a world of opportunity: the transformative impact of broadband web access

* The Transforma,ve Impact of Broadband Web Access

The sad thing is that for many of us in this room, access to broadband is not considered a luxury but rather a way of life. The only 9me we find ourselves disconnected for an extended 9me is truly when we happen to be traveling to a tropical island somewhere – and some9mes not even then.

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This map shows that traveling to a tropical island isn’t necessary to be unconnected. Looking at this map of Alabama showing broadband coverage as of December 30, 2011, you have to wonder what the people are doing who are in the areas that are not colored red or dark orange. This is the digital divide in Alabama – and it exists in every state between urban and rural areas – and even in urban areas between high and low income households.

Source: hIp://al.linkamericadata.org/

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This is a comparison of internet connec9on type by urban and rural areas that was released in a study by the US Census Bureau in November of 2011.

This shows that 72% of Urban households have broadband internet connec9ons of various types versus only 57% of Rural households.

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The difference is much more stark when looking at household incomes. 93% of households with incomes of $100,000 or more had broadband access compared to only 43% of households with incomes of less than $25,000.

This was the same Census Bureau study.

I want to read you some words from a speech the FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski , gave on March 3, 2010.

“Today, with more and more job pos9ngs only available online, you simply can’t apply for many jobs without broadband. As schools increasingly use online resources as part of their curriculum, you can’t get a first-‐rate educa9on without broadband. As health informa9on and medical records move online, you can’t fully control your health care without broadband. As the most effec9ve business applica9ons and services increasingly move to the cloud, you can’t run a successful small business without broadband. On a trip to Erie, Pennsylvania last year, a farmer told me that for most of his career he never thought the Internet would maIer to him. But today, he said, you can’t be a farmer without high speed access to the Internet, to check the weather, crop informa9on, and other resources only available online. Today, without broadband, if you can’t be a farmer, a teacher, or a small business owner; you’re at a

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So that was the bad news. Luckily, my job to day is to talk about the good news – the possibili9es of a world where broadband access is as free and available as the air we breathe. What would such a world look like? What would our communi9es look like? Every area of our lives would be impacted. The amazing thing is that the examples I will share with you today – exist today, are in use today, are being u9lized today across our country. But only where broadband access is readily available.

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These are the three main areas I have chosen to talk about today although broadband web access has a tremendous impact in many other areas such as local government, public safety and more.

As some background, I am an entrepreneur who started a web design and strategic marke9ng company in 2006. My world is an online world – it is how I do business and is woven through every aspect of my life. The three area we’ll be looking at today are very special to me and are each sectors my company serves.

One third of my business comes from work I do with communi9es around the state for economic development and community development. I also provide web and marke9ng services to hospitals and to school systems – and partner with our local school system in some neat ways with my company.

It has been interes9ng to look at each of these areas in rela9on to broadband access rather than marke9ng or websites as I prepared this presenta9on – there are so many great things happening that we’ll look at together.

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Let’s start with Economic Development. As I said, one third of the business my company does is helping Alabama communi9es market themselves globally.

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I organized this next sec9on based on survey results of economic development professionals on where they saw the most impact of broadband in economic development.

Craig SeIles, a leading broadband expert, conducted a survey of economic development professionals na9onally in partnership with the Interna9onal Economic Development Council on broadband and economic development. Results were presented a couple of weeks ago at the 2012 IEDC Conference.

Source: hIp://roisforyou.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/sneak-‐peek-‐at-‐broadband-‐and-‐economic-‐development-‐data/

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The top target outcome gained by broadband access in economic development that was selected by 31% of the ED Pros surveyed was broadband’s ability to improve job skills and professional development.

The website shown here is one of many online industrial cer9fica9on and online training resources for industries and workers. Online educa9on available through broadband internet connec9ons allows companies to train and develop their workforce without paying travel costs and losing 9me spend traveling.

Of course the other side of the coin, is that the availability of broadband internet is a major factor looked at by site selectors when choosing a community for a new facility. Communi9es that lack access to broadband are behind the 8 ball when it comes to suppor9ng exis9ng industry with online workforce training, or aIrac9ng new industries to the area.


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The 2nd most popular choice regarding the target outcomes of broadband’s impact on economic development was its ability to support online home based businesses.

The website shown here provides many ideas – including the top 10 Internet Home Business Ideas You Can Start and Run in Your Underwear.

Their ideas include blogging, eBay & Ac9on selling, E-‐commerce, freelance design, or web development, or online video edi9ng, or copywri9ng. The list goes on and on.

Of course the big IF here is that reliable Broadband web access has to be available and it would be helpful to have an educa9on system or local business incubator that provides educa9on opportuni9es that promote this type of entrepreneurship.

