On Saturday, April 27, local digital literacy professionals and smart city/big data practitioners will share the mic for a Day of Discovery. Organizers include the local broadband group UC2B and Associate Professor Kate Williams, aided by US Ignite. The event is free and open to all.
Day of Discovery kicks off with a presentation from Seattle, Washington, with Seattle's Digital Equity Manager David Keyes explaining their decades-long municipal campaign for a "technology healthy city." Then panels composed of digital literacy program leaders and local professionals involved in smart city work will discuss their current efforts and future directions.
Ten years ago, UC2B began the work of installing high-speed fiber internet across Champaign-Urbana. They also made a promise to fund digital equity work through a community benefit fund. On April 27, that work will be showcased and discussed in light of the current policy push for smart cities in the era of big data.
"Our hope is to develop new ideas out of this Day of Discovery," explained Mike Smeltzer, who dreamed up and guided the plan that became the citywide fiber infrastructure UC2B. "It's necessary but not sufficient to spend money or write a report to funders. With our small funds, we have to create new solutions. After school computer teachers and public librarians have views to exchange with city IT management and big data workers. They are all smart people who can shape smart cities."
Williams added, "On campus we work on big data, and in Champaign-Urbana and other communities 'smart cities' is a policy buzzword. This involves inserting a lot of technology into our daily environment. Why to do it, how to do it, who it will serve, is the current debate. Meanwhile, at the grassroots, people are striving for digital literacy. It will be exciting to put these two streams of activity together."
Before UC2B, many iSchool at Illinois faculty were already engaged in community informatics (how local communities interact with new technologies). In 1993 Greg Newby and Ann Bishop created Prairienet. In 2008 Abdul Alkalimat worked with local activists to persuade UC2B to create a community benefit fund and an annual reporting process.
The UC2B Community Informatics Day of Discovery is open to all interested parties and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Lunch is included, and registration is recommended. The schedule, registration link, and directions to avoid the Illinois Marathon that morning are posted on the event website.