Light Speed Grant Program Workshops
The Blandin Foundation is hosting Pre-Application Workshops for two new foundation grant programs: the Light Speed Grant Program and the Open Network Feasibility Fund. Learn more about the programs and the schedule of workshops around the state on the Blandin Foundation web site.

Funding for Distance Learning & Telemedicine
USDA Rural Development recently posted a RFP for grants to support distance learning and telemedicine in the Federal Register. Grants between $50,000 and $500,000 are available. The deadline is June 11, 2007.

Nominate Your Dream Broadband Speaker
The Blandin Foundation is planning for the Fall Broadband Summit. Towards that end, we are asking eNews readers to think about potential keynote speakers. To suggest a speaker or see previously suggested speakers, visit the Blandin on Broadband blog. (Post a comment to make a suggestion.)

US Broadband Ranking is Slipping
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently published an update to their broadband statistics. Last year the US ranked 12; this year we rank 15. More information is available, including responses from various parties such as the US Senate, on the Blandin on Broadband blog.

Statewide Cable Franchising Passed
On April 13, the Minnesota House Telecom Division moved to pass the Statewide Cable Franchising bill (HF2351) with no recommendation to the Committee on Commerce and Labor. The issue will come up again next session. (Learn more.)

Broadband Guides for Community Leaders
There are several new guides available online to help community leaders and decision makers learn about broadband technologies. The guides include both introductory and advanced information. Each has been featured in the Blandin on Broadband blog:

• Broadband Factbook by the Internet Innovation Alliance
• Speed Matters by the Communications Workers of America
• Fiber to the Home sponsored by Broadband Properties

Featured Story -Video Podcast Demonstration
 
This month Bill Coleman and Ann Treacy produced a video podcast. The podcast features a brief tutorial on Flickr, an online picture sharing resource, but the real story is in the production of the video.

We had a computer, webcam, and broadband. We used free, online resources and spent about 90 minutes creating the podcast. We used PodcastPeople (an online studio tool) to record the video. We posted it on YouTube, which makes it easier to embed the video into our blog.

We did it to demonstrate how easy and cheap it is to use some of the Web 2.0 tools. The production quality isn’t great – but the content is now available for everyone online. Web 2.0 tools (such as YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Ustream) make it easy for everyone (with a computer and broadband access) to share their content. Now that our video is online, visitors can make comments or respond with a video of their own.

Increasingly the web is becoming less like a traditional library of information and more like an ongoing, worldwide conversation. It’s amazing to see how quickly it’s happening, heartening to see how many people participate, and challenging to plan for the growth both in terms of access to technology and broadband but also in education.

Benton County
Benton County bought two computer stations for a local senior housing complex; one stationed at each of their locations for residents and their family members. The computers provide a chance to do research, check e-mail, play computer games, and an endless list of other functions. Residents are also matched with high school students as technology mentors. More than 40 Foley High School students are participating in this program. (Learn more)

Cohasset
Cohasset is in the process of ending their second year in the Get Broadband Program. They hosted a few Technology Nights during the month of April.  The attendance was light but interested. The EDA and the City Council are making plans for the $900,000 grant for the Technology Center. 

Five Small Towns
A Year II proposal for Broadband for Business was submitted to the Blandin Foundation and funded to expand the geographic focus within the existing region of the original Five Small Towns. Work has begun to create an email newsletter that will target 50 local businesses. An additional newspaper has started to publish the monthly Get Broadband column. They are looking for new tools to assist new businesses; the addresses for such tools and organizations are added to packets distributed to new businesses.

Moose Lake
Moose Lake is hosting a celebration/seminar to unveil the new city web site and the Moose Lake Public Library’s e-information center on May 22 – 23.

New Ulm
New Ulm is working on a new and improved Chamber web site. They are segmenting the community with an eye towards providing training opportunities that will suit each segment rather than promoting classes that may be too general or too specific for the public at large.

Renville County
Renville County has four goals (1) increase the awareness and education on broadband, (2) expand e-commerce for local businesses, (3) get the youth of Renville County involved in developing the pod and webcasts, and (4) have wireless broadband internet access at internet cafés or other public place in each town in Renville County. (Learn more)

May 10-11 -  Minnesota Rural Summit (Brainerd, MN) – the theme for the 10th annual Minnesota Rural Summit is "Kickoff to Minnesota's Sesquicentennial - Thriving by Design!!".

May 17-18 - Building the Broadband Economy (Brooklyn, NY) - an international meeting place and idea exchange for local government officials, nonprofit executives and educators, and private-sector executives in telecom, IT, finance, real estate, and consulting.

May 30 – June 1 – 2007 RICA Annual Meeting (Las Vegas) – the annual meeting for the Rural Independent Competitive Alliance.

June 4-5 – 21st Annual MTA Conference (St. Paul, MN) – the annual meeting for the Minnesota Telecommunications Association.

June 7-8 – Broadband Policy Summit III (Arlington, VA) - will tackle the tough questions plaguing lawmakers, regulators and business executives.

Communities need to be aggressive in anticipating and fulfilling tomorrow’s technology expectations, not only for travelers, but also for youth, prospective doctors, other professionals and residents. Smart communities will be positioning themselves in front of the curve, rather than always playing catch-up. You need an ongoing technology plan and a multi-disciplinary team of technology advocates to ensure that your community is positioned as a tech savvy place to live, work and play.
You have probably seen a couple of notices about the Light Speed Grant Program by now, through email and earlier in this e-newsletter.  The program will fund, on a matching basis, investments in new application deployment in communities.  We are most interested in enabling institution (schools, health care providers, etc.) to home applications.  The range of possible applications is vast.

This grant program offers an opportunity for the institutions in your community to get entrepreneurial and to develop new services for delivery in your community; it opens the door to offering services to nearby places or around the world.  While every community is unique, we are all impacted by global trends and these trends provide opportunities for to provide services.  A couple dominant global trends affecting rural Minnesota are the aging population and the increasing number of non-English speaking residents. 

Technology applications may emerge as a cost-effective solution to these challenges.  Broadband technology may enable your area school district, health care provider, area non-profits or business owners to reach new markets in the next town, county, state or country.  Encourage these groups to consider the opportunity presented by the Light Speed Grant Program.

Download the Light Speed RFP and invite the leadership of these key groups to attend a regional workshop.  All of the details are at www.blandinfoundation.org

Twitter – www.twitter.com
Almost like a multimedia instant message tool, Twitter distributes short text messages to your pre-assigned group of friends, who may receive it via IM, text messaging (SMS), or the web. Each message is limited to 140 characters. You can send messages via IM, text messaging (SMS), or the web. (While Twitter is free, standard charges for text messages may apply, depending on your phone service.)