Broadband Advisory Committee Briefing

On Wednesday, July 30^th at 11:00am there will be a briefing from the Mayor’s Office and Diamond Management & Technology Consultants for the Broadband Advisory Committee regarding the Bloomberg Administration’s plans for bridging the digital divide in New York City.

The Broadband Advisory Committee was established in 2005 with the passage of Introduction 625-A creating a joint public broadband commission to advise the Mayor and the City Council of New York on how the resources of City government can be used to stimulate the private market so that residents and businesses of New York City have more options in terms of high-speed Internet access. The goal of the committee is to educate the general public about broadband and the newest communication technologies, and to give New York City residents the opportunity to comment on how the digital divide in New York City can be closed. To support these efforts the Broadband Advisory Committee has held public Broadband Hearings in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The Committee will hold its fifth and final hearing in Staten Island this fall.

Diamond Management & Technology Consultants was hired by the New York City Economic Development Corporation to determine the breadth of the digital divide in New York City and develop programs and initiatives to provide greater digital inclusion for all residents. Chris O’Brien, a Partner in Diamond’s Public Sector practice, will be detailing Diamond’s findings and its recommendations for the City’s next steps.

The meeting will take place in the Committee of the Whole Room, City Hall, New York, NY on Wednesday, July 30^that 11:00 am. This is a public meeting and all are welcome to attend. For further information please contact Kunal Malhotra, Director of Legislation & Budget, 212-788-6975 or Kunal.Malhotra@council.nyc.gov

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FCC wants free broadband service, plus content filtering

An arstechnica article reports that the Federal Communications Commission is looking for a bidder to provide nationwide free broadband service. A spokesperson for the Commission has told Ars that the FCC wants it to include "content filters."


The service would utilize 1.9 GHz-2.1 GHz bands, agency Chair Kevin Martin told reporters on Friday. The data will have to download at a minimum of 768 kilobits, Martin said, provided at a "pretty aggressive" build out schedule: Half the United States population must be able to access it after four years, and 95% by the time the license comes up for renewal. The agency will make available about 25 Megahertz of spectrum for this in an Advanced Wireless Services auction (AWS-3)—details to be disclosed in a Report and Order unveiled at the Commission's open meeting scheduled for June 12th.

A company called M2Z has had a proposal in for something like this for some time. It was turned down last September by the FCC for lack of a competitive bid. However one has now appeared from a company called NetfreeUS. The new proposal, in contrast to the centralized nature of M2Z's plan, would lease the spectrum to cities, entrepreneurs, and other groups. Collectively, they would make the band open on a "private commons" basis to peer-to-peer and device-to-device communicators. The plan has received an endorsement from Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ).

The ars article notes that, while other spectrum bidders consider both plans a landgrab fraught with problems, in April 2007 Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) and Rep. Christopher Cannon (R- UT) introduced the Wireless Internet Nationwide for Families Act (H.R. 5846) which would mandate such a service.

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Tim Wu calls for Broadband Czar

In a recent article In Slate, part of a series where contributors suggest policy initiatives for the next administration, Prof. Tim Wu of Columbia University calls for, amongst other things, the creation of the post of national Broadband Czar.

Tim was interviewed on NPR last Friday and will be speaking at a colloquium at NYU on Wednesday.



From the article:

Most people in technology will tell you that the
leading problem today—the one thing sinking all boats,
so to speak—is the broadband last mile, the final
connection between people and the Internet. Since
2000, computers have become faster, hard drives
cheaper, and free e-mail better, but for the vast
majority of Americans, Internet access remains clunky.
Same goes for wireless broadband (cell phones with
good Internet access), which is arriving, but slowly
and expensively. These facts limit what everyone in
the tech and media industries can imagine as effective
new products. They are also beginning to put the
United States at a disadvantage as compared with
nations in Asia and Europe that have invested more.

It's a daunting problem with a long history of both
public and private failure. Unlike, say, building a
better dating service, broadband is an infrastructure
problem that requires solutions akin to improving
roads or plumbing. National infrastructure policy is
tough, and, at its worst, Bush's approach has borrowed
largely from Emperor Nero.

To start fixing things, the next president should
immediately announce a national broadband policy with
this simple goal: to put the United States back into
undisputed leadership in wireless and wire-line
broadband. But the question is how, and that's where
things get complicated. Proposed fixes abound: pay
Verizon, AT&T, or Comcast to build it? Treat the
Internet's pipes like the interstate highways, and
have the government build them? Use tax credits to
encourage consumers to buy their own fiber
connections? Sell property rights in spectrum or
create a "mesh" wireless commons?

No one really knows what the best answer is. That's
why the next president should appoint a specialized
broadband czar to get after the problem. Right now,
broadband is no one's responsibility, and the buck
keeps getting passed between industry, Congress, the
White House, and the FCC. The point of a czar would be
to make it someone's job to figure out what it will
take to fix broadband.

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MORE CITIES OFFER WIFI CONNECTION ON BUSES

Commuter buses in more than 20 cities now offer wireless Internet, according to an informal survey by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Wireless service is also on some commuter trains. APTA President William Miller predicts wireless Internet will become a service riders expect. Outfitting a bus with wireless capability costs about $1,000 to $2,000, transportation officials said.

[SOURCE: USAToday]

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USA ranks #4 in W.E.F. Network Readiness Index

The United States is ranked 7th worldwide in a Networked Readiness Index in a new report issued by the World Economic Forum. The index is based on a variety of economic and political as well as technical factors.

This is in contrast to last year's OECD report, based on tighter criteria of bandwidth and connectivity, that ranked the United States 19th worldwide.



From a N.Y. Times article about the report:

An O.E.C.D. economist acknowledged the nuances in
taking into account government regulatory and related
factors, and said it was hard to draw a single
conclusion from the data. "I think we can say that a
lot of the situation in the United States is a result
of the lack of competition," said Taylor Reynolds, an
economist in the Internet and Telecommunications Policy
section of the O.E.C.D. "In Europe we have adopted an
unbundling strategy wholeheartedly."

That has led to more competition in markets outside the
United States, he said, which in turn has driven
Internet service providers elsewhere to offer speedier
service and lower prices.

One aspect of global competition that is being watched
closely, he added, is the way fiber optic networks are
being introduced in different regions. Even though the
United States has begun to accelerate the availability
of fiber optic services, it is lagging Europe and Asia
in network speeds.

While Verizon is offering 50 megabit FIOS in the United
States, 100 megabit services are common in Europe, and
the Japanese are offering 1 gigabit services.

Still, there are puzzling aspects to the American
market, which has higher broadband availability than
many countries but lower adoption rates. More customers
have retained dial-up services than most countries,
which might be explained by price or lack of attractive
broadband services.

The report concludes:

Establishing a pervasive and prosperous Internet culture
is as much about creating the right business environment
as it is about adopting the right technology. If governments-
national, regional, and municipal - want to
harness the potential of ICT, they must not only invest
in ICT infrastructure and the capabilities to support it,
but also be ready to modify their country’s relevant
institutional setting - or ICT ecosystem - to allow ICT
to yield its transformative powers.

More info: The Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008

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NY Times editorial on Broadband

An editorial in the Mar 29 2008 New York Times notes Earthlink's turnabout in Philadelphia, and calls for continued efforts to bring universal access.

