Broadband Heroes Receive Recognition for Their Work in Southwest Region

By: Rachelle Manson

Two individuals who have contributed to the success of the Adams County Every Citizen Online (ECO) pilot program were awarded for their hard work and dedication at the beginning of the month.

The ECO pilot program would not have been possible without the help of Jay Barkey and Ron Vanover. These men donated their time and energy into this program and Connect Ohio is grateful for their ongoing interest and dedication.

Connect Ohio is currently implementing a statewide broadband training program in order to increase sustainable broadband adoption in Ohio.

The ECO program is designed to encourage broadband adoption in Ohio by conducting training sessions at libraries, community colleges, and other anchor institutions throughout the state.

A successful pilot program has taken place at the Adams County Public Library helping to identify best practices for the program prior to its official launch in December.

Ron Vanover has graciously volunteered the time and the resources of his business, New Life PCs, to support the ECO program in Adams County. Ron has provided all of the participants who have graduated from the program with the opportunity to purchase a refurbished computer at a low cost. He started his Microsoft-registered computer refurbishing business in 2007. Ron has combined his passion for computing and experience as a trainer to help individuals and organizations improve their understanding and use of technology.

Jay Barkey has dedicated 30 years to teaching in secondary and higher education and has been the assistant director of Adams County Public Library in West Union since 2000.

Upon learning of our need for a location and instructor to launch the ECO pilot, Jay immediately volunteered his time and expertise to teach residents of Adams County the basic computing skills and insight into the value of the Internet in everyday life.

For their selfless contribution to increasing broadband adoption in the state, Connect Ohio has presented Jay and Ron with a Broadband Hero Award and extends its gratitude for their hard work.

Additional Broadband Hero Awards will be distributed quarterly to deserving individuals who assist in Connect Ohio’s efforts to close the digital divide.

Shaker Heights Library: Message to the Community

Message to the community from Luren E. Dickinson:



After much planning, several projects are getting the “go ahead” this month. Foremost is the renovation of the unfinished areas on the second floor of the Main Library, which involves scheduling the Friends Fall Book Sale slightly earlier this month. Some of our grant applications have been funded and we will begin the planning processes with them, as well.



Luren E. Dickinson, Director

dickinson@shakerlibrary.org


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Company joining drive to bring broadband access into SE Ohio

By David DeWitt
Expanding high-speed Internet access in rural southeast Ohio has been becoming more and more of a priority, and now Frontier Communications Corp. is launching a $150 million, three-year effort to do just that.

Frontier took over the landline operations previously owned by Verizon Communications in Ohio and 14 other states earlier this year, and started up its own operation on July 1.



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The Changing Media Landscape

It's not political or industrial - this is a DIGITAL revolution. It's changing the way we get information, especially news. And that means the news industry is changing to meet the different needs of you - the consumer.

"NewsWatch In-Depth: The Changing Media Landscape" discusses the future of media. Our panel of WOUB alumni and media experts will be on hand to help break down the issues facing Appalachia's place in this new media scene. They'll answer questions from the future of the news field - students at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.






For many people in Appalachian Ohio and rural West Virginia, online access is limited at best. Hundreds of thousands of people are without consistent, dependable Internet access. It's an issue that has become political, but it touches people and businesses, leaving them to struggle to play catch-up in a globalizing economy.

In the past year, millions of federal stimulus money have been funneled to our area to fund broadband access expansion. The project is expected to create more than 700 jobs in southeast Ohio while providing broadband access for more than 500,000 people. Faster access in more areas means greater opportunities for some of Ohio's most poverty-stricken counties.

Newsrooms around the country are cutting corners - laying off workers, cutting home distribution and moving content to their websites. They're being forced into new mediums and many are quickly choosing the mobile model of content delivery. According to the Pew Research Center, newspapers have cut 30% of their reporting force since 2000. Local TV stations are down nearly 6%. Newspaper subscriptions are down more than 10% in 2009, but unique monthly website hits are up 14%. It's a sign of the times - of the digital revolution and changing media landscape.


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Library Spotlights

Four-lane roads in Morgan County may not be available, but connecting electronically on the information highway should be in the next two years.

The Chesterhill community is fortunate to have already begun the process of extending broadband not just in the village but beyond. Matt Pepper and I have been attending monthly meetings with Connect Ohio whose mission is to extend that “information highway” and give every Ohio resident access to the Internet. I admire all the work that Matt, Mayor Wetzel, and others have already invested in this project.

The Kate Love Simpson Library in McConnelsville and Chesterhill Branch currently provide public access computers and free WiFi. Our school children surf the net at their schools and in the library. However, for too many Morgan County residents, Internet connections in their own homes are available only at great cost, available but are too slow for most purposes, or not available at all.

