclusion program launched by the city of Miami, aims to serve youth, low-income families, minorities, seniors and residents facing barriers to digital inclusion. View Now
The Knight Center of Digital Excellence held its first Stimulus Webcast Session for Knight communities and program directors July 23. Watch it online now. View Now
By pushing hard on broadband, lawmakers hope to close the "digital divide" that has long separated rural America. In doing so, they hope to give rural consumers access to the same sorts of high-speed services and opportunities - think telemedicine, distance-learning and Web-based commerce - that city dwellers have enjoyed for years. View Now
If you go to www.connectakron.org, you’ll see how Akron, Ohio can be a model for rolling out broadband networks in your community. After all, once you have broadband, your community will need to know about it, and understand what will be possible as a result. This type of website can be your solution to informing your community, which can then be the first step toward adoption of new uses.
By following the new ConnectAkron website, you’ll be able to see how broadband usages develop in one pilot city. The site will showcase ways that average people, and local businesses, do things differently as a result of broadband. A good way to follow Akron’s progress is to sign up to receive updates from a blog at www.connectakron.org/connect-blog.
For Akron, the launch of this blog and website is big.
After two years of planning, the city of Akron, in partnership with OneCommunity (the operator of the Knight Center of Digital Excellence), is now building out a wireless network that will serve between 80,000 and 90,000 Akron residents and over 30,000 downtown workers.
The infrastructure is only the foundation. New opportunities – including jobs and economic development – will come by putting the new network to use.
Some examples of possibilities:
Local arts and cultural organizations will suddenly have higher capabilities in reaching world audiences. A virtual tour of Akron’s acclaimed art museum? No reason why not.
Or what if Akronites wanted to “sit” in on classes at the University of Akron, but do it from their home computers? That will be possible, too.
How about an instant Internet pipeline to safety forces?
Entrepreneurs will have the ability to connect to the Internet at a price a startup can afford.
The city will be able to make enhancements to their public safety efforts.
You get the idea.
The coverage area will include the University of Akron, museums, all three downtown hospitals and neighborhoods in North Hill, East Akron and Highland Square, and may require the purchase of a wireless router/signal booster to achieve maximum signal strength.
Our Knight Center team will spend a lot of time in Akron, to help develop a model for how broadband can transform a community in ways that matter – in terms of jobs, education, healthcare, safety and quality of life.
Visit www.connectakron.org for updates, and see what your community can do as well.
As we shared with you earlier, members of our team found valuable information on best broadband practices at the recent Freedom to Connect (F2C) conference in Washington, D.C.
The conference brought together individuals involved in Internet connectivity from government, nonprofit and commercial sectors. Archives of streaming video, slide presentations, and live blogging and chatting from the conference are now available at http://freedom-to-connect.net.
We found F2C to be an enlightening forum on new forms of broadband communications. Plus, F2C’s main objective mirrors ours at the Knight Center of Digital Excellence: To bring broadband to communities in a way that serves the public interest, so that average Americans end up ahead.
Information you’ll find on the F2C site by and large reflects these values.
During a recent Freedom to Connect conference in Washington, D.C., Knight Center of Digital Excellence Vice President of Business & Community Intelligence William “Garn” Anderson III met with speaker Terry Huval, director of Lafayette Utilities System.
Huval presented a history of the initiative to build a fiber ring around Lafayette, La., and provide fiber-to-the-home services. After years of lawsuits, fiber-to-the-home is now considered the “fourth utility.” The city will offer high-speed cable, internet, and digital phone to residents and businesses through a fiber optic network. Connections to homes will even include battery power, allowing subscribers to receive information by fiber even during a hurricane.
“Terry Huval’s presentation is an excellence example of the importance of coordinating any broadband initiative with the entire community and highlighting the potential benefits to the individual citizen and business community,” Anderson said. “More importantly, Lafayette’s experience demonstrates the long view and significance of a having developed a solid strategic plan for broadband implementation.”
On April 20, the city of Miami announced the start of a $200 million Smart Grid initiative that aims to connect every home and business in Miami-Dade County by 2011.
