What can broadband do for you?

Doug Adams, Director of Marketing at the Knight Center for Digital Excellence, broke it down in a recent article explaining what broadband stimulus funds will do for members of our community.

Adams says that doctors and nurses will once again provide home visits , "only now they will be 'virtual' visits. They'll be able to check on patients' blood pressure via remote electronic devices, and assess patients' conditions via cameras connected to television screens in their homes."

Teachers with fast online connections, will be able to teleconference with parents who couldn't otherwise `make it to parent-teacher meetings in person.

Students will be able to reach out to other places around the nation and world. "In biology class, you might interact - in real time - with technicians at a world-class hospital laboratory. Or in civics class, students from New York might meet virtually with counterparts in Oklahoma to discuss public policy issues, and how disparate parts of the country might be affected differently."

Police officers will benefit from interconnected camera system to view what's happening in local neighborhoods, just like security guards in hospitals and other public venues monitor public safety.

At work, sophisticated tools will allow employees in distant locations to have face-to-face meetings, over the Internet.

These are only some of the benefits that will be available with expanded broadband. Susan Crawford, a member of the president's National Economic Council, sums up the importance of broadband best: "Broadband is the new essential infrastructure. Access to broadband does not guarantee success, but lack of access to broadband will guarantee stagnation and decline."

Help Speed Matters raise awareness of this pressing infrastructure challenge that faces our generation. Together, we can bring broadband to all Americans.

Commentary: Your future relies on broadbad (McClatchy)

Benefits (Speed Matters)

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