March 15, 2011 VIDEOS FROM THE NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COMMUNITY-SCALE BROADBAND
Digital citizenship, access to jobs, the importance of community scale broadband – hear from the experts on these and related topics in the video footage from "Advancing Community Broadband: Transforming Community Economics Through Broadband," a December 7, 2010 symposium co-hosted by the Center for Social Inclusion and the Center for Technology, Innovation and Community Engagement at Columbia University. The symposium took place on Capitol Hill and brought together scholars, practitioners and advocates to discuss strategies for re-envisioning the way we build and use broadband networks. Moving the conversation about broadband beyond the net neutrality debate, the symposium helped draw attention to the role that high-speed Internet can play in promoting equitable and sustainable development across communities and regions. CSI convened the event as part of its ongoing work on community-scale broadband and the need to reframe universal access as a 21st-century racial justice issue.
Watch videos from the National Symposium on Community-Scale Broadband now:
The videos above include:
Highlights from the national symposium on community-scale broadband. A brief overview of the main points from the symposium.
Keynote address: Melissa Bradley. Tides Network CEO and CSI Board Member Melissa Bradley delivers the keynote address, emphasizing the need to address those who remain on the far side of the digital divide. Bradley emphasizes the indispensible role broadband has come to play in both educational and professional environments, stresses the importance of investing in broadband infrastructure development as a foundation for future growth, and highlights the critical role both the government and private investors must play in such build-out.
Introductions (full symposium video, part 1 of 3). Introductions by CSI Project Coordinator Khalil Shahyd, CSI Executive Director Maya Wiley, and keynote speaker Melissa Bradley. Wiley describes CSI’s commitment to racial equity and to supporting broadband infrastructure development as a means of empowering communities of color in the 21st century economy.
Panel 1, “Framing the Discussion on Community-Scale Broadband” (full symposium video, part 2 of 3). This panel explores the ongoing disparities in broadband access, the policy landscape around broadband, and barriers that have hindered the development of community-scale infrastructure and networks. Featuring Nolan Bowie, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Fellow of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University; Jabari Simama, author of Civil Rights to Cyber Rights: Broadband & Digital Equality in the Age of Obama (2009); Sascha Meinrath, Director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative; and Bruce Lincoln, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Center for Technology, Innovation and Community Engagement at Columbia University.
Panel 2, “Community-Scale Broadband Models and Strategy” (full symposium video, part 3 of 3). This panel highlights innovative community-scale projects from around the country and includes reflections from media and policy experts. Featuring Craig Settles, author of Fighting the Next Good Fight: Bringing True Broadband to Your Community; Plinio Ayala, President of Per Scholas; Todd Wolfson, Co-Founder of the Media Mobilizing Project; Jacquie Jones, Executive Director of the National Black Programming Consortium; and Joanne Hovis, President-Elect of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors.
More Resources on the National Broadband Symposium:
Report: The Promise and Challenge of Community Broadband Models: Lessons from the National Symposium on Community-Scale Broadband (March 2011). The reportshines a light on the communities that are being left behind in the digital age and lifts up local innovations that are helping to address ongoing access and adoption challenges, going beyond the question of deployment to a vision of an inclusive and truly universal broadband future.