"A Sense of Place: Technology in Creative Communities"

Background

The workshop took place at the Edgecombe Community College Campus in Tarboro.  Guest speakers included:  Dr. Shannon Howle, Director of the Center for Public Technology at the UNC School of Government; Dr. Stephen Mazingo, Superintendent of the Greene County School System; and, Jon Beard, CEO of I-CAN Networks.  The six-hour workshop focused on the importance of integrating information technology infrastructure into planning for creative communities.

Dr. Howle shared findings from her extensive research into issues associated with emerging trends in electronic government, information technology and IT management review, strategic IT goal alignment and planning and the Federal CIO Certification Program.  Dr. Howle works with federal, state and local government committees to promote the successful integration of technology into the public sector.

Dr. Mazingo spoke on the highly successful initiative to equip every Greene County child-grades six to 12-with a laptop computer and high-speed Internet.  This project, which was implemented as a private-public partnership between the county, Apple Computer and Wavelength Broadband, has garnered national attention due to its remarkable success.  Greene County's initiative illustrates the vital role that technology plays in enhancing educational opportunities for young people in rural areas.

Mr. Beard offered an example of a community-based Internet portal that brings together education, state and local government and private industry to assist citizens in identifying a first career or new career opportunities, gaining knowledge in an area of interest, exploring opportunities in various industries and occupations, improving marketable personal skills and starting a small business.

All six towns participating in the Creative Communities Initiative (CCI)-Ayden, Edenton, Hertford, Murfreesboro, Plymouth and Tarboro-have many characteristics that are attractive to members of the creative workforce.  One key element to becoming a creative destination is to offer a 'connected community' that is attractive to knowledge workers, young entrepreneurs and early retirees.  A 'connected community' that blends a sense of place with traditional streets with modern amenities is attractive to people of all generations.  This CCI workshop was designed to initiate discussion between and among towns and their CCI commission members about the role of information technology in supporting community and economic development.

Presentation Summary

Information technology, especially, is a vital tool that rural areas can utilize to improve their quality of life and economic development.  Information is the currency of government and business, Dr. Howle argues, and is vital in providing broad access to education.  Despite the benefits, there are barriers to improving technology infrastructure, such as the cost of investment and aversion to risk and change.

Dr. Howle then discussed digital community engagement in which the stakeholders-the government, education professionals, healthcare professionals, citizens, visitors and businesses-all have broadband connectivity through a single network.  This reduces redundancy and allows for interoperability among public services such as police, fire and rescue.  Broadband can be leveraged by a community to replace many existing communications systems and to improve public amenities.  It can also allow a community to integrate many existing communications systems.  Greater complex in a community's communications network increases the need for broadband connectivity.

Dr. Howle concluded her presentation by addressing some of the issues that can arise from creating such a community network.  These issues include capital expenditures and operational expenditures for the system, governance of the network, choosing the correct network to meet the community's needs, compliance with federal and state laws, privacy and security concerns and the quality of service required to meet the community's needs.  She also stressed that a connected community involves everyone in the community.  Citizens, government employees, community organizations, and businesses must all be involved.  The best way to connect the community will depend on the needs, both real and anticipated, and the shared goals of everyone.

The county set a goal to be "the model rural school district in the nation."  The focus was set on school climate, technology, raising the achievement levels in the county, decreasing the dropout rate and increasing the number of college bound graduates.  It was necessary to recognize that the schools had major infrastructure problems and yet proceed with the belief that students should be prepared to live in a global economy.  To accomplish this, it was necessary for the school system to bring technology to both the students and the teachers. 

The solution for Dr. Mazingo was to work with community leaders and industry leaders such as Apple Computers and Wavelength Broadband Internet to form private-public partnerships.  The goal:  to provide an Apple Notebook to every child in grades six through 12 and ensure that every child has access to wireless broadband Internet.  The results of this initiative speak for themselves.  Average testing scores improved from 53% to 78%, the rate of college bound students increased from 25% to 79%, the number of honors courses increased, the number of college scholarships awarded doubled, teen pregnancy decreased, the dropout rate decreased and the confidence in the school system among parents and the community has dramatically increased, all a manner of three years.

The results go beyond educational improvements.  Now the entire county has access to broadband Internet.  New businesses have formed.  There is a new industrial park, a new recreation complex and a new golf resort community.  Greene County has also earned national recognition and developed new community pride, earning respect from other communities and counties.

The final speaker, Mr. Jon Beard, introduced the Internet Community Action Network, or I-CAN, to show how technology can be used for workforce development and training.  I-CAN is a platform that can empower citizens and the community by removing barriers to knowledge.  The network allows citizens to interact with experts, to focus and engage for personal improvement and economic gain.  Users can complete an online profile which is then filtered to match the user with local industry needs.  The program offers online courses to assist in workforce development.  I-CAN made its world premiere at the CCI Technology Workshop.

