Doc Searls is a terrific thinker who “gets” the Internet. He was one of several responsible for The Cluetrain Manifesto and his most recent book – The Intention Economy is on my short list of to-read books. Continue reading
Once again, consumers must fight to preserve their landline telephone service. This time, the Ohio General Assembly is pondering legislation that can end traditional service for up to 1 million Ohio residents. Our readers know about the efforts of ALEC and AT&T to drastically reduce their obligation to provide landlines across the country. Up to… Continue reading
The Illinois Electronic Products Recycling and Reuse Act is breaking the mold of 25 state e-scrap laws. Under the law, passed in 2008 and amended in 2011, companies that reuse machines get twice the credit of those companies that recycle the materials. Continue reading
Waukesha, Wisconsin now offers an ultra-fast connection for educational and government members. WiscNetWire reports that the region’s Community Area Network (CAN) obtained 1 gigabit Internet capability in August. We have reported on Wisconsin’s efforts to expand connectivity using the CAN model of collaboration. The people of Wisconsin are hard at working connecting to each other… Continue reading
Chanute first built a vision, then a network. The fiber network connects schools and other community anchor institutions with gigabit networks. The wireless network serves public safety. Soon, both may serve everyone. The “Hub of southeast Kansas” is a small town where schools have gigabit connections, the City operates a 10Gbps fiber-optic broadband ring, and… Continue reading
Geoff Daily is an old friend of ours at Community Broadband Networks and he joins us for our 15th installment of the Community Broadband Bits audio show. He created a nonprofit organization, FiberCorps in Lafayette, Louisiana, to maximize usage of the LUS Fiber network owned by the community. Geoff and I discuss the importance of… Continue reading
The National Association of Counties (NACo) gave us permission to reprint an article they recently wrote in their County News publication. NACo advocates for county governments on federal policy that impacts local decsion and local control. NACo is based in Washington, D.C. In the article, author Charles Taylor discusses the perils of Oconee and Orangeburg… Continue reading
Christopher Mitchell recently presented at the “How a Municipal Network Can Help Your City” webinar from the National League of Cities. Along with Christopher were several other experts including Kyle Hollified, VP Sales/Marketing, Bristol Virginia Utilities, Bristol; Mary Beth Henry, Manager, Office for Community Technology/Mt Hood Cable Regulatory Commission in Portland, Oregon; and Colman Keane,… Continue reading
Now’s your chance to hear how Boulder finally came to municipalization of its electric system after many futile years of trying to work with Xcel Energy to get more clean, local power. I traveled to Boulder in April 2011 to talk with their city council and grassroots groups about their struggles (video), and the citizens… Continue reading
Just this week, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski highlighted the success of Chattanooga at a speech at VOX Media and SBNation on Winning the Global Broadband Race. From his speech (the entire speech in PDF format is available here): First, as we said in our National Broadband Plan, we need “innovation hubs” with ultra-fast broadband, with… Continue reading