WATAUGA COUNTY E-COMMUNITIES PLAN

Executive Summary

With support from North Carolina’s Rural Internet Access Authority, Watauga County initiated its e-communities planning program in December 2001. Because the Appalachian Regional Development Institute (ARDI) at Appalachian State University has a history of leadership in encouraging the use of the Internet and telecommunications technology in the region, the Watauga County Commissioners asked ARDI to provide leadership and technical support for the planning effort. ARDI administers WataugaNet, Watauga County’s online community network, and recruited the WataugaNet Board of Directors as the core of the E-Communities Steering Committee. The committee was enhanced with additional members from the High Country United Way, the Watauga County Public Library, Skyline Telephone Cooperative, Charter Communications, Cove Creek Preservation and Development and four at-large volunteers to represent the rural corners of the county. In addition, other members volunteered in response to newspaper articles about the goals of the e-communities planning program.

Watauga County is a mountainous county in the northwestern section of the state. Although no interstate highway runs through the county, four-lane roads from the east and south are under construction that will greatly improve transportation into and out of the county. The Town of Boone serves as a small urban core for the northwestern area, as evidenced by the county’s relatively high per capita earnings in engineering, legal, health care, finance/insurance/real estate, business and government services. On the other hand, manufacturing is a relatively small portion of the local economy. The major sectors of the local economy include education (due to Appalachian State University), tourism, regional retail trade, and medical services.

Over a period of approximately 5 months, the Watauga County E-Communities Steering Committee reviewed the current status of computer and Internet usage and access in the county and developed plans for enhancing the local telecommunications capability. A key finding of the Committee is that Watauga County is probably one of the most “wired” rural counties in North Carolina. Several factors support this finding.

· Appalachian State University’s 12,500 students and over 2,000 faculty and staff members are served by a 45MB ATM circuit through a virtual link to MCNC in the Research Triangle Park. 34MB are available for data transfer.

· Skyline Telephone Cooperative provides DSL and T1 lines to households and businesses throughout over 85% of their service area at prices competitive with most urban areas.

· Charter Communications, the local cable franchise serving most of the county, will have broadband two-way data transfer available to its entire customer base by October of this year.

· BellSouth is offering DSL service in part of its local service area.

· WataugaNet, a local community network portal maintained by ARDI, provides an index to a considerable amount of local content, some of which is interactive. Many local organizations, including chambers of commerce and governments, provide a wealth of online information.

· According to estimates generated by the East Carolina University Citizen Survey, 83% of Watauga county households own one or more personal computers, and 87% of those with computers have Internet access. This yields an estimate of 72% of total households with Internet access. However, the majority of household access at this time is dial-up.

· Computer and Internet literacy training opportunities are available in the county through the public library, Caldwell Community College, and ARDI. In addition Appalachian State University and the local school system provide in-house training for their employees.

· Some public access is available through the public library in Boone and at a satellite library in the western part of the county.

Despite this very positive picture of broadband availability, computer ownership, training opportunities and public access, the E-Communities Steering Committee found several areas in need of improvement. Although only about 28% of households are not currently online, they are likely to be in remote sections of the county and, in many cases, isolated both socially and geographically from the activity centered around Boone and the other towns. In addition, the prevalence of dial-up access, despite the fact that broadband is generally available, implies that many people do not yet view the Internet as having sufficient interesting or relevant content to justify upgrading their connection.

Consequently, the Watauga County E-Communities Steering Committee recommends focusing on three areas to enhance the participation of Watauga County citizens in the online community.

· First, the Committee recommends the establishment of public access sites in the more remote areas of the county. This may be done relatively inexpensively by utilizing the laboratories currently available in the public schools in combination with volunteer staff. In some locations access may be provided by placing a computer in a local convenience store or other public gathering place.

· Second, the Committee recommends increasing training opportunities available outside the Town of Boone, especially in outlying communities. Many people are likely to take advantage of training only in familiar surroundings and will not drive outside their community for training opportunities.

· Finally, the Committee recommends that various organizations in the county move as quickly as possible to increase the amount of useful local online content. The recent addition of deed and property tax records to the Watauga County government site is an example of providing content that reduces the cost of doing business in the county. More content that allows one to save the cost of a trip to town and reduces the cost of searching for information will eventually lead to a larger proportion of the local population utilizing the Internet in a life-changing way.