The article concludes:

Broadband service is no longer a luxury. It has become a basic part of the infrastructure of education and democracy. EarthLink should fulfill the commitments it made. Even in these tough economic times, cities should keep pushing municipal Wi-Fi and looking for partners and plans that can make it a reality.

Read more!

Universal Broadband Grants for New York announced

Mar 19: New York Governor David A. Paterson announced that nine public/private sector partnerships will be the first recipients of grants from the New York State Council for Universal Broadband. The funds are targeted to help promote the research, design and implementation of innovative solutions to create affordable broadband Internet access for underserved urban and rural communities throughout the state.

Amongst the recipients were an initiative to bring broadband over power lines (BPL) to Onondaga County and a program to bring a year's free access to residents of the Mount Hope community housing project in the Bronx. Naturally our illustrious chairman is to be congratulated on the latter.

In 2007, the New York State Legislature appropriated $5 million to provide seed money to be awarded through the Council. To leverage the funds, the Council required a minimum dollar-for-dollar match in the form of cash, in-kind goods and services, or a combination of the two. The value of the matching cash and in-kind services from the nine award recipients totals more than $15.1 million.

More than 50 applications were received for the first year of funding and the proposed 2008-09 budget includes $15 million to continue the program.

Press Release: http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/press_0319082.html

Grant Recipients: http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/pdf/press_0319082.pdf

ISOC-NY: New York State Council for Universal Broadband Read more!

Summary of testimony at Queens Public Hearing

Below is a quick summary I made for ISOC-NY of the testimony at the Queens Public hearing.

At the hearing an updated Briefing on Broadband Access to the Internet in New York City was issued.

Summary of testimony

01 David Birdsell - Introductions

• Neil Pariser
• Tom Dunne
• Anthony Townsend
• David Wicks
• Wendy Lader
• Mitchel Ahlbaum

02 Cindy Freidmutter - Vice President of External Affairs at LaGuardia Community College - http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/

• Welcome

03 Larry Pressler - Former U.S. Senator (R-SD) - http://www.larrypressler.com/

• Sen. Pressler is author of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

Gale: should e-rate be expanded?

• Yes. Sen. Pressler is working on an article that will recommend that the 1996 act be brought up to date particularly the Snowe-Rockefeller amendment.
• It's important that the NYCBAC make its concerns known to Washington.

04 Gale Brewer & James Sanders - introductory remarks

• Work of this Committee is combined with the Economic Development Corp.
• Technology is fast changing.
• NYC ahead of the curve compared to other cities.
• Public participation is vital.

05 Frank Pasquale, Professor, Seton Hall University School of Law http://law.shu.edu/faculty/fulltime_faculty/pasquafa/pasquale.html

• Broadband infrastructure essential to economy.
• Digital divide 1) between rich and poor in the USA.
• Digital Divide 2) between USA and other advanced countries.
• Government co-investment needed to meet goals.

Gale : How do we achieve goals without federal support?

• While maintaining net neutrality explore taxation of successful application providers.

06 Joshua Breitbart, Policy Director, Peoples Production House - http://peoplesproductionhouse.org/

• Audio testimony of Arturo from Ridgewood, Queens and Beverly from Canarsie, Brooklyn
• PPH teaches radio production & media literacy including tech in NYC middle & high schools.
• New program - Digital Expansion Initiative to educate public on broadband access.
• Brietbart will submit comments on CD from field interviews with immigrants and others without access to the committee.

Tom: Does PPH work with community access organizations?

• Community grant funded video project with MNN for high schools on explaining internet technology.

Gale: Vis-a-vis PPH 'Road NYC' program the committee would be glad to meet with immigrants, perhaps with simultaneous translation, to discuss broadband.

• This could be done. Meetings would not necessarily have to be lengthy.

David: Top two suggestions for improving public engagement on broadband issue?

• Evening meetings
• Update website

07 Takeshi Utsumi, PhD, Global University System / Columbia University

• 35 years experience in internetworking
• creating Global University System with HQ in Tampere, Finland
• Japan & Korea way ahead of USA - consumers pay $50/mth for 100-160 mbps,
• While Brooklyn Poly/Columbia U. have 100mbps - major Japanese Universities have 100gbps & local universities have 1gbps
• There is a 1.3 tera bps connection between Japan and Siberia
• a 2 tera bps is being promulgated between Japan and Africa, with Japan Gov, finance $10-20 billion
• Asian Development Bank is developing a fibre super highway alomg the old Silk Road.
• NYC should be a dynamic information center, yet Prof. Utsumi has 10mbps which drops to 5mpbs via Time Warner.
• NYC ought to devise at least a 1 terabit trunkline throughout 5 boroughs then implement free wireless access.
• Education software is becoming free, the connection needs to also be free.
• Mere multimedia content capability is not sufficient - applications like videoconferencing, collaborative engineering simulations need more bandwidth

Anthony: Is the city at a disadvantage for attracting scientific research because of bandwidth deficiency?

• Yes. When Prof. Utsumi started there was only one other computer the equivalent of Brooklyn Poly. While everyone else has progressed Brooklyn Poly has stayed the same.

Gale: Should the national government spend billions of dollars like other countries?

• Prof. Utsumi has been working with Finland. Finland is #1 on vocational training. The first thing to spend money on is education in K12.

Neil: What in particular is effect of lack of bandwidth on Brooklyn Poly?

• With 1gbps students can work on virtual reality, collaborative 3d modeling, on a global scale. Educational video needs to be of high quality.

08 Computers For Youth - http://www.cfy.org

Bill Rappel, National Director for the Affiliate Network.

• 3 students that are testifying are from I.S.204. http://www.is204.org/
• CFY promotes a rich home learning environment in partnership with schools.
• CFY's programs select middle school and provides every 6th grader with computer w/ standalone educational software.
• Going forward software will increasingly require broadband access.

Rema McCoy, Student Software Team Manager

• Student volunteers participate in Saturday sessions evaluating educational software
• All three students testifying are participants in the program.
• Increasingly submitted software requires online connectivity so this year, via co-operation with cable operators, all participants have received free broadband.

Samuel Fok, I.S. 204 student

• All students should have fast and inexpensive internet at home, helps with research and do home work faster and on time.
• Time is wasted waiting for access at the library. One of Sam's projects got deleted.
• Video material in particular needs broadband.

Nadia Betancor, I.S. 204

• All students should have fast and inexpensive internet at home, it gives you information at your fingertips.
• It helps you find out what is happening in other parts of the world.
• Internet access is a useful and important research resource for school projects.
• Home access is easier, quieter, more enjoyable, comfortable, and relaxing.
• Home access saves time and having to walk to the library (although walking is good exercise).
• Nadia also does research for her family, and is able to help her brother and her sister with their homework.

Daisy Garcia, I.S. 204

• All students should have fast and inexpensive internet at home, kids need it to do research for their homework.
• With home access, it is possible explore freely without the pressure of time limits or worries of losing data.

Mitchel: Where do you learn how to use the internet?

• Daisy: School
• Samuel: Parents
• Nadia: School

Gale: Do other kids in your class have Internet at home? How much help is it at school if you have it at home?

