[1st-mile-nm] Broadband Census for America: Official Agenda For September 26 Conference

[Drew Bennett]

Dear 1st-Mile Listserve Members:


The official agenda for the Broadband Census for America Conference
<http://broadbandcensus.com/blog/?p=569>in Washington, DC on September 26
has been announced and the complete press release is below. We would be
pleased if you could join us at what should be an important conference for
those concerned with improving the collection and utilization of broadband
data.

Please contact me if you're interested in attending and feel free to forward
this announcement.



Drew Bennett
*Special Assistant, *Broadband Census LLC
BroadbandCensus.Com
202/744-0486
Bennett at BroadbandCensus.com


Agenda for Broadband Census for America Conference on September 26,
2008<http://broadbandcensus.com/blog/?p=569> Key
Academics, State Officials and Broadband Data Collectors to Speak Embassy of
Ireland to Give Luncheon Keynote Address on Publicly-Available Broadband
Data For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, September 8, 2008 – Many of the nation's foremost broadband
policy-makers and experts will analyze and discuss best practices for
improving the collection and sharing of public data about high-speed
internet access at the Broadband Census for America Conference in
Washington, D.C., on Friday, September 26, 2008.

Panelists at the half-day conference include Dr. William Lehr, an economist
and broadband expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Jane
Smith Patterson, executive director of the e-NC Authority; broadband data
pioneer Professor Kenneth Flamm of the University of Texas at Austin; and
Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner Larry Landis, who is also chair of a
telecommunications regulatory task force charged with coordinating state
efforts to collect broadband data.

Eamonn Confrey, the First Secretary for Information and Communications
Policy at the Embassy of Ireland, will present the luncheon keynote: an
overview of his nation's efforts to collect data on broadband service in
Ireland through a comprehensive web site with availability, pricing and
speed data about carriers.

Also participating on the panels will be representatives from
BroadbandCensus.com, the California Broadband Task Force, Connected Nation,
Communications Workers of America's Speed Matters, Public Knowledge, and
Virginia Tech's eCorridors Program.

As policy-makers around the world seek innovative approaches to enhancing
and expanding broadband service, they also seek accurate data and maps of
the digital infrastructure. Increasingly, experts believe that universal
broadband is a crucial ingredient to global economic competitiveness.

These efforts are apparent here in the United States with the Federal
Communications Commission's proposed rules to collect more localized data on
broadband service. Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey, Chairman of the
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the
Internet, has also introduced the House-based "Broadband Census of America
Act," which would require a comprehensive national inventory of broadband
availability and competition.

The conference will be held at the American Association for the Advancement
of Science at 12th and H Streets, NW, and is sponsored by
BroadbandCensus.com, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Texas at
Austin's Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, and
the Virginia Tech eCorridors Program.

The event will bring together government officials, academic researchers and
other key stakeholders for a half-day conference that seeks to improve our
understanding of current practices in broadband data collection and discuss
ways of improving and expanding publicly-available data within the United
States.

The complete program is available at http://broadbandcensus.com/blog/?p=569
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