Setting the Table for the National Broadband Plan: Health Care

How will broadband affect burgeoning controversies over health care? Are the cost savings available through telemedicine as good as promised? Will information technologies be part of the solution - or just another complicating factor in the intricate medical system? The answers to these questions came courtesy of a Broadband Cenus-hosted, hour-long panel discussion with Dr. Adam Darkins, Veterans’ Affairs Administration; Dr. Ted Eytan, medical director, Delivery Systems Operations Improvement, Kaiser Permanente; Col. Ron Poropatich, M.D., Department of the Army; and Dr. Jay Sanders, CEO, Global Telemedicine Group. View a video of the discussion here.

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. On the basis of the latest “innovation strategy,” around $100 billion of financial stimulus funds have been allocated for entrepreneurship, education, infrastructure and further investments. According to Obama, the sole aim behind the implementation of this scheme is to strengthen the nation’s economy and to avoid unstable economical conditions in the future. View a video of Obama discussing the topic here.

Elevate Miami

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. The goal of the program is to better prepare the Greater Miami community to participate and compete in the new digital society and digital economy through assisting citizens in becoming more comfortable with and adapt to new technologies. In pursuit of this goal, the city crafted a wide-ranging program to provide training including computer usage fundamentals, Internet and Web usage, financial fundamentals, better health through the Internet, etc., as well as affordable technology packages for internet access, hardware, software and financing for residents.

Knight Center launches Stimulus Webcast series

The Knight Center of Digital Excellence held its first Stimulus Webcast Session for Knight communities and program directors July 23, highlighting keys to stimulus success while also breaking down the NTIA and RUS Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). Watch a playback of the first session, and check out our blog for upcoming session dates.

Rural Americans long to be linked

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.

Check out the USA Today video here.

Five Days on the Digital Dirt Road

InternetforEveryone.org is working to shed light on the millions of Americans who live without regular Internet access or lack the training or equipment to get online. “Five Days on the Dirt Road” is a five-part series that reports on life without Internet in rural North Carolina.

Pay Attention - Final Cut

Have you been paying attention to how different types of Americans are using digital tools to enhance their daily lives? This video not only points to the impact new technology has on our lives, but the need for a more comprehensive broadband “digital” education.

View here

Did you know?

Connecting Akron

The rural broadband question
ARRA

Want to look over the Recovery bill just signed into law? Take a look here.

For other helpful websites, read more HERE.