My friend David Isen of ´´the stupid telecoms research paper´´ fame, has been organizing for years the most succesful Net centric and packet based knowledge conference called Freedom to Connect.
This conference is about all things Net and the saving of the Internet as we know it…
Not that the net needs any saving mind you…but there you have it.
This is not a public service announcement. It is clearly an invitation to join the smartest geeks in the room, maybe the planet for a weekend of brain massages.
So if you planning on visiting Washington DC to see the sights or the Lincoln memorial and to oggle the new presidential puppy, then you should try to fit this in the agenda too. It is the wise thing to do to offset your carbon footprint bydoing something smart in the beltway seat of the recently impoverished ex-power.
But it is also an opportunity to become acquainted with the largest Stimulus package the planet has ever seen. Massive money rain fall is predicted for the Washington area in the near future. At least that is my meteorological prediction.
Go ahead learn something and report back. I almost became a speaker except David seems to heve preferred the more academic or government and industry connected and less controversial or less outspoken variety of public debater, so I sit this one out. But still believe it to be a worthy endeavour to attend and participate. So if there is one net conference to go to this year… make it this one.
F2C: Freedom to Connect, March 30 & 31, Washington DC,
http://freedom-to-connect.net including the New Session:
“How to Get and Spend $7,200,000,000: What the Recovery Act Means for Netheads”
A smart conference such as this brings together cool brainiacs but it also represents an investment in an economic opportunity for the brains behind broadband and net services as it focuses on arcane but also highly useful subjects such as the Stimulus package of Obama for the rebuilding of America and how aspects of it support the Net infrastructure. Economic opportunities always abound on the net but this one is an unprecedented money rain from Washington so all umbrellas are out.
The newest session at F2C: Freedom to Connect: “How to Get and Spend $7,200,000,000.00: What the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act or 2009 Means for Netheads.”
This session will cover how to qualify for
the Act’s $2.5 billion from Agriculture and $4.7
billion from Commerce for broadband deployment. Disbursement begins in May; most
monies must be disbursed within 18 months. Local
governments qualify, as do nonprofits, coops, and more
usual business entities. Large telcos “generally not
eligible.” Exciting stuff! Beltway insider Harold Feld
writes that the Act, “. . . value[s] broadband for its
transformative effect rather than for its consumer
value and place[s] it within the communities we hope to
positively transform.” (And there’s more; the Baller
Herbst Law Group identifies another $110 billion
indirect broadband-related funding, e.g., in
transportation, education, smart grid and health
technology.) Conference panelists will be among
the most knowledgeable insiders in the Washington DC
telecom/Internet community.
The entire agenda if the Freedom to Connect conference is at: http://freedom-to-connect.net/agenda
See you there… Maybe
