There are lessons for the city from Federal CTO visit

Aneesh Chopra, the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States addresses the Chamber of Commerce event at the Cira Center.

If you think Philadelphia is mired in debt and inefficiency, try wading through the federal government.

The nation’s first Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, offered a peak this morning inside the Obama administration’s use of cloud computing and crowdsourcing to help streamline the inner-workings of the federal government and overcome a culture of bulky IT budgets and lack of accountability.

With a bustling 30th Street Station as a backdrop, a room full of business leaders listened to Chopra outline the inefficiencies of the old way government was conducting business in an event hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. He said that the president wanted to add transparency, collaboration and smart investment to help government be more accountable and effective.

Sound familiar?

As Philadelphia struggles with the fate of the Board of Revision of Taxes, the DROP pension program and its plans for a Digital Philadelphia there may be lessons to learn in some of the government’s efforts:

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Friday Q&A: Broadband biz strategist Craig Settles talks Digital Philadelphia future

The City of Philadelphia’s Division of Technology was handed a tremendous setback last week.

The city has been taking serious steps to move beyond Wireless Philadelphia and to develop a new plan of action to help bridge the digital divide, what the DOT calls Digital Philadelphia. In August, it submitted a broadband grant proposal to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration - as did 2,200 other groups – with hopes of grabbing a slice of $4.7 billion being given out for broadband initiatives as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the broadband stimulus fund.

Because of the tremendous influx of applications, the NTIA turned over some of the decision-making process to state governments. Last week, the Governor’s Office offered recommendations to federal agencies promoting two dozen broadband stimulus grants, including six from the Philadelphia region, as we reported.

And to the surprise of many, the City’s $21 million dollar middle mile infrastructure project was not recommended. Its Free Library-sponsored $14 million broadband adoption program was given an honorable mention, so to speak, but the state’s recommendations certainly cast doubt on the Digital Philadelphia vision.

Anytime we have a question about municipal broadband in Philadelphia, we turn to the sage wisdom of broadband business strategist Craig Settles.

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City CTO: “We have a heck of a shot” for federal broadband stimulus money

From left to right: Doug Faith, Derek Pew, Bill Green, Allan Frank, Todd Wolfson.

Five known members of Philly’s technology community discussed the impact of Wireless Philadelphia, the city’s digital divide and its application for federal broadband stimulus dollars Tuesday evening.

Local technology leaders and policymakers agree that lessons learned from the failed initiative put the city in a unique spot to advance its technology foundations, and they are hopeful that the city is awarded federal grants for the Digital Philadelphia Broadband Initiative.

Read about the history of Wireless Philadelphia.

More than 75 business leaders, policymakers, academics and activists filed into the Connelly Auditorium at the University of the Arts’ Terra Hall to hear the panel discuss broadband policy in the city.

“There’s really no other municipal network that has quite the resonant experience, not only in the tech side of networks but of its downfalls,” said Derek Pew, CEO of Network Acquisition which now owns the Wireless Philadelphia assets.

“Something can happen. We’re in a unique place, where a large asset, history, experience and desire have come together.”

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Friday Q&A: Gwen Shaffer, One Web Day organizer

On September 22, Philadelphia will celebrate its first One Web Day. Maybe celebrate isn’t the right word for it—this year’s event is about digital inclusion, or the lack thereof.

Modeled after Earth Day, One Web is an international event meant to raise the public’s awareness of Web issues. No, not the Facebook redesign. We’re talking issues like estimates that 50 percent Philadelphia does not have access to the Internet.

This year, organizer Gwen Shaffer is helping bring the event to Philly for the first time. “It’s an opportunity to demonstrate the positive impact broadband can have on people’s lives,” Shaffer says. She hopes to have a week of service built around the main event, a day filled with speakers, multimedia and stories about the Net’s impact.

“We will probably collect testimonials from either people who don’t have Internet and talk about how it would change their lives, and then get stories from people about how their lives were different before they had broadband,” she says. “Put a human face on what many of us take for granted.”

The organizers need your help. Shaffer says she is confident that the City will participate with the event, but the search for volunteers, corporate sponsors and additional partners has only begun. After the jump, it’s hard not to be persuaded into lending a hand.

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Ten Philadelphia tech organizations that should have Wikipedia entries but don’t

Look, this is down right embarrassing.

Earlier this month we retweeted Viddler founder Rob Sandie. He was self-promoting, but damn it if we didn’t agree with him. Why didn’t the growing video-hosting service have a Wikipedia entry? Now that Google News has begun to link to the Web’s largest community-edited encyclopedia, it’s clear it’s bypassed mainstream and shot straight to influential.

So, it’s become something of shorthand for the importance of a subject, person or organization. But, as we found, Philadelphia generally and its technology and innovation communities specifically are dismally represented in the Web 2.0 powerhouse.

When someone answered Sandie’s call to create a Viddler Wikipedia page, it was deleted because, as one Wiki editor wrote, the article was “about a web site, blog, online forum, webcomic, podcast, or similar web content that didn’t assert the importance or significance of its subject.”

Sounds like a call to make clear the Philadelphia technology scene is significant. Below, we share our list of 10 members of our community that don’t have Wikipedia entries, but should, including Viddler.

We respect the mission of Wikipedia, so don’t consider this spam posting. Rather, we think our community is very underserved by the online encyclopedia. This, my friends, is basic stuff we need to get down. Who’s stepping up?

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Technically Not Tech: Media Mobilizing Project closes grant, looks forward

Media Mobilizing Project founding member Todd Wolfson is interested in the role that media and communications can play in helping build movements to end poverty.

He hasn’t been the only one.

In 2007, MMP was awarded a $150,000 grant from the Knight News Foundation. With that money, the media organization has been helping other organizations use journalism to further their cause.

Since then, Wolfson and his team have helped create a network of 10 groups, like the Philadelphia Student Union, Pennsylvania Head Start Association, Casino-Free Philadelphia, Taxi Workers Alliance of PA and other service sector unions.

MMP’s aim is straight forward enough: teach the basics of new media concepts in order to help those groups get the good word out.

The grant helped MMP maintain a staff, create six six-week workshops to train organization leaders in Web, video and basic computer skills and purchase equipment and computers for each group’s respective community.

Now, Media Mobilizing is shifting gears.
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