• Sam: Many kids have dial-up, but only one in 27 in his class had dsl o. Some web-pages use a lot of a memory and it makes projects slow. A project that takes a day on broadband can take a week on dial-up.
• Nadia: Not everyone. They have to go to the library. Home access would be a big help.
• Daisy: Only a few have cable Internet. Home access is much faster than going to the library.

Neil: What was the last project you needed internet for, and for which library access was insufficient.

• Daisy. Black History Month. Thurgood Marshall.
• Nadia. Same project. In the library sometimes they won't have a book on the person you have been assigned, while on the computer you just type in the name and the information comes up.
• Samuel. Has been working for some time on a Science Fair project. Researching information on the human nervous system. With dial-up progress was slow. Now with broadband, project is almost finished.

Neil: Have you given up going to the library now that you have internet?

• Sam: Not given up, but the 35 minutes it takes for him to walk to the library he can work on his project.
• Daisy: Still goes to the library for books.
• Nadia: likes reading, and takes her brother and sister so they can increase their reading skills.

David Wicks: With home access do parents get involved in school projects?

• Daisy: Yes. Leads to conversation.
• Nadia: Yes. Parents make helpful suggestions.
• Samuel: Yes. Dad checks that he's focused.

Wendy: Do your parents know how to go online?

• Sam: Parents know how to go online, but need help.
• Daisy: is teaching her parents. Dad is getting the hang of it.
• Nadia: helps her Mom.

Wendy: Are there any studies on the percentage of broadband usership amongst CFY participants?

• Bill: will forward information to the Committee.

Wendy: Is CFY providing broadband for other schools?

• Bill: apart from software evaluators at I.S.204. there is a pilot program with Cablevision in The Bronx where all CFY families are provided with 8 hours of free access - they can then elect to sign up for dial-up at $9/month, payable with check or money order.

Wendy: Was it successful? Will it be expanded?

• Bill: Too early to say. While many families were already signed up for triple-play, among the rest many were reluctant to sign up at all for reasons that are not clear.

David Wicks: Website?

• Bill: http://www.cfy.org - in the news section there is an informative video.

David: Nadia, how has home access changed tutoring your brother and sister?

• Nadia: Instead of going to the library, I can just access the information.

Davis: Do your friends come over to use your broadband?

• Sam: Not really.
• Daisy: No.
• Nadia: Yes. A friend comes over to do her projects.

09 Scott Wolpow - IT professional http://www.publiccto.com/

• Hearing could be streamed live?
• Concerns with access providers:
  • Net Neutrality - restricting access infringes first amendment rights
  • Throttled bandwidth - ditto, and while occasionally justifiable should be fully disclosed
  • Blocked ports - limit parents ability to to monitor children, VOIP, smart refrigerators and other innovative applications, often is undisclosed
  • Undisclosed real speeds.
  • Arbitrary data transfer limits.

Anthony: Are these behaviors inhibiting New Yorkers ability to develop new projects and services?

• 100%. Yes.

10 Daniel Dragan - broadband customer

• Lack of competition - extremely difficult for new players.
• Access via Libraries - valuable free resource
• Internet cafe's - cheap alternative
• Lack of middle ground between consumer and business class connections.
• Municipal broadband fails because it overestimates potential customers and is uncompetitive
• Universal Service Fund. Should fund broadband access.
• Internet speeds are not increasing.
• Looks forward to the day when entire world is a global LAN
• dsl access is not available in all parts of the city
• Resellers are ill served by broadband providers
• Small businesses can be hit with big line charges to install commercial grade access
• Industrial parks being a particular example.

Wendy: Which industrial parks?

• Brooklyn Navy Yards

Wendy: I think that's been remedied.

11 Bruce Lincoln - Urban Cyberspace Initiative

• submitted testimony
• Involved in a pilot project in Harlem to develop technology entrepreneurship community centers in the NYCHA properties.
• In the information age all citizens need 1) access 2) training, and 3) services.
• Recently attended 'State of the Internet' and 'Future of Broadband' conferences and was surprised to find goal was limited to 10mbps to 100mbps.
• For immersive distance-learning and tele-medicine apps symmetric bandwidth in the 1gbps range is imperative.
• Incumbents have little interest in radical redevelopment of their networks, particularly in under-served markets.
• Metroscale Regional Cyberspace Initiative (MERCI) is a hybrid fiber/wireless model developed at MIT.
• Apart from social benefits the MERCI model is designed to break even financially in 36 months.
• MERCI is undergoing tests in several communities including Harlem, & Jackson Mississippi.

Gale: What is necessary for ubiquitous coverage? For instance, in Jackson?

• Long term agreement with municipality
• Using incumbent redundant fiber.
• Access to city's assets. Towers, lightposts, etc.
• In Jackson backhaul provided by Entergy thus no conflict of interest.

James: How much costs involved in Mississippi projects?

• Couched in the context of a green development with Carlton Brown Co., built into the overall bond
• Cost in Jackson was $1.95m
• Delta project was $500.000 - looking for funding from Rural Broadband Telecommunications Authority of the US Dept. of Agriculture

James: So how much for Queens?

• A basic deployment in Queens - $500,000
• A basic deployment in the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone - $365,000

Neil: So are you an IP provider or are just putting in infrastructure?

• Not an IP provider - commercialized advanced technology.
• Previously worked with Columbia U. and City on Community Tech Centers
• In contrast to Philadelphia mesh system emphasis is on smart green buildings with private developers
• System is then gifted to community via co-operative ownership.
• Consortial partners provide equipment and services.

Neil: Harlem project is $365,00. What will we see for that?

• Initially 1mpbs wireless cloud from 116th to 175th St's.
• Custom access devices will either be manufactured in China or by Nokia which will access computational services on the network.

Neil: It will be wired?

• It will be wired, with fiber and WiMax backhaul.

David: What regulatory relief would be required to do this on a broad scale.

• The incumbents would need to be held at bay.
• With this in mind we are forming these non-profit consortia so there is community ownership of the network.

12 Thomas Lowenhaupt - Connecting.nyc - http://www.connectingnyc.org/

• Founded connecting.nyc - a non-profit with the purpose of acquiring .nyc top level domain
• Developing Internet vital for city.
• Without it's own namespace and adequate telecommunications NYC may become a hasbeen .
• NYC is joined in the drive for a city TLD by Paris and Berlin.
• 100mpbs is insufficient as goal
• Almost 200 years ago a similar advisory board laid out the Manhattan street plan.

Gale: What progress on .nyc?

• In 2001 Community Board 3 passed a resolution suggesting acquisition of .nyc
• Idea lay mostly dormant until Berlin got in touch a year ago, and then non-profit was formed.
• Participating for a year in ICANN process, and will attend ICANN meeting in Paris in June.

13 Sonya Park, Program Director of New York Metro Area, National Fund for Teaching Entrepreneurship - http://www.nfte.com/

• Since 1987 have trained over 30.000 in entrepreneurship via creation of business plans.
• Many students are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Emphasis is on self-empowerment.
• Research, and thus Internet access is a vital component.

Gail: Do students have access at home?

• Primary access is at schools/libraries.
• NFTE maintains a bank of computers at its office in Wall St. for alumni students.
• Pilot program of business centers around the City.

Gail: Once students graduate, lacking home access, library or your center is the only option?

• Libraries and community centers are good options, but opportunities are restricted.

Jose: What are your top 3 recommendations for access?

