From BroadbandCensus.com Weekly Report
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2009 – The United States desperately needs a national broadband strategy, agreed a wide range of telecommunications experts, speaking last week at a conference on “Changing Media” at the Newseum in Washington.
The speakers at the conference differed on whether the policy should be run by the White House or the Federal Communications Commission.
But either way, the air of excitement toward broadband policy is strong. It’s almost enough to overpower the mournful backward glance that many have recently been offering for the old media.
[more...]
BroadbandCensus.com Weekly Report content available by subscription.
Subscribers may download the BroadbandCensus.com Weekly Report below.
[private_monthly]
broadband-census-weekly-report_5-18-09 [/private_monthly]
[private_yearly]
broadband-census-weekly-report_5-18-09 [/private_yearly]
If you are not a subscriber, you may sign up for a 4 week free trial.
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, May 10, 2009 – Broadband data collection needs to be more thorough and more transparent than currently existing models, a range of academic experts, builders of telecommunications infrastructure, and a key senator said last week.
Speaking at conference hosted last Thursday by the Benton Foundation, and at a technology and communications gathering on Wednesday, these officials highlighted the importance of fine granularity, of including robust measures of broadband speeds and technologies, and greater comprehensiveness than has been typical within this field.
At the Computer and Communications Industry Association’s annual gathering with legislators, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said: “We have to make sure that broadband [calculation] is done in a comprehensive and systematic manner that hasn’t been done in the past.”
At the Benton Foundation event, “Urban and Rural Examples of the 'Best in Breed’: Setting a High Standard for Broadband Stimulus Funding,” a range of city technology officials and private sector officials also addressed the key ingredient of broadband data.
“A major part of this discussion is, what is unserved and what is underserved,” said Bill Schrier, chief technology officer of the city of Seattle.
Understanding what is and isn’t service can only be done with solid analytical capabilities, and...
Read More »
Saturday, November 1st, 2008
Blog Entries
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, November 1 - BroadbandCensus.com applied on Saturday for a News Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The application, which can be viewed
online at the newschallenge.org web site, lays out a plan of action for the future work of this web site.
Here's the text of the application:
Project Title:
BroadbandCensus.com is Crowdsourcing Internet Access Community-by-Community: It's the Building Block
Requested amount from Knight News Challenge:
$900,000
Expected amount of time to complete project:
1 [year]
Total cost of project including all sources of funding:
$1,100,000
Describe your project:
You are probably reading this on a computing device. You probably have either a wired or a wireless internet connection. You probably have broadband access. What else do you know about your broadband connection? How well does your connection work? Is your carrier limiting your bandwidth? Do your neighbors have the broadband speeds and services that they need to connect to you?
BroadbandCensus.com wants you to know everything about your broadband options. We want communities to know. The internet is international, but all broadband is local. BroadbandCensus.com understands this. We are building the knowledge base about broadband – through data, news and now through video. Just as the market for...
Read More »
Monday, June 2nd, 2008
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, June 2 - Ensuring that all Americans have access to broadband is about more than ensuring high-speed Internet connectivity, said the CEO of the One Economy, a non-profit organization promoting a philosophy of "digital inclusion."
In addition to ensuring that broadband is present, affordable and available for adoption by low-income Americans, groups aiming to make a difference in stemming the digital divide must also focusing on human capital and digital media content, said Rey Ramsey of One Economy, speaking last week at plenary session the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks here.
One Economy has been seeking to bring broadband into public housing developments, and then to create the tools and incentives for residents to use broadband. The group has sought created its digital content, including the Web site
beehive.org, about emergency preparedness, and is currently developing a "public internet channel," which aims to provide what it calls "a 21st century public service benefit for all Americans."
"It is important to attack everything on the supply and demand side," said Ramsey, rather than focus merely on the availability of broadband in a particular community. "So much attention is placed on the connectivity" piece of broadband, he...
Read More »