That’s right, every home and business. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to what city leaders are dubbing “Energy Smart Miami” – the largest Smart Grid program in the U.S.
Led by state utility company Florida Power & Light, an initial buildout to 1,000 homes will test different devices and services such as dashboards, smart thermostats, smart appliances and demand response software that are designed to help consumers more actively manage their energy consumption.
To achieve this end, the Smart Grid network will take advantage of numerous applications that utilize wireless hardware, different types of software – even cell phones. Third-party providers are already in heated competition and lining up to show that their apps are tops.
There’s a lot at stake. If the program is successful, FPL plans to invest another $500 million to provide the smart service to all of its 4.5 million customers.
All in all, it’s proof positive that a connected community will position itself to reap unimagined economic benefits.
A simple and powerful idea for communities is constructing Smart Grids and their broadband network at the same time. After all, a broadband network has a similar structure as an electricity network — long-distance transmission, feeder lines to local hubs and fixed and wireless users.
At the Knight Center of Digital Excellence, we feel Miami’s efforts will not only take advantage of the work we’re already doing there to establish broadband networks, but will create overall efficiencies in how business is conducted.
For an example of how to invest smartly in broadband networks, look to Boulder, Colo.
In Boulder, state, county and local entities have come together to plan out broadband networks in conjunction with shovel-ready road projects. It’s simple: If you are digging to build roads, why not lay fiber for broadband at the same time? The extra cost of adding conduit pipe for broadband fiber is minimal compared to the cost of digging twice.
In Boulder’s case, the state’s largest utility, Xcel Energy, is wiring a broadband information network into power lines. The utility has laid more than 100 miles of fiber-optic cable so far. The new system will allow residents to manage their power usage, even enabling them to turn down their heat at home via a website that’s accessible anywhere.
Efficient use of networks can happen only through very substantial planning. It means that mayor’s offices, city and county planning departments, state agencies, and others need to work together toward large goals in the public interest.
This is a key recommendation from our team members at the Knight Center of Digital Excellence: Smart planning is the way for communities to get the most return from investments in infrastructure.
At a recent conference, Knight Center of Digital Excellence team members met James Salter, who has worked on Smart Grid and fiber-to-the-home projects around the country as chief strategy officer for the Atlantic Engineering Group in Braselton, Ga.
In a presentation at the conference, Salter explained why “Smart Grid” planning matters, especially in planning for stimulus spending. A Smart Grid is an ever-widening palette of utility applications that enhance and automate the monitoring and control of electrical distribution.
He agreed to share his views in our blog, and here the primer he prepared for us:
“We need a much more intelligent electrical grid in order to improve efficiency.
“Why? Because today, our system is set up so that we are doomed to waste energy, while also causing needless pollution. Of the electrical generation capacity available in the U.S., we only use 40 percent on average. Yet unless we want blackouts, we have no choice but to build power plants based on peak demand, which is two-and-a-half times average usage.
“If we could level off our demand, by self-regulating our use of air-conditioners, water heaters and major appliances, we could avoid building new power plants for a long time.
“Another benefit: We would also cut down on carbon emissions that contribute to air pollution and global warming.
“So how do we plan for greater efficiency? The key is having an ability to communicate much more intelligently with end customers. Smart Grids allow such communication.
“For example, you might raise your thermostat or turn on your air-conditioning from a remote website. Imagine a hot summer day when the power utility is giving pricing incentives to encourage customers to level their demand. Or think of the times you leave home, expecting to be back shortly, and you get delayed. Why heat your water if you’re not there, particularly when you can remotely turn it off and save money?
“One of the nation’s largest electric utilities – TVA in the southeast U.S. – has set a goal of creating the ability to control 2.8 million residential water heaters with Smart Grid technology. They believe this alone will save them from having to build one very large electric generation facility (3,000 megawatts) in the next 10 years.
“For consumers, Smart Grids would cut the cost of electricity through improved efficiency. And building Smart Grids costs less than building new power plants.
“Now here’s a kicker: If you build the Smart Grid with fiber all the way to the home, you get the dual benefit of being able to provide a 100 megabit (or greater) broadband connection to the customer.
