Rural Ecommerce Resources for
the Montana Association of Counties
http://lone-eagles.com/maco.htm
Presentation Feb. 12, 2007 for the Montana Association of Counties (MAC0) Economic Development Committee:
"Empowering Montana's Rural Entrepreneurs with Ecommerce Support
Systems"
The Internet has unleashed an explosion of entrepreneurial creativity
worldwide. We have the opportunity to build on the best successes, as they
emerge, from global sources. Because rural entrepreneurs are limited by the
size of the local consumer base their level of success increasingly depends on
their ability to market to the one billion consumers on the Internet, with
another six billion coming.
This session will present online Ecommerce and Telework curriculum resulting from years of USDA and USDOL demonstration projects, including rural community action plans for raising local ecommerce awareness and strategies for generating local ecommerce support systems. New easy-to-learn, low-cost rural Ecommerce tools and techniques have dramatically enhanced what’s possible for rural Entrepreneurs.
Biography for Frank Odasz
Born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1952, Frank Odasz has been a carpenter, oil
field roughneck, dude ranch manager, college professor and is now a "Lone
Eagle" - that is, an independent instructional entrepreneur. Coming to Dillon
in 1985 as faculty at UMW, he founded the Big Sky Telegraph network in 1988 -
linking one-room school teachers as one of the first rural online educational
networks.
Specializing in fast-track Internet training for rural, remote, and indigenous learners for the last 20 years, Frank has traveled over a million miles presenting at national and international conferences on online learning, community networking, and rural Ecommerce.
The
Montana Choice Demonstration Project
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-choice.htm Three years presenting
Rural Ecommerce Success Stories across Montana for
a U.S. Dept. of Labor demonstration project. This uniquely Montanan project
has generated extensive resources and community-lead activities for generating
individual web-based self-employment, community strategic action plans,
community mentoring programs, and more.
The
Montana Choice Process
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-choice-2005.htm
Common Sense first steps recommended for
rural community leadership supported by extensive new training resources
included in this resource listing.
Best Lone Eagle Resources
http://lone-eagles.com/future-proofing.htm
Dillon’s Web-Based Businesses and
Visions for the Future
Making It Happen in Dillon, Montana
http://lone-eagles.com/dillon.htm
A review of the history of Internet innovations in Dillon, Montana.
Net makes rural Americans less isolated
A Montana town (Dillon) struggles to reconcile Old West values with the
new Net economy
http://lone-eagles.com/dillonarticle.htm A front page article in the
Silicon Valley Newspaper on Dillon, MT.
Dillon’s Businesses on the Web
http://lone-eagles.com/dillonbusdirectory.htm
Many businesses do more business via Internet than
through their stores in town.
Montana’s Ecommerce Success Stories
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-successes.htm
More and more Montana businesses are enjoying a return on their investment getting their products and services advertised via the Internet
Opportunities for State Support of Rural Ecommerce
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-suggestions.htm
Other articles of interest from Lone Eagle Consulting, Dillon, Montana
The Power of All of Us? The eBay Lesson for Community
Development
http://comtechreview.org/winter-2004-2005/000261.html
What is Community Networking; And Why You Should Care
http://www.comtechreview.org/fall-2005/000347.html Many related
links are listed in the overall publication.
Community Networking Hits Media Mainstream (Almost)--
And Makes Its Own News (4 pages)
http://lone-eagles.com/mainstream.htm
"Reaching the Tipping Point for the New Generation of Community Networks"
http://lone-eagles.com/tipping-point.htm (9 pages)
Creating People-Centered Community Knowledge Networks
http://lone-eagles.com/smart.htm
A self-quiz for rural communities recommended for rural leaders as a
tool to begin discussions on how best to use the Internet intelligently.
Spring 2006 CTC VISTA Digest
http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/digest
Contains the following two articles by Lone Eagle Consulting
Peer-to-Peer Social Networking; The Next Big Thing
http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/digest/?q=node/67
Empowering Americans: CTC VISTAs in Community Networking
http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/digest/?q=node/64
Lone Eagle’s Best
Rural Community Grant Templates:
Rural Community Grant Templates for both Native and non-Native rural communities have already been written related to citizen engagement with Internet collaboration and learning. The grants are all listed and offered for use without restriction at the end of a chapter at http://lone-eagles.com/village-sustainability.htm
Rural Community Ecommerce Grant
Templates
http://lone-eagles.com/rural-grant-templates.htm
Sustainable Ecommerce Education Development Strategies
(SEEDS)
http://lone-eagles.com/seeds.htm
This grant model involves youth in raising ecommerce awareness among
adult leaders.
Rural Ecommerce and Telework Incubator Centers
http://lone-eagles.com/summary.htm
A scalable model to engage many communities simultaneously.
An Alaskan Village Bootstrap Academy -
An Education and Economic Development Partnership
http://lone-eagles.com/northstar.htm as a model community Internet
learning program. More templates listed at the end of
http://lone-eagles.com/village-sustainability.htm
Rural Broadband Application Videos:
Invest 15 minutes and view the following three five minute videos
while thinking about how Montanans can keep current on similar innovations
from global sources on an ongoing basis.
"From Cedar to Silicon"
http://www.network.gov.bc.ca/Cedar_Silicon_Media_Player.htm
A six minute preview of the new one-hour video on the First Nations
communities in British Columbia who understand the vital importance of
Broadband access for cultural sustainability.
Business Trend Short Videos from the United Kingdom (5 minutes)
www.broadscape.tv Presents links to 20 more case study videos.
Creative Media Institute http://cmi.nmsu.edu/videos A five minute video on an outstanding New Mexico project teaching youth multimedia and film-making as business skills.