A diverse and experienced roster of media leaders headed up this years National Conference for Media Reform, held recently in Minneapolis, Minn.
Three days of panels, workshops and keynote speakers covered current issues in media, including keeping our airwaves accessible and rooted in free speech.
Bill Moyers, Arianna Huffington, Naomi Klein and Dan Rather, Phil Donahue, Amy Goodman and a host of independent journalists, techies and artists all gathered under one roof with a common goal: To protect democracy and freedom of speech, focusing on the role of media and Web-based information exchange.
I attended the conference, as did Jim Carslon of local wireless provider Carlson Wireless. I recently spoke with him about the experience.
Reneau: “Jim, was there anything in particular at the conference that related to your business and our community?”
Carlson: “I attended a number of workshops focusing on several issues which were exciting and informative with regards to communication industries. One workshop titled 'Using Public Airwaves to Build the Future of the Internet' explored ways to use public airwaves to make faster, cheaper wireless Internet accessible to all. It's been rumored that municipal wireless is dead, with the failed attempts of Earthlink in Chicago and San Francisco. In the workshop I attended, lo and behold, there is a scalable, business model that is flourishing in municipal wireless. It was reported by the panel that there are many smaller municipal roll-outs that are successful. They stated that Corpus Christi, Texas, had proven a business model that was feasible and repeatable in many of the U.S. cities, providing free, functional Internet wireless connection, just like the road in front of your house.”
R: “How does this relate to our community?”
C: “Well, we started looking at this when we relocated here a year ago. This area is so challenged with broadband connectivity. With the assistance of a grant and several local donors, including ourselves, we were able to put in connectivity for some of the main areas of public access in Rio Dell (and) some areas of Arcata, such as the community center and plaza areas. Also portions of Eureka such as the library have piggy-backed on that.
R: “What about other communities that are potentially marginalized, such as the Native American communities?”
C: “There have been inroads here locally, in the case of the Hoopa Tribe. They were able to get a grant to bring high-speed service to the school and then begin to extend this to some of the other more rural areas. It's far from supplying their full needs, but it is a good first step from where it was a year ago. The technology side is where a company like Carlson Wireless comes in. In terms of finding (or) creating an affordable, performing, solar power-able and scalable product that can just plug and play. We are trying to bring about the change that is needed to get the infrastructure provided to all the people.”
R: “That kind of access sounds like it could provide a foundation for build-up of community infrastructure.”
C: “Absolutely. For example, cottage industries flourish when you've got this kind of connectivity; education has a chance to leap forward and rural health services can become more efficient. We designed a system several years ago for the Round Valley Indian tribe where they're able to have video connectivity from their outlying clinics to their main headquarters, extending the capabilities of their medical practitioner significantly.”
R: “It's very heartening to hear that there are local companies working towards bridging these gaps in communities. That really helps to build up the population as a whole, in terms of, 'You're only as strong as your weakest link.'”
C: “And interestingly enough, on the way back from the conference, our VP of marketing and sales, Mike Wilson, and I met with one of the major chip manufacturers in Silicon Valley, who believes the time is right to unleash a technology that is a hybrid of WiFi and WiMAX. We had already been moving down this road, so this was great reinforcement for us here at Carlson Wireless. The market requirements of the hybrid technology are designed to enable the next one billion people to get broadband access. This is very exciting for this potential partnership, and we are moving forward on this full-speed.”