In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Dr. Norman Jacknis, Senior Fellow for The Intelligent Community Forum.

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Dr. Norman Jacknis, Senior Fellow for The Intelligent Community Forum.

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Adrianne B. Furniss, Executive Director of The Benton Institute.

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Adrianne B. Furniss, Executive Director of The Benton Institute.

ICF Co-Founders Robert Bell, John Jung and Lou Zacharilla discuss current issues relating to broadband connectivity in our communities.

Recently, Elon Musk ordered his staff to return to a 40-hour work week or face termination. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup and BNY Mellon, are just some of the financial institutions that have also declared their staff to return to work. Tim Smart, a reporter at the U.S. News wrote on March 22, 2022, “After grappling with the Great Resignation and the Great Retirement, the workplace is now facing the Great Return.” But what will it be like?

The pandemic revealed the essential role of broadband today. It also exposed as never before the dire consequences of the digital divide and the explosive impact of social media in spreading misinformation, fear and outrage. Panelists discuss what the pandemic has taught them about making broadband access more equitable and managing its downsides.

Syd Kitson is Chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners, a Florida-based real estate company specializing in the creation and development of master-planned communities and commercial properties.

For all the damage, frustration and sorrow that COVID19 has brought us, it has also taught us lessons we needed to learn.

Some are personal. It turns out that my health depends on your health. If you refuse to wear a mask, you are expressing – not your independence – but a willingness to infect me.

Some are political. It turns out that, when we allow working people to live in poverty with no medical insurance, we create reservoirs of infection that keep blazing up like wildfires – or perhaps the avenging fires of a just God – to engulf us.

Zoom.

As a magic word, it puts “Shazam!” to shame.

Zoom. It is the only most visible of the many powerful broadband applications that are helping us get through COVID19. It stands for the transformation of broadband, almost overnight, from “nice to have” into “essential infrastructure,” as the pandemic spreads across nations and industries and keeps forcing changes in the way we live.