Take action on broadband

High Speed Internet is essential for economic growth and global competitiveness. The United States has a lot of ground to cover just to remain competitive with other economies that have already adopted policies that facilitate job growth, business advancement, and individual achievement through access to the latest information technologies.

Broadband access is a topic we researched extensively for Boomtown USA. We felt then, as we do today, that broadband access to all corners of the United States is critical for the long term competitiveness of our country, in particular the rural regions. With high speed Internet access, anyone can become a global competitor.

-Jack Schultz, The Agurban ezine, September 9, 2008

This is why I rant on broadband. It matters. To small towns, and the small businesses that keep small towns alive.

What do I want you to do about it?

• Start a broadband provider. Service small towns and rural areas, at competitive prices. 
• Find the legislative initiatives in your state. Tell your state representative (or equivalent) to support them. 
• Ask your local economic developers what they are doing to increase the penetration and speed of available broadband. Volunteer to help.
  

What ideas do you have? I'm open!


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What works to go wireless anywhere

I'm always watching for small business people who share what works for them. Rex Hammock snuck this gem into a story on the iPhone.

I already have an AT&T 3G account that allows me to access the Internet using a Sierra Wireless USB modem. While I think it is ridiculous that tethering is not allowed with the new iPhone 3G, I can balance my disappointment with the knowledge that a Sierra Wireless USB modem can be shared by anyone in my office — all of the username/access codes are stored in the device. In a small business environment, especially one that has multiple employees traveling often, the ability to share the USB 3G modem saves lots of access fees charged by hotels and airports. In other words, our current 3G account is shared by many people, while an iPhone account — even if it allowed tethering — would not benefit us the way our current USB modem does.

What works for your small business?

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Broadband access is too important for bad copywriting

Winner of the most deceptive headline of the week award is Cherry Creek News for this gem:

SCHWARTZ BRINGS BROADBAND TO RURAL COLORADO

The actual story? A bill passed one step of the legislative process. Several big steps to go. So that is hardly bringing it, right? And what does the bill actually propose? Mapping. It directs a state official to map the regions underserved by broadband. I must say that I'm underwhelmed, compared to the definite headline.

I haven't ranted on broadband nearly enough lately. Here's what better rural broadband could mean:

• Local business competing globally
  
• Entrepreneurs innovating new technologies
• Local professionals connecting to training, resources, conferences
  
• Web workers from all over moving (back) to small towns
  
• Students learning from the full range of available media
• Communities tying together into regional information alliances

While the US has improved on average in e-business readiness, according to the 2008 rankings, the rural-urban divide persists.

The IBM/Economist analysts came up with some guiding principles, intended for helping developing countries, but equally applicable to US states and regional development groups:

• Let the market build it... Competitive telecoms and Internet service markets are more efficient than governments in building networks and finding affordable price points for consumers. Policymakers should allow market forces to determine the course of the digital economy, and must resist the urge to steer its ICT industry into technology-specific directions.
• ... but step in when needed. Governments must, at the same time, ensure that investment finds its way to society's digital have-nots. Rural and poor communities, for example, tend to be left behind if service providers follow a purely market-driven course.
• Lead by example. In poorer countries, governments should strive to be an early adopter of digital practices that other organizations and individuals can emulate. They can also create demand for technology and digitally enabled services, both through their own direct purchases and through the creation of additional channels for procurement, tax filing and other operations.
• Don't do it all. Governments must champion digital development, fund their own ICT infrastructure, regulate lightly and encourage others to adopt — a complex juggling act. But they must also be as unobtrusive as possible if digital business is to thrive. For one thing, they should remain staunchly technology-neutral in their procurement and licensing practices.
• Keep at it. As this year's rankings show, it is precariously easy to fall back on more strategic digital objectives, and thus lose some of the ground gained in building networks and communities. The world of e-readiness is a place with ever-shifting targets, where policy and practices must be reviewed and refreshed frequently in order to meet the aspirations of the communities that governments serve.

