Reporting from the Intelligent Community Forum in NYC…

According to the Intelligent Community Forum, an intelligent community invests in broadband, knowledge workers, innovation, digital inclusion and marketing. Seven communities from around the world will be honored for their efforts and success.

I attended a pre-conference session yesterday. One of the highlights was learning about the regional initiative in NE Ohio. This is a 21 county effort on economic development, education and health care. Some 1500 organizations are connected via fiber. Schools have 2 Gb connections. Over 20 hospitals are working together and sharing costs on an electronic medical record.

It is a competitive world….how are doing in this race in Minnesota?

Placebloggers conference June 3-4 in Minneapolis

I’m so very sad that I won’t be home for this upcoming conference. But I wanted to make sure that word spread so I’m sharing the whole press release.

Meeting to Explore Journalism, Democracy, Place and Blogs

MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Entrepreneurs, editors and operators of local online news and community websites — placebloggers — will gather June 4-5 in one of the first convenings of its kind, to share the trials and tribulations of a news source growing without paper or printing press.

“New Pamphleteers/New Reporters: Convening Entrepreneurs Who Combine Journalism, Democracy, Place and Blogs,” will take place at the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota, immediately before the fourth National Conference on Media Reform, also in Minneapolis on June 6-8.

Broadband or Internet news from towns around Minnesota

Yesterday we sent out the Blandin eNews. It always includes highlights of the last month from the blog. But it also includes broadband news from around the state, which I wanted to share here too.

Clearwater
With support from the Blandin Foundation, the Clearwater Economic Development Authority is assessing their community’s telecommunications environment as they are not sure if their existing services are meeting the current and future needs of their community. (http://tinyurl.com/6k92zp)

Cook County
Cook County Higher Education and the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund held a class for business owners on Web Site Magic. (http://tinyurl.com/57hjp7)

Duluth
The Duluth Public Library is reopening with an expanded computer lab of 14 computers with Internet access. (http://tinyurl.com/5bmxwa)

Iron Range
Gary Fields (who has worked with the Blandin Foundation on broadband projects) and Tim Nulty (who led the lauded effort in Burlington VT) have been hired by Iron Range Community Fibernet to make presentations to the 11 FiberNet communities to talk about their plans to develop a financial plan and move forward to design and implement fiber to the home (FTTH). (http://tinyurl.com/6pokcp)

Itasca State Park
State parks across the nation are installing WiFi. In Minnesota the effort is starting in Itasca State Park. (http://tinyurl.com/5muaxd)

Marshall
Staff members at the Prairieland Genealogical Society and the History Center at Southwest Minnesota State University are embracing technology both as a way to store information on genealogy records and a way to reach patrons. (http://tinyurl.com/6k25a5)

Minneapolis
WiFi is up and running throughout Minneapolis but the speeds are not consistent. Buying a WiFi booster from US Internet will help users get better speeds. (http://tinyurl.com/5qxbcq)

Monticello
Progress continues on FTTH in Monticello as reported by the Monticello Fiber Optic Committee in Mid April. (http://tinyurl.com/6jx4e5)

New Ulm
A young entrepreneur in New Ulm makes a living by selling hand-sewn bags online using a web site called Etsy, which specializes in handmade items. (http://tinyurl.com/55qybx)

North Dakota
Candidates in North Dakota are already taking the campaigns to the Internet with Facebook and MySpace pages. (http://tinyurl.com/6coowe)

Red Wing
The Red Wing City Council and the Red Wing Port Authority approved Lookout Point Communications to conduct a FTTH feasibility study for Red Wing (a recipient of Blandin Foundation Get Broadband funds).

