So what were our favorites?   It’s hard to pick.  We’ve been to the leading technology events like Consumer Electronics Show, SxSW Interactive, and Supernova.  We also presented livestreams like the American Red Cross’ Emergency Social Data Summit, Ed Week’s Unleashing Technology to Personalize Learning, and the Activism+Media+Politics Summit.  And finally, we highlighted top news and research on broadband like the release of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, the latest data from Pew Internet, and all of the innovative ways that people are embracing broadband in between.

Some highlights:

• We hosted a panel discussion on telework programs and their benefits and sat down for a one-on-one interview with former Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard.
• We saw Washington’s top insiders discuss the role of broadband in job growth at the Innovation and Jobs Roundtable hosted by the Democratic Leadership Council.
• We recorded Verizon’s Tom Tauke deliver a landmark speech at NDN on vision for a new policy framework to best benefit the Internet Ecosystem.
• We have the full video of Blogalicious DC, an event that celebrated diversity among women in the blogosphere with networking, giveaways, and a panel of experts sharing their experiences with growing their voices through technology.
• We toured AT&T’s Innovation Labs and explored how they are advancing technology beyond the networks.
• We drilled down each Personal Democracy Forum speaker’s message on the Internet & Politics to one single sentence.

More experts speak out on broadband…

• Newark New Jersey Mayor Corey Booker
• University of Pennsylvania Law School and Computer Science Professor Christopher Yoo
• Dr. Joe Kvedar, Director of the Center for Connected Health
• State Senator (IL) and President of National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators Iris Martinez
• Blair Levin, former Director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative for the FCC and current fellow at the Aspen Institute

As CNET points out, gender and age demographics came into play. “Women and adults under 55 tagged Facebook as having the most impact, while men and those over 55 pointed to high-speed Internet. Adults between 35 and 54 were split pretty evenly between the two.”

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20026405-93.html#ixzz18xCKi21b

FOSI works with different groups to promote best practices, tools and methods to ensure the online world is safe for children and their families, while still respecting free expression. This work is done through developing sound public policy, good technology, educating online users and opening discussions through special events.

Topics included:

• 10 years of online safety reports
• Cyberbullying: What’s really going on?
• Digital Citizenship: Safety, literacy, and ethics for life in a digital world

Even if you weren’t able to attend the conference, you can get highlights from speakers and attendees in the video below.

This topic was explored in depth at yesterday’s Media Future Now event.  Search expert Vanessa Fox pointed out that we use search to solve problems, answer questions and generally find information. We even search within websites, apps stores, email inboxes, and have come to expect search to work for everything now.

Geoff Livingston of Zoetica Media explored the world of semantic search, as more and more of what we experience in search is defined by things like sentiment and social connections.  Adding a voice of caution around our reliance on search top results, Livingston advocated for increased digital literacy efforts.   “Our society needs to move to teach thinking and validation skills to filter information.”

Ron Goodstein, Associate Professor of Marketing at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and Beth Shankle, Research Director at the National Press Club also added their voices to the discussion.  Goodstein is optimistic about the opportunities to leave traditional demographic data out and target people around their behavior and interests, always being respectful of the consumer.  Shankle brought the conversation full circle, concluding that libraries again hold the key. “Libraries seem like the dinosaurs of the information age, but they’re actually at the cutting edge.”

To watch the event in its entirety, click here.

But for localgov communications folks – who tend to be the public relations, media relations, community outreach, graphics designers, publicists, webmasters, copyeditors, community managers, speechwriters, consiglieres, etc. for their one single elected client – we have our own set of issues, talents and limitations. Let’s help each other.

To add your comments to the conversation, simply tweet using the #localgovchat hashtag. You can also get involved by searching the #localgovchat hashtag, by following @localgovchat on Twitter, or dropping by the LocalGovChat Blog.

So how can state and local government bodies get involved?   They can set broadband connectivity goals, work with stakeholders to enact supportive broadband policies, and also encourage adoption from diverse backgrounds that comprise a community.

The FCC has taken steps to support governments in these efforts, in addition to the National Broadband Plan.   Broadband.gov houses presentations that showcase state and local level best practices and toolkits for proceeding with a state and local broadband plans.

NextGenWeb is also working to support broadband at the state and local level.  This week, we look forward to sharing success stories from policymakers, a webinar for those considering this issue led by “Mayor of Broadband” Graham Richard, and much more.  We’ll get things started with the interview below.  We recently spoke with John Horrigan, former Director of Research for the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, for his take on the broadband at the state and local level.

(Photo by Alex Howard @digiphile)

This morning, thought leaders in the technology policy space gathered at the Brookings Institution for several panels related to the topic of Internet Policymaking.  As new Internet policy issues arise, most of which were not considered when our current communications laws were created, we face a challenge of meeting governance demands.   Who is best suited to meet those demands?  Panelists seemed to agree that consumers play a central role.

Participants in the conversation “Users As Regulators: The Role of Transparency and Crowd Sourcing As A Form of Oversight” included:

• Moderator: Phil Weiser, Senior Advisor to the Director for Technology and Innovation, National Economic Council, The White House
• Mark Cooper, Research Director, Consumer Federation of America
• Cynthia Estlund, Catherine A. Rein Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
• Kathy Brown, Senior Vice President, Public Policy Development and Corporate Responsibility, Verizon

Consumer advocate Mark Cooper believes that crowdsourcing for policing can work if the information is accurate and actionable.  Acknowledging the complexity of the issues, he suggested that the era of writing detailed rules is over, which Kathy Brown of Verizon quickly agreed.  Similarly, Brown advocated that old style regulation won’t work in today’s Internet ecosystem and for self-regulation through transparency to reach a greater democracy.  “We agree that the consumer is central.  The question is, what role?”  Academic voice Estlund took the concept even further, noting that transparency is key not just for Internet customers, but for all citizens.

Blair Levin, the leader of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, now a Fellow with the Aspen Institute, delivered the keynote address.  Levin urges that America’s future rests on what he calls a ‘high performance knowledge exchange platform.’ Noting that our broadband technology revolution is powering changing information exchanges and the economy, even in traditional job sectors like manufacturing and agriculture, Levin wants to focus on improvement and diversity. “Most things in internet ecosystem doing very well.  We don’t need massive government intervention.”

Dr. Michael Mandel of the Progressive Policy Institute and Chief Economist Visible Economy LLC, drove home a vivid point about the direction that broadband policymakers should take when it comes to regulation, after reminding attendees that the communications sector is a main driver of economic growth.  “It’s simple. Do you want to see investment increase or decrease by as much as 20%?”

University of Maryland Professor and Dean of the College of Information Studies Jenny Preece kicked off the discussion by exploring the social, human side of what motivates people to participate, citing egoism, altruism, collectivism, and principlism.  It’s these motivations combined with the technology infrastructure that, she explained, are advancing our design of social participation.  Additionally, the government transparency movement is providing even more opportunities to engage the public.

Sonal Shah, Deputy Assistant to the President in the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, added that technology is also making data go a long way.  But she cautioned that metrics are just the beginning.  She believes we need to assess actions and outcomes and then get that information out to all communities.   “It will be an interesting opportunity to make information usable, like trends.”

Shah urged that the government and the public identify success stories and then elevate and scale them, in order to optimize success.  On the other hand, she reminded the audience, agencies still use old technologies too to ensure a diversity of response.  “It’s not just access to technology, but access where they are comfortable and can ask questions.”

I also had the opportunity to talk with Lucas Cioffi, a leader in the civic participation movement and the founder of http://www.onlinetownhalls.com/.  Watch the video below to learn about how Cioffi is educating the government and the public about using broadband technology to further participation.