Small Town, Big Bandwidth

In towns such as ours, with its crazy quilt of ways of jacking in to the net, wireless fidelity -- or Wi Fi as it is generally known -- is a luxury. This is because many of our connections have not fidelity -- in the sense of always being there wherever and whenever we need them -- nor are they wireless -- in the sense of being readily affordable and available without strings attached. So, when we hear about "Wi Fi" we tend to think of exotic places like St. Louis or certain of the more enlightened regions of New Jersey (speaking as one who chooses to judge such things on a sliding scale of relative enlightenment).

But hold on baby -- because now there's something meatier, and I ain't talkin' 'bout Sizzlean (though I know I should be). To be more precise -- as if that were a problem for this author -- Marshalltown, Ia recently began a pilot program of providing free wi fi to its entire downtown. (Granted "entire" and "downtown" are words that don't generally inspire awe among Marshalltown's residents and visitors. Unless you are inspired by its proximity to rural farm cooperatives. And some -- it must be admitted -- slightly above average soft-serve ice cream.)

Marshalltown is but one of many communities -- small and large -- exploring ways of connecting its citizens via the internets. And it is part of an ongoing conversation on how to treat higher-speed web access. Is it a basic utility that should be available to everyone at a nominal fee? Or is it just merely one of many telecommunications options that should be made available only when and where market forces demand it?

Some cities such as Marshalltown, looking for a way to stand out from the crowd, are trying to leapfrog their neighbors in bridging the digital divide between the metro and the retro. This is a small investment, they say. It will bring attention, they say. Economies and workers are becoming more connected, they say. If they can live in a small town with its lower costs and slower pace and still work as though they're in the big city with its intellectual stimulation and creative cross-fertilization, surely some in the creative class will take a chance on a place like us, they say.

If they can do it, why not us? Marshalltown's initial investment wasn't all that big (30 k) and it surely doesn't have the luxury of tapping the resources of a academic institution the size of SIU. How about a trial run, Carbondale? A modest proposal? electric kool-aid acid test?

You can bet I'll use this space in the future to look at other communities' responses to this call. And I'm not saying the utilitizating of web access is necessarily the answer to rural connectivity (or lack thereof). I am saying that when the farmer down the road starts using a seed that's cheaper and more productive than the one you are using, if you don't start think about switching seeds, you'd better start thinking about switching careers.

If there's one thing that Iowans know -- its that if you build it, they will come.