 | International First Mile stories |
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This forum is for sharing stories of First Mile projects from around the world. |
| B4RN - 'Broadband for the Rural North' - in Britain |
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Fast fibre in Britain - a community shows the way. Read about a community-driven broadband project in rural Lancashire. According to the article, published Feb 14, 2013 on BBC News: "After deciding that they were never likely to get a fast broadband connection from one of the major suppliers, a group of local people across this sparsely populated area...began a DIY effort, digging channels across the fields and laying fibre optic cables...They have exploited all sorts of local expertise - from the Lancaster University professor who is an expert in computer networks to the farmer's wife who has just retired from a career in IT support. The cooperation of local landowners has been vital - free access to fields has made it much cheaper to roll out the network" Check out the speeds on the resulting network:  Read the full article here. |
| More on B4RN (rural fibre network in Britain) |
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According to this blog post, the project is called B4RN, or 'Broadband for the Rural North'. The project is pledging to “build a community-owned gigabit Fibre To The Home (FTTH) network in the scarcely populated, deeply rural uplands of Lancashire in the north west of England utilising the skills, time, energy and ingenuity of the local residents and businesses.” And a video of the network's speed test that also describes the project. (And links to other associated videos). Visit B4RN's home page here.  |
| Tribalism and Technology: Computer Liberation |
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An article published on Indian Country Today discusses some of the links between nation (re)building and technology development. The story points to some useful learning resources, including:
"[N]ews stories report that even in our current mess of unemployment and the economy, employers still struggle to fill positions in programming jobs. So these jobs do exist. Consequently for us, as more of Indian Country gains access to broadband technologies (cable, DSL, fiber, cable, and wireless), then programming is an ideal job for remote regions since software development is a field that easily allows for telecommuting. In addition, with our support, programmers can play a vital role by bringing innovations into our own communities." Read the full article here |