Austin’s Big Gig

Posted by Julia Klaiber on March 23, 2010

A group of ambitious volunteers is committed to making Austin a pilot community for one of Google's planned gigabit network demonstrations. This network, which will be 1005 fiber optic, completely open and boast speeds up up to one billion bits per second, sounds impressive, but we're just as impressed with the grassroots effort behind this great site.

Through Big Gig Austin, dedicated Austinites have solicited 1700 nominations for Google to debut its gigabit network in their city. Local advocates can submit a nomination, check where other nominations are coming from (via Google Maps of course) and submit their "big" ideas for how they'll use the gigabit network.  

It is a simple, playful and effective way to spring citizens to action on a unique opportunity. We'll be checking back with the Big Gig when the contest closes on March 26.