Access Perspectives: Challenges and Opportunties

Access in Rural USA with special focus on issues faced by Native American communities; Access issues in US Urban Centers; Perspectives on issues of Technical build-out and Demand; Roles of Government in promoting Access; Lessons learned from Libraries and Distance Learning initiatives in extending Access.

Key Participants

• Moderator: Jacquelynn Ruff, Vice President – International Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Verizon Communications (Confirmed)
• Deswood Tome, Executive Director, The Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (Confirmed)
• Raquel Noriega, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Connected Nation, Inc. (Confirmed)
• Dr. Irene Wu, Director of Research, SAND-MNIA , International Bureau, FCC (Confirmed)
• Dr. Derrick L. Cogburn, Associate Professor of International Relations and Director Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities (Confirmed)
• Nancy E. Weiss, General Counsel, Institute of Museum and Library Services (Confirmed)

First Responders Q&A

The moderator will call on the following people from the audience to put forward two or three questions for the panel to help set the stage for audience participation.

• Eddan Katz, International Affairs Director, EFF (Invited)
• Andrew Mack, President, AMGlobal Consulting (Confirmed)

Each speaker will have a specified and limited time to make their initial presentation, allowing ample time for critical audience interaction.

Workshop Organizers:
Garland McCoy, Technology Policy Institute
Derrick L. Cogburn, American University
Susan Anthony, USPTO
Nancy Weiss, Institute of Museum and Library Services
Christopher Boam, Verizon
Janice LaChance, SLA

Participant Biographies

Jacquelynn Ruff
Jacquelynn (Jackie) Ruff is Vice President – International Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Verizon Communications. In addition to being a leading communications provider in the U.S., Verizon provides voice, data, and Internet services on its state-of-the-art fiber-optic network to customers in more than 150 countries. Ms. Ruff leads the group that is responsible for public policy development, advocacy, and guidance around international issues. She directs Verizon’s global policy work in organizations such as the ITU, the OECD, APEC, and the IGF. Ms. Ruff joined Verizon in 2004 from the International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where she was Associate Chief and Chief of Staff for the Bureau. She previously practiced law with the communications and the Latin America groups of an international law firm.

Deswood Tome
Executive Director, The Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission

Raquel Noriega
Raquel Noriega is Director of Strategic Partnerships at Connected Nation, a national not-for-profit corporation, focused on closing the digital divide in States and communities across America. Connected Nation facilitates public-private partnerships to increase access to and use of broadband and related technology, creating dramatic results that translate into economic and community development, better education, higher quality healthcare, more efficient public service and improved quality of life. We work by the motto: Enabling Technology, Empowering People. Connected Nation is recognized as an international market leader among organizations that work in the trenches to bridge the digital divide and increase opportunities that are enabled when people have the ability and desire to connect. Raquel has over 11 years of experience in the telecommunications and broadband sectors, working in regulatory and public policy matters in the USA, Europe and Latin America. Raquel is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Northwestern University, faculties of Economics.

Dr. Irene Wu
Irene Wu is Director of Research in the International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. regulatory agency for telecommunications and media services. At the FCC, Dr. Wu undertakes and directs studies of international trends and foreign market developments in areas such as broadband Internet, the convergence of telecom and media, and challenges related to establishing independent regulatory agencies. During the 2007-2007 academic year, Dr. Wu Irene Wu was on leave and served as the Yahoo! Fellow in Residence, supported by Georgetown's Yahoo! International Values, Communications, Technology, and Global Internet Fellowship Fund. Her research is on how technological change affects the creation of communities and its implications for political action, including freedom of expression. She was also teaching in Georgetown's School of Foreign Service and Culture, Communications, and Technology Programs. Her book on telecommunications policy reform in China is forthcoming from Stanford University Press. Dr. Wu received her B.A. from Harvard University and Ph.D. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, with additional studies undertaken at the National Taiwan Normal University, University of Puerto Rico, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, China.

Dr. Derrick L. Cogburn
Derrick Cogburn is Associate Professor of International Relations at the School of International Service at American University. In addition, he is Senior Scientist and Chief Research Director at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. His research and teaching includes: global information and communication technology and socio-economic development; institutional mechanisms for global governance of ICTs; transnational policy networks and epistemic communities; and the socio-technical infrastructure for geographically distributed collaboration in knowledge work. Dr. Cogburn directs the Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities (Cotelco), an award-winning social science research collaboratory investigating the social and technical factors that influence geographically distributed collaborative knowledge work, particularly between developed and developing countries. Cotelco is an affiliated center of the Burton Blatt Institute, Centers of Innovation on Disability. Cogburn is the past president of the Information Technology and Politics section of APSA, and president of the International Communication section of the ISA.

Nancy E. Weiss
Nancy E. Weiss is the General Counsel of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a Federal agency that supports and promotes library, information, and museum services throughout the Nation. Prior to joining IMLS, Nancy served as Deputy General Counsel of the National Endowment for the Humanities, where she also provided counsel to the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program and represented the agency on the National Archives Trust Fund Board. Nancy earlier practiced litigation and media law at Williams and Connelly in Washington D.C., held a legal research fellowship in New Delhi, India, and clerked for the Hon. William W Schwarzer (N.D. California and Director of the Federal Judicial Center). Nancy graduated with honors from the University of Michigan Law School, and phi beta kappa with a degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Workshop Moderator:

Andrew Mack
Andrew Mack is Principal of AMGlobal Consulting, a specialized Washington, DC-based consulting firm that helps companies do more and better business in Emerging Markets. A former World Bank project manager and finance professional with experience in more than 80 countries, Mack is internationally-recognized for his work on Public-Private Partnership, Corporate Social Responsibility and economic development issues – including work on Internet policy and its impacts on the spread of technology to Africa, Latin America and other underserved regions. Mr. Mack founded AMGlobal in 2005 with the goal of helping bring together diverse parties – governments, the Private Sector, donors, NGOs, and foundations – interested in solving today’s toughest development problems in a sustainable, business-oriented way. AMGlobal specializes in work with partnership development, community outreach, and technology issues, with clients ranging from Fortune 10 corporations to the World Bank and USAID, to local firms and early stage companies focusing on emerging and green technologies. A frequent attendee at ICANN and IGF meetings where he works to promote attention the issues confronted by the “next billion” Internet users, Mr. Mack holds a Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College and a Masters in International Relations/International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He speaks and works in Spanish, French and Portuguese.

PDF of Access Workshop Overview