The Minneapolis Foundation has released the 2008 Digital Inclusion Fund Request for Proposals. (I am a member of the Digital Inclusion Fund Committee.) Before I get into details, here are the links.

Read the proposal online. I translated it to a Google Doc so it may lose a bit of formatting but the info is there.

Download the RFP and grant application. Right in the middle of the page.

Deadline for Submission: Friday, September 5, 2008

The grants are available to nonprofit (501 (c)(3) ) organizations. There is a total of $200,000 to be given away, same as last year. Grant amounts vary between $5,000 and $30,000.

The purpose of the fund is to:

The Digital Inclusion Fund supports efforts to bridge the digital divide in Minneapolis by providing qualified organizations with financial resources to promote technology access and literacy for low-income people, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants and refugees, displaced workers, seniors, and other new users of technology.

and we are interested in funding projects that address:

1. Affordable internet access;
2. Technology literacy;
3. Local, relevant and accessible content;
4. Adequate, affordable hardware and software tools.

Past grantees can apply but must provide a progress report with specific quantified outcome measures.

US Internet, who is building the Minneapolis Wi-Fi system, gave the money for the Digital Inclusion Fund as part of their contract with the City of Minneapolis.

Send me an email if you have questions: pfhyper AT gmail DOT com.

Further readings:
2007 announcement with some ideas for projects
List of 2007 grant recipients

Technorati Tags: broadband, digital_inclusion, minneapolis, wireless

Update: I just found a couple of other stories on the exhibit that are worth linking. Corporate Babysitter has a somewhat cynical view of the event and raises some interesting questions like who's paying for the electricity. And there's a review over here that sees it as interesting art and I suppose worth the blocking of a major bike artery. (Includes a link to some photos.)

The show begins tomorrow with the giant photo cubes sitting on the Stone Arch Bridge. The Park Board got back to me (read my email here):

Thank you for your email regarding your concern for the Red Bull Illume exhibit on the Stone Arch Bridge. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's (MPRB) involvement with the art exhibit is limited to the permit that has already been issued for the exhibit. The MPRB event permit office receives a variety of requests for permits each year for events to be held within the parks, and they carefully review and consider each one. I believe the Illume art cubes will be placed down the center of the bridge deck, to provide pedestrian traffic on either side. I've copied our event permit coordinator on this email so that he is aware of your concerns.

Looks like they considered pedestrian traffic but forgot that this is a major bike route. It's hard to understand this lack of awareness given that City Hall is shouting from the rooftops what a bike-friendly town we have here.

Besides the whole bike thing, there's also the issue of promoting Red Bull on park property. The Minneapolis Park Board has also been accepting some other advertising money and some city residents don't think it's proper. The Downtown Journal has a story on the issue.

Maybe this will work out OK and the bikes will have enough room to safely cross the bridge. If the cubes are up, I'll see them tomorrow when my morning run takes me across the Stone Arch Bridge. Also watch for a story on the exhibit in the Minnesota Daily. (I'll post the link when it's available.)

Technorati Tags: Minneapolis, Park, Red_Bull, Illume

I wrote about the Red Bull controversy the other day but you can take the shortcut here and read the Minnesota Independent article. It's a money issue of course. Check the Minneapolis Issues threads here and here.

I get that Minneapolis budgets are messed up and we don't have enough money to do all the things we want to do. I still don't believe in shilling for big corporations within our park system and radically changing the bridge experience over a 10-day period. Bike commuters need safe transport across the bridge and I can't see how that will be accomplished by adding 1,600 cubic feet of obstructions.

If you feel like I do, here's the contact list for the Park Board. The email I sent out to the commissioners who listed a contact email address is at the end of this post.

Bonus Links

The Red Bull press release as posted at the Star Tribune site which you can compare with the original. I assume that the Star Tribune understands that by simply regurgitating Red Bull's announcement, they are in fact endorsing it even though there seems to be issues around this decision to take note of.

My Letter

Commissioners and Superintendent:

I just found out about the Red Bull Illume photo cubes that are to be installed on the Stone Arch Bridge on July 10. According to the Minnesota Independent (previously Minnesota Monitor), the Park Board is involved with this project. You can find the article here:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/view/red-bull-photo-cubes

Although I live in Seward Neighborhood, I run on the Stone Arch Bridge regularly. I can't imagine how twenty-five 8-foot cubes will share the bridge with the myriad runners, walkers, and bicyclists that use the bridge each day. I know for bicyclists, this is a major commuter route so it seems short-sighted to clog their path with these cubes. imagine piling these things over on Third Avenue and watching cars, buses, and trucks negotiate a path through them.

I'm aware that there are budget problems but I still can't support corporate advertising that will hijack the bridge experience itself.

I respectfully request that you reconsider and reverse the decision on the Red Bull exhibit. It will do nothing to enhance the Stone Arch Bridge experience for regular bridge patrons.

Thank you.

Peter Fleck
Seward Neighborhood


Technorati Tags: Minneapolis, Parks, Red_Bull, Illume

The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran an editorial today urging the City to accept US Internet's wireless network. "Minneapolis has approached Wi_Fiu with modest expectations and a sound public-private business model."

