Most of you have figured out by now that Lincoln isn't really in the midst of some grand scheme to bring fiber to every home thanks to Verizon and oodles of public and private partners. Some of you sniffed out the gag right away; others -- including Mr. T, who contacted darn near every IT person in the City-County Building to try to get more information about the awesome project -- took longer.
For what it's worth, I wrote that post not just as a gag, but also as a real thought piece. What would happen if Lincolnites got together to wire up every location in town with some of the speediest, unfiltered, and unthrottled internet connections in the country? What if educational institutions like UNL and LPS participated as part of an effort to ensure each and every one of their students had inexpensive (or even free) and reliable access to online educational resources? What if internet access were a public utility in Lincoln, with Lincoln Internet System joining Lincoln Electric System and Lincoln Water System as a provider of a public good? The "what ifs" go on and on.
Don't get too hung up on the details of my post. Think instead about what might happen if folks around the city decided to use the internet as a tool to increase Lincoln's competitiveness, and to provide residents, business, and organizations with easy and affordable access to incredible resources. Or if the internet isn't your thing, think about other sorts of tools we could put to work. What would happen if all those groups came together to solve an absolutely huge problem, Lincoln's own trip to the moon?
Or maybe that's too much fantasy for such a cool, blustery day.
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FYI - I linked “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch” at the end of the comments on that post. One of the greateast April Fool’s writings of all time. Full feature in SI by George Plimpton circa 1984-1985. If you haven’t ever seen it, it’s worth a read.
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