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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.
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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.
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The Knight Center of Digital Excellence held its first Stimulus Webcast Session for Knight communities and program directors July 23. Watch it online now.
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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.
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Posts Tagged ‘CYC’
Friday, October 16th, 2009
When the federal government announced its investment in broadband, the broadband community applauded. Financial assistance would be in place to augment commercial investments in rural areas, provide opportunities for expanded municipal wireless networks and supplement middle-mile fiber builds connecting schools and government buildings.
Buried in the $7.2 billion funding allocation was a relatively miniscule allotment of $250 million for “sustainable broadband adoption,” with $150 million to be dispersed in the first round of funding. Yet, this small Sustainable Broadband Adoption (SBA) pool drew 328 applications totaling nearly $2.5 billion in “asks” - 10 times the amount of funding available. Why so much interest?
It’s simple. Broadband availability without adoption, use and innovative product and service development is like one-hand clapping - not much of a sound and very little real connection. The pool of 328 applications to the SBA fund indicates a huge pent-up demand, a desire to create change and the know-how to promote broadband adoption.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recognized as much in a recent report, saying the “Internet creates value only if applications are adopted by consumers; greater adoption yields greater value.”
The challenge becomes one of holding out a vision that Americans can embrace - one they can see and understand how their individual lives can benefit from broadband. As the FCC has outlined, broadband provides:
- Individuals a platform for education and training, wherever one lives, whatever one’s circumstances;
- Businesses a platform for innovation, greater cost efficiency and access to world markets; and
- Governments a platform that improves efficiency and responsiveness,
One stimulus application designed to connect broadband networks with quality of life in communities is the Connect Your Community (CYC) proposal from the Knight Center of Digital Excellence. The plan is to engage, train, equip and support communities across the county to develop and test training tools, in-depth tracking and analysis. But CYC is just one of the many proposals vying for the tiny pool of SBA funds.
Given the great demand and very limited funding for broadband adoption initiatives, we risk developing broadband networks that may result in under-usage. This is due to many Americans not understanding the benefits of new high-speed, high-capacity communications and how to participate in them fully. Part of the federal government’s job in considering applications is to weigh priorities. We hope this basic first step - of getting Americans up to speed with the what the ramifications of these new high-speed Internet highways can be - will get the attention it deserves.
America applauds the building of broadband networks, because we see the vision of a better life as a result. Our national investment in broadband will take on new relevance and excitement in communities across our nation.
Tags: American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009, broadband, broadband availability, Broadband Expansion, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, community, Connect Your Community, CYC, digital, economy, FCC, Federal Communications Commission, high-speed, infrastructure, innovation, Internet, KCoDE, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Middle Mile, network, stimulus, stimulus watch, sustainable broadband adoption
Posted in Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Stimulus Package, broadband | No Comments »
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
The Knight Center of Digital Excellence has been extremely active in helping its Knight communities participate in the first round of broadband stimulus funding by collaborating with like-minded organizations to create a host of innovative programs designed to create jobs and bolster local economies.
We also supported local groups with their own asks – including Philadelphia’s Digital Philadelphia initiative; Miami’s “Elevate Miami;” Miami-Dade County’s Public Safety/Special Purpose Broadband; Detroit Broadband LLC’s (Clearwire); St. Paul, Minn.; Duluth, Minn.; and Biloxi, Miss.
Our proposals included:
• Connect Your Community
• Miami-Dade Broadband Coalition Infrastructure Project
• Northeast South Dakota Rural Broadband Project
Connect Your Community
A Sustainable Broadband Adoption stimulus proposal, Connect Your Community (CYC) saw the Knight Center partner with a host of the nation’s top digital adoption experts to propose a program that would engage, train, equip and support new broadband users in multiple communities, including Aberdeen, S.D.; Akron, Ohio; Biloxi/Gulfport, Miss.; Bradenton, Fla.; Detroit; Lexington, Ky.; Miami; and St. Paul.
CYC would directly help more than 75,000 disadvantaged households benefit from Internet access through a high-touch, community-based, replicable approach. The program would include digital literacy training and support, creating about 136 direct jobs while generating another 50 indirect positions. The Knight Center has partnered with community agencies such as urban leagues, libraries, educational institutions, economic development groups and health and human services organizations that would carry out the work in each targeted region.
National collaborators that would support key aspects of CYC include the Benton Foundation; the Alliance for Community Media; PBS; PC Rebuilders and Recyclers; TechSoup; Angela Siefer, of ShinyDoor; Jim Baller, of Baller Herbst Law Group and the U.S. Broadband Coalition; and Karen Peltz Strauss, of KPS Consulting. Dr. Kate Williams, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois and a leading authority on program evaluation, would design evaluation methods for the project.
Miami-Dade Broadband Coalition Infrastructure Project
The Knight Center partnered with the Miami-Dade Broadband Coalition in the planned construction of a robust, open, carrier-neutral broadband network that would provide broadband services augmented by nearly 35 square miles of wireless Internet access to up to 900 community organizations and institutions while reaching more than 2 million residents. This project has the potential to serve as a model economic engine and platform for innovation for the healthcare, education, public safety, digital inclusion, biotechnology, research and e-government applications.
This infrastructure project is expected to create more than 1,150 immediate, high-paying jobs directly involved with the implementation of the project, and 575 indirect jobs as a result of project related activity. The estimated economic impact created by this project is projected to be more than $1 billion with an increase in direct annual income of more than $700 million.
The Knight Center and the Miami Dade Broadband Coalition submitted a proposal to the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, requesting $64 million to cover close to 80 percent of the total project costs. If this funding is not obtained, the project will continue at a smaller scale.
Northeast South Dakota Rural Broadband Project
The Northeast South Dakota Rural Broadband Project is possible through a partnership between the Knight Center, TelServ Communications and the North East Council of Governments. The project aims to bring a wireless broadband super-highway linking 12 contiguous counties in rural Northeast South Dakota and provide broadband connectivity to more than 60,000 people. The Knight Center also worked with both partnering organizations to submit a Broadband Information Program application for funding.
In addition to the possible development and deployment of advanced public safety, e-government, telemedicine, agricultural, biotechnology and learning applications, the project is expected to generate an economic impact of more than $22 million a year, including preserving and creating more than 50 immediate, high-paying jobs directly involved with implementation and 470 indirect jobs.
These projects are just the beginning as rounds two and three should provide even more opportunities for Knight communities. The Knight Center of Digital Excellence is dedicated to helping our communities become connected communities. For more information on what the Knight Center is doing in your community and others, visit www.knightcenter.org.
Tags: Aberdeen, Akron, Alliance for Community Media, American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009, Angela Siefer, Baller Herbst Law Group, bandwidth, benton foundation, Biloxi, BIP, Bradenton, broadband, Broadband Expansion, Broadband Initiatives Program, broadband stimulus funding, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, BTOP, community, Connect Your Community, CYC, Detroit, digital, Digital Philadelphia, Dr. Kate Williams, Duluth, economy, education, electricity, Elevate Miami, Gulfport, healthcare, high-speed, infrastructure, innovation, Internet, Jim Baller, Karen Peltz Strauss, KCoDE, Knight, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, KPS Consulting, Lexington, Miami, Miami-Dade County, network, North East Council of Governments, Northeast South Dakota Rural Broadband Project, PBS, PC Rebuilders and Recyclers, Philadelphia, rural communities, ShinyDoor, South Dakota, St. Paul, stimulus, stimulus watch, TechSoup, telemedicine, TelServ Communications, U.S. Broadband Coalition, University of Illinois, utilities
Posted in ARRA, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Stimulus Package, broadband | No Comments »
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