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Homesteading
the Electronic Frontier in Montana
http://lone-eagles.com/montana.htm
What’s the best that we, as Montanans, can do to
enable
rural citizens in dying rural communities to allow them to derive
income from
their broadband connections and create sustainable jobs and
communities?
The opportunity exists to articulate the high end
vision supported by real success stories which could inspire rural
citizens and
communities to learn how to realize their full potential using
broadband
effectively.
Ecommerce and Telework
opportunities
are booming internationally, but heartland America has yet to
understand what’s
possible. The Goverment
Services Agency will soon
announce a $2 billion federal telework
initiative.
Creating a citizen skills database and telework
management corporation is viable and there is a significant working
model from
Scotland we can build upon. www.work-global.com
The following good questions deserve real answers,
as a
place we can all begin:
1.
What’s the best a Montanan can
hope to learn about viable income producing opportunities using
broadband?
a.
Access free online
self-directed lessons based on the rural ecommerce and telework
successes of others
b. Access online
success story videos with links to self-directed learning resources and
free
web tools
c.
Access peer mentors with
expertise for help getting started and building confidence
2.
What’s the best a rural
community can do to stimulate economic rural broadband applications?
a.
Provide a local
community technology center and ecommerce/telework
incubator with training and support personnel.
b.
Match local mentors with
expertise with those needing help getting started
c.
Link with other
rural communities to share expertise, success stories, and economies of
scale.
d. Identify the
importance of local community initiatives and peer mentoring for
helping all
potential beneficiaries get started learning how to benefit.
3. What's the best a
regional rural development corporation do to gather and
share successful ecommerce and telework
strategies?
a. Advocate for the collection and dissemination of regional ecommerce
and telework success
stories
b. Maintain an e-newletter
showcasing new individual
and community success stories, awareness-raising initiatives,
c. link with other
regional development organizations
and initiatives to grow rural capacity for broadband
economic development
4. What’s the best the Governor’s
office, Congresspersons, and state agencies can do to stimulate rural
innovation associated with realizing widespread rural broadband
innovations?
a.
Advocate for the
collection and dissemination of regional ecommerce and telework
success stories
b. Identify and
broker the best support systems and resources for getting connected to
these
opportunities
c. Establish a
citizen skills database and telework
management
business like Oracle's www.contractxchange.com
d. Engage higher
educational and K12 institutions in delivering 21st Century Workforce
instruction
e. Engage the
private sector, non-profits, and foundations in addressing innovative
initiatives
4.
What’s the best the State can
do
to support individuals and communities understanding how to connect to
the
“promise of broadband?”
a.
Specific
suggestions are in the letter to the Gov. at
http://lone-eagles.com/support-montanans.htm
b.
Showcase success stories and provide a Rural Ecommerce and Telework
Support Network with funding incentives for local Community Learning
Centers.
c.
Implement a
statewide Youth Entrepreneurship program to stop youth out-migration
d.
Advocate for Rural Community
Foundations (following the Nebraska Model www.ruraleship.org )
Who exactly is
championing the sustainability of Montana’s rural communities?
Let’s work together to understand what opportunities exist related to
appropriate training to realize the promise of rural broadband to
produce
economically sustainable communities. Here’s a model for Montana:
Montana Ecommerce Proposal Summary:
Montana’s economic development leaders are invited to
consider creation of
a Rural Ecommerce Support Network which
would begin with a Rural Ecommerce
Champions Award Program to celebrate Montana’s early
adapters’ Ecommerce
successes. An online Resources Clearinghouse would quickly evolve showcasing short video success stories,
self-training online lessons, and a peer-mentoring program to
establish a
convenient means for Montanans to share successful strategies and learn
new
skills. (The letter to the Governor and the Ecommerce proposal are at http://lone-eagles.com/support-montanans.htm)
Over 520 of Montana’s 541 communities are suffering
economically, and are experiencing high levels of youth out-migration.
These
communities need to be shown how existing Internet access can be used
to
supplement family incomes, retain youthful entrepreneurs, and to
establish new
businesses and jobs via rural Ecommerce and Telework.
