broadband civic-engagement-and-sustainability

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