2/26/19
West Central WI Broadband Implementation Group
Next Meeting
March 12 @ 9:30 AM
West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission Conference Room
800 Wisconsin Street, Building D2, Suite 401, Eau Claire This will be a special working meeting. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Chris Straight by sending a quick email, since space could be limited: ch...@wcwrpc.org
Most of this meeting will be spent discussing our broadband fact sheet project with a five-student team from a UW-Eau Claire Project Management Class.
As you may recall, the region's Broadband Implementation Group has wanted to develop a series of educational fact sheets on various broadband topics for use by communities and local stakeholders. In November 2017, the Group reviewed a draft fact sheet concept prepared by UW-Extension's Broadband Center and prioritized potential topics (see below), but the project was never completed and the Broadband Center is no longer.
The students, in consultation with the Broadband Group, will take the lead in developing a fact sheet layout, researching the topics/content, and developing 4-10 fact sheets answering different broadband-related questions. Each fact sheet will be no longer than two pages with a standard format. It is important that the fact sheets be informative, yet accessible and understandable by elected officials and the general public. If time allows, the students will also develop a draft press release based on the initial (What is Broadband?) fact sheet and a potential schedule for the release or roll-out of the remaining fact sheets. On March 12th, bring your ideas for a successful project that will benefit both our region and the students! We hope to leave some time at the end of the agenda for reports.
Proposed Broadband Fact Sheet Topics from November 2017
The region's Broadband Implementation Group identified the following as the most important topics that could benefit from a fact or FAQ sheet. Each fact sheet would answer a specific question. The Group then selected their top and second tier priorities that are most needed. The topics are not prioritized within individual tiers. The exact wording of the questions can be modified or shortened.
Tier One – Highest Priority - What is broadband? Describe basic standards of speed and needs, as well as differences in type of service (e.g., wired vs. wireless). Also, what is a network with a basic visual “deconstruction”?
- Why is broadband essential for community and economic development? Use facts, economics, and numbers to demonstrate importance to policy makers (e.g., impact on home values, tourism). What are the top uses of broadband and how is this changing small business, commuting patterns, education, health care, etc.? This question would be a broad overview of why broadband is vital to quality of life in my community and why local governments need to make this a priority. More detailed, specific fact sheets can be later produced on specific topics (e.g., education, small business/e-commerce).
- How to build broadband partnerships? Start out with a discussion on why collaboration and partnerships are important. Then, how can local champions and governments engage stakeholders, engender discussion, and build private-public partnerships. The goal of this fact sheet is to build capacity for local action. Include case studies, lessons learned, and ideas for getting started, then maintaining interest.
Tier Two - Why is broadband important to businesses? This discussion should include why it is important to agriculture and entrepreneurs as well.
- Why is broadband important to tourism? Similar to the above. Include economic impact facts.
- Why is broadband important to health care? This discussion should include telemedicine and could include emergency services. Include equipment at the health care facilities as well as remote monitoring at home, etc.
- How can my community improve broadband service? This fact sheet is about capacity building and would be a companion to the partnership topic above. More broadly, what can local champions and governments do? How do they get started? What are some best practices, alternative strategies, resources, and barriers?
Tier Three - Why is broadband important to education? How are schools and colleges now relying on broadband with a particular emphasis on the “home gap”? What level of service do students today need at home? Are these needs being met in Wisconsin? Include different aspects of education (e.g., homework, collaboration, distance learning, sports, parent monitoring).
- How do broadband needs differ? Expand on “what is broadband” and “why it is vital” to delve into how broadband needs and demand differs by the type of service or customer (e.g., education, business, health care, agriculture, home life). Why is this important to communities and how does this impact broadband planning?
- How do I connect with local providers? Similar to building partnerships with a focus on connecting with getting access to local providers and technical services. Discuss making connections for different customer groups (e.g., businesses & telecommuters, residents, local government) and why such connections are important. This is another capacity-building fact sheet focusing on actions and resources.
- How is broadband technology changing our quality of life? How is broadband changing how we live? Similar to “why broadband is essential”, but a greater focus on technology, trends, devices, and the internet of things. How can we best leverage this technology and these trends? Why is broadband adoption important?
- Why is broadband important to agriculture? Include trends.
- How is broadband coordinated for emergency services? Could be included in the health care fact sheet to some degree, but could be its own fact sheet. Why it is important? Discuss FirstNet. Are local actions needed or is this being addressed?
- How is broadband implementation funded? Another capacity-building fact sheet with resources, but should also provide a realistic picture of the market forces involved and why private-public partnerships are important to leverage resources and fill funding gaps.
- How can I be more cyber-secure? There is strong interest in this topic and it almost moved into the second tier. Target market should be small business, local governments, and general public. What are some of the risks? What is the “cloud” and how does it relate? How do you assess security and redundancy? Where can I go for help and how do I determine/vet if a technical services provider has the level of expertise that I need? What can I do to keep safe?
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For more information about the Region 3 Broadband Implementation Group,
contact Chris Straight, WCWRPC at ch...@wcwrpc.org |