• Availability in schools. Quality is variable. Upgrading school's access/equipment/software should be a priority.
• After school access should be provided.
• Subsidized home access for disadvantaged students with computers.

Jose: How important are community-based organizations as an access option?

• Many CBO's offer programs but not general access.
• Greater availability needed.

14 Barbara Colwell, Executive Director, ThinkQuest NYC - http://www.tqnyc.org/

• submitted brochure
• ThinkQuest hosts annual competitions where teams of students build websites.
• 15.000 students in all 5 boroughs have participated.
• 75% of schools involved have the majority of students on reduced priced lunch.
• The internet has changed learning and communication.
• Critical information for kids such as healthcare, scholarships, and community is available via the internet.
• Broadband is necessary, dialup is no longer effective.
• Broadband should be available to everone in the city.

Anthony: Is your group based in NYC. Are your sponsors, such as Apple & Pearson NYC based?

• Yes. Local Apple and Pearson people help with teacher training on weekends.

Anthony: Have you approached any of the Telecom companies?

• Verizon have been approached and it was suggested that they provide some free access. None has been forthcoming.

Shaun: How do you suggest home access be provided?

• If the providers were to provide access free or low-cost to people who qualify under poverty levels the whole problem would be solved.
• A recent Georgetown U. study found that broadband access is discriminated, both racially and economically, against those most desperately in need of the quality of life improvements it provides.

15. Mary Vavruska, Queens Borough Chamber of Commerce http://www.queenschamber.org/

• submitted testimony
• Every year improving broadband access is part of the Queens Chamber legislative platform.
• Improved access is essential for global competitiveness.
• Seniors need broadband to take advantage of remote health monitoring options.
• Lack of access might hamper Homeland Security abilities.
• It is time to conclude study and take action.

Gale: What's the state of small business internet usage in Queens?

• Queens Chamber has regular seminars on technology.
• A grant has been received to assist business in adoption of best practices and technology.
• A database of available interns has been established on the Queens Chamber website.

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Queens Hearing of the NYC Broadband Advisory Committee

On March 3rd, 2008 the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee met at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. The Committee heard from many members of the Queens nonprofit, academic, and small business community. Furthermore, the Committee also heard from special guest former U.S. Senator Larry Pressler (R-SD), who was a member of Congress for 22 years: 18 in the U.S. Senate, four in the U.S. House. Senator Pressler authored the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

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Bronx BAC Official Hearing Testimony March 30

Official Hearing Testimony of the Bronx Broadband Advisory Committee Hearing - March 30, 2007.

Please click on the following link to download the Bronx Hearing Transcript

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Broadband Advisory Committee Comes to Manhattan

On Wednesday, December 12th, from 1pm until 4pm at the Manhattan School of Music, Greenfield Hall the Broadband Advisory Committee will meet.

Let us know why a fast - and affordable - Internet connection is useful and important to you. If broadband is not available in your home, business or organization, or if it is too expensive, the members of the joint Mayoral-City Council Broadband Advisory Committee want to hear from you. To testify, call 212.788.6975 or email Kunal.Malhotra[at]council.nyc.gov.

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NYC Broadband Advisory Committee August 6, 2007, Meeting

The following are notes from the August 6, 2007 NYC Broadband Advisory Committee Meeting courtesy of Mr. Joshua Breitbart, Policy Director of People's Production House.


Committee members in attendance:
Anthony Townsend
Stand-in for Tom Dunne (Verizon representative)
Shaun Belle
Elisabeth Stock
Wendy Lader
David Birdsell
Andrew Rasiej
Mitch Ahlbaum
Howard Szarfarc
Avi Dandevani
Jose Rodriguez

Audience members:
Council Member Gale Brewer
Brewer's Chief of Staff Bruce Lai
Jeffrey Baker, Counsel to the Committee on Technology in Government
Diamond Consultants
and me, Joshua Breitbart

Testifying:
Ted Brodheim, the recently-hired Chief Information Officer for the NYC Department of Education. (4 months on the job)

Summary notes of Mr. Brodheim’s testimony
The challenge is that any DOE program utilizing broadband in the home needs to be implemented equitably. Dept. of Education is not implementing programs now due to imbalance in home broadband access.

Schools are no longer geographically specific. Neighborhood-based schools allowed for after-school interaction. “The web offers the possibility to bring that collaboration back into the educational process.”

If broadband inequity were removed tomorrow, it would be “all about collaboration tools for students.” It would enable teachers to put up research, content, and supplemental materials on the web allowing students to add pieces to it.

In his opinion, the barrier to Internet access is the cost of the service. There needs to be a no- or low-cost way to provide broadband access. If it can’t be universal, then it should at least serve an entire grade level (probably high elementary or middle school).

He is trying to track down the amount the Dept. of Ed. spends on ICT. Off of the top of his head, he’d guess it’s 5-700 million, including telecom costs (phone, blackberries).

The Internet has "tremendous potential to unlock what happens in the classroom and extend it out into the homes and the community."

Question: What affect does access have on student performance?
Efficiency, or productivity in the classroom, not studied much, but unquestionably higher. Students and teachers become way more efficient in the classroom. There's a high impact on student achievement. This fall, the DOE is giving 6000 teachers (out of 90,000) laptops and broadband access as a pilot project to seed the idea of using technology along these lines.

Schools are only open 15% of the time, so there is idle bandwidth, which could, as Anthony Townsend put it, "make schools as an oasis for broadband." But there are restrictions from e-rate federal funding. Can't open e-rate to public or use it to wire administrative offices. Reimbursement rates are at 95%, so it's a hard argument to shift to another funding source

Question: Textbooks are expensive, so could there be a provision for savings on textbooks for utilizing broadband?
Answer: No answer available.

Question: Are the teachers ready to implement Internet into their curriculum?
Answer: Some are ready now and some would get ready. But, some won't get ready. However, They want to do the right thing, as long as we give them what they need.

DOE has a network of 95 miles of heavy fiber, several hundred miles of spurs, and hundreds of thousands of nodes. It receives about 100,000 denial-of-service (DOS) attacks every day. They are trying to balance the protection of the integrity of the network and recognizing that we don't know where the next best idea will come from. They're also working on tools to allow schools to share info, like through wikis, where they write about what works and what doesn't, to help them get over the learning curve. It has to be done in the context of protecting the integrity of the network.

"You name the model, we've got it." With support from Microsoft, Cisco, and others, New York is "a virtual national lab of schools of the future."

He's looking to package tech options - using tech support models, etc. Schools know their problems, but not necessarily the solutions. They're looking to better leverage resources they now have. He's looking for a couple of base models for k-5, middle school, high school, to give an idea of what schools should look like from a technological standpoint. DOE is developing school profiles, groups of 30-100 schools, with school support organizations to target solutions at those common schools. They are trying to do that with software, etc.

There's a new system - ARIS - (achievement reporting system) to make reporting available to teachers and principals this year and parents next year. Currently reports are mailed home, but these reports will be more frequently updated and have more information. But that doesn't address inequity in terms of parents without Internet access.

DOE has not done hard statistics on the inequity, but in the future they may include broadband questions in new surveys.

Some schools have assumptions that everyone has access, while others assume that no one has access. Schools try to keep computer labs open after hours.