So despite the exaggeration in news headlines, we have a long way to go.

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Broadband changed my life!

OK, broadband maybe didn't change my life overnight, but I could not do my work effectively with out it! So I was all over this email from Joy Howell.

My name is Joy and I am the director of a new public awareness campaign called "Broadband Changed My Life." Being a blogger who is active in rural issues, I am sure you can appreciate our mission – to encourage broadband deployment and adoption in the United States and to raise awareness of the benefits of advanced broadband in today's world. I blog about the topic frequently at the Alliance for Public Technology blog.

I think Small Biz Survival readers will be very interested in participating in a contest we are running. The Broadband Changed My Life Contest is an opportunity for folks to share their personal stories about how high speed internet access has improved their life and thereby earn a chance to win up to $1000.

Deadline for entries is October 1, 2007, so hop by the Broadband Changed My Life Contest quickly!

I know I don't have to lecture you to support the mission to speed the deployment of broadband in the US. Rural small businesses already get it.


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Why you should introduce more people to New Media

Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is encouraging his country's political leaders to start using New Media and technology, in Namibia: Youtube, E-Mail, Skype And MPs.

Hengari points out that it is easy for leaders to talk about the importance of technology, even if they have no knowledge of it. If leaders actually use wikis, blogs, and even email they will better understand what they are promoting!

"Certainly, access and the use of these new technologies which compress time and space, provide opportunities for us in the developing world to consume more information and communicate in ways that are cheaper.

"And when we consume more information we are likely to create new knowledge."

Creating new knowledge is called Innovation, and it's crucial to our economies. By introducing more people to the new world of information tools, you are helping to drive local innovation. By using these tools yourself, you are boosting your own capacity for innovation.

Trust me that this is not just an issue in Namibia. It's true is many rural areas. How are the political leaders in your city, county and state doing? Oklahoma's state lawmakers finally have laptops, but I haven't seen any blogs, wikis, or podcasts.

"As it appears, access is just one part of the problem, ignorance is another," Hengari said.

And it's more than just our political leaders. How are your local educators, business people and clergy doing?

Together, you and I will keep campaigning for greater broadband access and keep introducing more people to wikis, blogs, and all the wondrous tools now available to us. That's one way we can help develop innovation and our local economies.

I just put in a proposal to the Business and Professional Women/USA to present a session on blogging and podcasting at the next annual conference. And right now, I'm trying to convince my Alumni Association to include some interactive tools in our next website update. These are just a couple of ways I'm trying to involve new people with new media.

What are you doing now, and what do you plan to do? Let's share our ideas.


[Photo: Oklahoma lawmakers using laptop computers on the floor of the State House of Representatives.]

Update: Comments from Readers

Roger von Oech said...

My first visit to your site. Interesting point of view.

Welcome, Roger, and thanks for taking time to comment. I'm honored!

This is related to your book vs. Twitter debate. I think exposure to new viewpoints and ideas through technology, even in little Twitter bites, can be helpful in broadening our horizons.

Let me clarify one point.

This is NOT encouragement for the already-connected technical people to consume ever more increasing amounts of information.

This IS encouragement for non-connected folks to get connected with relevant types of new information technology.

Ramon Ray, Technology Evangelist said...

HOW do you do this Becky. Some people are hopelessly tech deficient. How can they be helped?

Ramon Ray

Ramon, excellent question! Here's an approach I have used with some success.

Tie in to their passion. First, find out their real world interests. Then show them how to use the tech tools to enjoy it more, especially by interacting with others.

Online forums and auctions can be excellent tools to make that introduction. For example, my husband (a thoroughly non-technical person) enjoys reading the shooting sports forums. If a famous name author in their subject is online, that can help draw them in, also.

On a related note, it matters who is doing the teaching! Some people are great at gently instructing the non-technical, and some are not. It takes a specific approach with tons of patience, repetition, and the use of non-technical examples.

Alfred said...

