Let's Look at the sources of information on the Woo Google initiative:
1) Woogle Twitter Account
2) Woogle Facebook Account
3) Woogle Homepage
You still have time to move this initiative forward:1) You can take the community survey online at the official site - Link to survey.
2) Everyone create videos - General Public, Government Sponsored, Students, Primary Education, and higher Education. (The general public can also rate the videos which will help draw attention to the videos and especially the best videos).
3) Involve Community and Business Leaders - Healthcare, Industry, Small Business, Education, Government, Civic Groups, Fire and rescue, Utilities, and General Population (I believe this has been one of our most successful efforts in this campaign).
4) Chat It Up! - Organize and participate in various community group meetings - Use formal PowerPoint presentation or talking points at community meetings; Collect and document community input via written surveys and video. (I think teachers and school administrators should encourage students to do this. I also think employers should encourage school employees to do this).
5) Encourage groups and individuals to submit Google nominations - Apply Here (I did, have you. This will not take more than 30 minutes).
6) Civic Organizations - Ask for time on the agenda, Utilize existing small databases, conduct e-mail blasts. (Still plenty of time to do this, especially if we move to the next round).
7) Coordinate Local Optical Cable Vendors - Corning, Draka, and Commscope. (I am sure that this has already been done).
The Woogle Presentation was begun by City Manager Berry who stated that the Application must be submitted by Friday at 5pm PDT. He stated how incredible the team has been -- the partnership and the effort.
Paul Baird began his presentation about the progress of the initiative and displayed the website, which he stated was a work in progress. He thanked Ben Willis of CCC&TI, Deborah Ashley who is the President of the Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce, Kim Hudson a consultant on the project, Katie Wynn who has written for the group, and Lee Young who is the Webmaster and works for Catawba County.
The Proposal is an agreement written in Google speak. It states that if Google will come and help transition our community into the 21st century, then there are some things that we will do for Google in return. We will help them build again in our Data Center Corridor -- they are already in Lenoir. Our community leaders are backing the effort and helping to move the effort forward to help the network be installed quickly.
30 focus groups have been involved in this process. Several key promotional ideas have been given as to how our area will promote this network. The ending statement is that we are a strong and resilient area. We will transform our area, but with this initiative we will be able to do it a lot faster and quicker.
Ben Willis and Deborah Ashley were up next. Mrs. Ashley displayed bullet points of how we are ready for transformation. We are resilient even though we are facing major challenges.
- We have lost many jobs, especially in the manufacturing sectorDespite the challenges, we are ready to fly
- We have a need for retraining
- We have a very high unemployment rate
- We need education of our adults 25 and over.
- We have received high marks in several magazines and studies
- Hickory and Lenoir are both All-American cities
- We have the Data Center Corridor
- The Challenges we face allow us to apply for incentives from the State of NC
- The Challenges allow the communities to create tax incentives
- High unemployment gives businesses many workforce options (people to employee)
- We have great healthcare access
- We have an excellent climate
- We have excellent access to I-40 and Hwy 321.
- If Google comes here, we will provide them measurable transformation.
- The details of this information provide raw data and facts.
- The information will also pull heartstrings.
Ben Willis stated that what they are trying to show is that we are down, but not out. The RFI is factual and also romantically written, because some people want the numbers and others want to hear the story. Google really likes partnerships and by coming together as cities and counties we have demonstrated that we do that very well. The Data Center Corridor shows the enhancement of how counties come together to promote an area jointly. Their is also good cooperation with Duke and Blue Ridge Energies. Google also owns a 200+ acre campus in Lenoir. Google would also have access to two state of the art community colleges in CVCC and CCC&TI. There is also Lenoir-Rhyne and the Appalachian State partnership which will help in the training of people.
Mrs. Ashley then spoke about the visuals and video on the website. As far as community leadership, she stated that in the RFI Google asked if we were ready to deploy and can we provide a single point of contact. Lain Baily, Lenoir City manager, will be that point of contact. He has already had a relationship with Google. This is a coordinated effort and it has been important to display how much the community cares and wants this.
Alderman Lail stated that Alexander county has passed a resolution recognizing this initiative even though they are not a part of this current proposal.
