Government Technology

In the United States, more than 100 cities have publicly-owned broadband networks, according to a comprehensive map that plots US cities with publicly owned citywide wired networks.

Developed by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), a nonprofit economic and community development consultancy that advocates for community broadband, the map is the first of its kind to track community owned broadband access nationwide. The map shows communities that offer fiber-to-the-home networks on a citywide basis to residents and businesses and locally owned government cable networks.

More states and cities are announcing “mobile-first” strategies, but what does that really mean?

Seattle may take another shot at municipal broadband. Since the recent failed partnership between the city and Gigabit Squared, the future of broadband in Seattle has been up in the air.

Aside from municipally-run network, recently-appointed Chief Technology Officer Michael Mattmiller noted that the city should also consider the option of public-private partnerships and “leverage our assets to go out and deliver commercial Internet,” which presumably means finding a way to connect residents using the city’s miles of dark fiber.

“At this point we have to consider all options,” Mattmiller told the Seattle Times. “We have to look at, No. 1, how are we reducing barriers to competition, knowing that the marketplace is hungry for more broadband?”

Technology proponents don’t need to make a case for the role of computer science in tomorrow’s job market. Today, it’s self-evident in the economy and daily life.

Tech advocates, however, are calling on educators to prepare students by institutionalizing computer science in core curriculums.

On the front lines of this campaign is Code.org. The advocacy group, which offers educational tools for teachers and students, lobbies to yoke computer science alongside traditional mathematics and science courses at all grade levels. T

he organization gained notoriety in 2013 with its Hour of Code campaign, which, since its launch in December, has drawn more than 38 million students who’ve participated in the campaign’s coding activities -- with 10 million, its initial goal, in the first three days of the campaign.

Roxanne Emadi, a promotional strategist for Code.org, says despite technology's pervasiveness there is great need for educators to distinguish between computer science, the study of how computers work, from technology training, where students learn software programs to accomplish tasks.

"We think there's a big difference between knowing how to use technology and knowing how to create technology,” Emadi said.

Against the tug of today’s digital economy, New York and Chicago public libraries are experimenting with two projects to take the Internet to the people by loaning Wi-Fi hot spots like books.

The Knight Foundation, a journalism and civic technology philanthropy, has awarded $500,000 to the New York Public Library system and $400,000 to the Chicago Public Library system to accomplish the task. New York and Chicago libraries, which represent two of Knight’s 19 winners, will attempt to bridge their city's Internet access gap with the hot spots in different ways.

Starting in New York, a pilot called “Check Out the Internet” will start in September to offer Wi-Fi hot spots to the public on an annual basis. It’s hoped that 10,000 low-income households will take advantage of the free service, thereby improving New York broadband statistics that report 27 percent of households are without access, according to a Knight release.

In Chicago, the hot spots are to be distributed under the “Internet to Go” project, which, instead of basing distribution primarily on income level, will make hot spots available based on neighborhood Internet usage stats -- areas with low Internet adoption will take precedence.

Technology is becoming the new religion, and the dogma is just as impenetrable. Issues of personal privacy, social equality, and economic policy are each day bound tighter to outcomes in the digital world.

As technology becomes a progressively more integral part of daily life, the stakes are raised in equal measure.

The broadband market is changing quickly, and America’s emotional investment in tomorrow’s winners and losers grows ever more entrenched. Google is disrupting the increasingly concentrated broadband market with Fiber, a brand of gigabit networks being built in Kansas City; Austin, Texas; and Provo, Utah.

Being an innovative tech giant, flush with cash, and also a newcomer to the broadband market is allowing Google to play by a different set of rules, and the existing providers are paying close attention. Fiber offers customers connection speeds sometimes 150 times faster than what they were getting, and at just $70 a month. The idea of being freed from the incumbent providers has captured the attention of the public at large, as thousands beg for Google to build in their cities.