Rural broadband is essential to economic
development and
viability in a global economy and the best training possible will be
required
to successfully realize the promise of broadband. Many rural
communities have
Internet connections but lack the educational services to connect them
to
Ecommerce and Telework
opportunities.
State support is requested to assist rural leaders
and
citizens in understanding what genuine opportunities exist. At issue is
how
Montanans can best learn these new skills and keep up with emerging
trends on
an ongoing basis. There are too many scams and too many misperceptions
which prohibit rural Montanans from learning how to
benefit from
existing rural Internet access.
There is a need for gathering and disseminating the
best known Ecommerce and Telework
solutions and developing culturally appropriate e-learning
opportunities
suitable for all rural Montanans. It is vitally important to create an
Internet-enabled entrepreneurial culture in rural Montana to reverse
the rural
decline.
The State Workforce Board and economic development
agencies
need to lead by providing e-learning opportunities related to Ecommerce
and Telework jobs. The
university system needs to be proactive
in simplifying what’s possible and providing support.
In addition, the Montana Distance Learning Task
Force needs to
consider the importance of teaching youth entrepreneurship as an
essential
component of the K12 curriculum to minimize youth out-migration.
“Planting seeds of
entrepreneurship must begin early enough in a child’s primary education
to
establish entrepreneurship as a lifelong choice.”
From the “Strengthening
America’s Communities Initiative”
http://lone-eagles.com/saci.htm
Rural
Broadband for Social and Economic
Applications is Essential to Community Wellness and National Global
Competitiveness
The social and economic health of our rural
communities
depends on whether they have the basic connectivity to participate in
the
global economy, but beyond the physical infrastructure, they need the
human expertise
and support systems to connect to the very best opportunities possible.
Health Information Technology has an opportunity to
link its
mission to innovative ways of using broadband to build healthy
communities by
engaging citizens purposefully, as well as for building I.T. enabled
local,
regional, and national economies, and whole new lifestyles focused on
sustainable broadband-enabled local community economies.
The concept of wholistic
medicine
is not new, but the integration of smart social and economic
applications of
broadband for community wellness IS. We're looking at
creating a cultural
shift toward healthy living, a sustainable environment, economically
sustainable rural communities, and literally a sustainable society
incorporating
lifelong learning and I.T. entrepreneurship.
There are important areas related directly to
Health
Information Technology that require new forms of citizen participation:
learning healthy living practices, keeping current on new information
like
which drugs are discovered to have new health risks, participating in
peer
support groups for specific illnesses, including addictions of all
kinds,
growing local community awareness for healthy living best practices,
and
keeping current on evolving new treatments, noting one third of medical
judgments have been reported to be in error, costing 100,000 lives per
year,
etc.
The most common use of the Internet is for finding health-related
information... and peer-to-peer social networking (Web 2.0) is booming
on many fronts...begging
the issue of what's the best Health Information Technology can do to
engage
citizens purposefully for their own wellness, as well as their
communities? Rural America is suffering an economic decline
and along
with this, a slew of health-related programs (drug abuse, depression,
suicide,
etc.)
While many businesses are growing, particularly in
our dozen
largest communities, over 500 rural Montanan communities continue to
suffer an
economic decline. The Gov. recently announced a Council on the Economic
Security for Montana Families. MT has the third highest suicide rate
nationally
(WY #1, AK #2) and we'll increase our prison population by 40% next
year due to
the meth epidemic.
It is my understanding MT and WY is short on workers for projected big
energy
projects but that these jobs will only be a temporary boost to MT and
WY
workers willing to relocate or endure long commutes. At issue is
whether
anybody sees rural Broadband as the key to creating sustainable clean
industry
jobs capable of sustaining our dying rural communities. The
big energy
projects will put money into the MT and WY state coffers and those of
big
business but will have little impact on our dwindling rural
communities.
Who exactly is
championing the sustainability of Montana’s rural communities?
