But, I fear, it will not last. I fear it will be just like the last golden age where the cataclysmic bursting of the dot-com bubble ushered in the dark ages of the Microsoft empire. I am enjoying it while all these free apps are here but Google will have to become the 'grumpy old troll under the bridge' eventually. It comes with the territory of being a behemoth. This should not come as a surprise to anyone - Ibn Khaldun (one of the world's first ethnographers!) described these cycles in the Muqaddimah in the 14 century. Microsoft was cool in the beginning but everybody loves to hate them now.

But there are some signs of hope in the following developments that even Ibn Khaldun would have trouble explaining:

Apple made SproutCore open source.

Google made Android open source.

The real tragedy will come when the U.S. finally crosses the Digital sub-Divide (i.e., universal high speed internet access) and most of these fun, cool, free applications will have been swallowed up and licenced by the big guys.

A large majority of websites are in English. However a large majority of the world’s population does not have English as their first language and some do not even speak a word of it. This presents an obvious language barrier and obstacle for any non-English speaker wanting to participate as an internet activist.

The digital divide has worked to cut off an entire section of the world’s population. As noted in a previous post, “even in the advent of this great cyber-democracy, those who were marginalized by the politics of the apartheid regime are still marginalized by the politics of this new virtual-democracy”.

But…this does not mean that e-democracy is doomed to fail in Africa. The fact that Africa only makes up 3.4% of the world’s online population does not mean that this 3.4% cannot become internet activists.

Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media platform that allows everyone the opportunity to raise global awareness about the issues that the mainstream media often forget, or simply choose not, to cover.

They use “weblogs, podcasts, photos, video, wikis, tags, aggregators and online chats - to call attention to conversations… that will help shed new light on the nature of our interconnected world”.

Bloggers spark up conversation, spread information and call on action for their particular regions. A team of translators ensure that all content is available in a wide range of languages like, French, Spanish, Chinese and Bangla. Users are even able set up their own networks which translate content into any language of their choice.

This means that with as little as just a GPRS enabled mobile telephone and basic computer literacy, a small group of women in rural North West province can take part in e-politics by blogging in seTswana. They could express the view of people at the grassroots level and have their content translated into a number of languages for global access.

South African bloggers are regular contributors to the site with debates often started with user comments. Nelson Mandela’s 90^th birthday celebrations, environmental issues, and the International Criminal Court’s charges against Sudanese President al-Bashir are only some of the most recent posts from South Africa.

South Africa still has a long was to go when it comes to internet penetration but that does not mean that e-politics is not a possibility.

Granted, one could argue that with internet access still largely in the hands of the more financially affluent, the politics of the poor and uneducated are still marginalize. However, with the government setting up more Thusong Service Centres, all voices can gradually begin to be heard at the global level.

In particolare la news recita:

a) MINIDSLAM ATM PER ARMADIO (installati su apparati in rete di distribuzione)

Si tratta di apparati miniDSLAM ATM ingegnerizzati per fornire ADSL negli armadi stradali della rete di distribuzione in cui sono attualmente presenti delle Unità di Commutazione Remota. Sono rilegati alla centrale di competenza mediante flussi Nx2 Mbit/s su rame.

La copertura geografica di detti apparati è pertanto a livello di area armadio.

Si riportano di seguito le caratteristiche tecniche salienti:

* sull’apparato sono disponibili solo accessi ADSL 640/256 kbit/s e potrà essere possibile la fornitura di servizi con MCR massimo pari a 5, 10 o 20 kbit/s;

* l’apparato non è utilizzabile per l’interconnessione al DSLAM.

Bhè per prima cosa direi.. Finalmente!!! Poi però l'entusiamo viene strozzato dal fatto che si tratta di un minidslam per armadio il chè non fà ben sperare per la qualità e prestazioni delle connessioni (vedi qui).

Al momento sto cercando di capire se l'apparato sia il fantomatico axh-s1 della marconi (ci sono notizie molto scarne su di esso e non so nemmeno se sia adatto agli armadi) di cui si rumoreggiava qualche tempo fà, per sapere quante porte saranno disponibili.