Other areas of business and entrepreneurship that rely on broadband:

According to data compiled by the Internet Innova9on Alliance and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, broadband access can save entrepreneurs more than $16,000 in start-‐up costs. (hIp://interne9nnova9on.org/small-‐biz/) by

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Broadband’s ability to help people reach higher educa9on levels was the 3rd most popular target outcome selected by ED pros.

This is very related to the job training that was the top selec9on in the survey.

Just about every college out there today offers online educa9on from earning a GED, to a bachelor’s degree or beyond.


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Isn’t it interes9ng that the three out of the top five ways broadband can impact economic development are related to access to online educa9on and training?

19% of ED Pros thought broadband’s ability to help transi9on to a different career was a top target outcome.

Shown above is a resource that allows people to take an online skills assessment and find careers that are a good match. There are countless resources for similar skills assessments online.

Source: hIp://dolchallenge.ideascale.com/a/dtd/19375-‐5847

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And last but not least, 5% of ED Pros thought broadband’s ability to help people find a job was a top target outcome.

If you factor in lack of digital literacy in addi9on to lack of broadband web access, the ability to find a job is extremely limited. Many companies no longer accept paper applica9ons. Walmarts online applica9on takes 30 minutes to an hour to complete according to their website – and videos are provided for job seekers which of course require broadband to watch. Job seekers are using public libraries as their main link to broadband – hoping that a computer will be available for several hours as they search and fill out applica9ons.

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Moving on to the impact broadband has on healthcare.

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Let’s start with a fairly common impact area of broadband in healthcare. This is the website of Lawrence Medical Center in Moulton, Alabama, the county seat of Lawrence County – but a small community of less than 3,500 people.

Lawrence Medical Center has a state of the art MRI, but as a rural hospital, it is difficult to provide both the cuong edge equipment and the full staff of physicians for reading the scans. Lawrence Medical has technology that can allow the scans to be taken by highly trained radiologists, and then sent via internet as digital files so the team of over 30 physicians at Radiology of Huntsville, a partner of the hospital, can provide 24/7/365 readings of the scans.

This has provided cuong edge technology within a rural county, as well as the power of a full staff of physicians from a partnering group in a large city, so that residents can have extremely high quality scans and accurate readings. Coun9es that don’t have this technology, and before the broadband access, residents of rural coun9es would have to travel a distance to get these services or wait days for scans to be sent, delivered, read, and returned.

Again, this is a more and more common example of the impact of broadband in healthcare.

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A therapy department in a rural area in Washington state was staffed with a single physical therapy assistant (PTA). The issue was that in the state of Washington, a pa9ent needs to be seen by a Physical Therapist (a PT) every 5th visit. A PT was driving a few hours from Oregon to Washington, was9ng a good bit of their professional 9me driving – while driving up the expense of the visit.

According to this blog ar9cle, “A telehealth solu9on was put in place to eliminate this wasted 9me and expense. The way it works is the PTA brings the pa9ent to the gym and calls the PT via Telehealth. Once the connec9on is completed, the PTA gives a synopsis of what is happening with the pa9ent, what the concerns are, and the PT can ask ques9ons or observe part of the therapy session that day. The PT then documents the visit and makes recommenda9ons as needed.”

Broadband is a requirement for this.

This blog ar9cle can be found at hIp://www.infinityrehab.com/blog/2012/01/25/infinity-‐rehab-‐advances-‐pa9ent-‐care-‐with-‐telehealth/

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According to the Kentucky P20 Innova9on Lab website, this telehealth program provides evidence-‐based psychosocial services for children and families in rural and remote areas of Appalachia Kentucky using telehealth technologies (videoconferencing, videophones, telephone, Internet).

Children and families in Kentucky are vastly underserved – approximately 75% of children diagnosed with developmental, behavioral, and emo9onal problems are not receiving the appropriate services in their schools or communi9es.

This problem is exacerbated in rural Appalachia where there is a shortage of treatment providers to provide these needed specialized services (Kentucky Department of Educa9on, 2006).

Source: hIp://p20.educa9on.uky.edu/labs/telehealth-‐lab/

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Telehealth is being used to bring 24-‐hour emergency stroke treatment via the web to rural areas in Georgia (as seen in this ar9cle) and many other places.

These kinds of internet or phone based telehealth services are popping in up nearly every area of healthcare today including allergy, anesthesia, cardiology, den9stry, emergency medicine, family prac9ce, infec9ous diseases, internal medicine, and just about every other specialty.

Source: hIp://www.gpb.org/news/2011/09/23/help-‐for-‐stroke-‐pa9ents

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Moving beyond the telehealth capability to speed delivery of informa9on to physicians or specialists – or even connect pa9ents and physicians for direct consulta9ons remotely, things in healthcare delivery are star9ng to get very interes9ng. In the UK, falls are a leading cause of injury-‐related death and hospitaliza9on in people aged 65 years, crea9ng a burden on the healthcare system in Australia as the popula9on ages.

