An Information Use Management & Policy Institute (Information Institute) paper won one of five best paper awards at the iSchools’ iConference 2012, held February 7-10 in Toronto.

The paper, Rural Anchor Institution Broadband Connectivity: Enablers and Barriers to Adoption, covers two projects currently under way at the Information Institute at the Florida State University College of Communication and Information, School of Library and Information Studies. Institute Research Coordinator Lauren H. Mandel and Research Associate Nicole D. Alemanne co-authored the paper with Charles R. McClure, director of the Information Institute and a Francis Eppes professor at FSU. Mandel, who successfully defended her doctoral dissertation recently, and Alemanne presented the paper at the iConference.

The paper was one of 53 accepted to this year’s iConference.  It presents findings from broadband needs assessments the Information Institute conducted at rural anchor institutions for the North Florida Broadband Authority (NFBA) and the Florida Rural Broadband Alliance, LLC (FRBA) service areas — the North Central, Northwest, and South Central Rural Areas of Critical Economic Concern (RACEC) in the state of Florida.  It also proposes a model of community-based broadband planning that the Information Institute developed.

See the Information Institute’s NFBA and FRBA project websites for more information.