The hard reality is solutions exist, but they require changes in
attitude and
behavior....and changing
human communications
behaviors is a tricky business. What we teach the current first digital
generation can prove to have a dramatic positive impact on issues like
youth
out-migration and whether rural citizens learn how to make a living
wherever
they wish, or not. (ecommerce/telework.)
We're looking at creating a cultural shift toward healthy living, a
sustainable
environment, economically sustainable communities, and literally a
sustainable
society incorporating lifelong learning and I.T.
entrepreneurship.
I.T. can lower costs for rural home care with I.T. monitoring
systems,
online training of home health care aids, and fewer costly doctor
visits
through online interaction/monitoring. How we can best support our
aging
population with economies of scale related to smart broadband
applications is a
huge issue moving to the forefront.
It was announced recently that 1000 Vets a year
commit
suicide each year. That's more than are killed in combat
each year. Supporting people psychologically can be done online to a
very
significant degree. Online counseling is growing dramatically.
Quote "Recruiting for the war tends to come primarily from
small,
rural America. So, what we don't have is enough mental health care for
veterans
in these rural communities when they come home. Last Thursday, the VA's
Inspector General issued a report estimating that 1,000 vets under its
care commit
suicide ever year." Unquote (From IPS-Inter Press Service "Suicidal
and Facing a Third Tour in Iraq") We
could be
teaching telework
employment solutions to our 30,000
disabled vets, too.
NOTE: Health Information Technology advocates at the National Level. www.himss.org www.hitchampions.org
Contact:
Frank Odasz
Lone Eagle Consulting
2200 Rebich
Lane
Dillon, MT 59725
PH/Fax 406 683 6270
Cell 406 925 2519
Email: frank@lone-eagles.com
2010 Lone Eagle Events and Resources Update:
http://lone-eagles.com/expertise.htm
Resume: http://lone-eagles.com/articles/frank.htm
Biography: http://lone-eagles.com/history.htm
Lone
Eagle Resources
For Montana County
Commissioner’s Economic Development committee
http://lone-eagles.com/maco.htm
Lone Eagle
presentation descriptions are at
http://lone-eagles.com/presentations.htm with my events roster
at
http://lone-eagles.com/new.htm
Lone Eagle
Resources to Support Rural Innovation
http://lone-eagles.com/future-proofing.htm
Community Internet
Empowerment Resources
for Rural Communities
http://lone-eagles.com/ruralempowerment.htm
Lone Eagle’s rural community resources
Dozens of Lone
Eagle articles on rural community networking are at
http://lone-eagles.com/smart.htm
At
the beginning of this document is a short quiz, “How
smart is your rural community?” The quiz includes a web tour
with
exceptional web site models.
Lone Eagle offers
many rural ecommerce community grant templates already written, online, and
available without restriction at
http://lone-eagles.com/rural-grant-templates.htm
The Community Technology Review
www.comtechreview.org
has a special
section on community networking resources including the
following Lone Eagle article:
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.
The following article was written for an Australian
govt.
conference on rural and indigenous broadband applications.
Authenticating Rural Internet and
Broadband Benefits - A Reality Check
http://lone-eagles.com/wings.htm
Required reading for
rural citizens and leaders.
Written for the Australian Government for national empowerment of all
their
communities.
The Lone Eagle
paper related
to presentations for the
National Conference of State
Legislatures’ EDTECH Committee:
Reforming Educational, Economic
Development, and Healthcare Institutions:
An Executive Summary for State Legislators
A
Non-Technical Overview of the Impacts of Information
Technologies
http://lone-eagles.com/ncsl-reflections.htm
Lone Eagle NCSL presentation handout http://lone-eagles.com/ncsl.htm
An Info-Tech Rural
Community Wellness Strategy
for Healthy Alaskan Native and Native American Communities
http://lone-eagles.com/healthyvillage.htm
Much more at http://lone-eagles.com/afn-resources.htm
More on Lone Eagle
Rural Economic Development and other resources:
Lone Eagles has
just finished three years providing rural presentations on "Entry-Level
Rural Ecommerce" for the USDOL "Montana Choice" project.
http://lone-eagles.com/future-proofing.htm
“A Beginner’s
Guide to Profiting From the Internet”
A non-credit
online class with
ten two-hour lessons on what's working for others like you with Ecommerce and Telework
developed for rural adults who have never taken an
online course. http://lone-eagles.com/ecom.htm
The Power of All of Us? The eBay Lesson
for Community Development
http://comtechreview.org/winter-2004-2005/000261.html
The New Gold Rush; Are You Ready?
http://lone-eagles.com/mining.htm Part II: http://lone-eagles.com/goldrush.htm
Themes from the Frontier of Rural Community Development, written for the
Journal of Municipal Telecommunication Policy, March 2001
The Future of Community Development;
Making the Living You Want, Living Wherever You Want
http://lone-eagles.com/comdev.htm
Written for a forthcoming book on rural community development to be
published
by TechnoPress "Future
Courses; A Compendium of
Thought about Education,
Technology and the Future.
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)
Community Networking Best Practices and
Global Citizenship:
A Knowledge Management Trend Report
http://lone-eagles.com/global-citizenship.htm
See two new Lone Eagle
articles in the
Spring 2006 CTC VISTA Digest
http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/vista/digest
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
Nativeheart
http://lone-eagles.com/nativeheart.htm
Recent
and Upcoming Lone Eagle Presentations:
(Multi-media presentations are available with
recent presentations
listed at
http://lone-eagles.com/new.htm
and
presentation titles and descriptions at
http://lone-eagles.com/presentations.htm
)
Lone Eagle traveled to Guatemala to
facilitate the formal creation of the
Indigenous ICT Commission of the Americas. http://lone-eagles.com/guatemala.htm
Montana-Specific Strategies
Montana Mentors Innovation
Incubators Pilot Project
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-mentors.htm
Oct.
2010
Montana's Strategy
for 21st
Century Workforce Readiness for All
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-strategies.htm
Oct. 2010
21st
Century Workforce Basics
Outline
http://lone-eagles.com/21stcentury.htm
21st
Century Workforce Readiness for Montanans
A
Course of Action for Montanan Digital Inclusion
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-inclusion.htm
Digital Literacy and Digital
Inclusion Best Practices
;
Growing
an Entrepreneurial Culture in
Montana in 3-5 years
http://lone-eagles.com/montanan-innovations.htm
Montana Center for Sustainable
Rural Families
Dillon Center for Broadband Excellence
Feasibility
Study Proposal Summary
http://lone-eagles.com/excellence.htm
Dec.
2008
Montana’s
Center for Sustainable Rural Families
Broadband
Training and Content - Best Practices by Sector
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-center.htm Dec. 2008
Homesteading
the Ecommerce Frontier
http://lone-eagles.com/montana.htm
Summative common sense first
steps for individuals, rural communities, regional and state agencies
regarding
the most cost effective methods for raising awareness on the benefits
of
broadband.
Establishing a
Montana Rural Ecommerce Support Network
2007
Letter to
Governor Schweitzer
http://lone-eagles.com/support-montanans.htm
2009 Follow-up letter
Creating
a Rural Montana Ecommerce and Telework
Support Network
http://lone-eagles.com/support-montanans2.htm
Suggestions
for Montanan State Innovations
for Economic Development
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-suggestions.htm
Rural Grant Templates
http://lone-eagles.com/rural-grant-templates.htm
Rural
broadband articles by Lone Eagle Consulting
http://lone-eagles.com/smart.htm
Montana Choice Mentoring
Program and Mission
http://lone-eagles.com/mentoring-mission.htm
Montana
Ecommerce Success Stories
http://lone-eagles.com/montana-successes.htm
Ecommerce
Successes -
A Collection of Web Tours
http://lone-eagles.com/ecommerce-successes.htm
Making It Happen in
Dillon, Montana;
http://lone-eagles.com/dillon.htm
Dillon’s Business Web Directory
http://lone-eagles.com/dillonbusdirectory.htm