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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 ‘Detroit’
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
If there were any lingering doubts that broadband is truly the future world platform for innovation, the information technology research and advisory company Gartner Inc. put some of those to rest with their recent projections on worldwide broadband penetration.
| Knight Community broadband penetration figures |
| Gartner reports 60 percent of U.S. households have a fixed broadband connection. Curious to know how your Knight Community ranks? The following figures are from a demographics study that determined what percentage of respondents said they connect to the Internet from home using a broadband or high-speed connection:
|
| Aberdeen, S.D. |
46.9 percent |
| Akron, Ohio |
45.7 percent |
| Biloxi, Miss. |
53.0 percent |
| Boulder, Colo. |
69.7 percent |
| Bradenton, Fla. |
45.7 percent |
| Charlotte, N.C. |
58.2 percent |
| Cleveland |
38.5 percent |
| Columbia, S.C. |
55.1 percent |
| Columbus, Ga. |
50.8 percent |
| Detroit |
35.8 percent |
| Duluth, Minn. |
54.3 percent |
| Fort Wayne, Ind. |
48.1 percent |
| Gary, Ind. |
35.1 percent |
| Grand Forks, N.D. |
57.4 percent |
| Long Beach, Calif. |
49.5 percent |
| Macon, Ga. |
39.9 percent |
| Miami-Dade County |
44.6 percent |
| Milledgeville, Ga. |
41.2 percent |
| Myrtle Beach, S.C. |
48.8 percent |
| Palm Beach County, Fla. |
63.1 percent |
| Philadelphia |
45.0 percent |
| San Jose |
62.3 percent |
| St. Paul, Minn. |
53.8 percent |
| State College, Pa. |
68.6 percent |
| Tallahassee, Fla. |
57.1 percent |
| Wichita, Kan. |
51.6 percent |
| Source: Demographics Now |
Overall, Gartner projects 422 million (about 20 percent) households worldwide will have a fixed broadband connection by the end of this year, a roughly 11 percent increase from the number of households that had a fixed broadband connection at the end of 2008.
According to Gartner, South Korea is currently the leader in household broadband penetration with 86 percent of South Korean households connected to broadband, followed by the Netherlands (80 percent), Denmark (75 percent), Hong Kong (72 percent), Canada (69 percent) and Switzerland (69 percent). Gartner reports the U.S. lags behind with a 60 percent broadband penetration rate, but expects it to pass several nations in the next four years as projections have the U.S. adding 27 million new connections and raising its penetration rate to 78 percent by 2013.
Gartner also predicts several developing nations will see a massive rise in their number of broadband connections with an additional 135 million in the next four years. The firm expects Brazil, Russia, China and India to account for more than two-thirds of new connections in the developing world and nearly half of all new connections worldwide.
At the Knight Center of Digital Excellence, these numbers tell us what we already know: The cry for better broadband can be heard all over the world and it’s not being ignored any longer. Nations that have been at the forefront will continue to grow and innovate further (Gartner predicts South Korea’s household broadband penetration rate will be 93 percent in 2013.), while nations that have gotten a late start will begin to utilize the same life-changing applications many already take advantage of.
Tags: Aberdeen, Akron, bandwidth, Biloxi, Boulder, Bradenton, Brazil, broadband, Broadband Expansion, broadband penetration, California, Canada, Charlotte, China, Cleveland, Colorado, Columbia, Columbus, Demographics Now, Denmark, Detroit, digital, Duluth, Florida, Fort Wayne, Gartner Inc., Gary, Georgia, Grand Forks, high-speed, Hong Kong, India, Indiana, infrastructure, innovation, Internet, Kansas, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Knight communities, Long Beach, Macon, Miami, Milledgeville, Minnesota, Mississippi, Myrtle Beach, Netherlands, network, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Palm Beach, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Russia, San Jose, South Carolina, South Dakota, South Korea, St. Paul, State College, Switzerland, Tallahassee, Wichita
Posted in Digital news, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, broadband | No Comments »
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
The Knight Center of Digital Excellence is dedicated to helping Knight communities across the nation develop broadband strategies that meet local challenges and help each other compete and thrive in the new economy. The communities range from large cities such as Miami and Detroit to mid-sized cities such as Akron, Ohio, and small, more rural areas such as Milledgeville, Ga.
Our key learning: Each city is unique in terms of their individual needs, but a sustainable network can be established in each one if our proven and innovative approach to digital transformation – our critical success factors – are met:
Inspiring digital visions: During the first stages of engagement awareness is key. We raise awareness of what COULD be, and what the power of information technologies can mean for the broader community and each key stakeholder group. This happens only by making the benefits of broadband tangible, real and achievable to benefit and transform areas including health care, education, government, digital inclusion, workforce development, economic opportunity and democracy.
Enabling local leadership: Once communities are inspired with a digital vision, local leadership needs to be uncovered, developed and supported. The Knight Center builds champions for each initiative, including stakeholders from multiple contingencies.