You took a good point. Nowadays is more interesting getting people's Skype, Google Talk and so on, than saying your telephone. 'Cause the comunication is more effective and can be done anytime.

But, more important than all these Instant Messaging, IMHO are the Wikis, where we can exchange all kind of knowledge and they are there, forever. And not talking only about companies, but schools, universities, communities, and even for your house.

By the way, very thanks for talking about me in earlier articles! I will soon write an article in my blog (in English and Portuguese), and yoy say about you and other english blogs.

Regards!

Alfred, great to hear from you again. I agree that wikis are highly important tools for sharing knowledge. I think they can play a huge role in innovation.

I'm glad to have your global perspective on this.



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Rural broadband news: ideas, plans, opportunities

Rural broadband: good ideas and bad ideas

Read a roundup of different programs in several southern US states to expand rural broadband from Facing South.

The article includes a long introduction on why rural broadband is important.

We cannot tolerate -- nor in the long run can this nation afford -- a society in which some children become fully educated and others do not; in which some adults have access to training and lifetime education, and others do not. Nor can we permit geographic location to determine whether the information highway passes by your door.

Unfortunately, that quote is from 1994. We still aren't there.

One town's journey and plan

One California town details its journey towards broadband, in The Eureka Reporter. In fact, you can download the town's broadband plan at Neratech.

Entrepreneur bringing broadband to small towns

“We want to see that the kids out here have the same opportunities as the kids in Asheville and other metropolitan areas,” Caldwell said.
“I think what they’re doing is true entrepreneurship. They saw a need and jumped in to do it,” said Russ Yelton, director of Asheville-Buncombe Technical College’s Small Business Incubator, which helped the Caldwells plan their new business.

From Citizen-Times.

Wireless broadband providers consolidating

Other rural broadband providers are consolidating now, such as KeyOn Communications buying up smaller companies.


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News: Entrepreneur support systems

This week's rural entrepreneurship news is about support systems for small business:

• financial education
• small business support centers
• zoning laws
• global business programs
• awards programs
• access to broadband
  

Most important question this week:
What if you increased incomes in your area, but poverty stayed the same? Do higher wages automatically equal better financial knowledge?

Here's the answer:
Financial education important to development
A rural banking project in Fiji is including financial education.

“Financial insecurity is not only a factor of inadequate income but, often, it is exacerbated by poor money management.”

WWF [World Wildlife Fund]’s intention is not far removed from the aim of the [rural banking] partnership in that it seeks to promote better management of resources in the hands of ordinary Pacific islanders, whether it is money, land or sea resources and to move rural Pacific society away from the tendency to spend at whim.

Source: Islands Business.

Small business support centers do work
Entrepreneurs miss them when they close

Read the allAfrica story about the Small Business Information Centre (SBIC) in the Soweto Market in Katutura, a district established during Apartheid rules, in the national capital of Namibia, Africa. It was making a difference to people starting small and tiny businesses. It has been shut down, and may not reopen.
[Photo of a small business in the Soweto Market, Katutura, Windhoek, Namibia, by ke1jzer on Flickr.]

Rural zoning change draws 25 lawsuits
Zoning! It affects businesses and homes, it affects property values, it limits uses, and amazingly enough, it usually draws very little public input before it is enacted. We only seem to notice zoning when it stops something we want to do. Leesburg Today profiles a massive rural zoning change that has drawn 25 lawsuits.

Global business program links China and Vermont (USA)
The Stafford Technical Center is teaching students how to do business in the global economy, focusing on China, according to the Rutland Herald.

China has become a leading global economic force and already is trading with Vermont. Third-quarter exports from Vermont to China from 2003 to 2005 increased by 160 percent. Electric machinery, sound and television equipment were the top exports.

Best Rural Retailer Awards in UK
Read about the winners in the Farmers Weekly Interactive. Learn from their achievements! Steal their ideas!

