Minneapolis Telecommunications Network

The Open Media Globe
Submitted by jakre on Wed, 08/12/2009 - 14:58
Contact Information
Individual Applicant Name: 
John Akre
About the Center
1. Does your organization currently have a public computer center?: 
Yes
2. What is the goal of your public computer center? If it currently is not set up do you have organizational capacity for one?: 
MTN is centrally located near downtown Minneapolis at a riverfront location served by seven major bus lines. The goal for MTN’s computer center is to provide the tools and education that allow people to get their voice heard, especially people typically underrepresented in the mainstream media. We provide eight computers for video editing, on-line research and video uploading. MTN also has two computers for the general public to use for applications such as web browsing and e-mail. The lab computers are networked and are currently used by MTN members to post programming on-line and to create other web materials like blogs.
3. What percentage of content submitted to your station is posted online?: 
20
4. Will your organization's public computer center be available to all members of the general public or a specific population?: 
MTN’s editing computers can be used by people who have taken an MTN class or received certification to use that computer. MTN charges a $40 annual membership fee to Minneapolis residents who wish to use our video equipment and specialized editing computers. We would use some of the grant money to offer scholarships to low income community members to cover a year’s membership and basic video classes. MTN also has computers available to the general public with no restrictions on use. These computers are typically used for e-mail and web browsing purposes.
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?: 
Current
Public computer center name and type.: 
Minneapolis Television Network
How many broadband-related equipment units (e.g. computers, wireless devices) have you/do you intend to purchase overall?: 
14
Center's Broadband Connection Speed (MBps): 
2
Number of Persons served per 120-hour business week?: 
200
Number of Persons served per 48-hour weekend?: 
50
Center Demographic Information
8. What is the estimated population size of your service area?: 
377000
9. What is your service area identifier?: 
City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Fifth Congressional District
10. What age distribution(s) will your center serve?: 
0 to 4 years
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?: 
$50,000 - $74,999
14. What education levels will your center serve?: 
Elementary - Kindergarten to Grade 5
Middle - Grade 6 to Grade 8
Secondary - Grade 8 to Grade 12
College
Masters
Doctorate/Post-Doctorate
15. What is the unemployment rate for your service area?: 
9
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. : 
MTN is located in the largest city in Minnesota and serves a population with 45% of households earning less than $35,000 per year. MTN is already reaching populations lacking broadband access through its popular public access television programming. MTN programs fifteen hours of new Somali language programming each week, which reach the largest Somali population in the United States. MTN already has significant foot traffic at our center with over 200 people coming each week to attend classes, check out video equipment and produce and participate in television shows in our studios. At least 50 % of the people that come though our facilities are people of color and/or recent immigrants. The vibrancy of our community media center already gives us access to communities that do not have broadband in their homes. We give them access to the equipment in our facilities including broadband internet computers. We also offer generalized computer literacy training within the structure of our basic computer editing systems. We have used out video production facilities to build relationships with community groups and non-profit organizations. We also use the MTN web site, printed brochures and course schedules, advertisements and articles in community newspapers, and social networking to reach communities, organizations and individuals. MTN also is always engaged in raising its presence at community events with tables and also with its production van. The new website would free us up to supplement and strengthen these tools with the important work of face-to-face interaction with potential clients and partners.
18. If you provide a computer checkout or giveaway program, how many users do you expect to provide equipment or computers?: 
We currently provide 2 laptops for checkout by our advanced certified community producers. Our in-house computers with broadband internet access serve over 100 people in a given week. We have found that it works better for us when people use our computers at MTN, so we can help with troubleshooting and offer additional training when necessary. We spend a significant amount of staff time providing support to people using the computers in our facility.
19. How will you measure the program's impact in reaching disconnected communities and increase broadband adoption?: 
We already track our members, including addresses, equipment use, certifications, and programs submitted. We also collect anonymous demographic information such as age, ethnicity and gender about who is coming into our center. This information will allow us to track any changes in who uses our facilities and what communities and neighborhoods they are coming from.
20. Please describe your primary training and educational programs, including curricula, student certification programs, etc.: 
MTN goes beyond the basic public access model of short classes focusing on the technical aspects of equipment uses. We offer workshop classes that engage students in the creation of projects, so that they learn by making content for the MTN channels and for the web. In MTN’s Video Production Workshop – Basic class, which consists of 4 3 hour sessions, students learn field video production by planning, shooting, editing and posting on-line a short video production. MTN also offers advanced classes that explore manual control of video cameras and the complexities of programs such as Final Cut Pro . MTN has also long offered a “Put Your Video on the Internet” class that goes in depth on issues such as converting and uploading video, and creating blogs to publicize programs. MTN plans to develop a second track of educational options that go beyond what we offer our public access members. For this arm of our education center, community instructors will pitch ideas for classes will complement our public access classes and expand our class offerings in to areas such as social networking and visual storytelling, limited only by the creativity of the contributing instructors.
20a. How many hours of training do you/expect to provide per person on average through training programs(s)?: 
6
20b. How many full-time instructors/facilitators do you/will you employ for broadband and digital literacy training purposes?: 
2 FTE - from a number of part time instructors
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?: 
Since our separate equipment funding was lost in the franchise renewal, we have been setting aside $10,000 each year from our operation budget to purchase new equipment. We are prepared to dedicate that money to equipment purchases related to upgrading our computer lab and strengthening our internal network so as to support a Drupal-based website that would integrate our server and member database and that would allow our members to log into our system and do tasks such as reserving equipment online. We also have created some flexibility in our staffing though our use of interns and an Americorps volunteer, so that several of our key staff members will have time to work on the outreach and web development work needed for this project.
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 currently staff our public access center for 48 hours per week. We are used to and comfortable working with a wide variety of people coming through with different skill levels. In addition to the equipment, training and support we already provide, MTN would like to expand its current computer workstations to allow its program producers and other members of the community to further develop their web presence by being able to have their own blog pages where they could upload their shows . We would like to expand the capacity of our network so that more users can upload content to our Princeton broadcast server and for sharing with other access centers. Enabling our producers to enter their own information, and schedule their own shows would also free up our thinly-stretched staff to focus more on this project and on outreach and revenue-generating endeavors.
25. How do you plan maintain a website for your station or for the public computer center?: 
MTN has had a web site since 1995 and was a Twin Cities pioneer in helping non-profit organizations set up a place on the web. MTN currently maintains a web 1.0 site with a depth of information that it would like to transfer to a web 2.0 environment. MTN’s current web site manager will work with the web developers to implement and maintain the new MTN site.
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 will provide broadband computer access at our facilities and teach people basic computer literacy skills as well as more specialized training such as creating and uploading video projects and utilizing social networking. Through this program, we plan to educate 300 households so that they can become more confident and skilled users of broadband services.
29. How many total new business and/or institutional subscribers to broadband do you expect to generate?: 
We plan to partner with 50 non-profit and neighborhood organizations to help them strengthen their web presence by incorporating video into their existing websites. Through the BTOP program, we expect to be able to reallocate our staffing resources away from the work of membership renewals and programming, so that we can invest more staff time into meeting with local non-profits and creating partnerships to help them use their websites more strategically.