Developing sustainable community plans: Leaders of community broadband initiatives need to focus on the communities’ top priorities and interests help to help ensure short and long-term support. The Knight Center assists local leaders SEE the desired results and develop a plan, or “roadmap,” to ACHIEVE success.
Resourcing for launch: Every successful community broadband network needs sustainability strategies based on strong and continued value propositions that capitalize on both the needs and desires in a community and a community’s resources. In addition to plans that appropriately line up resources such as business skills, technical talents, financial and other project related assets, successful community broadband projects will have plans in place for continued investment, technology evolution, application expansion, community adoption and community leadership.
A sustainable network can be established in each community if our proven and innovative approach to digital transformation – our critical success factors – are properly met.
But how do you plan to pay for the network once it’s fully functional?
There’s no such thing as a free ticket – that’s the bottom line. Each connected community needs to have a plan, often developed in concert with Knight Center, that can include funding generated from initiative (self-funding), local private and public institutions, and/or national grant funding.
Cost is just one of the many challenges that need to be addressed at the program’s onset. But remember, all players – from the citizen to the highest government official – have the same basic goal in mind – success.
Tags: Akron, broadband, Broadband Expansion, community, Detroit, digital, digital divide, digital vision, Florida, Georgia, infrastructure, innovation, Internet, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Miami, Michigan, Milledgeville, network, Ohio, rural communities, stakeholder, sustainable broadband adoption
Posted in Knight Center of Digital Excellence, 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 »
Friday, August 7th, 2009
 By Doug Adams, Knight Center of Digital Excellence
While President Barack Obama and Congress have made clear how important broadband is to our nation by putting $7.2 billion in stimulus funding behind broadband initiatives, there still seems to be a perception gap among many non-adopter citizens.
In short, there is a lack of understanding of the value broadband connectivity can bring to their lives. The U.S. Telecom Association recently said many citizens aren’t adopting because of “perceived lack of Internet relevance.”
If the perception is that high-speed access is about iTunes and iPods, then public education should become part of public policy as it relates to stimulus funding on broadband networks.
We know it’s routine for students to submit their assignments online, or for job seekers to find and apply for employment. What’s less obvious is that high-speed Internet is the new platform for innovation, collaboration, education, learning and professional development opportunities. Broadband networks are critical to our individual, community, and nation’s progress.
In the Cleveland area, for example, public libraries offer summer programs to teach children 3-D imaging, animation and other skills that will prepare them for tomorrow’s opportunities.
Or go to Detroit, where an organization named Youthville is promoting a holistic and integrated approach to developing youth. Programs for children cover computer skills, leadership, academics, fitness, Web broadcasting and music studio recording. Among these programs is a new, one-of-a-kind, 24-hour broadcasting studio.
This spring in Miami, the city announced the start of a $200 million Smart Grid initiative led by state utility company Florida Power & Light. An initial build-out to 1,000 homes will validate 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.
These are just a few examples of ongoing initiatives we at the Knight Center of Digital Excellence are helping along.
It is a disservice to America to trivialize the importance of broadband by relating applications primarily to pop culture. Sure, entertainment options increase as broadband expands, but that’s hardly the driving force of broadband networks. The public relations firm Ruder Finn found in a recent survey that research and self-education topped entertainment as reasons for going online. Those findings mirror a 2008 study by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, which found over 60 percent of online visits at public libraries were work or education related.
While our nation invests $7.2 billion in stimulus funding for broadband initiatives, let’s not lose sight of the compelling “so what” – that is, the opportunity for economic growth that will improve quality of life for Americans.
Beyond what’s at stake for individuals and communities, our nation is now in a position of playing catch-up with global competitors. We’re woefully behind in developing the broadband platform needed to continue moving forward and spurring innovation. In a recent Technology Policy Institute study analyzing download speeds, the U.S. falls between 11th and 14th in the world in that category, depending on the survey.
More disheartening is a Speedtest.net study that shows the U.S. had one of the worst increases in download speed over the past year of any nation.
It gets even worse regarding upload speeds. A number of studies shows the average U.S. upload speed to be somewhere between 371 kilobytes per second (Kbps) and 435 Kbps. Hardly adequate for the many potential business, education, telemedicine and e-government applications we need to drive down costs and spur innovation.
It’s critical to get everyone in the U.S. connected to high-speed Internet as soon as possible. When citizens aren’t online, our nation’s resources – our entrepreneurial spirit and innovative minds – are not being leveraged.
It’s time now to connect the dots on the demonstrated payoffs, so that Americans clearly know what opportunities are in store as a result of broadband adoption.
So what? It’s our future.
Doug Adams oversees public information efforts for the Knight Center of Digital Excellence based in Akron, Ohio. The center is operated by Cleveland-based technology nonprofit OneCommunity, in partnership with The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and is dedicated to creating connected communities through strategies that utilize information technologies to drive civic progress and economic development. To learn more about the Knight Center, go to www.knightcenter.org or e-mail info@knightcenter.org.
