SF TechConnect covered at Wireless Internet Institute

San Francisco has generated considerable attention from broadband-wireless stakeholders around the world ever since EarthLink and partner Google bid to provide the city with an ubiquitous Wi-Fi infrastructure, in part through a two-tiered advertising-based model supporting free public access.

Chris Vein, Senior Technology Advisor to the Mayor of San Francisco and Executive Director of the Department of Telecommunications and Information Services, is heading up the City’s  negotiations with EarthLink. At the W2i Digital Cities Convention in London, Olympia Exhibition Centre, September 25–26, 2006, he joined participating IT professionals and field practitioners from municipal agencies from the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. presenting their plans and experiences deploying broadband-wireless applications and services in their communities. The following is adapted from his remarks.

SanFrancisco’s Digital Inclusion Strategy

The City and County of San Francisco is developing a comprehensive Digital Inclusion Strategy in order to bridge San Francisco’s digital divide.  We invite you to provide comment and feedback on the initial draft document:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/tech_connect_index.asp?id=47976

The document outlines approaches that the City proposes to address the technology needs of its underserved residents including:

• free and affordable internet access
• affordable computers and equipment
• training and support
• relevant content and applications

We are soliciting initial feedback through November 11, 2006 and using that initial feedback to update the document for release by December . However, we welcome input throughout the process.

Comments can be sent to:

Digital Inclusion Programs
Dept. of Telecommunications and Information Services City and County of
San Francisco
875 Stevenson St., 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
techconnect@sfgov.org

CNN covers Upwardly Global

Congratulations to one of my fellow ZFellows – Camille. Her organization, Upwardly Global was covered on CNN.

Upwardly Global is a nonprofit organization that helps highly-skilled immigrants, refugees and asylees reclaim their careers here in the United States and helps American employers discover and understand this hidden talent pool.