Staples
Lakewood Health Systems (a Blandin Foundation Light Speed funded program) is researching a telemonitoring purchase option. Their report on patients who currently avail of some remote monitoring services indicates that the advantages are clear. (http://tinyurl.com/6g9z2t)

Twin Cities
Comcast announces big broadband service in the Twin Cities. With the new service, subscribers will be able to download at speeds of up to 50 megabits per second and upload at speeds of 5 megabits per second. (http://tinyurl.com/5pnyqw)

Waseca
The Waseca County Public Library offered a free class called Senior Surf Day, designed to teach the ins and outs of modern technology. (http://tinyurl.com/5gvmsa)

Willmar
Kandiyohi County Economic Development Commission (a recipient of Blandin Foundation Get Broadband funds) recently approved payment to Bonnema Surveys Inc. to create a web-based mapping system for all the high-speed Internet coverage areas in Kandiyohi County (http://tinyurl.com/65sp79)

Winona
Home and Community Options Inc (a Blandin Foundation Light Speed funded program) is pleased with the response of care facility staff regarding training to use e-file system and with installation of remote monitoring systems. Unfortunately cold weather has slowed the actual installation of fiber. (http://tinyurl.com/5649h7)

Broadband Discussion on Radio Program in Cook County Minnesota

Last week (or so), Blandin on Broadband blogger Bill Coleman was on WTIP radio as part of a discussion on broadband. (WTIP is based in Cook County.) The conversation also included Danna Asche (Blandin Broadband Strategy Board Member) and Jack McDonald, from Boreal Access (a North Shore ISP).

The radio program is archived online.

The program addresses broadband from the perspective of the general public. So it starts with a discussion of what is broadband and why should we want it.

CISCO – Healthcare BizTech Forum – St. Cloud

I learned Wednesday that health care technology purchases account for over 30% of CISCO’s business revenue. CISCO and its partners provide technology tools that track people, information and equipment, enabling better health care management, and hopefully, better and more affordable health care. The day focused on four related topics – security and compliance, wireless technologies, unified communications and RFID technologies.

Security and compliance – Keeping ahead of HIPPA regulations and electronic payment requirements was a major concern of providers. The key to success is to put a plan in place and to systematically pursue that plan. The emphasis was to show strong and credible efforts to meet the regulations and to address any shortcomings.

Wireless technologies – Vendors were displaying cool “star trek” communicators that allowed hands-free communications throughout the hospital, allowing staff to contact specific people or teams of people, depending on the need.

RFID – These devices enable the hospital to track people, equipment and devices so that they are in the right place at the right time. These devices, tied to GPS technologies, allow staff to be able to find what they need, when they need it.

Unified communications – Bringing all of these systems together is a critical task so that information is not lost or does not have to be re-entered into multiple systems.

I was a bit disappointed that there was very little discussion about home health care devices and practices. Maybe at their next seminar!

Happy Birthday World Wide Web

I just finished listening to a fun radio program (on RTE 1) on the birthday of the WWW. I think they (and now I) were a day late but I thought I’d celebrate the day regardless.

On April 30, 1993, Cern put the web in the public domain, which put everyone on the same page for sharing a protocol rather than having the Internet host multiple proprietary protocols. (Here’s a fun article on the birthday: The World Wide Web Turns 15 (again).)

I’m tempted to write about how the WWW has changed the world – but I think we can all come up with our own ways. What I think is interesting is the move to put the WWW in the public domain. I think that moved really changed today’s business model – information is still valuable – but made more valuable when it’s shared then kept secret.

The Internet would not be as useful without the WWW, the WWW would not be as useful without Google, and Google has opened their code to others to create tools to make Google more useful.

The businesses that succeed today are the ones build upon the new model, they build upon innovations of others and they don’t protect their Intellectual Property in the same way. I think they retain market share and market placement through value added service (be it better technology, better service, better promotion.)

There may be an opportunity for Internet and broadband providers to buy into this new model. It seems as if providers who will do well in the long run will find a way to take on the new business model and work with others to create a better plan for providing broadband. Maybe that new plan with be an Open Network plan – maybe it will be something completely new.

So that’s a long way of saying – happy birthday world wide web!

The 10 Most Disruptive Technology Combinations

I just ran across my new favorite technology article (The 10 Most Disruptive Technology Combinations). In it the author talks about 10 great marriages of inventions that changed the digital landscape over the next 25 years.

