The report makes recommendations for technology-based improvements in nine sectors of the community: business and industry; healthcare; libraries; K-12 education; higher education; community-based organizations; government; agriculture; and tourism, recreation and parks.
“It's the starting point for moving forward,” said Cutler.
The report lined out several ideas for expanding local technology over the next 12 to 18 months.
The core of the report is the Strategic Technology Plan (STP). This three-part plan stems from previous meetings of the project's eCommunity Leadership Team.
Awareness and education is a collaborative effort between several agencies, including the schools and the public library, to increase the public's knowledge, awareness, skills and use of technology in the area.
“How we can help the folks that live here in the community understand the benefits of using technology in their daily lives: at home, at work, at church and at play,” Cutler elaborated. “Just helping folks be aware of what's available, where they can get it and how it can impact them.”
The second part revolves around online information from an eCommerce perspective. Cutler said that would involve deciding what type of information should go online for a community presence.
Cutler said the key will be to identify what is already available, couple that with what needs to be online and package it in an easy-to-use system.
“The more you have a unified front or integrated approach to that... I think it's going to make it a lot easier or productive for [the user],” he said.
The eGovernment portion of the STP was the second tier of online service improvement.
This would involve making government more accessible online, creating user-friendly government websites to provide for the request and delivery of local government services over the Internet.
An example Cutler gave would be a user having the ability to renew a license 24-hours a day instead of when government offices are open.
“Focusing on these three projects will give us the ability to touch and impact the majority of the folks who live in the community in one form or fashion,” Cutler said.
The next step is for the large leadership group to give way to smaller groups representing the three areas of the project.
The meetings are part of Kentucky's Prescription for Innovation, a plan to ensure that every Kentucky household has access to high-speed Internet by 2007. The plan ultimately aims to increase the number of high-tech companies and jobs in Kentucky.
Kentucky once lagged behind when it came to technology, but the Commonwealth has now become a technology leader.
According to ConnectKentucky statistics, broadband coverage has increased from 60 percent of households in 2003 to 87 percent of households in 2006. Home computer ownership has increased by 17 percent, and more than 110 counties are actively engaged in the eCommunity Leadership Team process.
Already in Kentucky, broadband service is being used to remotely arraign prisoners in state courts, to web-cast high school athletic games, and to conduct biotech research in a rural county. Employers who located thousands of jobs in Kentucky attributed their decision to the availability of high-speed Internet.
For more information, or to participate in future meetings, contact Cutler at 270-799-0874 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
In a related note, Eric Hadley, local Southeast Telephone representative updated the group on the status of the Berry broadband project.
Hadley said the various legal issues are being hashed out in Washington D.C. and he didn't have a firm date on when Berry's service would go live.
“It could be spring, we don't know the exact ETA,” he said.
The Berry project is part of a four-community grant for rural broadband access. Cutler said it was no small feat for that grant being approved.
“A state is very fortunate just to get one,” he said. “And we got four this year.”
The full Connect Harrison County report is available at www.connectky.org.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Donald Richie
Quelle/Source: The Cynthiana Democrat, 09.11.2006
