Post on 30-Oct-2014
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Broadband- Connecting for health, education and civic engagement.
July 20,2010 Municipal Clerks Institute
Paul TreadwellCornell Cooperative ExtensionDistance Learning Consultant
What is Broadband?•High speed data transmission.•Always on connection.•Encompassing a variety of technologies.
Why Broadband Matters•Now, broadband is essential to
opportunity and citizenship.▫Connecting America: The National
Broadband Plan http://www.broadband.gov/
Why Now?•National Broadband Plan released March
2010.•Stimulus funding and re-invigoration of
Federal Programs supporting broadband.•Increased understanding of competitive
advantages brought by access.
The National Broadband Plan•FCC March 2010:
▫Presents an ambitious agenda for expanding access.
▫Emphasis on technology as “enabling”.▫Robust vision of connectivity.
Broadband Adoption
Exhibit 3-1 from Connecting America | FCC March 2010
The Digital Divide•Is the gap between people with effective
access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all.
• Is a kind of capability deprivation.▫As the “world” moves online, those who
aren’t are excluded.
Growing Expectations•Citizens are, increasingly, expecting
services to become available online:▫Shopping▫Paying Bills▫Interacting with elected officials▫Organizing
The Internet
The Civic Net
More than Bandwidth or Access•The fuss about broadband, then, extends
beyond access to information to active participation in the online commons.▫ Broadband: What’s All the Fuss About? Pew Internet and American Life
Project
Marketplace and/or Commons•2 ways of viewing the internet:
▫Marketplace: Access to goods Buying and selling
▫Commons: Access to ideas Interaction and exchange
How do You See Broadband?•What role can it play?
Broadband Enabled Services•E-government
▫Providing access to government information
▫Providing space for engagement•E-commerce
▫Access to the global marketplace•Technology training / digital literacy/ civic
literacy
Case study – Ontario county•Ontario County e-government
▫http://www.co.ontario.ny.us/▫Access to governmental information▫Online survey for community input
Case study – Threadless•E-Commerce and the crowd:
http://www.threadless.com/
Case Study – Engaged Youth•Civic learning:
▫Engaged Youth http://www.engagedyouth.org/
Case Study – Squeaky Wheel•Digital/Media Literacy:
▫Squeaky Wheel http://www.squeaky.org/
Barriers to Adoption•Availability.•Cost.•Exclusion.
▫Literacy.•Security.
Sustainable communities•Broadband should be a component of any
platform for sustainability.▫Connecting (rural) communities to the
world.
▫Sustaining locality.
Civic participation•Bringing it back home:
▫Tools for online engagement: National Coalition for Dialog and
Deliberation http://www.thataway.org/
my.barackobama.com http://my.barackobama.com/
▫National project connecting local participants
Education•Broadband opens up a channel to media
rich educational opportunities:▫MIT OpenCourseware:
http://ocw.mit.edu▫ScienceVideos:
http://sciencehack.com/▫Youtube:
Teachertube: http://www.teachertube.com/
Opportunities•Resurgence of funding opportunities
creates a space for innovative programming.
•Current Extension programming▫National e-Commerce Extension Initiative.
http://srdc.msstate.edu/ecommerce/▫Connecting rural communities.▫Others?
Innovating•Digital literacy:
For community. For educators.
Skills for an online world•Community brainstorming:
▫Games to spark planning around technology. Useful Games
http://www.usefulgames.co.uk/
Appropriate Technology ?•Change is coming, continually•Understanding the transformative power
of connectivity is necessary.•Change is not, necessarily, good.
▫Wise decisions will need to be made about when, where and how to use the power of this connectivity.
The value of open networks•“Strangely enough, digital technologies
are forcing us to recognize the power of the collective and social” - David Bollier▫The Commons as a New Sector of Value-Cr
eation http://www.onthecommons.org/content.php?
id=1813•Open standards-Open source-Open
networks
Resources•Documents, sites and case studies
referenced in this presentation are available online at:▫http://ccedigitaldivide.pbworks.com/Clerks
2010
Contact•Paul Treadwell
▫ Distance Learning Consultant▫ Cornell Cooperative Extension▫ 356 Roberts Hall▫ Cornell University▫ Ithaca, NY 14853▫ pt36@cornell.edu▫ http://www.paultreadwell.com▫ @ptreadwell