Googling Google

Garett Rogers & Christopher Dawson
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Hey, Google! I'll blog for broadband

By Christopher Dawson | March 9, 2010, 9:18pm PST

Summary

I know it’s a long shot. I can’t compete with Topeka and have the town selectmen rename our little town Google. I really can’t offer Google much in the way of enticement to bring their broadband experiment out to the sticks of rural New England. But I nominated the two towns that form [...]

Topics

Google Inc., Town, Blog, Broadband, Broadband Internet, Network Technology, Telecommunications, Networking, Christopher Dawson

Blogger Info

Garett Rogers

Biography

Garett Rogers

Garett Rogers

Garett Rogers has always had a deep interest in computers and the Internet, which led him to a degree in Computer Information Systems. He is currently employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software designed specifically for the cellular and electronics industry.

Garett's journey into Google started with his employer asking him to "get a better rank on Google." Diving into search engine optimization sparked his curiosity for how things work and led him to create a blog dedicated to what interests him most--Google.

Christopher Dawson

Biography

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson
Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90's and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there, he began a career in health and educational information systems, with a focus on clinical trials and related statistical programming and database modeling. This focus led him to several positions at Johns Hopkins, then to a large biotech company in Cambridge, and finally, to his own consulting business. Now, he lives with his wife, five kids, a dog, and too many chickens in a small town in north-central Massachusetts where he spent several years teaching and managing technology in his local school district. Now he is a consultant and freelance writer in the areas of educational technology and web-based information systems. He writes a fair amount about his chickens, too.
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I know it’s a long shot. I can’t compete with Topeka and have the town selectmen rename our little town Google. I really can’t offer Google much in the way of enticement to bring their broadband experiment out to the sticks of rural New England. But I nominated the two towns that form our regional school district as candidates for Google’s gigabit broadband initiative anyway.

It would certainly make for a cool series of blogs, wouldn’t it? Watching first-hand as engineers find ways to get high-speed fiber out to the middle of nowhere and making real progress toward the emerging national broadband plan would make for interesting reading and podcasts. I said as much in my nomination. When the questionnaire asked why Google should consider my town, I was more than happy to offer to “blog for broadband” (I’ve put it in quotes because I think this just might need to evolve into a campaign and it’s a catchy slogan, don’t you think?):

The towns of Athol and Royalston (the two towns included in our regional school district) represent typical towns in rural parts of this country. While Athol has been hit hard by the recession and downturns in local manufacturing (the town is home to Starrett Tools), Royalston is so remote that even the school relies on spotty, expensive aggregated 3mbps DSL lines; many residents still rely on dial-up.

I am also the ZDNet Education blogger and co-anchor of ZDNet’s Google blog. I would commit to blogging the entire rollout process, acting as an impartial eye on the ground and, if Google’s broadband was accessible to the schools, would blog about the impact of drastically improved connectivity in our small community. This represents an incredible opportunity for our small towns, a great set of stories for ZDNet, and solid PR for Google, as well a chance to run your broadband experiment in a rural community.

Like I said, it’s a long shot. But think of the sort of video I could upload of the process, benefits, struggles, and successes if I had gigabit Internet coming to my door? People get excited about 3mbps DSL out here in the woods. Gigabit could be transformative for local industry, education, health care and even property values.

Seriously, Google…I will blog for broadband.

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Chris Dawson is a freelance writer and consultant with years of experience in educational technology and web-based systems.

Disclosure

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson is a freelance writer and educational technology consultant. He has worked for his local school district as a teacher and technology director, for the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and for Biogen, Inc. (now Biogen-IDEC, Inc.). He has also consulted with STATNet and Cytyc Corporation. Currently, his only business relationships of interest are with X2 Development Corporation (the supplier of the student information system he administers), Hewlett Packard (the primary vendor for computer hardware in the school district he supports), and Intel (reference designer for the Classmate PCs he has implemented in his local schools). He may report on any of these companies as his experiences with them have direct bearing on educational technology; positive reports are not necessarily an endorsement and he receives no direct financial compensation from these companies or any others. Intel paid all expenses for his attendance at the 2009 Intel Classmate PC Ecosystem Summit which he attended as the sole representative of the technology press. He was invited to attend in 2010 but his wife would have killed him if he spent 3 days in Vegas geeking out and left her home alone with a new baby. Acer provided him with a 50% discount on an Aspire One netbook in early 2009 after he tested it for 30 days through their educational seed program. He liked the netbook at the time but it has since broken and sits unused in his office. Canonical sent him Ubuntu lanyards, t-shirts, and mousepads for his kids. He stole one of the lanyards and proudly hangs his keys from it and occasionally features his 7-year old wearing an oversized Ubuntu t-shirt on his Facebook profile. Gunnar Optiks sent him a pair of computer glasses to evaluate for a holiday gift guide. He is wearing them now as he types this because they never asked for them back and they rock out loud. Seriously - they work brilliantly and make it much easier to spend 20 hours a day staring at an LCD. Microsoft gave him a free copy of Office 2010 professional, a desktop clock, and a useless book on Office 2010 when he attended the launch of Office/Sharepoint 2010. He occasionally uses the SharePoint lanyard they gave him instead of the Ubuntu lanyard for his keys, but feels dirty afterwards. Any other companies wishing to send him cool things to evaluate, wear, or otherwise adorn his kids are more than welcome to; he promises to disclose it here if he keeps any of the stuff.

