Joaquin Alvarado, founding director of San Francisco State University's Institute for Next Generation Internet, said a digital technology and content institute could be fashioned to exploit the Humboldt community's own high-tech assets.
The notional HSU forum, which Mr. Alvarado believes could be organized as early as this summer, would create opportunities for technologists, investors, and entrepreneurs from across California to brainstorm with one another, with an eye, for example, to digital pilot projects.
"A place like Humboldt, which is really organized around these ideas, can be a leader in that," Mr. Alvarado said in an interview after a presentation to his Wharfinger Building audience, which included local leaders of business, education, and cultural organizations. "Humboldt people are entrepreneurial, they're engaged around these [leapfrog] technology issues, you have a great university with faculty and departments who can help to drive this--and you have the [economic] need."
Mr. Alvarado zeroed in on the Redwood Coast's fertile film industry as illustrative. "My rapid prototyping suggestion is to find a little bit of space at HSU and have students participate in a real-time, uncompressed, high definition production over Next-Generation Internet. You've got the faculty members to support that and it would allow small businesses that are looking at going in this direction regionally to participate, and do something to support the university. There's a built-in development aspect for the campus and its relationships with start-up companies. That is a partnership opportunity with leading technologists who are looking at this all over the world and especially in the state of California."
What local businesses would benefit? Mr. Alvarado singled out Arcata's StreamGuys, the fast-growing steaming video services company which, among other things, offers Flash streaming solutions.
"If you're StreamGuys, this is the next generation of streaming," Mr. Alvarado said. "If you are a North Coast production company that's doing local commercials, this is the next generation of doing production. If you are a web design company that wants to look at what the future of the web is in a year and a half or two years, this is really an opportunity to have a test-bed for that."
Mr. Alvarado believes Humboldt State can play a crucial role. "I think the university is probably in the best position to provide that test-bed the soonest, while Access Humboldt gets lighted up and while some of the local fiber initiatives get resolved. It could be doing that right now," he said.
Maggie Gainer, Director of the university's Office for Economic and Community Development, the Eureka forum's sponsor, said the key to gaining statewide support of the Redwood Coast's bid to secure cutting edge telecommunications is to present Sacramento and the rest of California with successful projects. In her words, "Just show 'em!" Ms. Gainer said there are projects that could be put together in the next few months--for disadvantaged rural youth, telemedicine, and numerous education programs.
Regarding next-generation educational partnerships, she noted that HSU's Department of Education is already working with a charter school in Oakland. "All we have to do is look at what we're already doing and do a better job of making those matches and introducing new technologies--we can be off and running to demonstrate them," Ms. Gainer said.
HSU President Rollin Richmond attended Mr. Alvarado's presentation at the Wharfinger and called his proposal of a new-media institute "a very exciting possibility. Dr. Richmond endorsed Mr. Alvarados recommendation to start small with one thing. I like the idea very much of getting some of our kids locally involved in using games in an educational way. The Department of Defense spends more than $5 billion a year on games to train soldiers. This is a new way of educating people. Clearly the Internet is with us to stay: we have to be players here or we're going to lose."
Mr. Alvarado is an acknowledged leader in the efforts to connect California communities to Next Generation Internet, including cities and towns overseas. He heads San Francisco State Universitys outreach to ensure infrastructure is put in place so that "all will have access." He serves on the Digital Media Advisory Council to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Disruptive and costly outages in December and January in Humboldt County's only fiber optic link demonstrated the need for next-generation infrastructure development. President Richmond and Humboldt Area Foundation Executive Director Peter Pennekamp are members of the Governor's Broadband Task Force. Dr. Richmond expects the panels preliminary report and recommendations to be ready in a few weeks.
Commenting on the estimated $15 million cost of equipping Humboldt with a redundant fiber optic link, President Richmond said, Ultimately, our ability to retain and attract people who come here and depend on access to the Internet is critically dependent on redundant access. If we can't guarantee a business or an educational institution that youre going to have access to the Internet all the time, theyre not going to be willing to stay here. A business can lose hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars in some instances, within hours [when a shutdown occurs]. As Joaquin said earlier tonight, it's not a lot of money as things go statewide.
Dr. Richmond is a member of a group working to develop a consortium locally that could help to fund a backup link, with a view to attracting state and other support. "We will get this done," he vowed. "It may take a few years, but we'll get this done."