Roundtable Discussion Summary

Following the morning presentations, workshop participants were asked to engage in roundtable discussions focusing on the influence of technology on: economic development, constituent services, connectivity/interoperability, K-12 education and workforce development.  The following is a summary of each of these discussions:

1. Economic Development

• Economic development is seen by the community as jobs, money, services and an increased quality of life.  In order for this to occur, communities must have skilled employees, tax incentives, good school systems, home grown industry, marketing and the infrastructure to support diverse businesses.
• One obstacle to economic development is the lack of local IT capacity to support business.  This reduced capacity includes small budgets, small populations, as well as a lack of technology infrastructure and limited long-term planning.
• Cultural and regional problems can also deter economic development.  Culturally and historically, people have a negative association towards technology leading to reduced community support for the introduction of technology in the community.  Regionally, many towns see each other as competition instead of coming together to pool resources and ideas.  By taking a cooperative rather than competitive approach, towns can increase regional economic development.
• A vision of success must include leadership that goes above and beyond what is expected.  A town must identify the assets and characteristics that make it unique and attractive to investors and entrepreneurs.  Towns must seek out partnerships with public and private entities to generate investment in infrastructure in the community.
• Technology can foster economic development because it engages the community.  Providing e-government services provides better constituent/business services and conveys community values and assets that in turn help attract investment and stimulate growth.
• This venture requires the involvement of everyone in the community.  Participation must come from every stakeholder, including policymakers, businesses leaders, citizens and the education systems.

2. Constituent Services

• Technology can improve constituent services by providing public services, such as permits, licensing, social services, access to recreation and safety, faster.  Principal obstacles to using technology in constituent services include financial and human capital. 
• Human capital constraints include the fact that people may not be able to manage and implement large projects.  Also, before government offices can offer services via the Internet, citizens must have access to and possess the skills necessary to use online services.
• The solution should include procuring adequate funding for public safety (the primary responsibility of local government) and offering access to computers and the Internet to citizens and visitors.  In addition, educational programs that stress digital literacy must be available so that inexperienced and under-served populations have an opportunity to catch up on the skills needed to use technology.

3. Government Connectivity/Interoperability

• Local governments that lack connectivity suffer problems such as disassociation from the county government, isolation that prevents contact with the global community and a reduced level of public safety and emergency services.
• In order to overcome the lack of connectivity within a community, the cultural resistance of the poor, the elderly and other disenfranchised portions of society must be resolved.  The community must also work to overcome political disunity to ensure technological advancements are viable.  It is necessary that the community address issues related to the lack of resources for funding projects. 
• If these obstacles are overcome, communities can benefit from technology applications that produce better intergovernmental relations, timely/reliable data retrieval and better emergency services and healthcare.  Technology can also promote local tourism and industry, which will support economic development.  Better educational systems supported by technology also attract many people to live in a region, resulting in population growth, new economic activity and an expanded tax base.
• The ultimate goal in using technology to increase government connectivity is to have a completely connected community that allows for improved safety, welfare, healthcare and education.
• To achieve these goals there must be unified regional investment strategies that emphasis cooperation in place of competition.  Also, stakeholders must become involved in the "ownership" of plan implementation to ensure its success and survival.

4. K-12 Education

• Technology, education and training are the "great equalizers."  Inadequate resources, outdated infrastructure and a lack of community support for improvements are obstacles to improving the education systems with new technologies.
• Students must be the first priority when discussing how the use of technology in K-12 can improve opportunity.  Students must be afforded an equal opportunity to have access to informational resources that are available through access to technology.
• Bringing technology into a community benefits everyone.  For this reason, students, parents, educators, local government and the community at large will all benefit from building a modern infrastructure for technology in K-12 education.
• In order to create access to technology in K-12 education, communities should pursue funding from grants, private investment, corporate support and local revenue.  Communities must also establish committees and focus groups to create a strategic plan for implementing the vision to ensure it is carried out thoroughly.  Finally, the community must develop a campaign strategy to cultivate support for technology in K-12 education by illustrating the relevance of the issue to stakeholders.  Stakeholders include students, teachers, parents, employers and many other residents.

5. Workforce Development

• Technology is essential to workforce development because it provides better school systems, provides a skilled labor force to attract business and overcomes many of the obstacles to workforce training.  Additionally, technology makes it possible to create new talent and it also enables a community to recapture talent that has been lost.
• Some obstacles to using technology for workforce development include: students who don't see the relevance or potential that vocational training provides; lack of consensus among community leaders; lack of access to training; and, a lack of communication among stakeholders.
• The stakeholders of workforce development include regional governments, students, businesses, educational institutions and the community at large.
• The vision for using technology in workforce development is to implement a plan whereby towns assess their assets then develop strategies to bridge the gaps where there are deficiencies.  This can be done with community services such as continuing education for digital literacy for those who are not experienced with computer applications.  The vision must include a regional collaboration on issues such as transportation and child care.  Communities must also prepare citizens for the various roles that reflect the needs of the local economy.