Minnesota’s Senator Amy Klobuchar spoke at lunch for the Blandin Foundation’s MIRC project at an event organized by the University of Minnesota Extension Service in St. Cloud Wednesday. It was my first time hearing the Senator. Thought she did a pretty good job with a brief talk on broadband in rural Minnesota. She spoke to […]
APA STaR Publishes MIRC Story
This article was published last week in the newsletter of the Small Town and Rural Planning division of the American Planning Association. You can find them on Facebook, too. Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities: Broadband as a Rural Development Strategy By John C. Shepard, AICP, Southwest Regional Development Commission America’s economy runs on broadband. Ninety-five […]
A Journey to High-Speed Internet in Rural Minnesota
[v=SA-vE0qAt-w] I’m struggling to get my head around video. I’m a book guy, not a movie guy—I have a face for radio, not TV. But I know people learn through stories and the oral storytelling tradition is far more ancient than the written word. As I’ve adapted to adopting broadband this last year, I’ve also […]
SRDC Kicks Off Broadband Project in SW Minnesota
Press Release–Immediate SRDC Kicks Off Broadband Project in Southwest Minnesota Slayton, MN—The Southwest Regional Development Commission (SRDC) has been named as a partner in the Blandin Foundation’s Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) project, which will facilitate broadband deployment and use in rural areas of the state. The $6.4 million, ARRA-funded project will support promotion and […]
An Intelligent Community Framework
Improved productivity and growth can basically come from two sources: 1. You make more stuff, or 2. You make stuff better. The first option falls into the commodity trap. To overly simplify, there’s probably somebody somewhere on this big wide world that can make what you make, and do it cheaper. The second option is […]
Spending Some Time in the Future at #mnbb2010
[v=CVLoXWaXJ5Y] Abraham Lincoln said “The best way to predict the future is to create it” (as did Peter Drucker and other creative thinkers). I was able to spend some time this week with other Minnesotans trying to do just that—creating the future—at the Blandin Foundation’s Annual Broadband Conference. After a day of workshops, the opening […]
Broadband Use Growing in Greater Minnesota
For Immediate Release For information contact: John Shepard, AICP; jshepard@swrdc.org 507.836.1633 Broadband Use Growing in Greater Minnesota Slayton, MN—Three quarters of Greater Minnesota residents now have computers in their homes and two-thirds have broadband internet access, according to a survey by Minnesota’s Center for Rural Policy and Development. Broadband adoption in Greater Minnesota has grown […]
Center for Rural Policy & Development MN Broadband Survey
NEWS RELEASE Broadband Use Explodes Statewide, But Adoption in Rural Minnesota Still Inconsistent Center for Rural Policy and Development Minnesota Internet Survey Measures Broadband Adoption and Use SAINT PETER, Minn. — Comprehensive research conducted by the Center for Rural Policy and Development has found that broadband adoption and use has exploded throughout Minnesota since the organization […]
Broadband levels the playing field for rural Minnesota
Borrowed this from USDA-RD MN Newsletter, emphasis is mine: Recovery Act Delivers Broadband Funds to Rural Minnesota The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama in February of 2009, has helped fund about $61 million in projects that will increase broadband access to underserved areas of rural Minnesota. “Broadband levels the […]
Rural Broadband: Jobs and Services
Written Remarks for Presentation to Murray County (MN) Farm Bureau, 27 July 2010 Just five years ago, most Americans accessed the internet on dial-up modems. Today, about 2/3 of the nation uses broadband service—high speed internet that lets you download and upload photos and video and use specialized applications as well as surfing the web. […]