Mrs. Ashley went over the recently created Logo:
And spoke to how it incorporates many of the features between Lenoir and Hickory. The Hickory Crawdads, Pottery, the All-American City Sign, and Furniture. Mrs. Ashley pointed to the fact that the Facebook site has over 5,500 fans. She reiterated that the journey does continue even after the RFI is submitted. Google will continue to watch even after this initial stage. If we are selected for the next round, then we need to show Google that this wasn't just for fluff. That we didn't just come together to get this application in and we want people to continue to go on Facebook and be a fan. She wants everyone to continue to be a part of that.Ben Willis mentioned that they were very fortunate to have Pixelspace to work on this initiative. He reiterated that this does not end on Friday. The buzz needs to be kept alive.
Kim Hudson thanked everyone in the community and talked about the 30 focus groups that involved creative ideas, business ideas, and healthcare ideas. That portion of the web goes into a lot of depth. She then played a Professional video from the Jackson Group. Which displayed several aspects of how this increased broadband capacity could help with emergency services, medical needs, small business, hosting of webinars for homebased businesses, primary education school needs, and Reggie Longcrier speaking to the issues of the Exodus Homes Mission.
Next Kim went over the aspects of an application wheel that integrates into the website. She displayed the in-depth detail of the Healthcare segment of this application wheel detailing information including items such as chronic disease management, doctor collaboration, sending MRI files more efficiently, Computer Chips, and Robotics. In the education section she displayed a video submitted by West Lenoir elementary:
As with the rest of the Woogle staff, she asked the community to continue submitting videos to the Youtube site. She next added the fact that we are the home of 3 world class fiber-optic companies. The community has many fiber-optic experts. There are 4,000 people employed by six plants in the area. These companies are eager to use this network as a means to research the products they develop.
Paul next showed data that will be provided in the RFI. They have worked with the Western Piedmont Council of Governments and various representatives of the utility companies in the area to pull together data involving demographics. The challenge and opportunity presented to Google is to start out with the Hickory-Lenoir area and to build out towards Newton, Conover and then spread out towards the cities along the 321 corridor and then reach out to rest of both communities. The next progression is to spread out towards a regional approach.
Paul showed graphics divided into various maps involving demographics. You can follow this link below to see some of the results: Google Survey Results.
Paul stated that the group was appreciative of the opportunity to work on the initiative that brought the community together in a way that we have not seen in a long time. He showed a map of businesses who were on a map and supported the Google initiative. The Mayor stated that he would hope that more businesses would join in and have there plaque put on this map.
Lastly, Paul mentioned an initiative to bring this technology to low income citizens via a Non-Profit entity. This initiative will be called, "Bridging the Digital Divide." He also talked about a Non-Profit effort involving Blue Cross - Blue Shield.
Alderman Lail spoke of the issue of Micro Trenching and that it was brought up in the initial teleconference in which Google introduced the process of this initiative and stated that he felt that it is important to include this into the RFI.
Ben made a point in stating that it is important that the United States not continue to fall behind on this issue and (paraphrasing) he believe that is the genius in what Google is doing.
The Hound thinks that it imperative that we keep pushing. This is nowhere near close to over. We have lost some momentum in the last couple of weeks since the process was initiated, but now it is the time to figure out new ways to get more people to join up.
I was amazed yesterday when I asked a co-worker if he knew this was going on and he had never heard about it. He is in high school and I would have thought for sure that the schools would have introduced this subject to all of their students and be talking about it as subject material. This is their future at stake and somehow there is a lack of communication about how important this initiative is.
If you read this and your kid goes to high school, elementary school, or college then you need to call the school and ask how they are involved in this initiative. They need to be inspiring these kids to become involved in this effort and if we want to bump those Facebook numbers up higher, well need I say more.
BROAD BAND!!!
City of Hickory - Thinking Big with a Gig
I have a Dream - A 21st Century Hickory
Woogle - How You can Help Us Get Google Ultra High Speed Broadband
3,040 Facebook Fans of the Woogle Initiative - Team Woogle meets with FEC
3/9/2010 - Woogle Town Hall meeting tonight done. Onto Lenoir Thursday night
Google - Come make History in Hickory!!!
Hickory's Diaspora - Bring Home the Scattered Seeds
1 comment:
I was skeptical at first, but going to the town meeting made me a believer.
Rudy Wright said that "we are all in" if we make it through the first round.
I think he should be commended for being out front with this.
Any why shouldn't Hickory be the first city? We have Corning, Draka and Commscope all here!
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