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.

Hoewing noted that the investments network providers are making also respond to consumer demand.  Speeds and prices of broadband are only going to get better, he pointed out, sharing that Verizon is currently testing 1 gig over FiOS for their next gen of fiber.

He also addressed ways in which the market is reacting to policy, clarifying that the Verizon/Google agreement was not a business agreement, it was a policy framework to promote innovation with government oversight.

Watch the video below for Hoewing’s comments immediately following the event:

Politico’s Morning Tech reports that Federal CIO Vivek Kundra launched an updated version of the IT Dashboard today.  The updated site, which enables people to go online to view details and progress of federal information technology investments, will now feature more data feeds, more sophisticated search options and mobile access.

Kundra told Morning Tech the newly launched version allows agency officials to customize their IT investment portfolio in the same way an average consumer would customize a stock portfolio. And OMB can track how those officials perform. “You can slice and dice data by bureau, investment, line items and contracts,” Kundra said. “This helps us find problem areas across the government.”

These updates reflect the latest investments by the U.S. government in embracing technology for improving efficiency and transparency.  However, it is critical for the American public to have broadband to access this information, and a regulatory environment that is conducive for deployment and access is also therefore critical.

Click here for more NextGenWeb coverage of the important ways that government is embracing broadband to engage, innovate and ensure that information is just a click away.

The first is a social network for federal employees and contractors by the General Services Administration.  Word first got out on the site, dubbed “FedSpace,” earlier this year.  But today Hillicon Valley’s Guatham Nagesh shared updates on the progress of the site, due to go live in the fall, from an interview with GSA’s Associate Administrator David McClure:

McClure said FedSpace will have features from several networking sites, including Facebook-style profiles, blogs and a wiki so employees can share information. Rather than building the system from scratch, GSA is pulling elements from other federal programs so it can speed the launch. The pilot project will be hosted on the cloud, which McClure hopes will help prove that cloud applications are cheaper and easier to deploy.

The other announcement was the launch of Healthcare.gov, which went live today.  The site is managed by the Department of Health & Human Services and aims to help Americans become more informed about health insurance options.  Washington Post’s Ezra Klein applauded the site today:

…HealthCare.gov is live now, and it’s a slick, easy-to-use site, which may be the best thing out there for seeing both the public and private health-coverage options for people in your situation in your area. And the obvious advantage of starting the site this early is that there’s a lot of time for the tech team to play with it, improve it, and get comfortable with it before 2014, when it really needs to be working.

Adelstein is seeing broadband success with the funds invested from the Recovery Act.  He not only seeks to build further off that success with programs to help communities leverage their broadband progress, but also looks forward to the second round of investments which will be more than double the first round (a strategy so RUS could learn from the first round and improve).  As Adelstein noted, rural communities are actually some of those most in need of fast, reliable broadband for services like telemedicine and distance learning.

One of the most popular ways of gathering and sharing health information is through targeted social networks, like Patients Like Me.  More than just a social network, Patients Like Me captures and shares valuable results among patients, health care professionals, and industry organizations that are trying to treat disease. NextGenWeb spoke with the website’s Chairman and Co-Founder, Jamie Heywood, about the site and what makes it so successful.  “Simplicity of use is necessary, but the real thing you have to focus on is solving a problem for someone.”

People are also able to take better control of their health with broadband-enabled tools designed around general health and wellness.  Although many websites geared towards diet and exercise offer information, there is a movement of innovation around taking the next steps to motivation, tracking and sharing. NextGenWeb spoke with Nicholas Tolson, the CEO of FitFeud, an online fitness competition site while at the Health 2.0 Conference.  See how his company is embracing broadband for wellness below.

Levin referred to an old Apple ad from the late 80’s in which one office executive asks another “which computer do you think is the most powerful?”  The other responds “I think it’s the one people actually use.”  Levin’s point, which is well – taken, is that the important thing is not the numbers, but how people use broadband.

