Washington, D.C.'s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) hosted its second community broadband summit, October 27th, at the Deanwood Recreation Center and Library. The event was a town hall-style meeting where OCTO's Bryan Sivak announced the city's receipt of Federal broadband stimulus dollars, and Dr. Jonathan Guevarra, CEO of D.C. Community College, discussed the school's role in closing the city's digital divide. Sivak outlined the city gov't's strategy for increasing residents' access to broadband & technology by forging partnerships with the private sector.
The summit began with Sivak's keynote address, followed by the introduction of representatives from non-profit organizations addressing some aspect of universal broadband access in the District, including One Economy. One Economy is a NPO focused on increasing digital literacy and broadband adoption in underserved communities. The most personally intriguing of the featured guests was a neighborhood wi-fi network venture underway in the Bloomindale section of Northeast D.C.. The network -- which utilizes a 'mesh' design of low-powered access points served by the city's fiber optic network -- is based in the Big Bear Cafe and provides free wi-fi Internet access to Bloomingdale residents within range of an access point. The venture is financed by contributions from neighborhood residents and businesses.
The summit recessed for us to meet in small groups for discussion. Each group consisted of public- and private-sector entrepreneurs, citizens, and activists. In my group, talk centered on affordable access to broadband and PCs, digital literacy, and adoption. There were three seniors from Ward 7 who each cited the costs of residential broadband service as a huge obstacle to improving their daily lives. As I recall, two of them had taken classes on using PCs and the Internet and were quite familiar with several features and sites, including e-banking and YouTube. They all spoke openly and passionately about having the ability to use video conferencing and shop online.
When the summit re-convened in the rec center's multi-purpose room, Dr. Guevarra spoke about how technology can influence the way we work, play, and live, and the importance for those of us in the tech sector to consider human and social factors in our ventures. I believe many of us get so caught up with inventing or innovating a magic bullet that we lose sight of simple things we can do that have value to people. While Ignition:CC was created with this principle in mind, it was reassuring to see Sivak and OCTO drive the point home by engaging the community as partners rather than consumers.