Social entrepreneurs defined; awarded

They are social entrepreneurs – individuals with ground-breaking solutions to society’s most critical social problems. Instead of leaving such responsibilities to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs identify the root of the problem, develop system-changing solutions, spread their ideas, and encourage entire communities to join the movement.

In the words of Bill Drayton, “Our job is not to give people fish; it’s not to teach them how to fish; it’s how to build a new and better fishing industry.”

PARSA Community Foundation is awarding fellowships to social entrepreneurs. Read more at Payvand's Iran News.

Best article on rural broadband:
Vermont exploring all rural broadband options
The Burlington Free Press(USA) has an excellent article running through the options in creating better rural broadband access. It explores the government's role, the technical options, and the effect on local businesses and people. I commend the author Terri Hallenbeck for an in-depth article.

Local gov takes the lead on rural broadband in UK
Many more rural residents sign up for broadband than the national average!

A multi-million pound scheme will see almost blanket coverage of internet broadband throughout North Yorkshire, paving the way for the county to attract a new breed of businesses which rely on cutting-edge technology.

While the private sector has shied away from financing the new technology in sparsely populated rural areas, the [North Yorkshire] county council has created a limited company, called Nynet, to purchase high-bandwidth internet capacity and sell it on to service providers.

York's economy has become increasingly reliant on the creative industries sector and a two-year trial of broadband technology in some of North Yorkshire's most sparsely populated areas saw the take-up rate reach almost 38 per cent of all businesses and domestic properties – far in excess of the national average of 25 per cent.

Source: Yorkshire Post Today.

Wireless broadband is also being rolled out in Namibia
Although this project is focused on urban areas now, leaders are already thinking about rural issues.

Today, half of the country's population live in rural areas where more learners get their education in rural schools.

"I would like to see every role-player in the Namibian telecommunications industry and communications platforms such as MWEB's Wireless Broadband technology, join forces in an attempt to answer the question of rural areas with a resounding YES!"

She added: "If we don't pool our resources to bring broadband and its economic, educational and communications advantages to Namibia's neglected areas, we will have missed a golden opportunity to bring this remarkable technology to bear on areas desperately in need of its spectacular impact on development," stressed Nandi-Ndaitwah.

Source: allAfrica.

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Rural entrepreneurship news is full of ideas

Today's rural entrepreneurship news is full of ideas you can copy and adapt.

Start a rural food festival
If you have a rural food or ag business, get together with your neighbors to start a rural food festival. Read about a successful food festival in Isreal.


Get the attention of your government; copy "Rural Oregon Day"
All of Oregon's state government pays attention to Rural Oregon Day:

Traditionally, the Governor prepares an address for Rural Oregon Day. Legislators plan their day around constituent meetings and visiting informational booths set up at the Capitol.

This year, rural entrepreneurship is getting a large share of the attention, according to the Newport News-Times (USA) article.

Grow your area's heritage tourism

With historic forts, palaces and rural character, it makes perfect sense to market heritage tourism in India. What is your region's heritage? How can you market it? First, read the Indian example in the Business Standard.
[Photo of fort at Jaipur, India, by LazyLlama on Flickr.]

Governmental entrepreneurs in Oregon (USA)
The rural Benton County motor pool maintenance shop takes in outside jobs from other government agencies, profiled in the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

The outside clients also help the county, though, bringing in about 60 percent of the $1 million operations budget for the motor pool, said Roger Irvin, Benton County Public Works Director. ...
“This is a business operation. It has to support itself,” Irvin said. He added it was an example of the county looking for efficiencies and doing more with the public’s dollar.

Rural broadband via local government, rural electric cooperatives
Local governments and rural electric cooperatives are working together in Illinois (USA) to expand rural broadband coverage. State government is allowing use of their radio towers, and rural electric coops are taking a "no one left behind" approach. Read about it in Farm Week.

