This week I am at the Broadband Communities Summit in Dallas. (An archive of the conference is/will be available on BroadbandUS.TV.) Yesterday I spoke on a panel about digital inclusion…
Meeting the Special Needs of Elderly, Young, Disabled and Low-Income Americans Senior citizens, young people, disabled individuals, and low-income Americans all have special needs that broadband can help address. In this session, our panel of experts will discuss ways in which broadband can enable members of these groups to maximize their earning power and personal growth and fulfillment.
Moderator:
- Don Means – Founder and Principal, Digital Village Associates
Speakers:
- Bill Coleman – Founder, Community Technology Advisors
- Debra Berlyn – Executive Director, Project GOAL
- Geoff Daily – Executive Director, FiberCorps
- Nicol Turner-Lee, Ph.D. – President and CEO, NAMIC, Inc.
I wanted to share some of my observations on the conference.
First I was delighted to hear Angela Simpson, Acting Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department of Commerce, cite the Blandin MIRC project for its work around Intelligent Community. Successes around social media breakfasts, workforce digital literacy training, business technology training and digital inclusion were highlighted. It was fun to see Minnesota shine.
While we were talking about bridging the digital gap – Heather Gold, chair of the FTTH Council, spoke on the other side of the spectrum – highlighting the top reasons to support gig networks.
- No more buffering on video
- Increased affordability with Google setting the bar on pricing
- Health care applications
- Education applications
- Serves as a platform for innovation
We heard some sound advice from Ron Holcomb – Vice President, Business Development, Tantalus during a discussion around the difficulties on shared networks between telecom providers and electric utilities. Key issues include different service areas, unrealistic revenue expectations of telecom providers, contrasting speed of change in the industries (broadband is dynamic, electric is slow), differences in regulatory environments, historic relationships over things like pole attachment disputes. To encourage partnership, Holcomb’s recommended first step is a cup of coffee!