Ho letto alcuni post, ho seguito il filo di un discorso da un blog a un altro.

La domanda è: Qual è la vera natura del lavoro intellettuale e come i singoli lavoratori della conoscenza ottengono la piena padronanza della propria arte?

Qualche anno fa Jim McGee ha scritto un articolo dal titolo Knowledge work as craft work, nel quale si afferma che il lavoro intellettuale è simile all’operare dell’artigiano.

La differenza più evidente è che l’artigiano crea pezzi fatti di materia, attraverso un processo più o meno complesso. Questo processo può essere materialmente osservato e porta alla creazione finale di un oggetto.

Invece, tu che sei un consulente, tu che sei uno scrittore, un blogger puoi vedere soltanto le reazioni che la tua opera sortisce.

Brett Miller scrive:

My brothers both work in a trade (plumbing and electrician), and I’ve had many conversations with them about the process within the trade unions of developing young plumbers and electricians from apprentice through the master grade. I’ve also taken a renewed interest in this process as described in the biographies of historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo da Vinci.

E continua affermando:

How did you learn how to be a knowledge worker? Did you spend your early years in an “apprenticeship” or were you just thrown into the fray? How do we help new knowledge workers learn their craft? How do we get knowledge workers, new or otherwise, to accept their profession as a craft? And how do we, as experienced knowledge workers, become even better at it?

Come si apprende l’arte del Knowledge work? C’è un apprendistato particolare da seguire o si viene gettati nella mischia? Come è possibile aiutare i lavoratori della conoscenza ad apprendere la loro arte? È possibile vedere che il lavoro intellettuale non è altro che un lavoro artigianale? Come possiamo migliorare la nostra “arte della conoscenza”?

Quali sono le competenze del lavoratore intellettuale?  

Michele Martin scrive: 

What we need, says Jim, is transparency in our work processes, a sort of cognitive apprenticeship model that makes our thinking and production processes more visible to others. Managing knowledge is not simply a matter of sharing knowledge objects. It’s about sharing multiple layers of thought, making each iteration of what we produce visible to ourselves and to others as a way to further develop our thinking. This allows us to return to earlier versions of ideas and to backtrack and re-evaluate what we do. 

 

Ho raccolto questa esperienza: 

Mi chiamo Rosita ho 37 anni e lavoro in una Cooperative che produce in senso lato “conoscenza”. Qui ci sono capitata per caso, ci lavoro da due anni e prima avevo già operato in realtà in parte simili.

Ogni mattina, arrivo in ufficio con la mia utilitaria. Parcheggio e nella stanza che condivido con altri lavoratori della conoscenza, dopo un veloce: “Buongiorno bella, come stai oggi?” cala il silenzio assoluto. Ognuno, impegnato nel proprio progetto, diverso ma simile, ognuno, ipod alle orecchie, corre contro il tempo con di fronte soltanto uno schermo piatto e inerme.

Con ciò voglio dire che a volte mi sento che devo trovare da sola le soluzioni. Al capo progetto non interessa affatto il processo che porta alla realizzazione del compito richiesto, non interessa assolutamente “come”, non posso annoiarlo con simili richieste sul “come fare?”. Al capo interessa che io porti a termine il mio ritaglio di progetto. Il capo poi, con i consulenti a lui più vicini, lo assembla. Solo loro hanno una visione d’insieme di ciò che tutti noi lavoratori stiamo facendo. Per non sapere né leggere né scrivere credo che ciò non sia il modo ideale di operare. Sento che manca la collaborazione, sento che ho bisogno di qualcuno che mi spieghi come utilizzare software e servizi di cui lontanamente immagino l’esistenza. A volte, poi, mi trovo a operare assieme ad altre lavoratrici come me, ma che sono dislocate in sedi lontane centinaia di chilometri dalla mia. Non abbiamo quello che ho scoperto si chiama un CMS aziendale, abbiamo soltanto un Server interno utilizzabile per salvare i nostri manufatti (documenti) nella cartellina personale alle 18.15, poco prima di lasciare l’ufficio. Il server contiene i documenti del mio ufficio. Quando lavoro con le altre sedi utilizziamo soltanto l’e-mail e per risparmiare sulle chiamate Windows Live Messenger. Qualcuno mi ha detto che se utilizzassi un Wiki si potrebbe semplificare il mio lavoro di collaborazione. Mi hanno parlato anche di Media sociali, per fare conoscenza con i miei colleghi lontani. Se devo scrivere di che cosa ho bisogno direi di dialogo per poter entrare meglio nell’ottica dei progetti che seguo e per non sentirmi una semplice operaia di pezzi di “conoscenza”, ma un’artigiana che mette dentro a ciò che produce quel qualcosa in più, quel tocco di personalità che credo manchi. Sono stata chiara?

