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Stimulus2Recovery
Read more +Access to technology - computers, multi-use in business, neighborhood and personal services, government recognition and financial wherewithal are major cripplers of neighborhood level service industry businesses in Concentrated Poverty neighborhoods. Concentrated poverty follows decades of high "UNEMPLOYMENT".
Since "service industries" make-up the primary stock of neighborhood level businesses and the vetted businesses of the the people in the neighborhood that net millions monthly, why do they not have access to computers?
These are the businesses that are known, respected, passed on; and, will hire the re-entry workers from correctional sites, displaced worker, under-employed worker and provide opportunities from enterpreneurism to entry-level on-the-job training. Yet, they are not connected to the main economy.
In a 2008 case study, Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke, noted the importance by saying, "I believe this project will stimulate future efforts to better understand these communities and link them to our national economy".
MPA-Milwaukee Professionals Association has identified 14 service industries in the Milwaukee neighborhoods that are being studied for a report in an upcoming stimulus summit.
The focus in on seeking infrastructural and systemic change as a "stimulus". MPA has chosen corportizing, financial planning and repair, business development and operation, divesting for survival and growth, standardizing; and, apprenticeship partnering.
Why are these businesses disconnected from/to the federal, state and local government agencies? Yet, the neighborhood stakeholders and these businesses bring so many million dollars to urban cities like Milwaukee, Wisconsin?
Why is the local and state government not making strides for local wireless and high-speed networks that close the "digital divide"? These are businesses that will help provide competitive advantage in the marketplace and increase employment that is so desperately needed.
In Milwaukee, 2006, the mayor and common council promised 100% wireless for the city within 2 years (by 2008), the idea was a miserable failure and both the mayor and common council have abandoned the idea and nothing has been done or said about it.
The businesses and organizations in the downtown or those businesses in the wherewithal neighborhoods have access to the internet. The government agencies, district schools, technical colleges and 4-year colleges have access to the latest networks but fail to share with those who helped to purchase the equipment they have.
The public library has a good start but is not equipped with hardware/software/eduware, do not stay open often enough and lacking in providing literacy customized to neighborhood needs.
Why is it that People of Color and Working Poor stakeholders in these neighborhoods are the last one on-line - when others are constantly update with the latest? Why aren’t computers and training provided that organizations and schools have gotten funds for. Large pockets of funds have been received from government and foundation funding, yet they are a scarce resource? Is it by design?
Of course it is. However, those of us who know that success for those who have is only as real as WE help others share the success rather than flounder and continue to spiral downward into to poverty and the vices it brings forth.
I applaud FreePress for continuing to lead the charge in communication of media of all kinds. I do hate I could not be in Washington, DC on May 13 & May 14? I will continue to be on the frontline for advocacy, strategic planning and the upcoming planning/action plan for MPA 2009 Stimulus Summit, Part II - October 19-20, 2009.
Milwaukee Professionals Association is the lone ranger in Milwaukee with an activist voice to speakout regularly on the absence of media especially technology, education attainment, government intervention-partnering and financial wherewithal.
Milwaukee is one of 16 cities that was highlighted in the study by the Federal Reserve and Brookings Institution study, The Enduring the Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America.
For a summary update, go to:
http://www.chicagofed.org/community_development/files/Wisconsin%20-%20Pr....Also, visit regularly our websites at:
www.bdcproundtable.info
http://cncfnbamilwaukee.newsvine.com
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Captioning on all videos
Read more +Please be encouraged to have all videos be captioned. Otherwise there is the digital divide lingering on no matter!
This website is not accessible - because all videos are not captioned and so it is not called ACCESS. I think it is miswording unless you consider adding captions.
CM, SSW
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title?