Students limited in ability to research colleges and prepare themselves for going through the application process, even if it hasn't necessarily limited the actual submission of applications. Need to improve tools around searching, searching for scholarships, etc.

Currently talking with Secretary of Ed. Spelling and the FCC to re-interpret e-rate rules. They are too much about laying physical cable, and not allowing for a move into the next generation of technology, specifically, collaborative tools, and maintenance. E-rate can't be spent on upgrades for 6 years even though the hardware becomes outdated in 3 years. Also, they only allow you to buy things. There's no training on any of the ways to make the things useful.

Distance learning: DOE hasn't done much on it, but if they did it would address students missing school and collaboration with school districts outside of the city.

Question: How much tech is in the curriculum? How is it integrated?
Answer: It's been left to each school to decide, so I can't answer. There's no clear model. Schools that are doing a good job have figured it out on their own – the good and bad. Now we're looking to identify what's working well, package it, and move it into other locations. It's up to principals, so it's possible for students to go through school without using, although I would be surprised if that is that were the case.

Question from Mitch Ahlbaum (DOITT): The first step, before talking about computers at home, is to make sure they are actually being used in the schools.

Answer: There are 400,000 high school students. Ratio of 4:1 (students to student-available computers); not 100% of those computers are connected to the Internet. It's close to 90% but it's not evenly distributed across schools. Every school outside of District 75 (special education) has some access.

Question from Elisabeth Stock, Computers For Youth: How is your office connected to the instructional side? How can you do that as best as possible?

Answer: We're working quite closely now, though that had not been the case in the past.

There are 1500 schools and we now understand the need for flexibility across those schools

We work with a number of nonprofit organizations, and received a modest grant from Gates to form more of those partnerships. There's no hard demographic data on access to these programs and we don't actively seek such grants, just had a chance at this one grant

Question from Andrew Rasiej: Will the market solve the problems or should government intervene?
Answer: "Market forces will not address this on their own."

END OF TESTIMONY

Other matters:

David Birdsell: There have been consistent themes in the Bronx and Brooklyn: What people want to do but can’t do, including content creation, video content, community web-based development. They can't do it because affordable broadband is not available. Let's take themes and get data beyond the anecdotal level.
There's a lack of awareness of opportunities from people who aren't functioning within a broadband environment. There's a lack of imagination impressed by a tendency to define broadband in terms of what we have today (768k, 1.5mb - not the 20mb or 50mb rates we might dream about) - "We should be thinking about what might be rather than getting people on board with what we have today."

There's a plan to do 3 more hearings this year - In September, October, and a report due at the end of the year. The Committee will be working out those dates in the next couple of weeks

Shaun Belle: Ongoing theme - there's no master plan, yet the ability to deliver the platform is there, there's just not a lot of emphasis around it. No one is thinking about the issue outside of their own agency or outside of the school

We're looking for real data. What are we looking to present at the end of the day?

Wendy Lader: On the timing of report: City Hall asked for more info, so the report is still in the works. We will present an overview to Committee members before it is prepared for release.
On the surveys - over 1000 responses to the NYCHA survey from 6700 selected.
2000 responses to paper surveys in 58 libraries.
We need a few more months.

Anthony Townsend: On underutilized infrastructure from schools, libraries, public safety
"What can we do to get extra value out of what the City is already investing in?"
There is redundant infrastructure that is all underutilized, including a proposed $500 million network for NYPD and municipal agencies.
Andrew Rasiej: That $500 million could be leveraged
Gale Brewer agrees and would appreciate help making that happen.

Andrew Rasiej: We should be working on some potential recommendations.

David Birdsell – Our task has three parts:
1. Describe situation on the ground
2. Describe the world we would like to see exist - what to aspire to? Bandwidth, cost
3. How to get there?
We should be looking at other cities' ability to roll out affordable 20mb broadband.

Andrew Rasiej: Who can provide us with information to compare NYC to other cities in the US and internationally? Let's have a chat with Diamond so we at least know what they’re presenting.

Wendy Lader: Maybe it will be a month, or a month and a half to get an overview.

The contract between EDC and Diamond Consultants is funded through an IDA grant.

Andrew Rasiej: What can we do to make sure that our recommendations get done?

Shaun Belle: What commitment do we have from the Mayor to act?

Gale Brewer: The Council doesn't know what to do. We could devote funding, but how do you sustain and maintain a public-private partnership? An initiative is more likely than big change in policy.

Elisabeth Stock: Should we address duopoly?
Franchise is up in 2008. Mitch Ahlbaum (DOITT) is knowledgeable on that.

Elisabeth Stock: What money available from the state, that new $5 million?
Brewer’s office will look into it.

END OF MEETING

Joshua Breitbart, Policy Director
People's Production House
265 Canal Street, suite 410
New York, NY 10013
212-334-7433
www.peoplesproductionhouse.org

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MAY 22 -- Brooklyn Hearing -- Testimonies

The following are the testimonies from the Brooklyn Hearing held on May 22. Click on "Read More" to see each testimony (In order of appearance at the hearing).

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Thomas Kamber
Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) Founder and Chief Executive Officer


Video Clip

Policy Brief:
Improving Access to Affordable High-Speed
Internet Service for Older Adults

Overview

Every New Yorker should have access to affordable high-speed Internet from home, but the need is particularly urgent for senior citizens—especially the home-bound elderly. Older adults can use computers to overcome social isolation, connect to health information, and access government services, but fewer than one in four senior citizens is online today. As a result, one of the most important tools for improving the quality of life of aging New Yorkers is unavailable to the majority of households, primarily as a result of high cost. Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) recommends that the City of New York, together with providers of telecommunications services, create a program to make affordable Internet service available to low-income elderly residents of the city, with special focus on those living alone with mobility impairments.

Why Senior Citizens Need Broadband Access

There is a great deal at stake for older adults in the Digital Age: The pervasive reach of technology has fundamentally changed the way that Americans connect to their families, communities, government and society. From mundane activities such as shopping and reading the news, to life-and-death needs like health care and social contact, technology has become an indispensable tool for living. In 1996, an individual might be correct in assuming that computers, the World-Wide Web, digital video and high-speed Internet access were primarily tools of the business world, universities or technology specialists. Just ten years later, these devices and resources are in common daily use in the vast majority of American households.

The importance of technology as a tool for living well has been discussed and elaborated in many publications and studies. Yet, it is worth pausing to acknowledge the range of opportunities for older adults that are strongly tied to digital resources:

• A recent study by the Congressional Government Accountability Office found that the federal Medicare telephone hotline gave out inaccurate or incomplete information 39 percent of the time. Experts report that the Medicare.gov website is the only resource that allows seniors to compare all available “Part D” plans together with the list of medications used by an individual.
• BenefitsCheckUp.org, sponsored by the National Council on Aging, provides an opportunity for users to consider their eligibility for over 1300 different public benefit programs, averaging over 50 programs per state. More than 1.2 million people have used the service.
• A recent study by the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development found that two-thirds of American workers plan to continue working past the traditional age of retirement, many who need the income to continue to live independently. Yet with information workers now accounting for more than 70 percent of the American labor force, older applicants who often lack technology skills are at a distinct disadvantage.

