MN Broadband Coalition
Notes from Coffee and Broadband in St. Paul on Thursday March 26, 2009
MN Broadband Coalition Notes: Now is the time to Write & Plan
We had a great meeting this week. It was informal – a good chance to hear what folks are doing and thinking about – mostly we’re thinking about the stimulus funding and the Minnesota Broadband Task Force and how we can get the funding and help the TF write up their report.
Here’s a quick list of most of the folks there:
Amalia Deloney– Main Street Project. Looking at communication rights. Keeping into policy but also doing training in rural areas.
Steve Boland – geek by avocation, community developer. Interested in under-served areas.
Ann Treacy - Blandin on Broadband blog. Horizons blogger training.
Chris Mitchell – ILSR – everything cities need to make decisions local. A network needs to be accountable to local folks. Working on St Paul telecommunications.
Mike Wassenaar – SPNN. Does policy work nationally. Manages community technology training through AmeriCorps folks in libraries (and other good places) with Federal grants has gone really well. Hoping to get 5 members to work on Stimulus program.
Bill Coleman – manage Blandin’s Get Broadband program in about 30 communities. Working with other areas on expanded programs. Blandin has created some policies. Also working with Dakota County
John Schultz – FTTH business. Working with all sectors to get FTTH. Looking at working in rural Washington County. Looks like it might be a fit for RUS – though that’s a moving target.
I took loose notes because folks who couldn’t make it wanted them. I hope I’ve captured the general themes and highlights. (Hopefully other who were there will chime in too.)
SPNN is thinking of expanding their local program (federal funding for AmeriCorps doing tech literacy) on a nation basis. It would be nice to expand that to a local audience because you need digital literacy for BB. Maybe SPNN should go statewide – except that it’s hard to scale when you’re based on a cohort group. You need 25% local match – including cash support and a point of contact. Hmmm. It would be work but it would be worth pursuing. SPNN has done some really good work.
Connected Nation – what’s up? The problem is that there isn’t a viable alternative. CN does mapping and they do marketing. BroadbandCensus is a potential alternative for mapping, but they don’t necessarily have the track record. Blandin is a possible partner for building stimulus. Who would have a statewide interest and the infrastructure to do it?
Here are some possibilities:
Extension Offices
CAP agencies
State agencies
MNSCU
NTIA/RUS are going to turn to state players to fund local grant applications to get the local scope. There will be some direct applications. They may carve up some money for states; some may not be. Are we optimistic about what our local leaders would say?
What credible academic institute could take the reins?
Would libraries be a good place to get involved?
Is there a State Agency that can be the focal point for broadband?
What about MNSCU?
What about mobile broadband? There are caps with usage. Wireless is good if it’s a step towards wired but caps and reliability are important. But won’t there be a host of applications that will be more useful. The bigger question is what is broadband?
It hasn’t been the preferred mode for training for most digital literacy folks. We don’t see it as a key tool in our lives. But there are segments of the population who do see mobile broadband as a tool. They are much more likely to have a cell phone than a computer; in fact there may be an aversion to computers. But perhaps handhelds could be a gateway to technology use.
We need to gear our work to the lowest common denominator – and then reach up. People don’t see a handheld as a tool yet.
These are all good thoughts. Maybe we need to take it further. Now is the time to start building momentum for projects to receive the stimulus funding. Now is the time to start feeding info to the MN Broadband Task Force. There are lobbyists out there already gearing up to be helpful with project ideas and text for policy makers to plug in where they need it. There is an opportunity for sectors without lobbyists to chime me, but we’ll be louder together.
- We need to schedule meetings with legislators to ensure they understand the MN impact and choices.
- We need paragraphs drafted and sent to MN Broadband Taskforce for inclusion in their report to the legislature.
- Maybe we ought to meet again. …