“For that, we’ll need a federal mandate, as there are 3,200 electric utilities around the country, and coordination to this extent will require federal leadership.”
View Salter’s presentation here for more information on Smart Grids.
While Vermont’s farming industry and rural atmosphere still plays a major part in attracting and retaining young families, Eva Sollberger, Seven Days videographer and author of the weekly online video series “Stuck in Vermont,” said she found well over 1,000 tech-savvy Vermonters at the Vermont 3.0 Creative/Tech Career Jam – where students and job seekers got connected with local high-tech companies looking to hire.
At the Knight Center of Digital Excellence, we understand that some wonder why rural areas really need the bulk of broadband stimulus funding. Keep in mind that even the most rural areas of our country have high-speed needs – besides the obvious ones. Not only are these areas looking to bolster their existing economic strengths, but they’re also trying to retain and attract talent at new, tech-based businesses that many don’t even know exist.
In an interview, Sollberger said Vermont’s job market is growing and becoming more reliant on new communications technology. People are excited about new companies, technologies and the opportunities they present.
This video highlights Vermont’s growing need for increased connectivity while also showcasing that the state has a lot more to offer besides Holstein cows and rolling hillsides:
If you’re building broadband networks in your community, take note: The new Federal Communications Commission Notice of Inquiry asks for input on a national broadband policy. In doing so, the FCC poses questions that communities should ask themselves before planning investments in broadband. Two critical questions:
1) How should broadband capability be defined going forward, and what does it mean to have access to it?
2) To what extent should programs that address consumer training and education about broadband play a role in a broadband plan?
What’s exciting is the promise of an end result that will allow us to communicate and share information on levels previously unimaginable. And that’s not all. The FCC envisions high-speed ubiquitous broadband helping to restore our nation’s economic wellbeing while opening doors of opportunity for more Americans - no matter who they are, where they are, or how they live.
Among other things, the FCC is seeking public comment on the following issues:
• Whether to adopt different definitions or standards of what constitutes broadband based on the technology being used to provide the service or the context in which the service is applied, or some combination of both;
• The extent to which access to broadband hinges on affordability; and
• The value of open networks as an effective and efficient mechanism for ensuring broadband access for all Americans, and specifically on how the term “open” should be defined.
The Knight Center of Digital Excellence is working with a widely representative group, the U.S. Broadband Coalition, to develop recommendations for Broadband Adoption and Use. A leader in that effort, Jim Baller, launched the Coalition before the FCC was commissioned to create a national broadband policy . From what we hear, the Coalition’s recommendations are expected to grab the attention of FCC policymakers.
We welcome your thoughts on what you’d like to see included in those recommendations.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep saying it as time approaches to submit proposals for federal stimulus money: Communities that work together on broad-minded proposals will have a big advantage. Organizations that go it alone risk getting lost in the mix.
Collaboration within communities is critical for many reasons, including the credibility it lends to proposals. As they review proposals, government agencies will want to see well-developed strategies that advance large, sustainable goals. This means individual organizations may need to set aside some of their special interests to stay focused on grander-scale local and regional efforts. The question to ask is: How can my organization contribute to a bigger project?
MuniWireless writer Craig Settles went as far as to say that for rural communities, the only option for getting stimulus money is by working together.
In his commentary, “Will Broadband Projects Dodge the Missteps of Municipal Wireless?”, Settles called attention to communities around Heppner, Ore., that are working toward a shared network to improve emergency services. By collaborating, these communities can build a better network for less money while simultaneously planning solutions for similar issues they all face.
If you’re not sure whether you’re heading in the right direction, we at the Knight Center of Digital Excellence will try to help answer your questions.
If you’re confused about the meaning of broadband, you’re not alone. Federal agencies are still defining it themselves. As part of the process, the Federal Communications Commission is taking suggestions from the public on how key terms should be defined (due April 13).
The stakes are high, as the stimulus plan earmarks $7.2 billion for broadband deployment in underserved parts of our nation. This is why it’s important to know clearly what we’re talking about – not only when we refer to “broadband” but also other catchwords, such as “underserved,” that will impact spending decisions.
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