Perhaps the greatest challenge faced by older adults in the Digital Age is social isolation. Escalating social isolation among senior citizens has recently been called “a formula for disaster” by researchers. As growing numbers of older adults today seek to “age in place” at home, they rely increasingly on community-based social networks for assistance with health care, services and daily necessities. Unfortunately, these networks break down all too often: nearly one-third of low-income seniors who live alone report going for weeks at a time with no direct social contact from friends or neighbors.

The Internet can be a veritable life-line for the home-bound elderly. Seniors who live at home and have mobility impairments are at particular risk for loneliness and social isolation. For these individuals, a computer can serve as a powerful tool for connecting to friends and family, for accessing news and information, and for managing information about health care, finances and over vital topics.

Access to the Internet can help older adults live better, more independent lives in communities across New York City. Unfortunately, age is a very strong predictor of Internet use. A recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that just 22 percent of Americans over the age of 65 use the Internet. Young people, by contrast, are the most intensive users of technology: 79 percent of teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 go online regularly, together with nearly 20 percent of pre-schoolers, ages 3-4.

Current Trends

A combination of market forces and social initiatives is helping to close the technology gap for senior citizens in New York City, yet the lack of affordable broadband access for seniors continues to be a major obstacle to large-scale change. Nonprofit organizations, foundations and corporate sponsors are doing important work to train seniors and help them gain access to computer hardware at home and in community technology centers around the city. Lower costs for hardware and software, along with more senior-friendly interfaces and applications, are bringing the benefits of technology to more older adults every year, but the high cost of Internet access remain a serious barrier for many seniors.

Poverty among New York City seniors is rising at an alarming pace and is now almost double the national rate. Nearly 18 percent of New York seniors live in poverty, according to the 2000 Census, an 8 percent increase over the previous decade. One-third of people over the age of 65 live alone (319,000 individuals), and 39 percent have a disability that impairs their mobility or their ability to care for themselves.

In the face of these disturbing statistics, however, many initiatives are under way to help older adults—especially those living alone, in poverty, or with disabilities—gain access to free or low-cost technology to improve their lives:
• OATS and Per Scholas, supported by the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, recently launched an ambitious program to teach computer skills to 500 low-income senior citizens and install free refurbished desktop computers in their homes. The program, called Comp2Seniors, has already served nearly 200 seniors and is meeting with enthusiastic responses from participants. Bronx-based partners include RAIN, Mt. Hope Housing, Phipps West Farms, and Castle Hill Senior Center.
• Mt. Hope Housing Company is wiring over 1200 units of low-income housing for affordable Internet access, and is partnering with OATS and other nonprofits to make enable hundreds of older adults can participate in using the new technology.
• Jewish Home and Hospital Lifecare Systems recently launched a pilot project with OATS to train JHH volunteers to teach technology skills to home-bound senior citizens.
• IBM has donated 200 computers left over from the Republican National Convention to senior centers around the city, enhancing locally available resources for training and supporting older adults who wish to learn technology. OATS recently received a grant from IBM to load software for the visually impaired on desktops at multiple community technology locations that serve seniors.
• OATS has expanded its technology training programs for older adults to over 20 locations citywide. The organization taught 622 class sessions free-of-charge to seniors in 2006, and has developed three levels of curriculum that are taught in an intergenerational format using high school students to co-teach the classes. OATS has launched a digital community for older adults at www.seniorplanet.org to provide a platform online for older adults to share resources, events, and blog commentary.

These initiatives represent significant commitment from the nonprofit, corporate, and philanthropy sectors to help low-income older adults get access to hardware, training, and support as they seek to participate more fully in the digital age.

Recommendations

Lack of affordable broadband access remains is a serious obstacle to overcoming the technology gap for seniors—and is possibly the area where the least progress is being made. Falling prices for desktops and software, along with high-capacity programs such as the Per Scholas Comp2Seniors initiative, are putting computers within reach for even the lowest-income seniors. Training and outreach programs run free-of-charge by OATS and its 20 nonprofit partners around the city are enhancing the skills and knowledge of thousands of older adults each year. But for the approximately 50,000 elderly New Yorkers living alone on less than the poverty threshold of $8980 a year, a $480 annual broadband bill is simply not within reach.

OATS recommends that the City of New York create a mechanism for making free or affordable high-speed Internet access available to low-income senior citizens. Such a measure could be implemented as a government subsidy or voluntary price reduction by service providers, and could be negotiated as part of cable TV franchising agreements. Specifically, the City should:

1. Provide preference for seniors living below the poverty line
2. Provide preference for individuals living alone and those living with mobility disabilities
3. Coordinate the subsidy to link to training, support, and hardware distribution programs that are already serving this population
4. Support the continuation and expansion of training, support, and hardware initiatives for seniors.

If the budget for the Department for the Aging were increased by 2 percent to help pay for a comprehensive program of connecting older adults to technology resources and the Internet, $4.6 million dollars would be available to address this critical problem. Such a program could serve thousands of low-income older adults each year with low-cost or free Internet access, computer training, intergenerational programs, free or low-cost refurbished computers, technical support, and online resources.

Home-based Internet access, which is taken for granted by the vast majority of Americans but is still beyond the reach of most senior citizens, is the linchpin for a broad range of life resources today. It should be emphasized that the purpose of a public technology program for seniors is to leverage the power of technology to help older adults overcome social isolation, improve health information and financial management, and connect to government services.

The City of New York currently provides a range of needed programs for older individuals to ensure their quality of life, including transportation services, home-based nutrition counseling, and employment services. OATS believes that increased access to technology is an important way to enhance and extend the services we currently provide, enabling us to enrich the lives of thousands of vulnerable older adults with a cost-effective program that builds on initiatives currently supported by a broad range of community-based and nonprofit organizations across New York City.

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Carlos Pareja
Education Program Manager, Brooklyn Community Access TV (BCAT)

Video Clip

My name is Carlos Pareja and I manage the education program at Brooklyn Community Access TV just down Fulton Street from here.

Our community producers and our interns are here now taping this event to share with others in our community. Communications binds a community, that’s why we’re here.

Brooklyn is a borough of 2.5 million people of diverse origins, speaking dozens of languages and we at BCAT serve everyone who lives within this great borough.

People come to BCAT from Red Hook, Midwood, Gravesend, Bedford-Stuyvesant and other neighborhoods to use their community media center to create video content for television or to use their multimedia lab to launch an open source internet browser, use a hi-speed T-1 line and work on their video blog, update their resume, their production reels or CVs and build on the knowledge gained from a community learning environment.

And then they’ll go home with some valuable skills and the confidence to enter or re-enter the workforce with a secure feeling that they’re not being left behind. That their neighborhoods will benefit from rigorous build out requirements and effectual oversight.

The fight for broadband must be connected to the media justice movement.

As an access center charged with meeting the media needs of the Brooklyn community, someday we may be loaning out WiFi cell phones with video-capturing capabilities to our community producers to document their neighborhoods. And then they’ll upload the content at some public hot spot to a BCAT server, so they can continue to speak to their community.

Technology and its rapid advancement is a tool, a means for achieving a purposeful end, but what that purpose ends up to be needs to be supported by sound, public-interest policy. That is the role of government. A broadband future where connectivity is based on the principles of universal service is what Brooklyn and NYC’s broadband plan should be.

I thank this committee for taking the time to hear from the people of Brooklyn and the representatives of their community media center.

