Category: Articles
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Speaking of Wireless
Sunday’s Charleston Gazette-Mail has a story covering the plan to cover the East End of Charleston with Wi-Fi connectivity. Details are thin, but this is similar to the efforts of other cities who have attempted to spark economic activity by treating Wi-Fi broadband coverage as a public utility. Municipal Wi-Fi was on a real tear…
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Wild, Wonderful, Wireless
We’ll get there…one hot spot at a time. createwv.typepad.com View this photo Incidentally, shouldn’t we just go ahead and make it law that all libaries must include a hip coffee shop?
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New Media from the Mountains
One of the most exciting things we’ve observed during the Create WV initiative so far is the creation of new media businesses bursting forth around West Virginia. The media industry – news, entertainment, etc. – has gone through dramatic changes with the explosive growth of the Internet and the advancement of media creation tools that…
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Building Livable Communities
One area we haven’t touched on yet during this Create West Virginia dialog is the topic of livable, sustainable communities. This is a topic of interest not just because it is an attractor of creative New Economy talent, but also because of its importance to all citizens concerned with our future quality of life. A…
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Attracting Talent to WV
One of the challenges we face here in West Virginia is adding talent to our workforces. The main source of this problem is that many of our youth leave WV for work or opportunities elsewhere. I personally had made up my mind to leave the state as soon as I was old enough, although I…
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Concord University Takes Steps Supporting Innovation
One of our biggest opportunities in West Virginia to spread creativity and innovation is through our colleges and universities. It’s not an accident that most highly-rated “creative class” cities in the small-to-mid size population category are college towns. College towns attract the critical student and faculty talent required to generate innovation. For many of our…
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The Creative Cat is Out of the Bag
What a great audience at the Clay Center yesterday for the launch of Create West Virginia. After some frustrating technical difficulties (#&*$#*@ computer!) slowed down our beginning, the guest Creative Community speakers piped in from around the state via video conference demonstrated the growing power of these innovative entrepreneurs, artists and local leaders. I knew…
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Does WV Traditional Culture Appeal to New Economy Creatives?
Here at Glenville’s WV State Folk Festival – “The Oldest Festival of its Kind in the U.S.” – I can’t help but wonder about the appeal of traditional West Virginia arts, crafts and music to the stereotypical young New Economy type. Would your typical dot-com startup entrepreneur or research scientist enjoy watching the square dancers,…
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The Creative Community – What is it?
While many people have heard the term “creative class” thanks to the writings and research of Richard Florida, there are many who haven’t heard this term, and there are many who are confused by it. Personally, I like “creative community” better because it communicates more of what we’re trying to foster. “Class” has too many…