Vorrei anche riportare l’intuizione di Michele Martin sull’idea che un lavoratore della conoscenza è non soltanto un artigiano, ma anche un vero e proprio artista. 

In un articolo apparso sul quotidiano Calabria Ora del 6 luglio 2008, a pagina 28 dell’edizione di Catanzaro, Crotone e Vibo Valentia, Valerio Colaci solleva con forza e comprensibile allarme la questione del negato accesso alla banda larga di buona parte della provincia vibonese, in particolare delle aree più decentrate e interne.

Questione che non può che indurre a qualche preoccupazione, non solo per il destino di intere fasce di popolazione attualmente escluse, in piena era digitale, da modalità di comunicazione e trasmissione , da fonti di studio e di informazione, ma anche per il presente e il futuro prossimo di un’economia di micro, piccole e medie imprese già in sofferenza e che rischiano di pagare ulteriormente e a caro prezzo l’impossibilità di percorrere la via dell’innovazione, dell’internazionalizzazione e dell’abbattimento di costi e tempi: si pensi alle zone industriali e ai relativi comprensori, ai servizi connessi al turismo e all’artigianato.

Il problema, in verità, non è certo nuovo a livello nazionale, soprattutto in rapporto a quanto accade nel resto dell’Europa, e la mancata connessione adsl o superiore rappresenta solo uno dei fattori che hanno generato e allargano ogni giorno di più quel digital divide geografico e non solo di cui molti cittadini e molte imprese della Calabria e della provincia di Vibo Valentia sono vittime.

Qualche cifra può essere utile a rendere meglio l’idea della gravità della situazione generale e della sua complessità.

Secondo il Rapporto del Digital Divide Forum della Commissione Europea, nel gennaio 2005 l’Italia presentava un tasso di penetrazione della banda larga pari appena all’8,5% delle utenze, collocandosi al di sotto della media dell’Europa a 25.

La copertura delle aree rurali era inferiore al 40%, mentre la media europea era del 62%, a fronte di casi come quelli della Gran Bretagna, che in dodici mesi passava dal 40% all’80%, e di Belgio, Olanda, Danimarca e Lussemburgo, che già all’epoca erano coperte al 100%.

La Relazione della Commissione Europea sui mercati europei delle comunicazioni elettroniche presentata nel marzo del 2008 pone l’Italia al quindicesimo posto su 27, con un tasso di penetrazione del 17,1%, corrispondente a circa 10 milioni di utenti, in crescita ma inferiore alla media europea, che è del 20% rispetto al 16,3% dell’anno precedente, e inferiore ai tassi di Gran Bretagna, Lussemburgo, Francia, Belgio, Danimarca, Olanda, Finlandia e Svezia, che arrivano a punte di penetrazione del 30% nel 2007.

Il 30% degli 8 mila Comuni italiani non è raggiunto e nelle zone rurali italiane la penetrazione è di 2/3 inferiore rispetto a quella europea e di molto inferiore a quella che si registra nelle aree urbane.

Ancora più di recente, un Rapporto dell’Osservatorio Banda Larga, sia pure alla luce di alcuni rilievi appena confortanti, ha posto l’accento sul ritardo e sui vincoli strutturali dell’Italia, aspetto a più riprese sottolineato da Assinform nei suoi Rapporti, che registrano un trend costantemente negativo degli investimenti.

