What broadband access means to rural areas such as ours

Author:

Sean McLaughlin

Date:

16 Apr 2009

Rural America includes over sixty million Americans, about twenty percent of the population living over areas that equal eighty percent of the land. Land and water are the predominant features of rural communities with local cultures and economies that grow and develop in response to each unique place.

Representing most of the land and water resources, rural communities are essential for the well being of our nation and interdependent with the eighty percent of our population that live in non-rural communities. At the same time, remoteness and isolation challenge rural people who are more likely to be poor, undereducated and unhealthy. Of the 250 poorest counties in the United States, 244 are rural. So the promise and opportunity of new communications technologies to improve health, education and public safety for rural communities are particularly important to our nation.

A collaboration sparked by the Media and Democracy Coalition and kindled by the Center for Rural Strategies has created a new national voice called the Rural Internet and Broadband Policy Group. This Rural Policy Group has broad participation from across the nation and includes two organizations from the innovative Redwood Coast region of California, broadband media access provider Access Humboldt, and the California Center for Rural Policy based at Humboldt State University.

Four basic principles are being advanced by the Rural Policy Group:

1. Communication is a fundamental human right;

2. Rural America is diverse;

3. Local ownership and investment in the community is the priority; and,

4. Network neutrality and open access are vital.

Already, the Rural Policy Group has released a treatise for the Rural Assembly and filed strong comments with the Federal Communications Commission, the US Department of Commerce – NTIA, National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the US Department of Agriculture – Rural Utility Service (RUS) program.

The unique and beneficial connections that rural communities have with land and geography also bring challenges of remoteness and isolation that broadband communications can help to address. The Rural Policy Group noted that "Broadband is no longer a luxury but a vital service necessary to fully participate in the nation’s democracy, economy, culture, and society."

Further, "Absentee-ownership of broadband infrastructure and service has failed to serve rural communities." And, "Local ownership of broadband infrastructure and service can address problems ignored by absentee-owners such as lack of broadband access, slow speeds, limited (if any) provider choice, open access, training and adoption of technology, data collection, and aggregation of demand."

Specific needs identified for rural broadband include: locally-owned infrastructure; assistance in technology adoption; accurate data on service availability and adoption; and, uniform and transparent federal policies.

From the Redwood Coast of California, Access Humboldt is playing a critical role by linking local, regional and national efforts. As a community based developer of broadband media access resources for the County of Humboldt and the cities of Eureka, Arcata, Fortuna, Rio Dell, Ferndale and Blue Lake, Access Humboldt is developing local fiber and wireless broadband network connections, cable TV channels, and a next generation digital community media center. Ongoing projects include Digital Rio Dell, Access Humboldt Libraries, and Digital Eureka – which are all community broadband collaborations with public, private and non-profit partners.

Digital Redwoods is a new regional initiative being launched by Access Humboldt with College of the Redwoods and other partners throughout the region (including Del Norte, Trinity and Mendocino Counties). Digital Redwoods promises to build new community broadband media networks for public, education and government purposes. Collaborating with national rural efforts, the prospects for broadband innovation promise to make the Digital Redwoods project a leading outpost of the next frontier. More info at: http://accesshumboldt.net.

Sean McLaughlin is a member of the Redwood Technology Consortium and serves as executive director of Access Humboldt whose mission is "Local Voices Through Community Media." He is a ZeroDivide Fellow, an award winning media access developer, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Communications Democracy and The Ink People Center for the Arts.