According to the case study on this program released by the Na9onal Broadband Network in the United Kingdom, a General Prac99oner (GP) or other health professional can conduct a one-‐on-‐one consulta9on to develop a tailored exercise regime. This is delivered as a dance video game via an in-‐home television equipped with a video camera.

The gaming technology can detect and respond to human movement. The camera records sessions so health professionals have a database char9ng progress over 9me. Health professionals can also conduct in-‐home consulta9ons via a video conference over broadband. This program is currently on clinical trial at a nursing home in Sydney, Australia

This case study can be read at: hIp://www.nbnco.com.au/news-‐and-‐events/case-‐studies/case-‐study-‐neura-‐healthcare.html

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This is a blog by Leah Rohlson, the head of FACES Founda9on in Portland, Oregon, a group that provides cler palate surgeries in the remotest villages of Peru and the Amazon. She says in her blog: “I’m envisioning a new solu9on where pa9ents can go through therapy without having to connect with a therapist every day, week, or even month. They would have a course of treatment (videos, sound matching, vocabulary) that would be pre-‐programmed on some sort of app or video (modules formulated sort of like RoseIa Stone). The pa9ent (especially rural pa9ents) could go through the modules and then, every month or two (depending on their remoteness) could connect via the Internet with a therapist. The therapist could then assess their progress based on the app and recommend a further course of treatment. This could be to go back and re-‐do past modules, or go ahead and con9nue to the next modules. This way, the pa9ent could prac9ce and prac9ce without taxing the 9me and resources of the stretched-‐too-‐thin specialist. If something like this existed, it would solve the problem off too few speech therapists who have too liIle 9me. It would be especially benefit rural popula9ons, but the app/videos could be used as a tool for prac9ce for anyone.” We are at a point where imagina9on is running wild, the technology is available,

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And finally, let’s look at educa9on which to me has the most exci9ng opportuni9es available. Of course I may be biased. I have been very ac9ve with our local school system, serving on the School Founda9on board raising money for classroom technology and establishing a partnership with a high school class I helped found that teaches high school students how to be the hands on marke9ng department for the school system primarily through social media, blogging, photography, and video produc9on.

It is indeed a passion and I can’t wait to show you the next few slides.

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With broadband access, and the accompanying technology, students can literally connect to other students and people around the world. There are a mul9tude of online resources to make this easy, such as ePals.com which makes it easy to search and connect classes and students by loca9on, language, or age.

Source: hIp://www.epals.com/

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Collabora9ve projects are available to join – or you can create your own. These can be searched by subject or age.

This is one project I found on this site – a social studies project:

Research and problem solving go into this geography game where classes exchange clues about their loca9on while trying to figure out the other classes’ whereabouts.

In this collabora9ve project, Mystery Skype Loca9on, students use their research skills to create a PowerPoint presenta9on, as well as answers to 10 ques9ons about their loca9on. Students then meet online, via Skype, with a class in a mystery loca9on who has done the same. They ask and answer ques9ons during the 20 minute Skype session and use their geography and problem solving skills to determine where their partner class is located. Arerwards, students can ask general ques9ons to further their knowledge of one another and the areas where they live.

Talk about a great way to learn about the world you live in and actually get to meet people in real 9me to share ideas and compare similari9es and differences!


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You can also search for another classroom to connect with – searching by country, number of students, language, age, and even how you would like to connect – either with Email, Skype or Video.

For example, the boIom right lis9ng on the screen reads:

I'm the Media Specialist in a K-‐5 school. Our first grade class is currently studying communi9es and is interested in communica9ng with a rural classroom to compare and contrast community life, tradi9ons, family life, geography, etc... Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Think about the impact on student engagement and how the world can come alive when broadband allows interac9ons like this that make the walls of a classroom fall away.


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Broadband paves the way for more effec9ve teachers by connec9ng them to great ideas and resources.

This is Promethean Planet – the first paragraph says “Created by teachers for teachers, Promethean Planet is a unique teaching, sharing, and support community – your place to connect, create, and change the classroom!

Promethean is a manufacturer of interac9ve smartboards – technology that can integrate a variety of tools – including internet access. This is one of many sites available for teachers to share technology based ideas and lesson plans.

Source: hIp://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-‐us/

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Teachers can search for interac9ve lessons by topic, grade, language, or search term. You can also search for lessons that meet Alabama’s course of study.


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This par9cular lesson teaches students about the parts of a plant – including a variety of different interac9ve lessons that include allow students to drag and drop answers, click to learn more, or follow links to videos online that may be produced by scien9sts and provide more in-‐depth informa9on.


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This par9cular company provides subscrip9on or purchased resources that can be used on computers, tablets, and smart phones.

One of the high schools in my community uses A.D.A.M. Interac9ve Anatomy sorware.

It is the best thing to performing an autopsy but with no blood and no actual dead body.

