AccessVision

The Open Media Globe
Submitted by Avaric on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 15:30
Contact Information
Individual Applicant Name: 
Dale Geminder
About the Center
1. Does your organization currently have a public computer center?: 
No
2. What is the goal of your public computer center? If it currently is not set up do you have organizational capacity for one?: 
Currently, we partner with local schools and colleges to provide access to and literacy with computers. In addition, our public library (less than two blocks) provides a computer lab, which supports community education and information goals.
3. What percentage of content submitted to your station is posted online?: 
10
4. Will your organization's public computer center be available to all members of the general public or a specific population?: 
We would make the center open to all persons in our service area on a first come first served basis.
5. Do you charge membership dues or other fees to the population you are proposing to serve?: 
Yes
6. What is the disabilities status for members in your area? Check all that apply.: 
Blindness, Deafness or a severe vision or hearing impairment.
A condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying.
A physical, mental or emotional condition lasting 6 months or more.
Center Capacity
7. For the following questions regarding your center's capacity, are the values current or proposed?: 
Proposed
Public computer center name and type.: 
AccessVision Computer Lab
How many broadband-related equipment units (e.g. computers, wireless devices) have you/do you intend to purchase overall?: 
15
Center's Broadband Connection Speed (MBps): 
1
Number of Persons served per 120-hour business week?: 
75
Number of Persons served per 48-hour weekend?: 
15
Center Demographic Information
8. What is the estimated population size of your service area?: 
52053
9. What is your service area identifier?: 
Battle Creek in Calhoun County Michigan 7th Congressional District
10. What age distribution(s) will your center serve?: 
5 to 19 years
20 to 29 years
29 to 39 years
40 to 49 years
50 to 59 years
60 to 69 years
70 and above
11. What ethnicity(s) will your center serve?: 
Hispanic
Non-Hispanic White
Non-Hispanic Black
Non-Hispanic American Indian
Non-Hispanic Asian
Non-Hispanic Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
Non-Hispanic Other
12. What gender(s) will your center serve?: 
Male
Female
13. What is the median household income for the population your center will serve?: 
Less than $9,000
$10,000 - $14,999
$15,000 - $24,999
$25,000 - $34,999
$35,000 - $44,999
$50,000 - $74,999
$75,000 - $99,999
$100,000 - $149,999
$150,000 - $199,999
$200,000 and above
14. What education levels will your center serve?: 
Middle - Grade 6 to Grade 8
Secondary - Grade 8 to Grade 12
College
15. What is the unemployment rate for your service area?: 
15
16. What describes the language preference of your service area?: 
English - Primary
17. Please describe your center's outreach strategy and how can you reach communities lacking broadband access. : 
Freedom of speech is of utmost importance to AccessVision. As such we welcome all residents and noncommercial entities to participate and produce interesting and educational content. Producers schedule their own programming for the station, subject to airtime availability and other parameters defined by AccessVision. We have recently completed a $35,000.00 marketing campaign and are currently evaluating the results. Based on the results of this effort we will be able to better tailor our approach to outreach in the future.
18. If you provide a computer checkout or giveaway program, how many users do you expect to provide equipment or computers?: 
We currently have 620 active members all of whom are trained on our current equipment. These members would all be eligible to check out laptops. We anticipate an increase in trained active members who will be eligible in the future.
19. How will you measure the program's impact in reaching disconnected communities and increase broadband adoption?: 
In our last viewership survey conducted in 2007 we found almost a third of our residents randomly surveyed do not use the internet at all. We would use these figures as a baseline and periodically reassess.
20. Please describe your primary training and educational programs, including curricula, student certification programs, etc.: 
AccessVision offers public workshops that teach residents how to produce and air their own television show. All classes are $20 per person for each topic, except where noted.Most classes are two sessions lasting about two hours each in length, residents must complete both days to be certified to use the equipment. The rotating schedule of classes allows residents to complete all training within two months.Residents do not have to complete all of the workshops in order to be able to use AccessVision's facilities. Advance registration for workshops is required: at least 1 business day before the class begins.
20a. How many hours of training do you/expect to provide per person on average through training programs(s)?: 
5
20b. How many full-time instructors/facilitators do you/will you employ for broadband and digital literacy training purposes?: 
1 person with experience in social media, technology education, web design and basic computer networking.
Other Information
21. Is there evidence that less than 40% of your service population has broadband web access?: 
Yes
22. How will your center provide a $10,000 match of funds?: 
Funds will come from a Depreciation fund set up for the purchase of new equipment.
23. Does your center currently have an online component or plans for an online component?: 
Yes
24. How do you plan to maintain a public computer center?: 
We will have a staff member who can assist and troubleshoot basic problems and maintain the center. For larger problems we have a local consultant on call.
25. How do you plan maintain a website for your station or for the public computer center?: 
Two staff members currently maintain our website. We would plan to retrain them as needed to perform maintenance and updating of our website(s).
26. Are you interested in enabling your community to directly schedule any portion of your programming schedule?: 
Yes
27. Are you interested in sharing content with other public access TV stations?: 
Yes
28. How many total new home subscribers (households) to broadband do you expect to generate over the entirety of the program?: 
We have no way to know if our actions will generate new home subscribers, however we can measure to some degree who has broadband access and we can measure whether or not those who participate in the program begin subscribing to broadband service.
29. How many total new business and/or institutional subscribers to broadband do you expect to generate?: 
We have no way to know if our actions will generate new business or institutional subscribers.