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Steven Schechter
Director of Government and Community Affairs, Brooklyn Public Library

Video Clip 1: Steven Schechter (NYC Council)

Video Clip 2: Steven Schechter (NYC Council)



Testimony before NYC Broadband Advisory Committee


• Representing BPL Executive Director Dionne Mack Harvin

• Thank members of Committee for providing BPL the opportunity to testify

• BPL recognizes the importance of its role as one of the City’s largest providers of free Broadband access. We know that for many in Brooklyn, we provide the only access to a PC and to the Internet.

• BPL has made a significant investment in new technology over the past several years ensure that we have system that meets the needs of our users – we have replaced every public PC, invested in network infrastructure to improve the reliability of our broadband connection and now provide free WiFi at every location for those with their own wireless devices. Let me talk about some basic facts about our system.

- We provide library service from 59 neighborhood branches, one within walking distance of every Brooklynite, and maintain a network of more than 1000 public PCs

- More than 1 million Brooklynites have an Access Brooklyn Card (ABC), Brooklyn Public Library’s card, which of course allows them to borrow books, but for many, more importantly, sign up for two free 30 minute sessions on a PC with Internet access every day

- Demand for the Internet usage we provide is demonstrated in the strong demand for this service. BPL provided library patrons 160,000 30-minute sessions per month in the most recent quarter – we are on a pace to provide almost 2 million Internet sessions in the Fiscal Year about to end in June.

• Anecdote - Statistics show the demand, but what we see every day at our libraries also shows the strong demand for access to the Internet – almost every morning before we open, and in the evening after we close, staff at the Central Library and at neighborhood libraries reports patrons with their own laptops and other wireless devices outside of our buildings – leaning on fences and sitting on stoops – taking advantage of the WiFi signal that we provide 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

So while many patrons have their own laptops, many can’t afford or don’t want to make the investment in a high-speed internet connection at home. We think this really demonstrates the strong demand for broadband access in Brooklyn.

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Ed Michiels
Marketing Director AdvantageFinacialService.com
Advantage Brokerage, Inc.


Video Clip 7: Ed Michaels (formerly unemployed)



Ed Michiels, Marketing Director
AdvantageFinancialService.com
Advantage Brokerage, Inc.

In response to inquiry of Sewell Chan, NY Times:
Sewell Chan
Reporter | The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street | New York, N.Y. 10036

Re: Ed Michiels Testimony
Re: Broadband hearing - City Council committee meeting Brooklyn 5/23/2007.

Ed Michiels
Marketing Director
AdvantageFinacialService.com
Advantage Brokerage, Inc.

After listening in attendance on 5/23/2007 to the comments of Mr. Thomas Kamber, Executive Director, (O.A.T.S.) Older Adults Technology Services and others; I am compelled to remark on my personal experience as a 911 survivor and recently re-employed Babyboomer.

Broadband access is essential to re-employment research, either personally or through community based programs.

Born in Brooklyn, and living in Brooklyn at the time of 911 here in NYC, and losing my employment in the financial district in lower Manhattan as a 911 survivor, I was employed as a Career Counselor at the 911 crisis center established in Brooklyn, at The Site provided by Goodwill Industies of NY and funded by the HRA dept of NYC. As such I provided services to those like myself who survived this event seeking re-employment.

After the program was closed, I was eligible to be accepted into a Community Program serviced by PACE University’s C.L.O.U.T. program. This program was funded to provide office professionals like myself with an opportunity to upgrade our computer skills, which resulted in a follow up internship and employment at a Fortune 500 (100) company.

That employment was recently terminated as a result of a corporate reorganization decision. As a 55 year old city resident it was necessary to use resources for employment research once again. The facts are the older we are the more challenging re-employment can become. Every resource available is a necessary resource that can impact our city budget by re-employing our citizens. Resources to address re-employment of our citizens is vital to people of all ages, especially those in pre-retirement age to avoid becoming a burden to the city.

The reality of today’s labor market is technology has impacted re-employment job research to the extent that now the NYS Labor dept issues an ATM card to former employees to receive unemployment benefits. That being the case, the city can use this as a resource to identify people who could be eligible for reduced broadband service rates.

In my case I formally had internet dial up service provided by AOL and switched to Time Warner Cable with a program that allowed AOL customers to receive this service for less than $20.00 per month. As this was a reasonable rate I choose to use broadband service from TWC, my cable service provider. The improved internet access improved my ability to reach out to prospective employers and keep in touch with family and friends. Avoiding isolation due to changes in employment is vital to address immediate needs both financially and socially. In today’s competitve economy, when faced with employment research, broadband access is as vital as telephone service.

Reasonable competitive rates should be made available to individuals who would qualify for these rates as negotiated under terms and conditions agreed to by the City Council and Broadband Service Providers.

I would also like to reaffirm the HIGH SCHOOL students who made comments at the hearing, in particular that 1 class, or year of computer training in high school today is inadequate to provide students with the basic skills they need to prepare for college education and lifetime employment. My 3 children have college educations and 2 have Master degrees. The internet broadband access they utilize is 2nd nature.

As programs servicing the community become more internet dependant for delivery of their services, access to broadband service needs to be affordable and accessible to all.

The budget of our public libraries need to be provided a line item resource to facilitate this need in our communities, for both staff and hardware in addition to cost effective residential and business broadband rates.
###

— Posted by Ed Michiels

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Akosua K. Albritton, Technology Columnist for Our Time Press, a Brooklyn newspaper

Video Clip 9: Akosua Albritton (Our Time Press)



I begin by thanking Borough President Marty Markowitz, Councilwoman Gale Brewer and the NYC Broadband Advisory Committee for knowing how important it is to hear from Brooklyn’s families; businesses and nonprofits about their needs for telecommunication upgrade using broadband technology. It is unfortunate that the public hearing is scheduled for 12 noon to 3:00 PM here. After 5 PM, there would be an even larger turnout.

While we’re debating whether broadband infrastructure is necessary, nations and cities across the globe are laying it down, setting up Wi Fi and Wi Max. Since 2000, The Intelligent Community Forum and Polytechnic University present Building the Broadband Economy Conference and Awards. Last week, I met with Julius Timothy, Minister of Economic Development and Planning for Dominica, Dr. Stephan Brennan from The Digital Hub in Dublin, Ireland and Shaun Belle, president of Mt. Hope Housing Co. in The Bronx. Belle of Mount Hope was there because Mount Hope Housing Company was up for the Intelligent Facility of the Year Award. I say Brooklyn must get in the game and in a hurry.

Broadband is high speed, reliable Internet service. It is today’s communication technology advance the way, the telegraph, telephone and TV were in their day. In 2007, we would think it a waste of time to debate whether people need a phone in their homes, businesses or institutions.

Broadband will become just that common and integral in a blink of an eye. It’s happening now. People need fast, reliable Internet service in Brooklyn. Broadband relates to the bandwidth or the capacity for the wire or fiber optics to transmit voice, video and data. Today, people are doing their banking, making purchases, researching and watching videos on the Internet. It’s possible to take college courses, talk over the Internet and connect with friends tens of thousands of miles away. In fact, students in America are making friends with students in Australia and Africa by installing a web cam and microphone to a PC. It’s as if they’re looking at each other through a window. People need broadband because of the use of video to transmit ideas online and real time.