You can literally dive into any area of the body and see all systems, all parts of systems and how they work. Even their free video giving a preview is incredible – I urge all of you to look this up on Ventura’s website.

Think of these kinds of resources and the impact of providing them to kids in every community, in every classroom. Think of how much more you can learn with interac9vity. Our na9on is lagging other countries in science and math literacy – what if our classrooms used tools like this every single day to teach our students? The tools are there. The technology is there. The broadband access is not.

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In 2010, Alabama made na9onal news with its ACCESS program which wired every high school in the state to allow for distance learning. This brought more AP classes, foreign language classes, and other classes to rural areas where there may not have been enough students to hire a full 9me teacher for these types of classes. This par9cular video screenshot shows coverage of Alabama’s ACCESS program on CNN.

Distance learning can help level the playing field for students in rural areas.

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HudsonAlpha in Huntsville, AL, developed a free iPhone app that gives students a 3D view inside three different types of cells: animal, plant, and bacteria. You can zoom in and out and learn about the various parts of the cell.

You can use your finger to tap on parts of the cell to select and zoom in on that par9cular organelle. Each organelle comes with a name and a short descrip9on of its func9on in the cell.

This app was listed on Apple’s top 10 free educa9on apps this year and also was just put on the top smart phone app list by the Gene9c Engineering and Biotechnology News.

Many schools that can’t afford a 1:1 program where every student gets their own computer, netbook, or tablet, allow students to bring their own devices to school. Many students, including those in rural or low income areas, may have a smart phone and be able to take advantage of videos and apps for learning – if mobile broadband is available.

Source: hIp://hudsonalpha.org/icell-‐app-‐featured-‐best-‐list-‐science-‐apps

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Let’s take a moment to talk about Digital Literacy, every bit as important as reading literacy and math literacy these days. Digital literacy means teaching students the language of technology – how to use different types of technology, how to u9lize technology to solve problems and find answers.

How to eliminate fear of technology and bring in curiosity so that there is a natural comfort with using technology to unlock the solu9ons to problems and to explore the world.

Achieving digital literacy means geong to the point where you forget to concentrate on the steps of using technology and begin to be lost in the explora9on of what it unlocks – very similar to reading literacy being the point at where you get beyond the mechanic and rules of reading and spelling and comprehension to losing yourself in the world described in a book.

Because of the lack of broadband access, we have a great deal of digital illiteracy – especially in rural communi9es or low income communi9es. This type of illiteracy is every bit as limi9ng as reading illiteracy – affec9ng the ability to search for and apply for jobs or to develop the skills required for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

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Yes, absolutely, digital literacy + broadband + innova9ve educa9on means that we can produce students who truly are prepared for tomorrow’s jobs – including careers in math and science. There’s a whole other level to this which starts affec9ng economic development and jobs crea9on to if you consider the impact on entrepreneurship.

The first paragraph in this blog by Young Entrepreneur states: One of the fantas9c things about the internet is that there is no such thing as age discrimina9on when it comes to being successful online.

Let me share a couple of stories with you – from the collec9on of 27 young entrepreneurs this ar9cle shares.

Source: hIp://hudsonalpha.org/icell-‐app-‐featured-‐best-‐list-‐science-‐apps

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JulieIe Bindak created Miss O and Friends, a website for girls, by girls, when she was 10 years old. In 2009 (age 19) her company was worth $15 million.

Oh yeah, and she also published her first book at age 16 and sold over 120,000 copies.

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This is Kevin Sproles – he started building websites at age 16. By age 25 he had coded and marketed one of the top award-‐winning e-‐commerce solu9ons available and had over 100,000 customers using his sorware.

Anyone feel inadequate yet?

These are just two stories – you are all already familiar with the young founders of Google, Mashable, and other successful online companies that have been responsible for crea9ng hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Internet entrepreneurship can be done from any community – as long as there is broadband access.

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This is a young lady I met when she was a senior in High School. She already had two business ventures under her belt by the 9me I met her.

• She designed and sold 400 t-‐shirts online as Freshman in High School

• As a junior in High School, she imported clothing from Vietnam and sold it online

• Think back to our first sec9on about the impact of broadband on economic development related to star9ng home based businesses. She did this twice before she graduated from high school.

This young lady is going to go very far. I only hope she will return to start her business in Decatur when she graduates from college so our community will benefit from the jobs she will create.

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I firmly believe that one of the main keys to ensure a bright future for our country is the establishment of reliable broadband access for every community, the aIainment of digital literacy by every student in our schools, and the abolishment of the digital divide in our country, in every community.

The stories I shared with you today are so hopeful and paint an incredible opportunity for us in our communi9es that can really be transforma9ve.

However, these stories can’t be universal reali9es un9l broadband is universal.

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a world of opportunity: the transformative impact of broadband web access

Economy & Finance