Ma rilevante è anche che ben 14 milioni di famiglie siano prive di connessione veloce, dato da attribuire alla mancata dotazione di infrastrutture, a una scarsa alfabetizzazione informatica e ad una bassa percezione dell’impatto positivo della banda larga, con un uso domestico delle connessioni attraverso telefonia cellulare in aumento e, a ciò correlata, una preminenza della comunicazione privata e dell’informazione passiva su ogni altro tipo di attività on line.

Nelle ultime settimane, il Rapporto eGov.Impresa 2008 redatto da Retecamere ha evidenziato, da un lato, una maggiore attenzione delle Pubbliche Amministrazioni verso le potenzialità della digitalizzazione ma dall’altro un grave ritardo nella fornitura di servizi al di là dei contenuti meramente informativi e, soprattutto, un forte divario tra Nord e Sud dell’Italia: solo il 15,4% delle risorse e del contributo medio all’e-government al Sud, contro il 58,7% al Nord.

Altri dati interessanti sono quelli che rivelano che appena la metà delle imprese italiane sfrutta i servizi di transazione on line contro il 78%, per esempio, di quelle finlandesi e che appena il 5% dei siti pubblici e il 3% di quelli privati sono rispettosi delle norme in favore dell’accesso agli strumenti informatici e alla rete da parte dei soggetti disabili, come segnalato anche dal CNIPA all’ultimo ForumPA di Roma.

Queste cifre, apparentemente disorganiche e certamente non esaustive di un complesso statistico ben più ampio, profondo e variegato in numero di fonti e livello di analisi, compongono nel loro insieme un quadro articolato, nel quale si inserisce il particolare svantaggio in cui versano parte del Mezzogiorno e della Calabria; e non possono non venire in considerazione le difficoltà e le contraddizioni di una fase di evoluzione e di riorganizzazione dell’agire amministrativo in Italia, che ha i suoi passaggi principali nell’auspicata effettività dei diritti del cittadino-impresa nei confronti della Pubblica Amministrazione, nella realizzazione di un federalismo telematico efficiente attraverso il Sistema Pubblico di Connettività e, tra gli altri, nell’abolizione progressiva della carta quale premessa all’informatizzazione integrale di servizi e procedimenti.

Ma dato che a nulla di positivo conduce l’attesa messianica dei miracoli del mercato e della tecnica e che la storia recente insegna che non c’è innovazione imponibile dal centro e imposta dal destino, ma solo un’innovazione tecnica sempre più veloce e dinamica alla quale occorre adeguarsi qui ed ora nella norma e nella pratica, cifre ed esperienza quotidiana devono anche indurre a un ribaltamento di prospettiva.

A oltre dieci anni dall’affermazione normativa del documento informatico, a tre anni dall’entrata in vigore del Codice dell’Amministrazione Digitale, è forse giunto il momento che la rivoluzione tecnologica e l’innovazione, nei casi in cui di esse non vi sia che la speranza, muovano dal basso.

Si deve quindi concordare con Valerio Colaci, quando denuncia la scarsa apertura del mercato che si cela, neanche troppo, dietro la mancata dotazione di banda larga a vaste zone della provincia di Vibo Valentia, ragioni che peraltro il Commissario Europeo Viviane Reding sostiene da anni tanto in riferimento alle dorsali principali quanto in riferimento al local loop, e ancor di più quando invoca l’azione dei Comuni, invitandoli a tutte le necessarie e possibili pressioni.

Ma v’è da aggiungere che un intervento esclusivamente politico e di tipo rappresentativo può non essere sufficiente e che i modelli che si affermano sul territorio nazionale possono invece fornire quantomeno uno spunto d’azione agli amministratori delle aree discriminate delle province calabresi.

Si pensi all’accordo raggiunto nei giorni scorsi tra Regione Umbria e Telecom, che consentirà una copertura del 92% entro il 2008 e del 100% nel 2009 con il coinvolgimento dei Comuni; oppure ai piani predisposti da regioni come la Toscana, all’avanguardia e per molti versi anticipatrice in materia di innovazione della Pubblica Amministrazione.