Read more +Back in the day, we started a company to make Internet access affordable for everyone. It was really cool. We ran into a lot of problems trying to get lines (dialup and dedicated) through Verizon, even though they were not (yet) in the Internet business. Verizon was a thorn in our sides all the way. Despite that, we were able (to some extent or another) to provide a quality of service good enough to be rated the "best of the best Internet providers" among the local newspaper's customers, even beating out the national providers like AOL and Earthlink. After Verizon got into the DSL business and Time Warner Cable's Road Runner got into the broadband arena, offering high speed Internet access at at price we couldn't match, we faded into oblivion. The part that really sucked was that we KNEW there was no way they could provide that kind of Internet speed at the price they were offering, and we later discovered what the catch was. Oh yeah, you can get Road Runner for "only" $45 a month, but you HAD to also buy standard cable for another $45 a month, even if you didn't want cable TV in the first place. At the moment, a customer who wants Road Runner in my geographic area has to pay $109 per month, even if he/she doesn't want cable TV. Verizon, on the other hand, charges outrageous rates for their basic phone service (around $45 per month even if you don't use it!), then their promotional rate of $20 per month for DSL, which doesn't always work and if it doesn't, they will gladly let you terminate the DSL...but get this...the $20 is just a teaser rate and then they hit you up for a higher amount later on, even though the bandwidth is tiny compared to Road Runner. Oh yes, paying a total of at least $65 per month for phone and a low data rate (if you get a data rate at all) is just as bad (if not worse) than Road Runner. I would really love to be able to find an Internet provider that won't rob me like this, especially since I am now paying around $109 for RoadRunner AND around $45 for Verizon. Verizon also increased my rates for regional calls to 10 cents a minute, and I can't understand why the Public Service Commision (which is supposed to look out for us) allowed it to happen.
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Setting Goals for Internent Access in America
Read more +Any plan for the future of Internet access in America must have clear justifiable goals. For example, do we want to play catch up to Japan which already offers its citizens more than 100 Gbps for $20/month or with S. Korea which has nearly ubiquitous access.
I believe the discussion is not whether to build out Internet access to everyone in the U.S. This is a given. Everyone in the U.S. must have affordable or even free Internet access. The real discussion is how fast it should be and how much should it cost.
Most discussions seem to be suggesting that fiber optic cable to the house is holy grail and that sub 100 Gbps would be adequate. I believe that discussion lacks vision. We should leapfrog the Japanese and the S. Koreans by planning access speeds of 200 Gbps and preferably 1000 Gbps. We also need a national policy that requires all households and businesses have very or extremely high speed Internet access. The thought of capping Internet access is so absurd that it doesn't require comment. Charging individuals and businesses for Internet access should be abolished. We don't charge for access to public libraries. We should not charge for Internet access for the same reasons.
What if we had we currently had 1000 Gbps Internet access to our homes. What new businesses would thrive by selling content through such a system. Imagine sporting events and movies made available in definitions doubling that of Blue-Ray. This would encourage the electronics industry to produce higher resolution TVs and recording devices. It would encourage technical changes in the production of content. What if the lectures provided online by colleges and universities were provided in ultra high resolution instead of fuzzy little YouTube-like images. Every new technological innovation that produces higher speed communication creates new industries and new wealth.
The goals are simple:
1. The next phase of Internet access should offer more bandwidth than we can currently imagine anyone or any business ever needing. Whatever we predict and settle on will be merely adequate 5 years out.
2. Instead of dreaming of fiber optic to the house, we need to dream of multistranded multiphased fiber optic to the house. We do not want to dig up and replace the fiber optic cable every couple of years. Whatever cable is used, is must be standardized nationally.
3. Charging for Internet access is like charging for broadcast radio or television. Charging is a flawed concept. The money should be made through the production and advertising of content.
4. The cost of bringing ultra high speed Internet access to everyone should be paid for by everyone through a tax. The cost per person would be extremely small using this model. This tax would not be unlike a school tax or gasoline tax.We need to get out of the rut of thinking that we will be able to negotiate with Internet access monopolies to meet the Internet access needs of the country. We need completely new ideas and business models.
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Community FIBER for HOME and OFFICE
Read more +See http://communityfiber.org.
Would you like to get a GIGABIT fiber connection to your house and office? For less than you pay the Telco/Cableco now?
Would you like to get GIGABIT fiber access within 4-5 years at most, as opposed to waiting 10 or 20 years for the Telco/Cableco to bring it to you?
Would you like to INSURE network neutrality and vendor-neutral service? And absolutely prevent SPYING, DATA HARVESTING, discriminatory filtering, and artificial pricing tiers?
Then see http://communityfiber.org for a model for how you and your town can do exactly that. We could wait for "them" to do it in 20 years for high prices, or we can do it for ourselves immediately and cut out the useless middlemen once and for all. And get GIGABIT FIBER TO THE HOME!!
