Friday, December 09, 2005
Earlier this week, I attended a meeting of the Indiana Rural Development Council. I heard the inspiring story of Scottsburg, IN, as told by Mayor Bill Graham. Scottsburg risked losing business when telecommunications companies declined to provide broadband service to this small community.
Despite being only thirty miles from Louisville, the people of Scottsburg were told that the only way to bring broadband to the town was by constructing an expensive fiber optic loop around the town.
Taking matters into his own hands, the mayor figured out how to get his town hooked up. In the first year, they projected they would get 100 accounts. Five times that many people signed up. Earlier this year, the PBS show NOW highlighted Scottsburg's story. Read the transcript.
In October, the Wireless Internet Institute announced the winners of the first-ever Wireless Communities Best Practices Awards, and Scottsburg won one of the awards. Read more.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
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Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
Wireless Scottsburg