Si faccia l’esempio, ancora, delle tante iniziative di cooperazione tra amministrazioni diverse che, insieme, a costi ridotti e con maggiore potere contrattuale sono riuscite in varie zone del Paese a far giungere la banda larga fino alle case dei propri cittadini e alle sedi delle proprie imprese, attraverso sistemi di ponti e hot spot.

Si valuti la via percorsa dal Trentino-Alto Adige, che solo poche settimane fa ha ottenuto l’autorizzazione della Commissione Europea al finanziamento con fondi pubblici provinciali della copertura delle zone montane, sotto forma di aiuto di Stato e per un ammontare di circa 7 milioni di euro.

Il presente, in sintesi, è realisticamente nella cooperazione e nell’investimento pubblico-privato, e soprattutto nello spirito di iniziativa degli enti locali delle periferie.

La best practice locale, che già buoni risultati ha prodotto in materia di e-democracy e di e-government anche in Calabria (basti ricordare da ultimo l’avvio di Reggio Calabria Wireless, poi i successi nazionali dei siti del Comune di Catanzaro e della Provincia di Crotone, l’innovativa piattaforma “Cittadini digitali” predisposta dai comuni silani del Pit 12 e altro ancora), offre cioè varie ipotesi operative e opportunità che vanno colte al più presto e prima che il divario digitale sia conclamato e irreversibile.

Tanto sul piano nazionale quanto su quello comunitario, con l’attuazione in corso del programma i2010, tralasciando l’enfasi di qualche annuncio e di qualche auspicio, l’attenzione alla diffusione della banda larga quale vero e proprio diritto dei cittadini è massima, al pari della sensibilità verso progetti meritevoli.

Dove questo segnale non dovesse giungere, può essere un segnale di senso inverso a prevalere: siano i cittadini a pretendere dalla Pubblica Amministrazione servizi on line e siti internet accessibili e concepiti secondo le norme del Codice dell’Amministrazione Digitale e della Legge Stanca; siano i soggetti economici a trascinare l’innovazione; siano i Comuni e gli altri enti locali ad attivarsi con formule di cooperazione e di finanziamento, con la valorizzazione di competenze e lo studio tecnico e giuridico della fattibilità e mediante accordi con proprietari e fornitori delle infrastrutture e della banda; sia, in conclusione, una rivoluzione culturale, che prenda le mosse dall’acquisita consapevolezza da parte del cittadino-impresa, portatore di un interesse apprezzabile, utente e soggetto di diritti, della convenienza e delle enormi potenzialità offerte da un’innovazione nient’affatto impossibile.

In questa ottica, che sia finalmente la stampa locale a tentare di scuotere le coscienze dei più attenti e meglio predisposti, è già di per sé una buona notizia.

July 11th, 2008: in many Western countries, people stand in a queue waiting for the new IPhone. I took this picture in La Jolla, but I saw similar pictures on the website of the main international newspapers: from London to Rome, from New York to Berlin, from Milan to San Diego.

In the meantime, only few fortunate Africans are able to get a dial tone.

For most people in that continent even making a telephone call is still a remote possibility.

The gap between those with access to ICT (internet, computer, communication) and those without is called “Digital Divide”.

There are many factors that contribute to the digital divide: economic instability of the country, lack of communication infrastructure such as roads and electricity, lack of broadband capability, low education level.

In our times, communication is becoming a human right, as the chance to communicate definitely changes the people life. Just think about some simple things like getting in touch with a doctor.

However, new technologies such as satellite communication and cellular phones represent a tremendous development opportunity, as they can easily provide communication infrastructure even in isolated areas.

I had my personal experience many years ago, in Tanzania. In 1993 I visited that country for the first time and I went to Arusha. Arusha is a small but important city, because all the safari games to the most famous national parks start from there. At that time, it was just a dusty small town and even calling my parents in Italy was really difficult.

I went to Tanzania again in 2001 and was very amazing for me to find many internet points crowded with local young people.

I wonder what about now in Arusha, in 2008 …

If you have any information … please, let me know!

