Today, there is another divide that exists between those with access and those without access – a digital one. For those that have access to high-speed internet and understand how to use it, the capability to have instant communications will enable Arkansans to compete on a level playing field.
Connect Arkansas has based its new e-Communities program on this principal to bring technology awareness, training, and access to all of Arkansas’s counties. The e-Communities process is driven, in large part, by community meetings. As a part of this program, many volunteers also become engaged in the process as they collect information from local citizens and businesses to measure demand. Statewide and local providers are also engaged to play an active role in the community.
There are seven steps to becoming an e-Community. In this edition, we will discuss the first two steps that will ensure that your county can get started.
The first step in becoming an e-Community is to evaluate and determine if your local community would be interested in creating and implementing a strategic plan for technology and, most importantly, be willing to commit to the process.
The second step is to identify an e-Champion (committee chair) as the initiative’s leader.
This individual should be a consensus builder that is respected in the community, connected to other community leaders, and committed to the project as well as dedicated to seeing it through to completion. The e-Champion also will assist in recruiting the steering committee, which should be representative of all sectors of the community. Most importantly, committee members must be passionate advocates for technology-based economic development and committed in their belief that technology is critical to the future success of their community.
The other five steps, which will be discussed in future editions, include: engaging the public, assessing your community, creating your communities’ strategic plan for Information Technology (IT), implementing the plan, and tracking and reviewing progress on an annual basis.
In order for the e-Communities program to succeed, countywide ownership and county government involvement in the e-Communities are key. This past February, Connect Arkansas informed county leadership of the initiative, by initially distributing letters to Arkansas’s 75 County Judges and then by presenting to the County Judges Association of Arkansas.
Connect Arkansas is now working with the County Judges of Columbia County, Faulkner County, and Woodruff County as they begin to engage leadership throughout the county to ensure that their community is willing to commit to this process.
(This article was originally published in the August 2008 issue of Connect Arkansas Updates.)
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