MICHIGAN MOONSHOT BROADBAND EDUCATIONAL SERIES WEBINARS
Presenters
Ben Fineman, President & Co-Founder, Michigan Broadband Cooperative
Pierette Widmeyer, Director of Marketing & Communications, Merit Network
The Michigan Moonshot team has collaborated with national subject matter experts to write and build a community network broadband toolkit and framework. This step-by-step guide provides local champions with a playbook for understanding and deploying a regional network. Our speakers will provide an overview of the contents of this free resource in addition to outlining tangible next steps in your connectivity journey.
Presenters
Charlotte Bewersdorff, Vice President for Community Engagement, Merit Network
Dr. Johannes Bauer, Quello, Chair for Media and Information Policy, Michigan State University
5 million households with school-aged children in the US lack access to broadband, creating the “homework gap,” which is likely to reinforce socio-economic divides that limit opportunities for households on the margins. Access to and use of the internet has become an integral component of everyday life in the 21st century. It is imperative for communities to leverage broadband network access for education, telemedicine, public safety and workforce development to maintain the quality of life. This presentation will explore the Michigan Moonshot’s approach to crowdsourced broadband availability data. We will also discuss preliminary results from our pilot data collection efforts and the ways in which communities might leverage data collection to better inform their broadband plans.
EVENT DATE:
NOVEMBER 12, 2019
12:00-1:30 P.M.
Presenter
Joanne Hovis, President, CTC Technology & Energy
Investigating the feasibility of broadband requires a financial model. Components of a financial model, such as the inputs and outputs and the ways in which modeling might be used as a tool for business planning will be explored. Various financial models examples will be provided as real-world examples. Pitfalls and best practice guidelines will also be shared.
EVENT DATE:
DECEMBER 4, 2019
12:00-1:00 P.M.
Presenter
Kevin Hayes, Chief Information Security Officer, Merit Network
As a broadband network operator, you are a special and valuable target for attackers the world over.
EVENT DATE:
JANUARY 14, 2020
12:00-1:00 P.M.
Presenter
Chris Ritzo, Program Management & Community Lead, Measurement Lab at Code for Science and Society
Broadband Internet service has become essential for most aspects of modern life, yet we know that the availability and quality of Internet service varies widely by location and price. Accurate data on broadband availability from federal government agencies is supposed to inform our understanding of where federal dollars should be invested to improve service quality and availability equitably across the nation. While this data has flaws and inaccuracies, the FCC is ostensibly working to improve the accuracy of provider data, and other government agencies like NTIA are also working on data and visualizations. While we wait for improvements in official government data, community and industry led initiatives are seeking to collect their own broadband availability, quality of service, speed, and pricing.
This webinar will share information about the publicly available datasets and tools from Measurement Lab (M-Lab), and how they have been used for planning, decision making, and advocacy. M-Lab is an open source, civil society led, global platform for measuring broadband Internet service. In addition to supporting a portion of the FCC’s Measuring Broadband America program since its beginnings, M-Lab’s open source tools and data have been used in similar initiatives on local and regional levels, enabling communities to gather data about broadband in their communities, including the Michigan Moonshot initiative.
EVENT DATE:
MARCH 4, 2020
12:00-1:00 P.M.
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