Intelligent Communities In Dublin, Ohio, And Beyond – Community Broadband Bits Episode 278

As an increasing number of communities invest in and explore the advantages of publicly owned networks, Christopher finds himself making more trips to cities and towns across the country. In addition to sharing what we discover about all the communities we research, he absorbs what he can from others who also document the way local folks are optimizing connectivity. Sometimes, he’s able to interview people like this week’s guest, Dana McDaniel from Dublin, Ohio.Dana is City Manager of Dublin home of the Global Institute for the Study of the Intelligent Community, part of the Intelligent Community Forum. In addition to discussing the purpose and principals of the Forum and the Institute, Dana describes how the both use data they collect to share knowledge.Christopher and Dana also spend time on the many benefits of the publicly owned fiber optic infrastructure in the Columbus suburb and the situation that led to their initial investment. Dana describes how fast growth in Dublin led to the community’s decision to protect other types of infrastructure and take control of their rights-of-way. Over time, they expanded the network, which led to economic development, cost savings, and private investment far beyond their expectations. It’s a great story they want to share with others.Read the transcript for this show here.We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.This show is 30 minutes long and can be played on this page or via iTunes or the tool of your choice using this feed.You can download this mp3 file directly from here. Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index.Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Rural Colorado Internet Access and Mountain Connect – Community Broadband Bits Episode 137

Last year was the first year I attended Mountain Connect, an event in the Rockies west of Denver that discusses approaches to improving Internet access. Historically, they focused on rural communities but as co-chair of the event Jeff Gavlinski notes in our discussion this week, they are expanding it to include more urban issues as well.

Mountain Connect is growing in many ways and I am excited to return to it in early June.
As Jeff and I discuss, it is focused on all solutions to expanding access – whether private sector, coop, muni, partnership, etc.

Colorado has a lot of activity from munis and especially munis that are looking to partner, but also has a state law that requires a time-and-energy consuming referendum before the community can really do any planning or take action to improve its situation.

Read the transcript from this show here.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

This show is 18 minutes long and can be played below on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed.

Listen to previous episodes here. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here.

Find more episodes in our podcast index.

Thanks to Persson for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is “Blues walk.”

Next Century Cities – Community Broadband Bits Podcast Episode 121

This week, we helped to launch Next Century Cities, a collaborative effort of local governments that are making smart investments and partnerships to ensure their communities have fast, affordable, and reliable Internet access.

Deb Socia is the Executive Director of Next Century Cities, coming to it from a nonprofit organization she developed in Boston called Tech Goes Home that works to increase digital inclusion. Via my capacity at ILSR, I am the policy director for NCC, so I have been working with Deb behind the scenes to launch Next Century Cities. This week, we spend a few minutes talking about this new organization.

Next Century Cities is an exciting collection of 32 founding community partners with incredible diversity. From large cities to small, right-leaning to left-leaning. Some are municipal networks and some have partnered with private companies. If you think your community would like to join, have the Mayor or a public official contact NCC.

See the member cities here and watch the full launch event here. Follow Next Century Cities on Twitter – @nextcentcit.

Read the transcript here.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show – please e-mail us or leave a comment below. Also, feel free to suggest other guests, topics, or questions you want us to address.

This show is 10 minutes long and can be played below on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed.

Listen to previous episodes here. You can can download this Mp3 file directly from here.

Find more episodes in our podcast index.

Thanks to Jessie Evans for the music, licensed using Creative Commons. The song is “Is it Fire?”