This morning on Highway 6 - Your Road to the Country we had an interesting discussion about how to create Broadband access to much of Rural America by creating a co-working space much the same as our guest Dan Shipton has done in urban Des Moines with Impromptu Studio.
We set the stage by talking about how remote workers are being embraced by many "brick and mortar" organizations. There was a time when employers said you MUST come into the office to work. Today "virtual workers" no longer make the trip into the city center but are able to work from home. The company, according to the Harvard Business Review, who welcomes virtual workers gets some great people and often the output is better than that from "captive" employees. In addition the urban company doesn't have the expense of larger office buildings and more of those dreaded cubicles.
For some people that don't mind working on their own, that's a great deal. For others that miss working with a group of people or have trouble with home distractions it can be an issue.
Enter co-working. Dan Shipton brought Impromptu Studio to Des Moines last summer. Following a meeting with him last week we got to wondering if this model might work for Rural America NOW rather than waiting for the government to build a system. (If you are on the city council of a small town or a supervisor of a rural county...check this out.)
Here is how it would work:
A coffee shop, cafe or a current empty store front in Small Town America runs high speed wireless Internet into their location. Here in Iowa we have miles and miles of unused or underused FIBER OPTIC cable strung to schools and libraries. In a public/private partnership the new Co-Working Studio uses that high speed connection (or an established connection in town) and sets up a facility where rural employees travel three miles to work, rather than thirty. Not only people working FOR a company but also what a boost to rural based business people who can create economic development using the Internet now rather than waiting for the hook -up.
Hmmmm...
Your thoughts?
Michael P. Libbie - Acreage Owner and Host
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