Olds residents can start checking their mailboxes this week for invitations to participate in a unique conversation about the potential benefits of broadband Internet service in rural communities.
The Centre for Public Involvement (CPI), Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, the Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development and the Town of Olds are collaborating to host a ìcitizen planning circleî in Olds in April where 24 people selected through a lottery will come together to brainstorm about broadband.
ìThe overall purpose is really to gauge a sense from citizens on the broad question of effective use of rural broadband,î said Fiona Cavanagh, CPI's executive director, in a telephone interview on Feb. 20. ìSo really looking at how residents in Olds can make the best use of broadband to support economic, social and cultural development.î
The CPI is a partnership between the City of Edmonton and University of Alberta that, according to its website, ìprovides leadership in understanding and applying innovative public involvement ideas, practices and technologies, for citizen participation and deliberation.î
On Feb. 21, an invitation package was sent out through the mail to 2,000 randomly chosen households in Olds asking each household to put forward the name of one person in the family interested in participating in the planning circle.
Those people who express interest will receive information about broadband services and how the planning circle discussion will work and will then state whether they still want to take part.
Households need to respond to the invitation by March 19 and in the following days, through a lottery process, two-dozen participants will be chosen.
The people chosen for the circle will represent a random cross-section of the community based on age, gender and other criteria and those selected will be notified by March 26.
No special qualifications or expertise in broadband are necessary.
The planning circle discussions take place on April 4 and 5 and on April 12.
Cavanagh said Olds was chosen to host the discussion because the community is ìreally keen on supporting innovation and civic engagement.î
ìAlso because, I think, Olds is, on the community level, really taking the initiative and some leadership in this whole area of broadband.î
She added O-NET, Olds' community-owned Internet service provider, was ìdefinitely a factorî in Olds being selected for the planning circle but just because the community has such a service shouldn't bias the discussion.
Mitch Thompson, the Olds Institute's executive director, said the institute became involved in the process when the chair of the organization's Connected Community Committee heard CPI was conducting these types of civic engagement projects and sent in a submission suggesting the topic of rural broadband be discussed.
The community's success with O-NET and interest in the service in other communities was a ìhugeî component in the project coming to Olds, he added.
ìSo through some of the academic circles and some of the desires of other municipalities to perhaps emulate the good things we have happening is probably what prompted the ministry and the Centre for Public Involvement to study it further.î
As for the institute's role in the planning circle process, Thompson said the organization ìis providing a mechanism or body to be the host for the studyî and it hopes to benefit from the project by taking away some insights on ìthe values people place on using technology and using broadband in the community.î
ìWe'll get a better understanding of the barriers that people face in using technology and that will better enable us to support use and provide the education that will help the technology create better lifestyles.î
Cavanagh said the results of the planning circle will be shared with all residents of Olds and other rural areas interested in using a similar process to bring people together to discuss matters important to their communities.
Recommendations that come out of the conversation will end up on CPI's website.
But the CPI, which has held one other planning circle project in Edmonton that focused on a city task force, will also be looking at how well the civic engagement process works here in Olds, from the recruitment phase right up to the design of the actual planning circle.
ìSo the public involvement process as an important and useful way that other communities can take up this conversation around broadband,î she said.
The ADR is providing the money for the planning circle and Cavanagh said the budget for the entire project, including research taking place outside the planning circle process, is $35,000.
The members of the partner organizations will work together to decide who will moderate the circle.
