WORKSHOP SESSION SIX
MAPPING AND UTILIZING COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Moderator:
Rika Welsh, Community Media Consultant

Presenters:
Richard Turner, Montgomery Community Television
Andrew Afflerbach, Columbia Telecommunications Corp.
Sascha Meinrath, CUWiN
Robin Chase, Boston Mayoral Wireless Taskforce/Meadow Networks

Community Broadband Initiatives
Andrew Afflerbach

There is a digital divide in communities across the nation, and corporate solutions are not capable of responding to community needs - only those of their shareholders.
Facilities need to add mobile components, and satellite facilities to ensure their communities have true access to content distribution systems.
IP based technologies should be used whenever and wherever possible - open source models cut the need for costly IP support, maintenence and content creation services.
Bandwidth must be increased through the creation of neighborhood networks, net neutrality legislation, and municipal broadband services.
Visibility for content schedules and content itself must be increased in program guides and search engines.

Changes on the Horizon for Content Distribution and Consumption
Sascha Meinrath

Wireless broadband access is becoming the overriding medium for communication and content distribution.
The next decade will feature a revolution in how media is distributed, consumed and created.
Content will be targeted to people and social networks rather than geographically.
ISP's are feeling increasingly threatened by community broadband technology...and are therefore building networks that serve their billable moments in terms of broadband access, rather than serving community needs, individuals or person-to-person communication.

Municipal Broadband
Robin Chase

Boston is currently examining its community IP needs, and may soon recommend a municipal broadband authority be established.
Benefits would include an immediate increase in the availability of services to everyone in the community.
Rates would be fixed, and not subject to inflation through the use of artificial scarcity.

New Wireless Distribution Benefits
Richard Turner

Creating content for wireless distribution is not very different from any other method of content creation.
The final step is transmitting your content over wireless broadband systems, for use in traditional computing settings or through portable devices.
Demonstrated creating, uploading and distributing video content through a wireless modem connected to a portable video server and viewed using his son's Play Station Portable unit.

This was one of the more politically charged workshop sessions, especially for those proponents of community broadband services. Some incredibly thought-provoking material was presented, especially concerning the staggering amount of "dark fiber" the telecoms and cable industries are keeping dormant in order to create an environment of artifcial scarcity.
The problem of bandwidth is a persistent bugaboo, though. The requirements of uncompressed video are enormous - but there is hope.
The continued creation of bit-torrent like distribution services, which utilize a cloud of servers to hold and distribute fractions of content over a broad base of network systems could very well be the key in helping make bandwidth usage much less harsh. Advances in improving the efficiency of data transmission could also help.

Most of us who had a least a basic understanding of the technology agreed that content distribution was approaching a universal IP model. We also agreed that terestrial cable distribution was going to be around for a good, long while, too. The important thing was moving our centers to a position that allows us to take advantage of these new promising technologies, many of them not costly, and IP-based.