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Posted: August 23rd, 2012 Aaron

Over the next 15 years, a wide range of developments will lead to many new IT-enabled devices and services. Rapid diffusion is likely because equipment costs will decrease at the same time that demand is increasing. Local-to-global Internet access holds the prospect of universal wireless connectivity via hand-held devices and large numbers of low-cost, low-altitude satellites. Satellite systems and services will develop in ways that increase performance and reduce costs.

By 2015, information technology will make major inroads in rural as well as urban areas around the globe. Moreover, information technology need not be widespread to produce important effects. The first information technology "pioneers" in each society will be the local economic and political elites, multiplying the initial impact.

• Some countries and populations, however, will fail to benefit much from the information revolution.
• Among developing countries, India will remain in the forefront in developing information technology, led by the growing class of high-tech workers and entrepreneurs.
• China will lead the developing world in utilizing information technology, with urban areas leading the countryside. Beijing's capacity to control or shape the content of information, however, is likely to be sharply reduced.
• Although most Russian urban-dwellers will adopt information technologies well before 2015, the adoption of such technologies will be slow in the broader population.
• Latin America's Internet market will grow exponentially. Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil will accrue the greatest benefits because of larger telecommunications companies, bigger markets, and more international investment.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa is best positioned to make relatively rapid progress in IT.

Societies with advanced communications generally will worry about threats to individual privacy. Others will worry about the spread of "cultural contamination." Governments everywhere will be simultaneously asked to foster the diffusion of IT while controlling its "harmful" effects.

Posted: May 23rd, 2012 Brant Aycock

Division.  Action.  REALITY. 

These were some of the words residents and staff of Hope Haven used to describe the four Crossroads Charlotte Scenarios when they viewed the films and heard the stories read aloud on May 19^th.  Hope Haven provides residential recovery services for more than 300 homeless, chemically dependant adults and families in Charlotte-Mecklenburg as they work their way towards independence.  Crossroads Charlotte’s tagline of “Imagine Our Tomorrow, Act Today” was especially meaningful to this community – where they know firsthand how the choices one makes can lead to positive OR negative outcomes.

“Hope Haven is a diverse community within greater Charlotte Mecklenburg,” says Hope Haven Vice President of Human Resources Nancy Harville.  “We provide hope to the homeless through a structured recovering environment, with the goal of returning to the Charlotte community as a productive citizen.  This event with Crossroads Charlotte allows our Residents to gain an insight into just what the greater Charlotte community is or can be.  Our Residents are able to internalize the understanding that they can make a difference.”  

Facilitators Dianne English and Annetta Foard had individuals read the written scenarios (Fortress Charlotte, Class Act, The Beat Goes On, and Eye to Eye) and then the group watched the corresponding film version.  Afterwards, they broke into small groups to discuss what they had seen and what it meant to them.

One resident (NOTE:  to protect the privacy of those in residence at Hope Haven, no names will be given), who identified with a single working mother in the films, remarked how sometimes a person can get so involved in their own circumstances that it blinds them to what others are going through. 

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Posted: April 18th, 2012 Lee Howard

• N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue is urging voters to shoot down Amendment One, the proposal that would ban LGBT marriage and legal recognition for all unmarried couples and strip protections and benefits from families. Perdue, speaking at a women’s conference at UNC-Charlotte last week, announced her opposition to the May 8 referendum that would amend the state constitution. Perdue, a Democrat, is not running for re-election.
• Meanwhile, the City of Charlotte is considering offering benefits to same-sex partners of its employees, City Manager Curt Walton said during a budget meeting last week. Walton said the city is studying the issue, and expects it would cost $150,000 annually. The city spends about $40 million on health benefits a year. Mayor Anthony Foxx, a Democrat, said he’ll support the change.
• The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utility Department says it needs to raise water and sewer rates by about 6 percent for the average customer to keep up with rising gas and electricity prices. Residential customers who use large amounts of water for irrigation will see a rate hike of 9 percent.  A CMUD official says revenues from rates aren't keeping up with costs.
• A record crowd turned out on the first day of “Rise Above,” the exhibit about the Tuskegee Airmen, which features a P-51 Mustang like the ones flown by the famed African-American World War II flying unit. More than 500 people attended the exhibition Wednesday, Carolinas Aviation Museum officials said. It was the largest one-day attendance for any exhibit in the museum’s history. The program ran through Saturday.
• Charlotte’s Mint Museum plans to launch a research center based on North Carolina pottery as part of a major renovation of its Randolph Road campus. With 2,200 objects, some dating to the 1700s, the Mint has the largest and most comprehensive collection of North Carolina pottery in the nation. Mint officials says the pottery research center would underscore the state’s already high profile in the world of ceramics.

Posted: April 11th, 2012 Lee Howard

When Dee Liss became pastor of the 232-year-old Long Creek Presbyterian Church in Bessemer City last summer, she was able to land a $10,000 grant from the David Cannon Belk Foundation. The money was aimed at digging up information about an historic cemetery near the church grounds. The effort uncovered more than 90 unmarked headstones now known as “the slave cemetery."

A rally for slain Florida boy Trayvon Martin was held Saturday, April 7, in the Our Children's Memorial in Frazier Park in Charlotte. The rally was organized by the group, Help Outlaw Outrageous Discriminative Injustices Everywhere, or H.O.O.D.I.E. The rally aims to not only to only honor Trayvon but also other teens that have been lost in the community due to racial profiling.

Workers this week drove pilings deep into the ground at Charlotte Douglas International Aiport’s new, $160-million hourly parking deck. That project, scheduled for completion in 2014, is part of the $1 billion expansion program Airport Director Jerry Orr plans for the next seven years, including an eight-lane entrance road, a fifth runway, an expanded main terminal, and a freestanding international terminal where the rental car facility currently stands.

Finalists for the superintendent’s seat of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools are scheduled to meet with the Board of Education, CMS staff and community members April 11 – 12, 2012. Names of the three finalists will be disclosed Monday, April 9, 2012. On Wednesday, April 11 the candidates will meet with principals and staff, and participate in school tours. Public meetings are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at sites throughout Mecklenburg County with a final meeting at Northwest School of the Arts for parents, students and staff.

Despite a tough economy, the U.S. Census bureau reports Charlotte saw record growth of nearly 65% from 2000 to 2010. Analysts say bank jobs are a large contributor to that. Two other cities in the Carolinas made the top 10 list. Raleigh came in No. 2 with more than 63% growth. And Greenville, S.C., snagged the No. 9 spot.