PS: if you need any further information, you can also read:

African Telecommunication/ICT Indicators 2008: At a crossroads

http:www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/africa/2008/index.html

"Africa takes on the Digital Divide" by Africa Recovery, United Nations -

http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol17no3/173tech.htm

In one simple step and a brilliantly written article, the digital divide widens. A shot across the bows for politicians and e-democracy engagers: ignore this at your peril, you cannot make it sound like you 'get it' - you really need to understand this stuff, it will take, ooh about half an hour.

According to the site, photos need not be negative or positive, but should represent the existence of digital gap.

Winners of the photo competition will be eligible for a free 1 year membership to their website.  To enter the contest, or view the rules of the competition, visit Iwith.org's competition website. 

Photos, an interesting cause, and free stuff!!  What could be better?

The article [http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article4295414.ece] reported: "... According to researchers we are in the midst of a sea change in the way that we read and think. Our digitally native children have wonderfully flexible minds. They absorb information quickly, adapt to changes and are adept at culling from multiple sources. But they are also suffering from internet-induced attention deficit disorder..."

I suggest reading the whole article.  Here are more highlights:

"...'Because they have been using digital technology all their lives, our children feel they have authority over it,' says Rose Luckin. 'But technology cannot teach them to reflect upon and evaluate the information they are gathering online. For that, the role of teachers and parents remains fundamentally important. You are in the hot seat. They still need you to open that conversation.'

NATIVES v IMMIGRANTS

Digital natives
Like receiving information quickly from multiple media sources.
Like parallel processing and multi-tasking.
Like processing pictures, sounds and video before text.
Like random access to hyperlinked multimedia information.
Like to network with others.
Like to learn 'just in time'.

Digital immigrants
Like slow and controlled release of information from limited sources.
Like singular processing and single or limited tasking.
Like processing text before pictures, sounds and video.
Like to receive information linearly, logically and sequentially.
Like to work independently.
Like to learn 'just in case'."

[0:09][Man]Good day! Today I was allowed to mess around with lots of money.
[0:15] If I were a rich kid ...just take a look at this.
[0:20] Here is a laptop Sony Vaio, as you can see, in working condition.  Let's turn it on.
[0:33] Here it is.
[0:49] So, pay attention to what I would do with a laptop if I were to have lots of money.  We are at the country side. Ha ha
[1.01][back voice, woman voice] What are you doing?!
[1.06][woman]By hell, you are scaring the hens and the chickens.
[1:09][man]They didn't get scared, rest assure.
[1:11][woman] Hell they didn't!

[1.19][man] I just filmed how to chop a laptop.
[1:20][woman] You did it with my axe?
[1:22][man] With what else?
[1:24][woman] I think you must be crazy, you, Alin. By hell, you're ruining the axe!
[1:28][man] It does not get ruin.
[1:29][woman] Hell it doesn't! May it go to hell [the laptop]!
[1:32][man] Here, you [polite] take a piece.
[1:34][woman] Give it to devil to f**k it. Don't you ruin my axe for I don't have any sharpening file to use on it.
[1:38][man] I'll give you one from the grinder.
[1:44][woman] This is not for cutting ... is for cutting wood. [Swearing]
[1:49][man] Look, here is the processor.
[1:55][woman] Look here you can even see the mark you left.
[1:57][man] Common, in plastic?
[2:00][woman] Yes, in plastic.
[2.02][Man] Get out of here...
[2.03][Woman] You get out!

Some thoughts from what was the original idea of the movie:

• laptops are distinct object of rich people;
• destroying what the rich people have is emotionally rewarding;
• the divide between rich and poor people's technologies is huge.

The old lady's reaction is so real and natural: she is defending her axe, fearing that the laptop( such a powerful tool, isn't it?) will ruin it. She is worried that she lacks the power( the ordinary sharpening file) to make sure she will keep her technology working...

Later edit:
Here is the movie with subtitles in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC5ajNqiRBg

What I'm referring to as "the digital sub-divide" is the conflation of a current {2008} desire for all Americans to be able to have broadband access and an older concern of a few years ago about any sort of internet access being yet another class marker of the haves vs. have nots in the United States.

