Information Institute Staff Present at iConference
Lisandra R. Carmichael and Laura I. Spears recently represented the Information Use Management and Policy Institute at the international iConference which was held at Fort Worth, Texas, February 12-15, 2013. They presented a poster titled A Proposed Broadband Readiness Index (BRI) for Community Anchor Institution (CAI) Leaders. The iConference is sponsored by the iSchools organization which is a collection of Information Schools dedicated to advancing the information field.
A series of studies conducted by the Information Institute of rural Florida CAIs concluded that existing national measurement practices for broadband penetration, adoption, and impact are often poorly defined, confusing, or inadequate to inform decisions about community broadband deployment and adoption. As a result, local broadband initiatives may be hindered by “measurement confusion.” In response, the Information Use Management and Policy Institute proposed the BRI which contains a number of broadband readiness criteria. The BRI addresses this confusion and positions local officials to better coordinate, deploy, and use broadband locally; demonstrate how improved high-speed broadband affects their communities over time; and sustain planning for continuous improvements of community broadband use. The BRI has yet to be field tested and the Information Institute welcomes local community leaders who may be interested in partnering with us to field test the BRI to please contact Dr. Charles McClure at ii@ci.fsu.edu.
Related Resource:
Carmichael, L. R., McClure, C. R., Mandel, L. H., & Mardis, M. A. (2012). Practical approaches and proposed strategies for measuring selected aspects of community-based broadband deployment and use. International Journal of Communication, 6(2012), 2445-2466. Available at