A setback for northeastern USA broadband?
Verizon has sold off their northeastern USA holdings to Fairpoint. Robert Mitchell at Computer World thinks this is a very bad thing for rural broadband prospects. For his part, Fairpoint's CEO says rural broadband will expand, in an article at MaineToday. Oddly, the first article I read interviewing the Fairpoint CEO has been deleted.


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Rural entrepreneurship news 1-30

Broadband means more than internet access

Connect SI is a 20-county effort to collaboratively enhance the economic and community development efforts throughout Southern Illinois using greater Internet access and bandwidth to communicate regionally and globally. This project isn’t about broadband internet access. It is about improving the quality of the lives of Southern Illinoisans by changing the way we work, live, and communicate with the world.

From the website of the Connect SI Rural Partners. Via EDPro Weblog.


Larger minimum order requirement may close smaller rural retailers
The cruel irony is that the small retailers are the ones who founded the supplier as a cooperative. Now it is threating their survival. Read about it in Independent Online Edition.


Rural grocery cooperatives
Speaking of cooperatives, some rural small towns are using cooperatives to hold on to grocery stores. Read the Washington Post story. Or read the story reprinted at the Blog for Rural America, where other rural folks have commented.


Crafts play a role in economic development
Ed Morrison at the EDPro Weblog found both the news story and the download-able report.
[Photo of crafts in rural Namibia, by Becky.]

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Rural entrepreneurship news 1-25

More rural entrepreneurship news to report:

Developing an Entrepreneurship Culture

Ontario (Canada) is working to develop a culture of entrepreneurship in their youth. The Government of Ontario is funding Youth Entrepreneurship Partnerships.

Youth Entrepreneurship Partnerships provides grants to non-profit organizations for programs that promote the development of entrepreneurial skills in youths. Fourteen projects representing $1,597,000 in funding have been selected in the second round of proposals.

This second round of Youth Entrepreneurship Partnerships represents the largest amount of grant funding provided to non-profit organizations. In June 2006, $673,000 was awarded to six successful associations in the first round of the Partnership project.

Visit the Ministry's site, or read the story at Newswire.ca.



Student encourages more youth entrepreneurship training

Ron Johnson, a junior at North Dakota State University, (USA) proposes training high school students to start businesses to address rural decline.

Johnson's opinion piece also gives an explanation of the New Homestead Act. Read the whole article in The Spectrum. It's worth the time.



Public/Private partnership for rural broadband means more than just Internet access

East Kootenay (British Columbia, Canada) local government (RDEK) is partnering with a private firm, Columbia Mountain Open Network (CMON), to propose a local community broadband network for their rural area.

Here's how the public/private partnership is broken out:

CMON CEO Dan McCarthy explains the two components of the network are a broadband backbone and access to the individual homes. CMON would be responsible for building the network, starting with an engineering study to determine the placement of the fiber-optic cable and ending with the actual construction.
...
As with other services of the RDEK (local government), only the people affected would pay for the project. In turn they would own the backbone and community network and any revenue collected would go back into the service, paying for operations, maintenance and debt payments.

The broadband service means more than internet connections.

This can be anything from internet access to video services, home security and music downloads, McCarthy explains. He points out it also gives people the ability to think outside the box. He gives an example from the birthplace of open networks, Sweden, where a father started sharing video from his children’s sports tournaments with help of open network broadband technology and is now running a successful internet video business. The network could also have great effects in the health care and education sectors, McCarthy adds.

Source: Kootenay News.



Kansas pulls together multiple proposals into one development agenda, focused on education

Kansas (USA) Governor Kathleen Sebelius has pulled together an economic development agenda, focused on education.
[Photo of Gov. Sebelius from Wikipedia.]

"Education will continue to be at the center of everything," the governor told the audience attending the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce Chairman's Breakfast. "But the focus is going to be on both ends of the K-12 program. We need to get children ready to learn when they enter kindergarten and we need easier, more nimble pathways to vocational education, community college and four-year colleges for our high school graduates."

