From catherine at digitalaccess.org Wed Jun 4 10:15:09 2008 From: catherine at digitalaccess.org (Catherine Settanni) Date: Wed Jun 4 11:15:26 2008 Subject: [Ccan-announce] Civic Garden Launches! Message-ID: The Civic Garden--the community web portal secured as part of the Wireless Minneapolis "Community Benefits Agreement"--- is now LIVE in all areas being served by USI Wireless! The Civic Garden contains links to over 100 local and regional websites, and can be accessed by any Minneapolis resident in range of the USI Wireless signal. Access to the Civic Garden does NOT require a subscription to any Internet service, or a USI Wireless account, so is considered a free (albeit limited) level of Internet service available to all residents. Please let your constituents know about this service--it's a great way to introduce the Internet to those (who for any number of reasons) are unfamiliar with the Internet and/or the wealth of information available to them online... -- Catherine Settanni Settanni+Company, Inc. 612.724.9097 http://www.settanni.com http://www.digitalaccess.org From Maryann.Vancura at state.mn.us Wed Jun 4 10:46:13 2008 From: Maryann.Vancura at state.mn.us (VanCura, MaryAnn) Date: Thu Jun 5 09:10:37 2008 Subject: [Ccan-announce] FW: The DIF Report: Kickoff Issue! Message-ID: <383617D81F619940ABCFB89ABCCB33FE03D9AE74@mdeexch.EDUC.MDE> FYI-Thought you might be interested in seeing this. "Digital Inclusion" is starting to gain attention and traction nationally. Published every Thursday, the Digital Inclusion Communities Report (The DI Report) explores the issues surrounding the planning and implementation of broadband infrastructures, applications to bridge the digital divide in cities, counties and states. Through a series of blogs, The DI Report features thought-leading commentaries and interviews with local authorities, field practitioners, industry experts, local-government associations; and it highlights leading case studies, business opportunities, and a recap of headlines. All digital inclusion stakeholders - from local-government officials and IT professionals to the ecosystem of service providers, equipment and application vendors, and system integrators, are encouraged to subscribe . A cooperative initiative of the Wireless Internet Institute, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and OneCommunity, the Digital Inclusion Forum is a comprehensive resource center to inform, educate and share best practices among state and local government leaders, industry and institutional stakeholders on identifying and implementing sustainable market solutions to bridge the digital divide in North America. Subscribe to the monthly Digital Inclusion Forum Report. The first entry in the kickoff issue of this weekly e-report is by Catherine Settanni, who started ccan and later brought 25 Americorps volunteers to the Twin Cities when she started the local AmeriCorps Community Technology Empowerment project. In addition, she advocated successfully for the Digital Inclusion Fund as part of the City of Minneapolis' municipal WiFi initiative. She currently consults with the City of Minneapolis in the implementation of the WiFi initiative and its Digital Inclusion Fund. Mary Ann Van Cura Library Development & Continuing Education Coordinator State Library Services 1500 Highway 36 West Roseville, MN 55113 651-582-8632 voice 651-582-8752 fax maryann.vancura@state.mn.us education.state.mn.us/MDE/Learning_Support/Library_Services/index.html ________________________________ From: Digital Inclusion Forum [mailto:Digital_Inclusion_Forum@mail.vresp.com] Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 12:37 PM To: Maryann.Vancura@state.mn.us Subject: The DIF Report: Kickoff Issue! W2i Broadband Wireless Communities Report June 3, 2008 TAKE THE FIELD LEADERSHIP SURVEY! Digital Access Digital Inclusion: What's Going on Nationally? photo In the past few years, cities and states have been brainstorming on roadmaps and recommendations to bridge the digital divide in both urban and rural areas. While funding and sustainability remain challenges, Catherine Settanni sees the political will and critical task-force thinking behind these initiatives continuing to build. More >From the Editor: Welcome to the Digital Inclusion Forum ! Launched in Washington, DC, this past winter with support from the U.S. Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor, the Forum is a cooperative initiative of the Wireless Internet Institute, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and OneCommunity to identify and implement sustainable market solutions to bridge the digital divide in North America. At the center of the Digital Inclusion Forum is a comprehensive resource hub to inform, educate and share best practices among state and local government leaders, industry and institutional stakeholders. In the coming weeks, this newsletter will expand on these and other features: * A listing of state digital inclusion initiatives and recent press coverage * white papers by leading organizations and thinkers * blogs by a growing roster of digital-inclusion experts and observers * databases of case studies on leading initiatives around the U.S. as well as institutions organized by state * a roundup of headlines. If you have not done so, I encourage you to register and log in to explore the site and download papers. Finally, be sure to take our 2008-2009 Field Leadership Survey to help the Forum better determine core areas of emphasis and programming going forward! Yours sincerely, Peter Orne Editorial Director Socio-Economic Inclusion Eight Ways to Promote Digital Inclusion Now! Photo Karen Archer Perry reviews an abundance of resources to help you beef up on digital inclusion and prepare to bring an initiative to your community. The broad goal of inclusion can often begin with an informal survey of users in the local library or with schoolchildren. Where are the needs? Who are the potential users? More Community Portals Community Portals Invite Broader Thinking on Inclusion Photo Building traffic over a community broadband network is one thing, but transforming lives through local content and applications enabled by the network is another. Judy Miller believes that community portals can serve a crucial role as the destination Web-site for local wireless network. More Broadband Wireless Communities OneCommunity to Spur Digital Inclusion in 26 Knight Communities and Beyond photo A five-year, $25-million grant will be used to create a Knight Center for Digital Excellence in Akron and provide seed funding for digital inclusion in cities around the United States. More Community Wi-Fi Revival Meeting in Riverside Draws Hundreds A broad cross section of residents from around this Inland Empire community of 290,000 showed up to learn about its new AT&T-administered Wi-Fi network. More Roundup of Headlines * UK Digital Divide? Rural Areas Better Connected * It's Roads, Stupid, but it Ought to be Broadband * Wireless Philadelphia's Goldman: It's No Time to Quit * Narrowing the Digital Divide for Bay Area Kids * Fiber Optic to Create New Digital Divide * NextGenWeb Rural Health Care Briefing on Capitol Hill * Wireless for Communities, Citizens and the Public Interest * US Digital Divide Decreasing Slowly * Bridging Digital Divide is a Priority for Texas * South Korea's Broadband Network Most Developed * Riverside Expands Free Computer Classes to Schools > More headlines White Papers * Digital Justice: Progress Towards Digital Inclusion in Minnesota * Benchmarking Economic Transformation in the States * Power Up: The Campaign for Digital Inclusion * States Efforts to Expand Broadband Access * Why We Don't Know Enough About Broadband In the US * Framing a National Broadband Policy * More white papers Eye on.... * SmartRiverside * International Center for Disabilities Resources on the Internet A cooperative initiative of the Wireless Internet Institute, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and OneCommunity, the Digital Inclusion Forum is a comprehensive resource center to inform, educate and share best practices among state and local government leaders, industry and institutional stakeholders on identifying and implementing sustainable market solutions to bridge the digital divide in North America. Subscribe to the monthly Digital Inclusion Forum Report. (c) 2008 Wireless Internet Institute , LLC. All Rights reserved. ________________________________ If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe ________________________________ The Wireless Internet Institute 225 Franklin Str., 26th Flr. Boston, Massachusetts 02110 Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mapnp.Geeks.ORG/pipermail/ccan-announce/attachments/20080604/8175c5d9/attachment-0001.html