Tags: 3-D, American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009, bandwidth, Barack Obama, broadband, Broadband Expansion, Cleveland, community, Congress, Detroit, digital, digital divide, Doug Adams, economy, education, Florida, Florida Power & Light, healthcare, high-speed, infrastructure, innovation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Internet, iPod, iTunes, KCoDE, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Miami, Michigan, network, non-adopter, Ohio, OneCommunity, Smart Grid, Speedtest.net, stimulus, stimulus watch, Technology Policy Institute, U.S. Telecom Association, upload speed, utilities
Posted in ARRA, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, OneCommunity, Opinion, Stimulus Package, broadband | No Comments »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
By Karen Archer Perry
Our team leaders at the Knight Center of Digital Excellence are noticing something special in meetings with civic leaders in communities around the country: It’s a spark – an energy – that is emerging as people gather in town meetings to discuss the promise of federal stimulus money and how technology and innovation can change the future of community life.
In Aberdeen, S.D., for example, 100 civic leaders turned out recently for a series of meetings to discuss how digital initiatives might advance Aberdeen and surrounding rural areas.
In Detroit, community leaders are considering how new broadband networks can improve public safety, enhance job-training programs and bridge the digital divide.
Leaders in Lexington, Ky., are weaving plans that include fiber backbones, public WiFi and broader urban/rural access. The community is taking advantage of necessary preparations for World Equestrian Games in 2010 to implement strategies that will benefit the greater community for years to come.
High-speed Internet communication allows us to connect to each other and our communities in new and innovative ways. The ability to implement technology for the rural and underserved has been there – what’s been lacking is a will and a sustainable business model.
Stimulus money can help move projects into reality.
Tags: Aberdeen, American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009, broadband, Broadband Expansion, community, Detroit, digital, digital divide, economy, education, infrastructure, innovation, Internet, job training, Karen Archer Perry, KCoDE, Kentucky, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Lexington, Michigan, network, public safety, rural, rural communities, South Dakota, stimulus, stimulus watch, underserved areas, urban, World Equestrian Games
Posted in Digital news, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Opinion, Stimulus Package | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Youthville is an organization promoting a holistic and integrated approach to developing youth in Detroit. Programs for kids include computers, leadership, academics, fitness, web broadcasting and music studio recording. Among these programs is a new, one-of-a-kind 24-hour IPTV broadcasting studio.
Media Operations Manager Michael Kuentz explained that YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and other social networking activities are the rise, while broadcast television stations are facing their demise.
“The evolution of broadcast and YouTube has come together and created what we call IPTV, which stands for Internet Protocol Television,” he said. “Most of our information and entertainment is obtained from the web, thus ending the need for television broadcast stations.”
To demonstrate their live broadcasting capabilities, Rita Clark, director of Programming and Operations, joined Kuentz via a live web feed. Clark appeared on the set of their web broadcasting studio set, funded by a grant from AT&T. The 13,000 square foot facility houses high-definition equipment and cameras, control room, audio and editing suites and remote camera units.
Students learn a hands-on training in every aspect of producing video for the web. The information broadcast to the community includes employment opportunities, community service, school activities, community safety, health awareness, continuing education, politics, community projects, business news, entertainment and more. All videos are accessible through their YouTube portal or their website.
For more information about Youthville Detroit, visit www.youthvilledetroit.org.
Download more Youthville presentation materials.
Tags: bandwidth, broadband, broadcast television, Detroit, digital, digital divide, education, Facebook, Internet, Internet Protocol Television, IPTV, KCoDE, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Michael Kuentz, MySpace, OneCommunity, Rita Clark, Youthville, YouTube
Posted in Digital news, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, OneCommunity, Opinion | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
While much of the world knows Detroit as the Motor City it may soon change its moniker to the Broadband City based upon the plan for reinvention developed by many of its community leaders at the March 19 Connected Communities Workshop.
The workshop, sponsored by the Knight Center for Digital Excellence and held at Wayne State University, focused on creating a platform for communication for Greater Detroit, and more specifically, the Woodward North End and Osborn Northeast neighborhoods. In addition to creating a conduit for discussion the breakout sessions facilitated the identification and prioritization of broadband projects crucial to each community as well as Greater Detroit.
While many projects were suggested it became abundantly clear that community technology education (in schools and in continuing education settings), safety, and healthcare were top priorities in leveraging broadband to reinvent Detroit—the most important of which was education.
Denise Glover, Program Manager for Detroit Wayne County 4C and Director of The Family Place expanded on the need for community training as a first step, “How can we expect our citizens to understand the impact broadband can make on their lives when they don’t even know how to turn on a computer and open a web browser.”
Click here to watch video highlights from the Connected Communities Workshop.
Tags: broadband, Connected Communities Workshop, Denise Glover, Detroit, Detroit Wayne County 4C, digital, digital divide, education, healthcare, infrastructure, Internet, KCoDE, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, OneCommunity, Osborn Northeast, public safety, The Family Place, Wayne State University, Woodward North End
Posted in Digital news, Knight Center, Knight Center of Digital Excellence, OneCommunity | No Comments »
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