She said Kansas needs to make sure that tuition stays affordable and that vocational and community colleges have the programs to train the workers businesses need to keep jobs and add jobs in Kansas.

...

"If the trained work force is not here, then those jobs won't be here either."

Sebelius also included some special rural development proposals.

To answer that challenge, Sebelius is creating the Office of Rural Opportunity within the Department of Commerce. That office will identify areas for Business Zone incentives that will encourage businesses to locate in rural communities.

"Our towns have tremendous potential," she said. "They offer good infrastructure, room to grow and great people. They just have to be discovered."

Source: Wichita Eagle.


Winning social entrepreneurship proposals presented to the Prime Minister's Office

Students in India were invited to contribute to a business plan contest.

The participants in the contest -- with ‘Inclusive Growth’ as its underlying theme – had to come up with ideas that would bring about a marked difference to agriculture, rural development and health care and renewable energy.

The winning proposals were presented to "the most well known economist in the country who incidentally happens to be the most powerful policy maker also". That would be the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Source: The Economic Times.


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Rural entrepreneurship news 1-17

Time for more rural entrepreneurship news headlines!

One Governor puts his budget money into rural broadband
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford "included $2 million in his executive budget to help provide high-speed Internet access to areas, such as Allendale, through direct and matching grants." Island Packet Online.
And, from New York, The Ithica Journal profiles rural broadband, talking about the alternatives of wireless, cable access, and cell service. Don't miss the reader comments at the end of the story!

Entrepreneur training and technology center in one project
Combining entrepreneur training with access to technology in one location makes great sense. We've read about many such centers, all over. This one happens to be in Uganda. "Six District Business Information Centres will provide rural businesses and those who operate them with integrated solutions, instruction in technology and entrepreneurial skills, and Internet access." UN News Centre.

Cities are faring better than rural areas
Well, thanks for pointing that out. Agri News. I had trouble with this link. Let me know if you get through!

Rural resurgence ahead?
On the other hand, "there’s a potential resurgence ahead for rural regions with adequate public/private investment in high-speed communications, regional airports and the availability of urban-level cultural amenities."
This is an excellent article, including the three factors driving the rural hub cities. BusinessNorth.

The next rural vs. urban fight? Cell phone users paying Universal Service Fees
The USF is supposed to support bringing telephone landline service to rural areas and through difficult geography. This press release says it's outdated, wasteful and a windfall to big telcos. I saw this press release in my local paper, and here it is on California's 10 News site.

Free advice for rural businesses in the UK
You can help set up an event like this in your area. Jeanne and I did it, three times!
"The Leicestershire Rural Business Advice Fair will bring together over twenty specialist agencies including Environmental Agency, Business Link, ADAS, Acorus, Lantra, Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Services, Leicestershire Constabulary, Clockwise Credit Union Service and Leicester CAN to offer free advice, support and grants available." Media-Newswire.

[Photo by Becky, of a rural cell phone user.]

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Outsourcing to rural areas

Direct from the EDPro Weblog, here's the scoop on rural outsourcing:

Rural areas are becoming more competitive with the expansion of communications networks. Here's a good story about how some high tech jobs are being "outsourced" to rural regions. Read more.

Increasingly, rural counties are seeing that communciations networks are critical to their ability to compete. Here's a story from Pennsylvania this week. Read more.

One community in rural Wyoming this week announced plans for a fiber optic network. Read more.

So it looks like the lesson is clear: you ARE your communications network. Want to compete? Want to attract alumni to return and found businesses? Want to draw jobs? Invest in your communications network. Other factors (especially people) play into this, but don't neglect network building!

Start building relationships with all your communications providers to increase their investment.

small biz rural entrepreneurship broadband communications outsourcing

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Can legislation spur rural broadband?

New York has passed legislation to try to spur further rural broadband development, as reported Friday in the Utica Observer-Dispatch. Can passing a law really make a difference on broadband investment?