Businesses need websites, email and a variety of social media to stay competitive. Media experts say that major advertisers are cutting their TV advertising budgets because more people are using the Internet as a trusted source for news, information and entertainment. People are using search engines to find products and services the way telephone directories were used in the 60’s and 70’s. Small and large firms need to regularly submit their sites to search engines and consider various web marketing to be found, visited and patronized. Doesn’t this sound familiar? Remember when stores relied heavily on flyer distribution? Now, it’s email advertising.

All neighborhoods in Brooklyn deserve this access—and at a low price. A working family shouldn’t be blocked from getting high speed, wide bandwidth connection. That barrier may keep someone from taking a course to improve her life circumstances or watch streaming video about a medical procedure. New York City Council recently passed a resolution to ensure that households in publicly financed housing will be web-enabled and that the monthly fee for service should be no more than ten dollars.

As for myself, I blog, email advertise, maintain a website, have a My Space page and watch videos on You Tube. I look forward to the next offerings on the Internet.

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Antwuan Wallace, Ph.D. student in policy analysis, New School

Video Clip 22A: Antwuan Wallace (Graduate Student)


Video Clip 22B: Antwuan Wallace (Graduate Student)




Summary

Digital Inclusion (DI) is an important and ongoing policy concern for two reasons: (1) understanding and deconstructing structural barriers low-income, ethnic-minority youth accessing (infrastructure) and using (devices) Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and (2) redressing intergovernmental policy fissures in existing and emerging digital divides. Several arguments are considered to bolster this position.

First, the pending reauthorization of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 has amplified a muted, though ongoing debate between policymakers, analysts, academics and activists about the “digital divide”. US “digital divide” policy now centers on broadband deployment (Litan, 2006; National league of Cities Conference 2006; Crandall and Jackson 2001), especially in poor communities of color (Turner 2005). US public policy choices have reflected assumptions that persistent divides will find remedy through private standard setting that relies on industry self-governance to foster competition in the marketplace driven by technological innovation and consumer choice (Thierer 2000a). As a result, the US federal government’s role in technology-related programmatic approaches and policy solutions for vulnerable segments of the population has spurred the substantive disagreement about the existence of a “digital divide” (Herrmann 2006; Servon 2002; US Department of Commerce 2001).

Second, US cities are firmly establishing themselves as principal parties within the broadband policy sphere. Cities are creating DI through municipal wireless plans that would deliver broadband connectivity to commercial and residential areas. Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath evidence how telecommunication policy is perhaps the new civil rights legislation determing whether working poor communities are to be materially misrepresented or altogether disappeared from policy debates about economic development, electoral politics and civic participation in the digital age. The tenenous realities of race, class, gender, poverty and geographic location frame the US “digital divide” and robustly suggest the need for direct action from policymakers and planners.
DI often includes a mission statement and incentives specifically directed at addressing the varied and multiple constituencies of the “digital divide”. Subsequently, DI may be understood as a municipal response to federal and state governments’ neglect of the “digital divide”.

Third, the theoretical underpinnings of the information society’s “informational mode of development” enable dualism paradigm with spatial flows of capital investment that excludes poor communities and set in motion material consequences for the residentially poor in the United States. Thus, formidable obstacles arise for urban poor residents where the social, cultural and technical emergence of information processes are the core fundamental activity conditioning the effectiveness and productivity. These changes in social and economic realities manifest in the global labor market realignments and international financial flows that affect end-users’ ability to construct an identity and develop social relationships with technology. Wilson’s (1987 and 1996) urban decay analysis maintains that social and economic upheavals continue to greatly affect the emergence of concentration and persistent joblessness in black and Latino communities Simply put, in an informational-driven society the working poor are isolated and separated with less access and the fewest alternatives to meaningful networks.

Finally, compelling research documents unequal ICT access that leaves behind specific constituencies: low-income households, people of color, immigrant populations and youth. Quantitative analysis of the 2003 Current Population Survey (CPS) indicates disparities for poor youth of color. Farlie (2004a) estimates that only slightly more than half of all African-American and Latino children and less than half of all children living in families with incomes less than $30,000 have access to home computer. In comparison, 85 percent of white, non-Latino children and 94 percent of children in families with $60,000 of income have access to home computers. Analysis from the 2001 CPS indicates that only about 1 percent of young people ages 8-25 used the Internet at a community center, compared to 10 percent who use the Internet at libraries and 54 percent who went online at school (Farlie 2004b). Yet, the community center use rate has increased seven-fold since 1998, and African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to access and use ICT in these centers than are their white counterparts. Many working poor communities struggle to locate resources to fund and staff quality programs that provide opportunities with technology to surmount formidable barriers, especially where youth are concerned.

My research preliminarily explores key dimensions of DI planning and implementation. How are current DI policies shaping the ways low-income ethnic-minority youth access and use technology in community centers, do they extend critical networks for these youth and to what extent does DI fill gaps between federal, state and local telecommunications policy?

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Steven Masur
MasurLaw
Lawyer for start-up businesses in New York City


Testimony of Steven Masur
New York City
Broadband Advisory Committee
Jointly with the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President\

May 22, 2007


Masurlaw is a law firm that helps new businesses and business divisions start, grow, chart their future path and execute on it. Over the last 14 years, we have worked with hundreds of early stage businesses and new divisions of larger corporations to help them strategize, do deals, create and protect their intellectual property.

We represent the community of starting businesses in New York.

If we in New York want to be competitive with places like Silicon Valley, Mumbai, or Shanghai, we need cheap widespread broadband access in New York. New York has great colleges and universities. New York has smart people. New York has capital. New York is known worldwide as a desirable place to live. Why don't we have a more vibrant start-up community?

If we care about the future of New York, we need to focus on our pipeline of new businesses. We need to whip up all the good ingredients we have into a froth of new business innovation.

Let's make it EASY for people. Widespread cheap broadband access can help the process.

If people could connect to the internet anywhere in New York City, people could more easily share ideas, work on projects, and research topics of all kinds. A primordial soup of new ideas and interaction would result and would grow exponentially. This is the well from which the ideas that change the world spring.

Interaction and sharing information is what makes New York hum. It's why we are all here. It's the basis of all of our historical success.

Should access to the internet be limited to rich people? Is it only rich people who have good ideas? Why would we want to perpetuate a situation in which only rich people have access to a universal library of information on any topic and the ability to communicate instantaneously?

In an earlier age of our country, J.P. Morgan understood the importance of free access to information. He cared so much about it that he financed the establishment of a network of libraries nationwide. J.P. Morgan was not perfect by any means, but he knew that this was the key to creating a bright future for our country and could prevent it from sliding into a dark age of violence, disease, chaos and mayhem. If you consider the wild west at that time and relate it to the dark ages in Europe and the developing nations of today, you can easily see that our country could have gone in a completely different direction. The loss of the library at Alexandria set not only one group of people, but all of humanity back an incalculable number of years.

Now we have technology that can make knowledge on any topic and communication with anyone on earth instantaneous. Open it up. Grant cheap access. We have free water, let's have free information. Information is our future.

It's a lot cheaper to do this than to create a national network of libraries. Let's do better than JP Morgan.

Now.


Steven Masur
MasurLaw

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