Communities of Interest Networks
In March, Get Broadband launched the Communities of Interest Networks (COIN), an innovative approach for people in rural areas to discuss technology trends and opportunities in healthcare, economic development, education and e-commerce over a virtual cup of coffee. On March 21, each of the four communities met via conference call. Learn more about COIN on the Get Broadband web site or get a flavor of the meetings by reading the following informational updates requested by COIN.
http://www.blandinfoundation.org/bsite/COIN/index.htm

What’s a Blog?
A blog (web log) is a web site akin to an online journal. Generally one person (or team) posts articles on the blog on a regular basis. Blog authors (bloggers) do not need to know how to build a web site; most blogs have user-friendly interfaces for publishers. There are thousands of blogs. Check out Globe of Blogs for samples.

Creating a blog is straightforward. One popular (and free) tool for bloggers is Blogger.com. Their instructions are simple:

• Create an account (need name, email, and password)
• Name your blog
• Choose your template (they have several layouts to choose or create your own)

Once created, Blogger.com will host your blog for free and you can update it as often as you want or invite readers to post comments (which you can approve or delete).

Online Wi-Fi Directories
Many Get Broadband communities are inventorying and/or building Wi-Fi networks. Once compiled, communities may want to promote local hotspots through existing online directories of Wi-Fi hotspots, such as Wi-FiHostSpotList or JiWire.

Refurbishing Old Computers for Reuse
A community computer reuse program is a great way to get donors involved and get recipients online. But before you get started there are some things you’ll want to consider:

• Make sure the computers are worth it.  A new pc can be as little as $400, so don’t spend $200 (including labor) to install software and more RAM on an old computer.
• Remind donors to clean out the machines thoroughly. You do not want to inadvertently share donor information with recipients.
• For a lab, try to get identical machines, then you can image the machines (make a copy of everything) and plan to clean up the machines regularly by going back to the original image.
• If you have good technical support but a limited budget, consider Open Source technologies for software and operating systems such as FireFox for a browser and OpenOffice. (For more information on Open Source, check out Open Season, a recent article in Minnesota Technology Magazine.)
• For more information check out the Tech Soup web site for donors and refurbishers.

Minnesota Broadband Summit
On March 15, FiberFirst Minnesota hosted the Minnesota Broadband Summit in Minneapolis. The Star Tribune’s Digital Drifter described it well when he said, “They covered more ground than I can possibly recap here, but suffice to say that we here in Minnesota are farther along in fiber-optic communication than most of the rest of the United States — but that ain’t saying much.” Presentations from the event are available on the FiberFirst Minnesota web site and include presentations from many Get Broadband leaders including, Bernadine Joselyn, Gary Fields, Bill Coleman, and Jane Leonard.

Can America Keep Up?
For more than 100 years, Americans have been used to being number one in the global economy but signs indicate that we’re losing ground quickly. A recent report by U.S. News and World Reports, compares the United States to other countries and their innovation, economy, and growth. The article puts the broadband gap in the larger context of how the US is “falling behind in the race for global economic leadership.”  “We had an absolutely dominant position in communications technology for a century,” points out Dave McCurdy, president of the Electronic Industries Alliance. “Now we are losing our edge.” 

The Seattle Report
Seattle's Department of Information Telecommunications published a Report of the Task Force on Telecommunications Innovation: How the City of Seattle Can Promote Development of an Advanced Communications Network. The Task Force concluded that “if Seattle is to have the broadband infrastructure it needs, city government must lead the way. The City of Seattle must act now to encourage the development of a robust broadband network capable of fast, simultaneous, two-way delivery of advanced voice, data, and video services.” It’s a compelling report for any community.

Virtual Medical Checkups on the Rise
More people are using technology to communicate with their health care providers. Technology can be as basic as the kiosks that transmit blood pressure and weight readings to a remote facility monitored by a nurse or a more sophisticated device that let remote doctors appear on a screen to listen to everything from a patient's heartbeats to lung waves.  According to USA Today, about 3,500 hospitals, clinics, schools and other facilities use telemedicine today, up from 2,000 six years ago. The number of companies manufacturing home telecare devices in the last three years has tripled to 15.

Hot Web Sites
Each month Get Broadband shares an original article (Hot Web Sites on a specific topic) with Get Broadband community coordinators. Coordinators are encouraged to customize the article with their contact information and send it on to local media outlets to help promote broadband and the Get Broadband project. This month’s Hot Web Sites focus on Medicare and Medicaid.

Nine Get Broadband Communities Ready to Enter Phase V
It may sound cliché but it's amazing how fast a year goes by. By mid-April, the nine Get Broadband communities of Cohasset, Ely, Grand Rapids, International Falls, Thief River Falls, Windom, Marshall, Sleepy Eye and Bird Island will have completed their first year in the program and are entering "Phase V" of the program. While the majority of the communities have extended their original grant period, we have asked Jack Geller and the folks at the Center for Rural Policy and Development to work with these communities to begin scheduling their follow up benchmark surveys. The benchmark surveys will measure the increase in demand and utilization of broadband-based technologies as a result of the community-based broadband education events and programs.