In February, Google announced 34 cities where Fiber may build next, but experts are unsure of Google’s commitment to becoming a force that does more than just agitate the market. In the few areas Google does operate, though, they are forcing competition where previously there was none, and that was probably Google’s intention from the start, Mastrangelo said.

“That’s why Google excites people -- it gives them a choice and a really fantastic service,” she said. “It’s something that isn’t available from the competition, so they have a tremendous competitive advantage in the markets that they’ve entered.”

Town officials of Oyster Bay (NY) likely aren’t scoring points with transparency advocates after clamping down on how the town’s information is released through social networks.

But legal experts believe the more cautious approach is a good one for many local governments.

The Long Island town revised its information technology policy to prohibit employees from communicating official documents through social media applications without prior authorization, according to Newsday.

Although the move may slow interaction between residents and the town, Chuck Thompson, general counsel and executive director of the International Municipal Lawyers Association, felt the decision might help address one of the biggest issues local governments are currently struggling with -- disclosure requirements. For example, if a local government has a bond issue outstanding and sends information out in a way that might get to one investor before another, Thompson believes the US Securities and Exchange Commission may view that as a violation.

That's just one concern in a litany of other privacy laws and limitations a municipality may be subject to on both the state and federal levels. “There is good reason for a local government to control release of its information,” Thompson said. “Not so much to restrict the dissemination of the information, but to insure that it is disseminated properly.”

Residents of the Big Apple will have an easier time finding New York City’s laws online, under new legislation proposed by a handful of city council members.

Int. 149 requires New York City to post a complete copy of its city charter, administrative code and official rules on NYC.gov, Gotham’s official website. The data must be presented in a searchable format and updated regularly.

Sponsored by Council Member Brad Lander, who represents the 39th Council District in Brooklyn, the bill is a response to concerns that finding municipal laws are some of the most difficult civic information to find online.

For years state governments have partnered with publishers to update and sift through their jumble of constantly changing legal codes, charging fees for any annotations, section titles, chapter summaries -- and almost every alteration to make the texts coherent and digestible. But activists and civic hackers have argued that citizens are entitled to all law -- however it’s packaged.

For the state of Wyoming, high-speed broadband Internet access is more than a matter of convenience.

“This is part of the governor’s initiative to increase quality of life,” said the state’s CIO, Flint Waters. “We want to diversify our economy. In order to continue to expand the workforce and keep Wyoming students in the state, we have to increase broadband capacity.”

With access points located in eight communities and anchored at schools or state offices, the network will create more redundancy and reliability. Gov Mead’s (R-WY) proposal is intended to enhance private investment in broadband infrastructure without fear of the state as competition.

The state signed master service agreements with all statewide Internet Service Providers (ISP) interested in being a part of the network. Advanced Communications Technology (ACT), a company based in the state, was awarded two of the 100-gigabit backbone links.

CenturyLink, a national ISP, was awarded six of the 100-gigabit backbone lines. The $15.8 million initiative, projected to finish by Aug 30, 2015, is mostly backed by the state’s general fund with some education funding where the network is linked to school traffic.

A Q&A with Nebraska State Senator Dan Watermeier (R-Syracuse). State Sen. Dan Watermeier doesn’t have the kind of professional foundation most people would consider “technology-savvy.”

He’s a farmer by trade. But don’t let his background in agriculture fool you -- State Sen Watermeier is very much up on the latest tech trends and how they are going to impact the Cornhusker State’s future.

State Sen Watermeier explained his focus is on developing policy that enables Nebraska state departments to become more efficient through data-sharing and other high-tech amenities. And while he’s aware of some of the bigger national tech issues such as drone use and data privacy, he’s a firm believer in modernizing his state’s operations through technology before tackling other subjects.

Among other projects in innovation and data sharing between government agencies, the senator mentioned an upcoming next-generation 911 study that’s being done by the Nebraska Public Service Commission. He sees his biggest tech policy challenge in data security.