Infonaut Ann Treacy does a blog at Blandin on Broadband, focusing on broadband use, access and trends as a project of Minnesota’s Blandin Foundation. She had an interesting post this weekend on including rural broadband projects in President-elect Barack H. Obama’s proposed economic stimulus package.
I have been interested in applications of broadband technology since I was in college, in particular when I worked for the now-defunct Center for the New West think tank in Denver. This makes it all the more ironic that I’m still mired on dial-up at home, but that is a post for a day to come.
The post brings in two other salient points.
- “broadband is all rural areas have seen or heard from Obama up to this point.” (ref. Daily Yonder)
- “we’re pouring more money into a solution that didn’t work the first time around” (ref. Public Knowledge)
I have personal issues with the stimulus packages we’ve seen last year and this; however, aside from that, on a professional level we should be concerned about larger issues present. Broadband is great, but it’s just a tool. We need broader rural development strategies. We also need much better research benchmarking economic development tools that work. You know that. I know that. It’s just not cheap nor easy to accomplish.
Treacy’s packing alot to think about into this focused, tightly-written blog. I suppose I ought to take notes.
-john shepard
4 Comments
Hey – thanks for your kind words! It’s been interesting to see the shuffle around the stimulus money. Mostly I look at broadband but I have to think that people are scrambling to get their bids in from every industry.
I’m watching your posts on WordPress versus Blogger. So far I’m with you on WordPress – though I wished it was as open to new widgets as Blogger.
It is easy to get bogged down in the gospel of broadband. We’ve been talking about bandwidth so long my eyes glazed over for a couple years there. And yes, I do still have dial-up at home….
On the learning curve, I’m trying to do some longer think-pieces of the op-ed 500-600 word length, with shorter quicker current commentary; economics, policy & culture. Throw it about, see how it goes. Kinda like taking a Ford and a Toyota out for road tests in different conditions. Motor on.
I’m seeing more details thrown about on Infrastructure in the stimulus package(s). Treacy has notes from Minnesota on the search for Shovel Ready IT projects.
http://blandinonbroadband.org/2009/01/16/minnesota-ultra-high-speed-task-force-january-meeting/