I’ll give you the marriages – you’ll have to check out the article for the explanation (As you’ll see most of them assume or require broadband):

10. DVRs + Entertainment on Demand
9. YouTube + Cheap Digital Cameras and Camcorders
8. Open Source + Web Tools
7. MP3 + Napster
6. Blogs + Google Ads
5. Cheap Storage + Portable Memory
4. Cloud Computing + Always-On Devices
3. Broadband + Wireless Networks
2. The Web + The Graphical Browser
1. Cell Phones + Wireless Internet Access

Lakewood Health System Update

We continue to research our telemonitoring purchase options. Last week, we had a representative from Patient Care Technologies demonstrate their well@home device.  The well@home model is unique in that it interfaces with Patient Care Technologies’ current Home Health software.  Our home health agency purchased this software a number of years ago.  This would mean our nurses would not have to re-enter the client’s telemonitoring statistics into the client’s online chart.  It would directly interface the information each time the client completed their vital signs, answered questions related to their health condition, or did not complete their tasks.  The newest well@home monitor includes the capability to obtain a 1-lead ECG- something that we have not seen in other telemonitoring products.  On their website: http://www.wellathome.com/ they include an interview with a well@home user from Minnesota. 

In Patient Care Technologies’ own one year study of CHF patients, patients who utilized well@home showed a 37% improvement in the management of their oral medications, 19% reported improved dyspnea, along with a 45% reduced ER care visit rate and 47% rate of decreased acute care hospitalization.  As we look for Medicare to begin the “pay for performance” standards for home care agencies, we are looking to improve our care and utilize more evidence-based process measures, like telemonitoring. 

Our last telemedicine demonstration is scheduled for May 1st from a company called Viterion. 

Telework Recruits Employees

Thanks to Ann Higgins for sending me the fun article on telework in Arizona and Virginia (Telework Helps Virginia and Arizona Recruit and Retain Employees).

Living in Ireland and working primarily with Minnesota companies and organizations, I sometimes feel as if I could be the poster child for teleworkers. So, I love to hear what people think of it.

This article waxes eloquently on the benefits:

1. Teleworkers are more productive and need fewer days off.
2. Telecommuting policies can help recruit younger workers, retain folks past retirement, and draw new hires from candidates without a geographic restriction.
3. It saves money previously spent on office space.
4. It is great for the environment as fewer people make daily commutes.

So what are the barriers?

First, management sometimes worries about supervising workers they cannot see. Getting management to telecommute was offered as a solution, which I think is great. I think you see quickly enough that you simply can’t get your work done if you don’t work. And the flip side is someone can be at the office all day and night and never work a lick. (I’m reading a jPod, a funny book by Douglas Coupland where the protagonists (IT workers at a game design company) are in the office 10 hours a day doing anything but working.) The truth is we’ve all day jobs or days like that and location doesn’t change it. Luckily we generally rebound – or move on.

The need for technology and broadband was listed as the next possible barrier. The estimated the cost for setting up a new telework employee was $7,500 and ongoing charges were $3,500. (I have to say that doesn’t seem that high to me compared to cost of setting up office space, parking, and the rest.)

Teleworkers need broadband to email, and get into various work networks but also we need the broadband and technology to support personal networks that would happen more informally if everyone was in the same office. We need video conferencing and other communication tools to building relationships and foster mentoring. I think that as those build things will get easier.

As a very remote worker I have to say that life as a teleworker has been good. Except when you’re so far away you do get lonely! Work-wise though very little has changed for me. Thanks to the fact that most government meetings (MN and US) and archived, I can view those and it’s just like being there. Thanks to Skype I can call and be called easily – I can even set up video when/if I want.

From a community perspective, making sure that the infrastructure is available (broadband) opens a whole new channel of jobs for citizens and a whole new channel for hiring for employers.

How Broadband Changed My Life

OK I guess I’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 months – I just found out about APT’s Broadband Changed My Life contest. Heck, living in Dublin while working in Minnesota I could have been a contenda!

The contest is long over – but the winners are posted on their web site and they are great. Here are a couple of my faves:

1. Diane from California: “Broadband gave me wings. I am a physically disabled pastor in a all rural area. Broadband let me compare, spec and purchase a power wheelchair. Since my insurance won’t pay, saving $3000 was very important to me.”
2. Cindy from CA: “Broadband internet has helped tremendously, for several of my prerequisite nursing classes are available online. This has freed up countless hours. Instead of scrambling for daycare and driving to and from the college campus, I can sit outside with my laptop, and wireless router, watch my children play as I am attending classes!”