The conversation continued with a panel of key industry officials representing Canada, Korea, the UK, and other parts of Europe, moderated by Lynn Stanton, Senior Editor of TR Reports.   The panelists echoed support for the plan and shared their respective countries’ stories of broadband success.   You can watch the Broadband Breakfast, titled “International Perspectives on the U.S. National Broadband Plan,” in its entirety below.

International Perspectives on the U.S. National Broadband Plan from Broadband Breakfast on Vimeo.

Today, Phoebe Yang, General Counsel for the Omnibus Broadband Initiative at the FCC, joined a panel titled “The Future of Broadband” that was hosted by the CQ-Roll Call Group.  Yang wanted to focus on two calls to action in the broadband plan.  First, she believes the national priorities are key because of how they will benefit Americans. Yang cited that 62% of American workers rely on the Internet to do their jobs, and then touched on just some of the opportunities broadband creates in the education and public safety sectors.  Her second focus is making broadband ubiquitous, which led to the establishment of the Connect America and Mobility Funds to help with access to the unserved.

NextGenWeb will continue to follow the challenges and successes as the FCC continues to move into the implementation phase of the National Broadband Plan.

Green Jobs – As we transition to a greener economy, the increased demand for greater energy efficiency creates incredible potential for growth in the green jobs sector.  Mark Doms, a Chief Economist at the Department of Commerce, says that although the green economy is currently just 1-2% of the economy, with the right policies and investments, this could be an important area of growth.  Supporting this trend, fellow panelist Bob Nelson, President of CWG Midwest cited data from the growth of his e-waste recycling company, like the 20% increase in the recycling of cell phones.

Smart Jobs – Panelists were quick to note that often our job concerns focus on manufacturing, when the real opportunities for growth are in services and other “skilled, high wage” businesses.  Georgetown Business Professor J. Bradford Jensen says the smart business service sector is 25% of all jobs (vs. only 10% in manufacturing), suggesting this is where we need to focus.  Paul Delaney, a representative from FedEx Express concurred, even noting that IBM 20 years ago was about 80% manufacturing and 20% services now is 80% services and 20% manufacturing.

Broad(band) Jobs – Robert Shapiro, a Senior Policy Fellow at the Georgetown Center, brought to light the economic reality that job creation has now declined relative to economic growth, and therefore, we can no longer be complacent about job growth. He believes that broadband deployment will be key to new jobs, generating job growth in infrastructure, devices, and applications.  Fellow panelist Nicol Turner-Lee agreed noting that with increased digital literacy opportunities, minority and low-income communities could benefit from economic success.

Shapiro also noted that communities with broadband had more job growth than those without, demonstrating the increased labor value of those who work with these technologies.  He says we need policies that support investment in broadband and cautioned the Administration and Congress about policy changes that could weaken these investments.

Read more about broadband and jobs in this report from the Brookings Institute and this report from ITIF, and watch the video below for more from Robert Shapiro.

One theme that ran throughout the discussions was that of economic opportunity.  Brent Legg of Connected Nation pointed out that broadband doesn’t get a lot of attention in communities where technology is a topic of discussion. He suggests making it a tangible issue by asking “What do you want to accomplish in the next 25 years?”  Generally, he finds, the answer revolves around economic development.

Greg Laudeman, President of the RTC and longtime manager of programs to facilitate the adoption of broadband technologies, shared his advice on bringing broadband to rural communities, noting that many rural community leaders “think broadband is for someone else, by someone else. “ He suggests looking at organizations that really embrace it, to demonstrate the fundamental differences of those really maximizing technology.  And then how do you get local leaders on board?  Laudeman suggests 1) Demonstrate success of other like communities and 2) Do training on the technology and what it will do.

NextGenWeb caught up with several speakers from the RTC track.  Watch the interviews below to see how Jane Patterson, RTC Director and Executive Director of the e-NC Authority, Greg Laudeman, President of the RTC, Brent Legg, VP of State and Local Initiatives for Connected Nation, and Harry Roesch, RTC Board Member, are all facilitating broadband access and use in rural areas!