The law directs one agency, the Department of Economic Development, to work with other departments, agencies and private companies. Their assignment is to create financial and other incentives to get companies to expand their investment in broadband service to underserved rural areas of the state. Ed Morrison reported this at his EDPro Weblog under the Incentives Watch.

My experience is that state agencies don't work well together, especially when legislated to do so. Still, I applaud Governor Pataki for signing the bill and State Senator David Valesky of Oneida for co-sponsoring it. Just yesterday, Laura Allen was telling me about the Oneida area, and how it has been hit hard with manufacturing job losses and global competition. That may be why Valesky is particularly aware. He seems to understand that broadband factors into rural jobs, global competitiveness, and economic development:

"High speed Internet access is more than a matter of convenience, it is an economic necessity."

"Broadband access is an important tool in rural economic development and job retention."

"Our local businesses need broadband access to compete in the global marketplace."

Related story: Why Rural Small Businesses Will Still Dial Up for a Long Time to Come

small biz rural entrepreneurship economic development broadband gap digital divide

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Bringing home successful entrepreneurs

Now here is a strategy for rural development: Hope that one of your small town's alumni will return and pour money on you. Don't want to wait? Start looking for alumni to bring back, organize general alumni events, and build relationships with people. At the same time, don't forget your "never lefts," the people who stayed and committed to your town. Focus on growing your own entrepreneurial successes right where you are.

Hilbert - This rural hamlet of 1,089 residents and no traffic lights was a decidedly sleepy place until Todd C. Thiel returned and began to globalize his hometown.
After a 10-year stint as an investment banker, Thiel moved back, acquired the town's red-brick bank building - built in 1908 for the State Bank of Hilbert - and turned it into the international headquarters for his financial services group.
...
Thiel, 36, is one of a new breed of entrepreneurs who are able to gravitate toward rural venues because digital technology untethers companies from congested urban centers. If the American heartland is to survive in a global economy, it will need more like him, economists say.

Most of us aren't billionaire investment bankers. That does not make our contributions to our rural small towns any less important. It is just as important that you do what you can for your community, whether that is employing just yourself or 100 other people.

It's important for two reasons. Your work on your community benefits you, because you get to keep that small town lifestyle. It also benefits the community at large. You are giving back something to the other people around you.

Small biz survival is not just about moving into a small town and starting up a business. It is about connections, quality of life, people, and building relationships. Many of our rural development challenges are the same across the globe, from Namibia to Nebraska. We are all thinking about outmigration, education, skills, workforce, broadband and technology, and a dozen other challenges. It's only through sharing that we can really move ahead. That's why sharing is our mission.


small biz rural entrepreneurship economic development

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This blog is standing over a divide

While writing about rural broadband, and the lack thereof, I decided to also share a bit about this blog.

When I talk to small business people of all ages, I find myself explaining what blogs are. This type of technology still hasn't penetrated to our target market: the small business owners and entrepreneurs of rural areas and small towns.

That puts this blog standing over a divide; monitoring the new technologies from one side, and reaching back to the entrepreneurs to help them jump the gap. If I were trying to make this blog into a business of its own, I might focus more on early adopters, believers, etc. But that is not the goal. What I'm trying to do is bring promising technologies to the regular everyday small business people of the rural world. And that is a completely different target.

small biz rural entrepreneurship

Why rural small businesses will still dial up for a long time to come

Brad King, formerly of Wired News and now of Technology Review, is a proud Appalachian. That's about as rural and small town as it gets. That's why he has kept an eye on the slow progress of high-speed internet access, and the effect this has on business and culture.
King looks at AT&T's announced plans to expand rural access to internet and IPTV through satellite delivery, High-Speed Web Goes Rural.

"We are beginning to offer satellite-based broadband service in areas where our DSL service is not available today, giving more consumers a broadband choice," AT&T Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said in a speech at the Detroit Economic club.
AT&T is partnering with satellite-based high-speed Internet provider WildBlue to provide the service.

Yvonne at Lip-Sticking applauds AT&T's announcement.

