The Promise of Broadband What High Speed Networks Can Mean for Communities

1. The Promise of BroadbandWhat High Speed Networks Can Mean for Communities May 13, 2008 Edward Granger-Happ CIO, Save the Children Chairman, NetHope Executive Fellow, Tuck/Dartmouth

2. What I’m Doing at Tuck • Learning • Auditing class on Comparative Leadership Models • One on Social Entrepreneurship • And one on Business Ethics • Advising • Independent study on disruptive innovation • Team project on tech collaboration for small nonprofits (NGOs) • Writing • NTEN/J. Wiley Book • Blog: http://granger-happ.blogspot.com/ • Lecturing • Leadership • Future of Technology • Good Enough Principle

3. Six Take-Aways • Upper Valley NGOs have a need for connections and collaboration • A virtual village story: Robert Austin’s concert master story shows us what’s possible • The great unbundling of services are possible when the network makes it seem as if we are under one roof • Positive deviance provides a way to discover the successes occurring • Communities care about social responsibility • Don't bet against the network

4. 1. Survey Project for Upper Valley NGOs • Students have uncovered some interesting things about local nonprofits: • They are strongly interested in technology: 74% survey response rate • They are very small: half have less than 15 employees • Their technology budgets are tiny: most spend less than $25K/year • Almost no one has internal technology resources • Two-thirds believe technology can help move their mission forward • Upper Valley NGOs have a need for connections and collaboration

5. 2. A Virtual Village Story “The student embraced her cello, bow raised, eyes fixed on a sheet of music, attentive to the teacher’s words. The teacher held his own cello, but with bow lowered. The object of their attention: a difficult Bach suite from the “Anna Magdalena” manuscripts. At the teacher’s prompting, the student played two passages, from different parts of the suite. As she completed the second, a startled look crossed her face. The teacher noted her change of expression. ‘Yes,’ said the teacher, “they have a parallel structure.” The student nodded, excited. ‘Have you notice that before?” “No. It’s… important… I see that.” The teach smiled. The student played again. Moments later, she mused: ‘It’s good. It’s very …’ ‘Yes,’ the teacher agreed, ‘that Bach—he’s a pretty good composer…’ The student erupted in laughter. The teacher joined in. A moment later, the lesson continued.” --Robert Austin and Stephen Bradley, The Broadband Explosion, 2005, p.3.

6. Some Observations • This session took place with the student at Harvard in Cambridge, MA… and the concert master in Miami, FL. • A high-speed, high-definition and high-fidelity Internet2 network at 10MB provided the connection so that the “resulting qualitative experience was rich enough to convey subtle meaning.” --Austin, p. 4. • Modern fiber networks are 10 times faster

7. 3. The Great Unbundling Of Services • When the network is as fast as the speeds inside a laptop, all types of services can be unbundled and reassembled in ways that don’t care about geography • Think of a state-wide catalog of high school electives that students can “attend” no matter the town they live in • Think of committee and town meetings held without burning ever-expensive gasoline to get there –the network is green! • The network makes it seem as if we are under one roof

8. What else is possible for communities and NGOs? • Coop IT services • The virtual training catalog • Collaboration on joint projects • Leverage remote centers of excellence • The virtual specialization of collaboration

9. Building Collaboration “Who has expertise I can trust? Shared Specialization Joint Projects “What can we build together?” Increasing Levels of Trust Partnering “How can we work with corporations?” Basic Info Sharing “What are my peers doing?”

10. 4. Positive Deviance • Jerry Sternin’s work in Vietnam; finding the families that were thriving in malnourished cultures and replicating the successes by turning these “positive deviants” into teachers and examples for the community • See the Fast Company article on Jerry, here: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/41/sternin.html and the HBR article, here: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=F00101 • As you build your network, look for where the success stories are occurring: spotlight them!

11. 5. Communities care about social responsibility • Some recent data: • WSJ report: survey of 1,800 13-to-25-year-olds • 79% want to work for a company that cares about how it affects or contributes to society • 64% said their employer's social and environmental activities inspire loyalty • One of top 3 questions asked by Microsoft applicants: What’s your social responsibility program? • 50% of Tuck applicants who are accepted ask about the Allwin Initiative for Corporate Citizenship • What you do to support local nonprofits matters!

12. 6. Don’t Bet Against the Network • The case of an ADSL line in Islamabad, Pakistan • Went from $3,000/month for 128Kbps in 2003 • To $300/month for 256Kbps in 2004 • A factor to 20 increase in 12 months! • Conclusion: by the time it takes to work around the network shortfalls, the network will be where you need it to be • As Wayne Gretsky so eloquently said: you need to “play where the puck is going to be” • Stay the course: The broadband fiber network dream is the future

13. What ECFiber and Valley Net Can Do to Help • Sponsor “Tech for Good” nights at Tuck for NGOs to share and learn about technology • Host an on-line discussion database for Upper Valley NGOs • Provide video conferencing and collaboration software for NGOs • Provide file sharing servers and back-up services fro NGOs • Co-sponsor with Tuck a technology coop venture for UV NGOs

14. Six Take-Aways • Upper Valley NGOs have a need for connections and collaboration • A virtual village story: Robert Austin’s concert master story shows us what’s possible • The great unbundling of services are possible when the network makes it seem as if we are under one roof • Positive deviance provides a way to discover the successes occurring • Communities care about social responsibility • Don't bet against the network

15. Questions?ehapp@savechildren.org