[1st-mile-nm] Lujan: Libraries + Innovation

[Cirrus Consulting]

New Mexicans do indeed need more opportunities for access to innovative
technology and its applications, and maker-spaces located in local
libraries could be a step towards such opportunity.  But without the
support of human capital within those libraries, to maintain and manage
sophisticated devices and to support the public in their application, this
equipment will likely fall into disuse even before it becomes obsolete.



While technology and hardware are undeniably critical elements of
developing digital innovation and talent, we tend all too often to overlook
the equally important element of staffing, which provides the maintenance,
technical support, and user learning that ultimately make programs such as
maker-spaces successful.  These human resources are especially critical in
rural and under-served communities, regions that have the most to gain from
such programs but in which broadband adoption and technical skills are
likely to be lowest and the need for support to be high.  With ongoing cuts
to state budgets, and federal spending likely to decrease with the incoming
administration, staff at public institutions such as libraries will face
even greater pressure to do more with less.  Any maker-space programs, or
similar technology-based innovation plans, should include dedicated funding
for human resources to supply maintenance, technical support, and user
learning as part of their strategy for long-term success.


Eva Artschwager



On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 9:44 AM, Douglas Dawson <blackbean2 at ccgcomm.com>
wrote:

> Maker-spaces sound interesting. But we know from experience that such
> efforts have a short shelf life. No matter what technology is picked, in
> today's world in 3 - 5 years it will become old technology and then will
> sit and collect dust. Government's role is to make sure that there is
> broadband everywhere. If that happens, then entrepreneurs will find
> innovative ways to make a living.
>
> Doug Dawson
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 1st-mile-nm [mailto:1st-mile-nm-bounces at mailman.dcn.org] On Behalf
> Of Richard Lowenberg
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2017 11:14 AM
> To: 1st-mile Nm <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org>
> Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Lujan: Libraries + Innovation
>
> Lujan: Libraries + Innovation
>
> http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/01/lawmaker-
> public-libraries-can-boost-american-innovation/134518/
>
> President-elect Donald Trump's technology agenda is largely opaque, but at
> least one member of Congress has a message for his administration:
> ideas for cutting-edge technology often comes from the grassroots.
>
> “Innovation may have a national or even global impact but like politics,
> the process of innovation is inherently local,” Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.,
> said during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event on
> Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The government needs to think of creative ways
> to “provide resources to the innovators ... across the country," he added.
>
> Lujan advocated for establishing maker-spaces in public libraries,
> potentially outfitting them with small-scale manufacturing equipment such
> as 3-D printers, that are accessible to businesses, researchers and the
> nearby community. Because public libraries already exist across America,
> "including the rural parts, where we still don’t have bandwidth capacity,"
> they could become hubs for technological development outside Silicon
> Valley, he said.
>
> Lujan, who co-founded the House Technology Transfer Caucus, singled out
> this and a few other innovation-themed recommendations for Trump's
> administration mentioned in a report from the ITIF and the Brookings
> Institution.
>
> He also advocated for creating an Energy Department-based nonprofit that
> could dole out funds to transition technology out of federal research labs
> and into the marketplace. Lujan said he's working on legislation that would
> encourage Energy to promote partnerships with local economic development
> groups including maker-spaces.
>
> Other specific recommendations mentioned in the report include encouraging
> student entrepreneurship and increasing research and development tax credit
> generosity.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
> 1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
> Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
> rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
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-- 
Eva Artschwager, M.A.
Outreach and Community Engagement
for Broadband Adoption and Effective Use


*Cirrus Broadband Consulting*
cirrus.ed.consulting at gmail.com
505 660 3434
nmconnect.org
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