Welcome Two New Get Broadband Communities
The Blandin Foundation would like to welcome Benton County and Renville County to the Get Broadband project. Both were selected in Round VI and will being with an orientation in April. Benton and Renville bring the total number of Get Broadband communities to twenty-two. For more information, visit the Get Broadband map of participating communities.

Bird Island - Senior Surf Days training was held on March 13 and 27 at the Bird Island Public Library for several first time users of the Internet. Participants ranged in age from 70 to almost 90 years old. Bird Island is also part of the county-wide efforts in Renville County. (Learn more)

Cohasset - Cohasset has been accepted to participate in round two for Get Broadband. They are looking forward to continuing with the project and had begun making plans for the future of broadband in their community even before they were confirmed for round two. (Learn more)

Grand Rapids - Grand Rapids is scheduling wireless site surveys to assess the costs of providing wireless access in the downtown area and Central Square Mall. (Learn more)

Hibbing - Hibbing is working on promoting public Internet access points, refurbishing and redistributing donated computers and developing plans to get seniors connected to the Internet. (Learn more)

Renville County - Renville County was awarded a Blandin Get Broadband Grant in March, 2006. Communities involved in the county-wide project will begin work in April on a number of projects. (Learn more)

Stevens County - Stevens County Economic is providing grants to business and nonprofit organizations to start or enhance strategic use of technology. They are also funding online auction training through the three community education organizations in Stevens County. (Learn more)

April 6-7 (Loma Linda, CA) Living at the Speed of Light - One of the most wired cities offers a workshop on Fiber-to-the-Home for economic developers, city administrators, and elected officials.

May 3 (St. Paul and virtual) Transforming Education: Engaging Students with Technology - University faculty fellows demonstrate uses of technology that fundamentally change teaching practices and learning experiences.

May 9-10 (Washington DC) Broadband Policy Summit 2006: Charting the Road Ahead - Tackles the tough questions plaguing lawmakers, regulators and business executives as Congress and the FCC sort through the thicket of outdated laws and definitions that govern the development of all communications services.

May 17-17 (St Paul) Secure 360º - Focuses on all aspects of security: data protection, physical security, information systems forensics, audit and control systems and continuity planning.

June 6-7 (Morris) Minnesota Symposium on Small Towns & Rural Summit - The theme "Working Better Together for the Common Good" starts with the organizers (Minnesota Rural Partners and Center for Small Towns) who are collaborating to combine their individual annual conferences.

June 20 (virtual) Get Broadband Communities of Interest teleconference/videoconference - Join us for virtual conversations on healthcare, economic development, education or e-commerce. Stay tuned for further details.

October 18-19 - Save the date for the Get Broadband State-wide Broadband Conference.

FiberFirst Minnesota recently organized a very interesting conference in Minneapolis and it was great to hear the different presentations by vendors and community leaders. While the majority of the event was devoted to fiber to the premise (FTTP), there were also presentations on new wireless initiatives and technology. The audience demographics were surprising, dominated by suburban city/county staff with only a few greater Minnesota participants.

Jane Leonard (president of MN Rural Partners) and I gave the closing presentation to an audience that we anticipated was ready to hit the road, but was instead ready to discuss the important issues raised in our abbreviated presentation. Jane and I called for rational discussions to maximize the efficient and effective deployment of high speed broadband access across Minnesota. We demonstrated how the patchwork of laws, regulations and subsidies intertwined with historical and emerging providers and technologies is leading to random and/or uncertain broadband deployment. The Blandin Broadband Strategy Group provides a forum for this discussion.

We then outlined the important challenges beyond network deployment that you as Blandin Get Broadband communities are addressing. We all have recognized that broadband availability does not guarantee successful technology adoption and that communities must form partnerships to push adoption by more community members, businesses and organizations. By building technological sophistication, these communities will be more successful in getting the broadband access they need to be economically and socially viable in the future. Communities that focus exclusively on connectivity issues may find themselves with great networks that few in the community know how to utilize beyond high-definition television.

Our presentation, with many others, is available for viewing at the FiberFirst Minnesota web site.

"Hot Websites” is a monthly article provided to you to submit to your local newspaper for publication by as part of your committee’s effort to raise public awareness of the benefits broadband-based technologies have to offer to families, business and communities.

Minnesota's Job Bank - Maybe you're looking for workers or maybe you're looking for a job. Either way this site is for you. It currently lists 21,545 job openings and 54,554 résumés. Each database is searchable by a variety of criteria. Registration is required to take advantage of the site but registration is free.