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Resources: eNewsletter
August
2005
Ely
With “On-line
Health Care” and “Web cams/instant Messaging” courses forthcoming,
Ely’s Get Broadband summer mini-course series is winding down. Ely
Get Broadband community coordinator Sharee Johnson reports that a couple
of the courses were so popular they overfilled, and that some members
of the community suggested offering additional courses in the fall.
The Ely Get Broadband
Steering Committee is planning a Tuesday morning “Open Surf for Seniors”
at the Technology Center with some guided instruction.
The prize giveaway
on WELY radio begins this week! More to come in the September edition
of e-news.
Windom
The
Windom Blandin Committee has completed their late summer/fall curriculum
of computer education classes. Community Ed has incorporated the classes
into their program, will coordinate registration and advertise them in
their quarterly Community Ed booklet. The local access channel and the
cable connection will also advertise the classes.
Many local educators
have been identified and their talents shared with the community. The
most well attended class has been the Safe Surfing class. The class provides
information on detection and removal of spyware, spam, e-mail viruses.
The Committee is already
planning the winter curriculum, which will include a class on webcam and
classes taught by instructors from the U of M and the Science Museum.
The community computer
lab has been utilized during the classes and by the computer club. In
late September committee members will meet with the Senior Citizens Club
to discuss computers in their senior room and volunteers to monitor the
computer lab.
The Committee is also
working with the local hospital administration for consideration of including
space in their master facility planning for virtual visits for Outreach
Services.
Sleepy
Eye
The
Sleepy Eye Blandin Get Broadband Steering Committee has chosen Mr. Sam
Bloedow of Sleepy Eye Computer Service to provide consultation on completing
the utilization goals. "It was very important to the Steering Committee
to choose a local computer expert to provide as much of the local training
as possible - keeping as much of the money local as possible," said
project co-coordinator Rob Anderson. Sleepy Eye’s local phone company/ISP
will be very involved in each step of the process. Activities will begin
in September with the goal of completing their Get Broadband program activities
by the end of January, 2006.
International
Falls
The
International Falls Get Broadband Steering Committee is gearing up for
fall. In preparing to get out the good news about broadband, committee
members will be listening to the recommendations of the Chamber of Commerce's
Economic Development Committee. These recommendations will frame the Get
Broadband Committee’s fall business luncheon series, which will focus
on promoting business use of broadband-based technologies and services.
Another speaker is lined up to explain how one city created a city hot
spot, a possibility that the Get Broadband Steering Committee is looking
in to.
Cohasset
- Setting
goals and planning community events
Cohasset
and Grand Rapids Get Broadband coordinators are using the air waves to
educate their communities about the program and upcoming activities. Joined
by Bernadine Joselyn from the Blandin Foundation and Rochelle Van Den
Heuvel from the Quad Online Program, they recently went into the ICTV
studios to tape a Get Broadband segment as part of the Itasca area’s
Get to Know Your Neighborhood series. The program will be broadcasted
several times in August on the local community cable channel.
To keep the education
going, Cohasset will offer a Technology Night one evening a week, open
to area residents and businesses to ask questions and learn more about
the benefits of broadband. And looking forward, the Cohasset Get Broadband
Steering Committee is busy lining up vendors and demonstrations for their
October 10th Technology Fair.
Grand
Rapids - Communicating with local broadband providers
The Grand Rapids Area
Broadband group has scheduled presentations with the local Rotary, Breakfast
Roundtable, and the Know Your Community program (local public access television
– see Cohasset’s report for more details.) The Grand Rapids
and Cohasset Get Broadband Steering Committees will also be hosting a
“Chamber After Five” networking event to raise business awareness
of the project’s goals and activities.
Local internet providers
and the Grand Rapids Public Utilities have agreed to do a billing insert
to promote the “Cast a Broad-Net Technology Showcase” to be
held September 15. Thousands of Itasca County residents will receive an
informational flyer about the showcase and the workshop series to be offered
during the event. Some agencies totally waived the cost for the insert;
others are charging a very small fee (as little as a penny per bill!)
Bird
Island
Bird Island's Get
Broadband group work continues to progress toward the Renville County
Fair, to be held August 16-18, where they will offer video teleconferencing
over broadband at their "Get Broadband" booth. Using MSN Messenger
7 and Logitech web cams, they will demonstrate video conferencing technology
between several booths at the fair, and offer free conference calls to
family members of the local National Guard unit and members of that unit
stationed in Iraq.
Data back-up and E-Commerce
were the topics of two mini-seminars held in the previous two months.
Local technology companies are invited to make these presentations using
the Civic and Commerce monthly meetings as a venue.
The Bird Island Union
continues to run a weekly column about the Get Broadband efforts.
The column focuses on computer and internet related information, and feature
the local technology companies and broadband providers.
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