Renew Ohio Broadband Work Group Results
Congressman Zack Space’s website has posted results (PDF) from the Renew Ohio broadband work group held a few weeks ago. They seem to indicate which benefits of high speed internet participants believed would have the biggest positive impact on the region.
Among the highest ranked benefits are:
- an increase in educational oppertunities
- it may attract or retain businesses
- improvements to healthcare by enabling things like home health monitoring and access to electronic health records
I’ve attempted to embed the full results after the break.
Space was also talking about rural broadband with the Newark Advocate recently:
Space said one of his greatest achievements in the 15 months he has served as a Congressman has been the introduction of legislation regarding technology, specifically improving high-speed Internet accessibility in the area, he said.
“I think, in the long term, (Internet access) makes us a much more attractive place to do business,” he said. “What business is going to locate to a place that doesn’t have high-speed Internet?”
Additionally, he said, several significant aspects of the educational and medical fields have become reliant on Internet technology.
Tapping into that resource is a way to increase business and improve quality of life, he said.
March 29th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
While I agree high speed is certainly a good thing and as many as possible should have it, did they really need a “broadband work group” to come up with those points?
March 29th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I wasn’t able to attend, so I’m not sure that this is all they did. When I attended Space’s “Connect Appalachia” summit last year there was a pretty solid panel of local experts. It’s been interesting watching Space address the issues that were raised in the legislation he’s introduced since then.
March 30th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I am no Space fan, but he seems to be hitting on issues that bode well for him to get reelected.
March 30th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I don’t want to jinx it, but I’d say Space has done the best job possible at consolidating support.