I'm one of the 'haves'. I've always had access to broadband. But, I know people who live in rural America who pooh-poohed the whole Internet thing for just so long - then, openly complained when they couldn't get it.

She thinks Life in Rural America is About to Change:

I see this opening doors in rural America to help the Moms and Dads who still want that small-town, country-folk way of life for their families, still know that their kids will receive as good an education as any citified-kid in downtown ILOVEMYHOMETOWN, USA. Because, they'll be able to give their kids access to the universe of knowledge found on the Internet...in their own home, where their parents can monitor its use.

OK, This is the part where I get opinionated. The AT&T headlines sound like immediate accomplishment, but read the full text. We are talking about selected markets and at least a three year roll out on this particular project.

I applaud every single step towards greater access for more rural people. But this one announcement isn't enough to change the world for us. Unfortunately, the glowing headlines are just enough to make people think "The digital divide? Didn't we already solve it? I'm sure I remember reading that." This couldn't be further from the truth.

King, the proud Appalachian, wrote a series of articles at Wired News in 2001 about "the gigantic cultural and technological gap between mega-connected cities and analog rural areas: Appalachia: Where Net Trails Off, Upgrading the Hillbilly Highway, and Cincy's Artists Feel Tech Squeeze."

The basic premise for the series was that it was going to take far more than running a few high-speed lines into rural areas to create a truly digital economy for the 21st century. The cultural gap facing many folks -- not an inherent distrust of new technologies, but a lack of understanding of how these technologies can solve immediate, day-to-day issues -- was far more concerning to me.

I've come to believe, though, that the cultural gap can be overcome simply by exposing a new generation of rural children in general -- and Appalachian kids specifically -- to the Web (and even more so to Web 2.0), by creating a true broadband infrastructure. We're nowhere near that level of penetration, but it's still nice to read that AT&T has finally decided to make a big push into rural areas...

The bottom line
Businesses and homes in rural areas will continue to rely on dial up access for years to come. I think changing the rural culture will take more than just exposing kids to the web and more than just building the infrastructure. It will take civic leaders working to integrate the new technology into business, government, and education. Our future is at stake.

small biz rural entrepreneurship broadband gap digital divide dialup

Ag Dept Clear focus for rural development

Ed Morrison is so on the ball. Here's an item from his latest round-up of economic development news.

The undersecretary for rural development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a clear focus for rural development: renewable energy, broadband access and location. Read more.

To these three, most knowledgeable observers would add entrepreneurship: growing a rural economy from the inside out. So, for example, here is a note from Indiana on how rural strategies include more than recruitment. Read more. And here is an opinion column on how Nebraska should be growing its rural economy. Read more.

Source: EDProg Weblog.

[small biz] [rural] [Ed Morrison]

With Few Options, Rural Businesses Forced to Find Their Own Internet Access

With Few Options, Rural Businesses Forced to Find Their Own Internet Access:

"It comes down to population density," said Josh Holbrook, an analyst with the Yankee Group, a research firm based in Boston. The smaller the population that would benefit from DSL, the less likely a service provider will invest the money into DSL equipment. Small rural businesses "are at a competitive disadvantage because they can't use the same applications" as businesses with high speed Internet, Holbrook said.

In northern New Hampshire, the Colebrook Development Corporation, a volunteer community organization, is taking matters into its own hands. The CDC is building a wireless broadband network in Colebrook, a border town with Vermont and in close proximity to Maine.

Larry Rappaport, a Colebrook selectman and manager for the wireless project, said that the CDC is two months away from launching the five wireless hubs in the area. Funds for the project were secured by Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) as well as from local private grants.

"I'm concerned with the economic direction in the northern counties of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine," Rappaport said. With manufacturing jobs leaving the community, Rappaport said the CDC wants to make sure residents can use the Internet to start businesses and continue to earn a living.

Broadband over power lines is now deploying in extremely limited test, and broadband over gas pipes is under development. I like these ideas for rural access.

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