Building an Information Infrastructure

How we provide education, how farmers and manufacturers do business in local and global economies, and how rapidly-improving technologies will drive life in the 21st century remain somewhat mysterious. Christopher E. Hoy has been at the forefront of a movement to develop a telecommunications infrastructure in the state of Nebraska. He initiated a project called “The Global Community Initiative.” As part of that project, Hoy organized more than 45 community information technology committees in rural Nebraska and developed a model planning process for them to follow. He describes this as a statewide, grass-roots organizing effort designed to stimulate demand for advanced information technologies and creative applications in small businesses. Hoy’s article is followed by commentaries from Diane Tilton, executive director of the Sunrise County Economic Council in Washington County, and Harry Dresser, associate headmaster at Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine