When the InternetforEveryone.org town hall meeting ended on March 7, Brenda Moore and Avie Patrick were ecstatic.

They had driven nearly three hours to attend the meeting in Durham, N.C., seeking an answer to how to bring affordable, high-speed Internet to their community in Buckhead. Both Brenda and Avie are members of the Waccamaw Siouan tribe. What they found was a growing community of people across the state sharing experiences and solutions on bridging the digital divide.

“The one thing that we realized today is that we’re not the only ones in rural areas living in the sticks and all we can get is dial-up,” Brenda said. “We felt that way, we felt that we were left behind, but we realize now that we’re not the only ones.”

Brenda and Avie joined nearly 150 participants to discuss the future of the Internet as the government begins to craft a plan national broadband plan. Seated at roundtables with people who morphed from strangers to allies as the day progressed, Brenda and Avie talked about their own struggles and how the government could best tackle the digital divide.

“I consider myself a computer expert in our community, but a lot of things I heard here today I had never even touched on that could benefit us,” Avie said.

To help facilitate the discussions and catalog the themes and solutions swirling around the room, participants used individual key-pad voting technology and watched as their answers to questions appeared on large screen in real time.

Brooks Townes, who lives without high-speed Internet in Weaverville, N.C., trekked four hours one-way to make the meeting. Brooks’ story about trying to conduct a freelance writing career on dial-up was documented in our series Five Days on the Digital Dirt Road. And the video portraying his story was showcased among others during the town hall meeting.

Brooks says the trip to Durham was worth it “if for nothing but the exposure to so many bright, thoughtful, unselfish and energetic people. And the modern, facilitated ‘town hall meeting’ was fascinating.”

As participants head back to their communities inspired and engaged, the InternetforEveryone.org is heading next to Washington, D.C. to meet with members of the growing coalition and determine next steps based on the public’s recommendations.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.-->