They kind of make a funny when they mention the "reemergence of leaves" as a problem (they cause interference). Many of us in the City knew that the pesky leaves would be returning and would cause problems for all the radios installed during the leafless winter. It happened last year too.

Editorial: Overcoming hype, Wi-Fi holds promise

According to the article (and confirmed from other sources), there are now about 9,600 subscribers. Friends are asking if they should switch. If you do, realize there may be some configuration time in getting a good signal. Also make sure upfront that you can get all your money back if it just doesn't work. And let pfhyper know about your experiences.

Technorati Tags: USIW, Minneapolis, Wi-fi, municipal

Quick note on update to Philadelphia/Earthlink Wi-Fi situation.

Local investors to rescue Philly wi-fi

Via GigaOM

It's hard to imagine twenty-five giant photo cubes depicting extreme sports on the Stone Arch Bridge. Evidently, the Park Board doesn't have that difficulty and has given Red Bull the go-ahead. I assume money is exchanging hands.

This one I'd like to see stopped. I'll be contacting Councilmembers and the Park Board. If you do that too, we may have a chance.

Read the story at the Minnesota Independent.

Technorati Tags: Minneapolis, Parks

Steve Alexander at the Star Tribune is catching up with my reporting and announcing that the pesky leaves are once again causing problems with the USIW wireless deployment. The article doesn't illuminate much but the comments are interesting.

Technorati Tags: broadband, politics, wireless, USIW, Minneapolis, Wi-fi, municipal

Free Press site has links to all the major keynotes and plenary sessions from the National Conference for Media Reform and I think they are uploading video of all the sessions this week (and beyond—there were so many excellent sessions and it's probably going to take some time). Here's the video archive. Local folks will want to listen to Keith Ellison's impassioned plea around reform and Janice Lane Ewart's (KFAI Radio) opening address. Bill Moyers' and Dan Rather's vids are up too. Watch for Naomi Klein, Amy Goodman, Shá Cage, Arianna Huffington, and Van Jones. For a twitterful view of the NCMR check Twemes. The official tag for the conference was NCMR2008.

I will have more to say. Stay tuned.

Had a chance to chat with Jim Farstad last week. He is the City of Minneapolis's consultant for the USIW wireless deployment. I know many of you would like to know what's going on so here is what I found out.

[For new readers: USIW is US Internet Wireless and they are the vendor contracted by the City to build the wireless (Wi-Fi) mesh network. USIW will own the network and provide services to the City plus they are selling access to residents, businesses, etc. The City is USIW's anchor tenant. The model of building with the City as a tenant seems to be working well for us here in Minneapolis.]

USIW has completed all installations of network equipment (transmitters, antennas, etc.) that they can install at this point. That's about 2,200 transmitters. They need about 2,300 transmitters but they don't have the poles to hang them on.

There are several challenge areas. These are around the lakes, along the river, the parkways, and the Lowry Hill area. Why are these areas challenged? There are either no poles in the right place or the poles have a problem. The pole may be decorative and not strong enough to support the radio. Or it may be a light pole with an electrical connection centrally controlled and manually shut off each morning. These poles usually have inaccessible buried cabling too. New pole installs are changing to conduit for better access. Or there is a transformer on the pole and mounting the radio would interfere with maintenance.

So why not hang some of these on buildings? USIW pays rent for hanging on the poles; they could certainly pay rent to a building owner. The problem is what if the building changes hands and the next owner decides to end the contract and wants to remove the radio. Or what if the building burns down? The state of the network is such that USIW might have to move several radios in these instances and reconfigure the network. They don't want to risk this.

(Interesting Note: There are almost 32,000 lights in Minneapolis.)

Subscribers. As of this week, there are more than 9,400 subscribers. The figure is higher than projected which is a good thing. Complaints seem to hover around 125 to 150 open tickets but the number isn't increasing so as more subscribers join, the percent of complaints is going down. It also means that it's likely that many of the complaints have to do with initial setup and configuration.

According to Farstad, USIW will refund your money if you're not happy. I will assume that this might be minus any decent service you did receive but I don't know the details.

Testing. The City is testing connectivity and bandwidth and so far it looks good (outside of challenge areas, of course). Adding a hi-performance antenna on your computer if you are roaming helps. (USIW sells them for $159.95.)

The City is also testing applications of various types. Monitoring water flow in some of their systems is now done with cell service to the tune of $30 to $40 per month. Using Wi-Fi, they can reduce costs to $1/month, realizing significant savings. I believe home water meters which currently use phone-line modems, will also eventually be replaced by Wi-Fi.

The deployment is going well and everyone is optimistic that the challenge areas will be unchallenged eventually. USIW did have to spend at least an extra $1 million more than planned to get this done but they are confident that the business case will still work especially with the higher-than-expected subscription rate.

Comments and questions are welcome. Ideally you will do this publically below but email me if you must and I will respond.

Technorati Tags: USIW, Minneapolis, Wi-fi, municipal, NCMR2008

I'm at the National Conference for Media Reform today. I just set up a breakout session to talk about the wireless/Wi-Fi deployment in Minneapolis from 1:30 to 2:30 today in 212B (Minneapolis Convention Center). (Hey. If you're not at the conference but in the area, drop by.)


Technorati Tags: NCMR2008, USIW, Minneapolis, Wi-fi, municipal