The ding of the closing bell sounded Sunday evening as the rally for Google Fiber closed at midnight. Community groups and efforts worked up until the final minutes, trying to get people pre-registered in fiberhoods that had yet to turn green. After all was said and done, Google announced that 180 of the 202 fiberhoods had turned green, and they were still double checking the numbers to make sure everything was correct. News outlets and blogs took to the keyboards to comment on the results and spread the news of Google's first fiber effort. ... continue reading »
With about three and a half days remaining in the Google Fiber rally, 129 fiberhoods have achieved their preregistration goals, almost 64 percent of the areas eligible. In the past three days, 19 fiberhoods in KCK and 11 in KCMO reached their goals. There are five fiberhoods within 15 signups. Altogether, 129 fiberhoods out of 202 have qualified to have Google Fiber in their neighborhoods, meaning that schools, libraries and city buildings in those neighborhoods will also have access. ... continue reading »
The Huffington Post reports on a proposed deal with Verizon and major cable companies. ... continue reading »
How big is the digital divide in Kansas City? According to a report released this morning by Google and the Mayors Bi-State Innovation Team, 25 percent of Kansas Citians don't have broadband access, and 17 percent have no internet access at all.
Since the Kansas Cities were chosen as Google's first Fiber market, both Google and the cities' leaders have been indicating that the digital divide is of serious concern.
This morning, Google and MBIT made their first big move in actively addressing the digital divide by releasing the report, "The State of Internet Connectivity in KC: Neighborhood-based Research Findings." ... continue reading »
The KCK Librarian Initiative is featured in a publication covering the library field. The initiative is noted for its efforts to make the Internet accessible to broad audiences. ... continue reading »