Yesterday was not only a beautiful day weather-wise; but a most informational day Cyberspace-wise. I left Our Cyberplace – Petaluma, and spent four hours mingling with folks at the Marin Broadband Roundtable meeting in Sausalito. In many ways it was a flashback to earlier PetalumaNet (1995), Petaluma CyberCity Roundtable (1998), and North Bay CyberCity Consortium (2000) get-togethers. This gathering of representatives from various telecommunication sectors, sharing their thoughts and viewpoints related to local broadband development policies, issues and concerns covered too much information to be covered, in detail, by one blog. Who were these individuals who came from far and near to brief fellow Cybernauts from Sausalito and Marin County?
Remember Don Means from the days of the Digitial Village Foundation and the chief sparkplug for promoting greater local responsibility for broadband deployment? Don was the guest on my third Tech Corner Internet TV show, produced by Pacific Clearstream Media Group on March 20, 2005. It is still available for viewing 24/7 at http://www.pcmg.tv/techcorner/techcornerreplay.htm
Joining Don as presenters were:
Dan Hillmer, Chair, Marin Telecommunications Agency
Dave Hill, Marin County Chief Information Officer
Martin Nichols, Executive Director, Marin Telecommunications Agency
Dwight Stenbakken, Deputy Exec. Dir., League of California Cities
Dominic DiMare, VP Govt. Relations, Calif. Chamber of Commerce
Denis Rice, Calif. State Bar, Committee on Cyberspace Law
Susan Hildreth, State Librarian of California
Jason Grant and Louis Kalmer, Cisco Systems, Wireless
Ash Dyer, CEO, Phlogisto, Wireless
One bit of information that was new for me was the efforts that are currently taking place at the state level in Sacramento to provide greater broadband services faster, better, cheaper and sooner than current practices. One viewpoint expressed was that the states might possibly be moving faster on shaping new policy regulations sooner than the federal government, in spite of all the debates that are currently taking place in Washington, D.C.
What does this mean for Our Cyberplace-Petaluma? In the words of Virgina Governor, Mark Varner, “we encourage every community to take active responsibility for the design and development of strategies that promote local broadband development.” The Roundtable concept at the local level is essential to achieve this goal. What has taken place at various times, over the past decade, in both Marin and Sonoma Counties should be revived and continued. Governor Schwarzenegger has said, “Telecommunications is in the midst of a revolution. Broadband has become central to the needs of families, the health of our economy and the vitality of our communities.”
On Our Radar Screen: Don Means has been invited to address the Petaluma Technology and Telecommunications Advisory Committee in June. Stay tuned.