It’s impossible to overstate how much the internet has changed our lives over the past three decades. Internet-based technologies and products have unleashed exponential economic growth and efficiencies. It is no accident that the five largest companies in the S&P 500 are Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, NVDIA and Alphabet (Google). Certainly the internet has been, and will continue to be, a driver of economic growth and internet-based innovations that promise to continue to improve the health, education and economic opportunities for all of us. However, as has been true with all new technologic ..read more

If you’ve been paying attention to the news at all, you’ve likely come across several articles on artificial intelligence (AI). These articles run the gamut between those that herald AI as a potential boon for humanity to those that predict that it literally will be the end of humanity. I do think AI is destined to fundamentally change how we use the internet – and more broadly, how we live our lives. I also am skeptical that efforts to reign in the integration of AI into our lives will be successful, although I do hope we can make some progress toward curbing the more destructive uses its hu ..read more

A Short Guide for Owners and Leaders Part 1 of this blog described the risks posed to micro businesses and similar-sized nonprofits from a cyberattack, Part 2 outlined a three-prong plan to develop a cybersecurity plan for your organization – starting with identifying the organization’s mission-critical assets and protected third-party data, and assessing your organization’s risk level. This part concludes, by describing the core elements of  an effective cybersecurity plan. Step Three – Implement a Cybersecurity Plan The final step of a cybersecurity strategy for your organization is to ..read more

A Short Guide for Owners and Leaders Part One of this Blog explained the risks your organization faces from a cyberattack, describing the most common objectives and the primary ways cybercrooks attack microbusinesses and similarly sized nonprofits. You learned that successful cyberattacks often involve tactics that are designed to deceive, along with sophisticated malicious software, and that potentially any device that connects to the internet, or to your local area network (LAN) could be an entry point for a cyberattack. While the risks posed to your organization by cybercrooks are real, an ..read more

Missourians have until January 13 to file challenges to newly released maps of broadband coverage to be considered when determining Missouri’s share of federal broadband funding. The Office of Broadband Development encourages Missourians to make sure their homes, businesses, and communities are correctly represented on the maps to ensure locations are eligible for funding and receive their fair share. The FCC map will determine how much of more than $42 billion in funding will come to the state through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, a component of the I ..read more

By Marc McCarty Today I re-read my Blog from December 2020 about the winners of the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction awards. It was an exciting time! Over $9.2 billion awarded — $346 million to Missouri providers that promised to connect nearly 200,000 Missouri locations to high-speed internet! Twenty months later, while some Missourians now have the service available, many do not, and for some the connection promised by the funding will never come at all. Why? Part of the answer was described in the December 2020 Blog: “Companies receiving awards are required to submit much ..read more

The Missouri General Assembly closed out its regular session on May 13, 2022 (Friday the 13th). The General Assembly committed unprecedented amounts of new public investment in high-speed internet infrastructure. Yet, the amounts provided were substantially less than what the Governor proposed last fall and did not address some of the key objectives identified in his budget proposal. Aside from the appropriation, limited progress was made on other fronts as well, and these are discussed in more detail below. The ARPA Broadband Appropriation Much of the General Assembly’s work this session cen ..read more

Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted what many already knew: high-speed internet access is not a luxury; it’s a necessity. As workplaces and schools shifted to online environments, families that lacked access to affordable, reliable, high-speed connections, appropriate devices, and digital skills fell further behind. Newly released data from the 2021 NTIA Internet Use Survey show that historically less-connected communities used the Internet and connected devices in greater numbers than they did two years ago. Despite that progress, the substantial disparities that NTIA ..read more

The University of Missouri System Broadband Initiative team was tapped to help train extension professionals to be effective partners in closing their state’s digital divide. The May 3–5 workshop in St. Louis equipped participants from 11 states with training and tools based on the UM System’s Digitally Connected Community Guide model to help close critical broadband access and adoption gaps that impact quality of life and economic recovery.  The National Digital Extension Education Team (NDEET), headed by Rachel Welborn, associate director of the Southern Rural Development Center a ..read more

We are at the beginning of  the Great Broadband Infrastructure Funding Boom. New federal funding for broadband started with the CARES Act and picked up steam with the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) but the amounts involved are dwarfed by over $65 billion that will be distributed by the federal government over the next few years as part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).  Meanwhile, in the near term we expect over $400 million of the state’s ARPA funding to be appropriated by the General Assembly this spring, with actual awards and funding to begin by l ..read more