Internet Society Manitoba Chapter
18 episodes listed below
Rural broadband, explained through Manitoba communities.
ConnectedMB is a measured civic series about what internet access means outside major centres in Manitoba. Its conversations move between fiber builds, school networks, local co-ops, Indigenous connectivity, affordability, and the everyday stakes of being able to learn, gather, and stay connected.
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ConnectedMB is a public-minded podcast about the work of getting reliable internet to rural and northern communities in Manitoba. The series approaches connectivity as infrastructure, but also as something more intimate: the thing that decides whether a family can move to a town, whether a school can teach well, whether a service can be shared at a distance, and whether a community can choose its own future. Its conversations are measured and often detailed. They take time with the mechanics of fiber, backhaul, school networks, spectrum access, funding, and local governance without treating technical language as an end in itself. The show’s best moments come when those details connect back to people. A discussion of school divisions becomes a story about anchor institutions. A question about backbone access becomes a question about who gets to build locally. A history of Freenet, CAP, and community informatics becomes a way to understand why the same access issues keep returning in new forms. ConnectedMB also makes room for the frustrations that come with rural broadband work. Guests describe legislation, provider incentives, unused frequencies, market limits, and the awkward reality that communities often have to assemble solutions from relationships, timing, and available assets. The series is especially attentive to Manitoba examples. Park West, Yellowhead, Hamiota, MERLIN, education technology leaders, and broader internet organizations appear not as case studies from a distance, but as working pieces of a regional story. The show also widens its lens through conversations with the Internet Society and CIRA. Those episodes place Manitoba inside a larger conversation about public access, Indigenous connectivity, affordability, and community control. ConnectedMB is not flashy. It is deliberately explanatory, with long questions, reflective follow-ups, and room for guests to qualify what they mean. That patience is the point. The show is built for listeners who want to understand what connectivity looks like when it is planned at the scale of real places, real institutions, and real constraints.
Made for: ConnectedMB is for listeners interested in rural infrastructure, community broadband, education technology, Indigenous connectivity, and public-interest internet policy. It will especially suit people who prefer grounded case examples over fast tech commentary.
What sets it apart: The series stands apart by staying close to Manitoba’s local builders and institutions while still connecting their work to broader access questions. It treats broadband as technical, political, and deeply social at the same time.
The ConnectedMB Project is a pioneering initiative aimed at bridging the digital divide in rural Manitoba. Spearheaded by the Rural Development Institute at Brandon University in collaboration with the Internet Society Manitoba Chapter and esteemed experts, this project seeks to enhance broadband connectivity and digital literacy across underserved communities. Through a multifaceted approach that includes a compelling podcast series, ConnectedMB explores innovative community connectivity solutions beyond traditional market models, emphasizing the unique challenges and opportunities in rural and Indigenous areas. This project is not just about improving internet access; it's about fostering…
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
ConnectedMB makes community internet infrastructure legible through detailed conversations about ownership, partnerships, regulation, and the institutions that turn access into public capacity.
ConnectedMB treats internet access as a problem of local ownership, public policy, and institutional cooperation. Joel Templeman and Dr. Wayne Kelly lead interviews that keep returning to practical questions: who can build a network, which partnerships make it viable, and what…
A school board needs better internet; suddenly you are learning how infrastructure actually gets built.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Connectivity and child care emerge as the practical tests of rural access.
The piece frames Tech Manitoba as a membership-based industry association with a long-running mandate to champion the province's tech sector, and it keeps that mandate rooted in people rather than systems.
A season-one wrap-up on community broadband, local partnerships, and practical progress.
Connected MB closes season one with a measured look back at community broadband work in Manitoba, keeping the emphasis on how broad infrastructure ideas translate into local practice.
A rural broadband review makes connection feel less like a service than shared community infrastructure.
This single-episode review frames rural broadband as community infrastructure, tracking the Community Access Program and its youth internship work alongside older Freenet and community informatics efforts in the 2000s.
A practical look at who gets connected, how, and what still blocks access.
This episode presents internet access as a shared connectivity challenge, with Natalie Campbell of the Internet Society and a Canadian Internet Registration Authority representative discussing fast, affordable, reliable access for Indigenous communities and the organizations in…
A local broadband story where school-board pressure turns into fiber politics and municipal workarounds.
RM of Yellowhead follows the practical side of rural connectivity, starting with a school-board chairman weighing a microwave-based school network, modest bandwidth, and a service level that no longer fit projected needs over the next five to 10 years.
Blue Sky turns early web choices into a story about access and community.
Connected Manitoba frames Blue Sky Community Networks of Manitoba as a civic-minded early internet story, and that focus gives the episode real shape.
Specialists walking through software's tradeoffs, one system at a time.
Founders and engineers on AI coding agents like Claude Code, and supply chain security.
This episode opens with Kelly talking about Tech Manitoba and a report the organization is working on about technology use in rural Manitoba.
Season One ends with Joel Templeman and Dr.
This episode explores the Community Access Program (CAP) and its Youth Internship Program, focusing on how rural communities in Canada, particularly Manitoba, addressed broadband connectivity through local initiatives.
Park West Co-op brought local groups together to improve rural broadband after Park West School Division faced weak wireless service.
Andrew Clement says KNET's northern Ontario network let First Nations communities manage connectivity locally after government funding helped build microwave links.
Joel Templeman, with Dr.
The host asks how the RM of Yellowhead built local connectivity.
Joel Templeman and Dr.
Host Joel Templeman interviews Nikki from Manitoba First Nations Schoolnet about connecting Indigenous communities in Manitoba, focusing on IT development and youth employment.
The RM of Argyle officials discuss their community-led effort to bring fiber broadband to rural Manitoba.
Connected Manitoba looks back at Blue Sky Community Networks of Manitoba.
This episode introduces a project on community-based connectivity in rural British Columbia, featuring researchers discussing the importance of rural internet access.