On Friday I attended a Connect Ohio conference in Columbus celebrating the many grants awarded to extend broadband Internet access to the “middle mile” and even the “last mile.” Connect Ohio was awarded $10 million dollars and our library was part of the state-wide application.

We were delighted to know that Morgan County folks would benefit from this grant. The details are not yet complete, but we do know that we will soon be able to offer additional adult computer instruction for beginners.

When we know more, we will let you know in this column, on the library web-site, at each library, and with Connect Ohio advertisements. Stay tuned to the Morgan County Herald.

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Restaurants step up to the plate to draw customers

Sunday, October 10, 2010 02:59 AM

By Tracy Turner

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Phuong Pagniano, a district manager for Wendy's, uses Wi-Fi in the Olentangy River Road restaurant. Free hot spots are becoming more common.

It was an easy choice for Trish Hertog: Pay $12.95 a day to surf the Web at her hotel, or log on free at Starbucks.

She chose Starbucks.

"Before I even walked in the door to Starbucks, I checked to see if it had the sign up that says 'free Wi-Fi,'" said Hertog, of Minneapolis, who was in Columbus on a business trip.


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Mind the gap: self-service vs. assisted-service

While I was at the Ohio Digital Government Summit this week, I was reminded of the challenge governments have balancing self-service channels vs. assisted service channels. My co-presenter discussed some statistics on citizen Internet usage from Connect Ohio’s 2010 technology assessment survey (see survey here). There were a couple items in this data that highlighted the situation governments face when optimizing channel interactions with constituents.

First, the stats showed that there is a significant gap between the number of people that transact online with the private sector vs. with the public sector. In the survey, about 60% of Ohioans transact online with companies. In particular, 74% will buy something online and 62% will bank online. But far fewer people transact online with government—only 45%. This gap suggests there is excess demand vs. usable supply of online government services. It seems reasonable that the same number of people would be willing to bank online as they would be willing to use online government services. And, because online self-service is usually cheaper to operate than assisted-service channels, this suggests a fair bit of untapped cost saving potential available to governments still.

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Stimulus funds will keep broadband work going

Monday, October 4, 2010 05:23 AM

The Columbus Dispatch

Connect Ohio has received $5.3million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to continue its work under the State Broadband Data and Development program.

The funding will allow Connect Ohio to continue projects for three more years, which fulfills the five-year broadband mapping program required of each state by the federal government.

Connect Ohio is a public-private partnership to spur development by expanding broadband technology.

Connected Nation Programs Receive Funds to Accelerate Broadband-Based Economic Impact

Recovery Act Funds Will Enable Public-Private Efforts to Accelerate the Impact of Broadband Across State and Local Economies

Washington, DC (Vocus) September 28, 2010 -- The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has announced grants to Connected Nation for programs in 11 states and one U.S. territory. The funding enables Connected Nation to extend its comprehensive broadband mapping and planning efforts to include grassroots efforts to accelerate the impact of broadband across state and local economies in those states. The states partnering with Connected Nation are Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, along with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Since 2008, Connect Ohio has worked on the ground to expand broadband use and impact throughout the state. In its 2010 Residential Technology Assessment, 66% of Ohio residents, or 5.8 million adults, reported they subscribe to broadband service at home, up from 55% at the inception of the program. Additionally, 82% of Ohioans, or 8.8 million adults, report owning a computer at home, up from the 76% previously reported.

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From Modem to Modern World

Debbi Hoagland's family never splurged for broadband Internet until her son began classes at Ohio University's Lancaster branch a year ago.

"It's expensive, but so much more convenient," said Hoagland, who uses Time Warner Cable. "When we had dial-up, it took forever to connect and changing pages would sometimes take 45 seconds."

Citizens of Fairfield County's more rural areas have suffered the hassles of dial-up Internet for years. But a $2.3 million grant-loan combination awarded in March to Intelliwave Inc. could change the standard, making broadband Internet - with a wireless option - available to all of Pickaway and Fairfield counties and parts of Athens County.

"Southeast Ohio can be a difficult market (for broadband)," said Chris Cooper, the president of Intelliwave. "If you look around, we've got rugged terrain, low population densities, and that makes it difficult for people to make broadband investments in the area."

Athens County consistently falls short of statewide averages for Internet and computer use, according to data from the Connect Ohio county profile, which states that 41 percent of Athens residents have neither dial-up nor broadband Internet, compared to 30 percent statewide.

According to the same report, high cost and low availability of Internet play primary roles in determining these percentages. Athens households making less than $35,000 per year are slightly more likely to have Internet access than those in other Ohio counties.

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