Kalamazoo has officially joined the fray.
At least 200 cities, towns, counties and other types of municipalities have announced bids to lure Google to build a superfast fiber network in their area. (Quick recap: Google says it wants to test out this warp-speed network somewhere in America and it’s taking suggestions.)
The effort is being headed up by Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell and Kalamazoo IT Operations Manager Michael Cross. They held an inaugural roundtable last night with folks interested in aiding the effort.
Google’s been a little vague on how it will make its pick. The city (and any other participating institutions) has until March 26 to submit a formal application with details such as demographics, infrastructure and construction regulations. Google ideally wants to have as smooth a roll-out as possible.
But there’s more. Google wants to utilize a community that will utilize its network. In its application literature (pdf) it says
We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds,
whether it’s creating new bandwidth-intensive “killer apps” and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine.
Not much beyond that.
There are a couple of things you can do. First, regular old normal folks can nominate their town (i.e. Kalamazoo). It’s a quick form on Google’s web site: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options. Presumably a city with lots of nominations will get more consideration than those with less hometown support.
Beyond that, you can friend the city’s committee on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=300788754723) or stay tuned to this blog for more info as it comes up.
From what I’ve seen of other localities, everyone’s talking about what Google will do for them – bringing jobs to town, etc. A winning city should be saying what they will do for Google if they are given the chance. To really demonstrate what can be done with next generation connectivity.
Kzoo will have to show themselves to have a group of citizens who are interested in taking advantage of this connectivity for next generation application development, and expanding local/global communication. Kzoo has shown itself to have a visionary commitment to education which will be a big boost. Taking advantage of real time connectivity in the classroom. Building opportunities in local government participation and transparency. Giving the burgeoning class of “Mom and Pop” application developers an opportunity to cook with gas. All possibilities should be considered and highlighted with examples of real human beings behind them.
But obviously there are some policy considerations too. Localities friendly to net neutrality and open access policies will have a boost.