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Middle-aged kid
Read more +I was lucky enough to retire early on an old-fashioned, defined-benefit pension from the Federal Government last August, just when the meltdown started. I have had a little time to get more facile with the internet and the computer generally, and have tried looking for part-time work through this means. I cannot imagine anyone trying to find a job this way without high speed access of some kind. I had heard that the public Library had computers for those without one at home, and that is true, save that hundreds of children and adults are now crowdiing the place. If everyone has a TV, everyone could have internet access. If the reality of the job market is that you won't get hired without an online resume, everyone should have help in creating one. I had to submit one for a Janitor's job at the hospital, and never heard back. The State employment security people are actually trying hard to deal with the massive influx of workers of my cohort trying to wrap their heads around the protocols and the simple experience of web navigation. This is a good example of a social divide, and I think it is all about class and who gets to survive. Being without high speed internet access is like being without reliable transportation: the public varieties of both are insufficient.
For too long, the benefits of new technology have been allocated according to the ability to pay. Life saving drugs and therapies are denied to certain groups based on this criterion. The technologies that could provide uplift for the least in our society should be available to all without profiting the few, simply because it is a good idea. When rabid free-market capitalists insist that profit is the motive that drives innovation, I must disagree: we are a compassionate species. That is a good evolutionary strategy. Let's start with this cheap and readily available technology, and give freedom of information to all. -
IMPORTANT NOTICE about High Speed
Read more +I work fulltime on the Internet. In fact, I own and run a webhosting company out of Panama where we have 6 fibre optic networks coming into our data center. Where I live however, I can only get a very second rate satellite service. I have to drive 15 miles to get what I need for high speed when I need it.... VERY frustrating.
Now... VERY, VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR YOU ALL. I see everyone is talking about access to high speed broadband... BUT ...I cannot find any mention of what that speed should be and it very definitely SHOULD BE A SURVEY QUESTION. I am in Nova Scotia, Canada and here they are trying to put up 6 wireless towers in our area to give us ONLY about 1 Mps supposedly "high speed". This is better than dialup but still VERY inadequate. The minimum should be at least 54 Mbps.
If this issue is not covered, then you will see a lot of the rural areas in the USA very STUCK for a long time with only 1-2 Mbps. PLUS... the wireless towers are very bad for the health of those within 3 Kms of the tower. They are now tearing these down in Europe because of the great rise in Cancer and other diseases found in those people near those towers.
Yours truly,
James -
Expense
Read more +One of the most frequent barriers to access is income. I am a retired public servant. I have been teacher, social worker, and advocate for persons with disabilities my entire prefessional life. Now tha I am retired and disabled myself, I find that my usual means of communication is the internet. I use it to stay in touch with my children, grandchildren, and friends. However, I can't afford the cost of broadband, or cable TV for that matter! This means that the videos are basically not available to me. I'd love to watch the videos of my son and grandson on vacation, but I can only do so in snippets, each preceeded by a LOOOOONNNNGGGGGG wait for a download. I'd like to chat online with my friends and relatives. Can't do it, because I can't afford broadband. I 'd like to watch programs available on the net that I don't get on TV. Can't do that, either! We MUST assure that low income people can access broadband. This is a vital part of today's society, and necessary for education and employment, as well. This should now be a public utility, as phone access has become. Even our political dialogues take place largely on the internet now. More access equals more engagement in the political process. This equals more democracy.
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Counties Could Take the Lead
Read more +I have tried for years to get my county government to conduct a survey by mailing out forms to be returned and/or by doing this on a county government web site. The survey would include the type of Internet access respondents have, the cost, the provider and the general amount of time it is used on a weekly basis. The stats on this could be shared with local businesses who could, in turn, pick up part of the cost of the survey, which should be conducted at regular intervals to plot trends. It should be made clear that the purpose is purely statistical and that it will not be used to impose any new taxes or fees. If all counties did this and shared the results with a national entity, a much more fine-grained picture of internet access, cost and use could be maintained. The internet providers will not offer such information. It must come from the users.
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The Internet Washington, D.C, and the world
Read more +In Washington only about half of the population has access to high speed Internet. The best and fastest way to spur an economic recovery is to provide access to the Internet for everybody.
- Access
Every home, business and civic institution in America must have access to high-speed Internet. More »
- Choice
Consumers must enjoy real competition among Internet providers to achieve lower prices and higher speeds. More »
- Innovation
The Internet should continue to create good jobs, spread new ideas be an engine of economic growth. More »
- Openness
Internet users should have the right to freedom of speech and commerce without gatekeepers or discrimination. More »