Biography

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90's and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there, he began a career in health and educational information systems, with a focus on clinical trials and related statistical programming and database modeling. This focus led him to several positions at Johns Hopkins, then to a large biotech company in Cambridge, and finally, to his own consulting business. Now, he lives with his wife, five kids, a dog, and too many chickens in a small town in north-central Massachusetts where he spent several years teaching and managing technology in his local school district. Now he is a consultant and freelance writer in the areas of educational technology and web-based information systems. He writes a fair amount about his chickens, too.

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Talkback Most Recent of 18 Talkback(s)

  • If you blog it ...
    ... I'll read it! Might even buy the video wink
    ZDNet Gravatar
    johnfenjackson@...
    03/10/2010 01:34 AM
  • Christopher, I think you have a really good shot at it. Sounds like the
    perfect community, and, a great blogger already convinced
    that the cloud is the way, already using Google apps,to
    blog the whole experience would be a huge bonus for
    Google.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DonnieBoy
    03/10/2010 07:07 AM
  • If you blog it, they will come.
    NT.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DonnieBoy
    (Edited: 03/10/2010 08:14 AM)
  • long shot?
    You have better chances than people who don't send their nomination.

    Good luck
    ZDNet Gravatar
    rarsa
    03/10/2010 08:56 AM
  • RE: Hey, Google! I'll blog for broadband
    Curse you! I did the same thing for my rural farming
    community in Pennsylvania's "Amish country"! I thought I
    was the only one fighting for the rights of the high-
    speed have-nots.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    markuslvic
    03/10/2010 09:07 AM
  • In bocca al lupo,
    Christopher - you certainly have an attractive pitch ! It will be fascinating to see which communities Google selects !...

    Henri
    ZDNet Gravatar
    mhenriday
    03/10/2010 09:12 AM
  • 3 Mbps DSL?
    We are paying the big bucks for 1.5 Mbps cable! DSL is much, much slower. So how about the Chetek-Weyerhauser (Wisconsin) school district? Only I'm too busy waiting for my web sites to upload to have time to blog about it. wink
    ZDNet Gravatar
    donden@...
    03/10/2010 09:23 AM
  • 1.5MB/s DSL just outside Roanoke, VA
    and that is about it, looking into getting dual lines and doing like the good 'ole days of ISDN...

    We do have about 450KB/s upstream, which is as good as the best cable upstream offered, when I was in South Carolina last year.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    aiellenon
    (Edited: 03/12/2010 09:03 AM)

  • ZDNet Blogger

    UGH
    That's utterly painful. And for schools, utterly unacceptable.

    We can't wait 10 years for the national broadband plan to solve this.

    cad
    ZDNet Gravatar
    mrdatahs
    03/13/2010 06:39 PM
  • No thanks, Google
    I think you have enough control over my life already.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    gigabot71
    03/10/2010 09:50 AM
  • An impartial eye?
    Do you really think that Google wants an impartial eye on their work?

    Oh, you must be in academia.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    pwatson
    03/10/2010 10:04 AM

  • ZDNet Blogger

    LOL!
    Yes I am happy I guess I should have offered to shill shamelessly wink
    ZDNet Gravatar
    mrdatahs
    03/13/2010 06:40 PM
  • RE: Hey, Google! I'll blog for broadband
    You in NO WAY qualify as middle of nowhere or as a challenge - I nominated a rural Alaska town above the arctic circle, off the road system.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    jofga
    03/10/2010 10:19 AM
  • RE: Hey, Google! I'll blog for broadband
    Hey, Great post!

    In this day and age taking advantage of SEO and social network websites as effective marketing tools for your business is essential! Most businesses dont fully understand the capabilities of these tools to improve traffic and exposure! I was searching for a company to ship one of my vehicle overseas and ran into Auto Shipping Network, I was amazed at how they implemented these tools so well into their company website. Check it out for yourselves at http://www.autoshippingnetwork.com/ .
    ZDNet Gravatar
    thomasmichael456
    03/10/2010 10:31 AM
  • 25 Mbps cable internet plus free nationwide calling
    That's what I get, in a small village in The Netherlands, for just 35 euro's (44 US dollars) a month. It's a pretty basic contract for consumers (home use), because I don't need it any faster.

    I can't believe that the United States have such low internet speeds for consumers.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    pjotr123
    (Edited: 03/10/2010 03:01 PM)
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