Adirondack Initiative to Bring Telework to Resort Area

[Sharon Hill]

Clarkson University in Potsdam NY, part of the northern NY Adirondack area, just held it's 9th annual Forever Wired Conference, where panelists and attendees talked about the local economy and the boon that technology and telework could bring to the region.

I found the concept very exciting as I'm from upstate New York - Binghamton - an area that's "dying on the vine" as factories and other businesses close and all that is left are seniors on fixed income. SUNY Binghamton, an excellent school, graduates hundreds of young people, only to have them leave Binghamton behind. I've longed for the time when Binghamton would embrace telework and even provide a local telework center. To have such an initiative take place just three hours north, in the same state, could well open the door for like progress in my hometown.

Forever Wired and other local proponents in the Adirondack Park are working to build several telework centers in the various regions of the park where homes and year-round inhabitants are so scattered that cable companies can't and won't offer broadband service. Without the broadband service coming from somewhere there is little hope of telework, and thus year-round job growth.

If you'd like to know more about the initiative stay tuned as I learn more myself. This beautiful area, full of woods, lakes, streams and outdoor recreation, would be a wonderful place to be able to call home - and home office. If you'd like to keep up with what's going on and peruse the initiative so far, do take a look at John Warren's Adirondack Almanack. His blog will make you fall in love with the area.

Photo courtesy of Clarkson University Web site.