Wikipedia states that "the term digital divide refers to the gap between those people with effective access to digital and information technology and those without access to it". As recently as five years ago, there was a real class divide between Americans who surfed the net and those who didn't. That is no longer the case, particularly in light of the fact that some mobile phones are faster than some internet connections. The organization internetforeveryone.org clearly understands this as illustrated in their first objective: "Every home and business in American must have high-speed internet access". With the advent of "cloud computing" high speed access is quickly becoming an important determining factor in connectivity in the United States. Robin Bloor's recent post entitled, "Everything as a service: The the growth of cloud computing" clearly illustrates this change.

The US is the fourth most wired place on the planet. There are rural pockets that have no access to broadband but this should not be confused with what is now being referred to as "The Global Digital Divide" (see the map below that I found on Wikipedia) where entire nations lag behind others in terms of any level of connectivity. Gary Chapman's work is more illustrative of this "global digital divide".

And this is more than just a rant! I recently participated in a rather large project (several hundred thousands of dollars) with a large service provider that conflated these very issues as NPR has done. For the service provider, it maybe some sort of strategic oversight; for NPR, its just bad reporting.

According to National Technology Scan, a study conducted by Parks Associates, approximately 18% of U.S. households (20 million in all) are without Internet access. While this number has shrunk from the 29 % (31 million homes) at the end of 2006, we are seeing the adoption curve flatten a bit as only seven percent of the 20 million “disconnected” homes plan to bridge the digital divide.

Another interesting fact is that 21% of respondents have never looked up a Web site or information on the Internet and 22% have never sent or received an email.  And nearly one of out of three households has never used a computer to create a document! I am sure most of you share my surprise at these numbers.

While overcoming the digital divide is a complex issue that has substantial social overtones , one cannot escape the business implications of such statistics.

In other words, if you are placing an emphasis on using the online channel to connect to your audience and deliver value to your market, are you automatically ignoring 18% of it?

Well, not exactly, because this number can either fall or rise based on the market you are targeting.  It is an unfortunate reality of the digital divide that while education and income levels are directly proportional to internet access and computer use, the relationship is inverse with reference to the user’s age (the internet is used less by older adults).

So in terms of commerce and industry, online initiatives engage a comparatively target-rich environment, but we also need to be aware that for certain areas of our services, our spread may not be as wide we perceive it.

Is this a disadvantage? Not necessarily so – as I think there is a potential for a portion of an untapped market. If we do a better job of coordinating our online and offline processes, we can help shape the opinion of those that do not perceive the internet and computers delivering sufficient value.

Bridging the digital divide requires a combination of forces working together. While the government can certainly address certain social aspects of the disadvantaged, technology and individual entities do also have a role in helping deliver change and add to the quality of life.

It will be interesting to see if the Scottish Government will introduce similar plans to make Glow accessible to poorer families in Scotland

[From Poorest families may receive free laptops to close digital divide | Society | The Guardian]

"Die Idee vom Internet als egalitäre Digitalwelt hat sich als Illusion herausgestellt. Warum gibt es eigentlich keine Anti-Web-Bewegung? Ein Gründungsaufruf"

Auf Zeit-online findet sich ein schöner Artikel von Martin Ganteföhr mit dem Titel "World Wide Wahn". Darin beschäftigt er sich mit der Frage, warum es eigentlich keine Anti-Web-Bewegung gibt und warum das Internet im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen technologischen Neuerungen auf so wenig Widerstand stößt.

"Das Internet ist von den großen Erfindungen der Menschheit die erste, die alle gut finden. Wirklich jeder. Es gibt keinen radikalen Protest. Keine Fundamentalopposition. Es gibt keine Anti-Internet-Bewegung. Warum eigentlich nicht?"

"Ansonsten aber: Funkstille. Das Netz, so scheint es, ist unantastbar. Nicht mal die Hamas ist dagegen. Womöglich hat sie zwischen Spamlöschen, Podcasten, Mobloggen, Downloaden, Flickrn und generellem Hipsein einfach nicht die Zeit gefunden. Trotzdem wird es nach nunmehr fünfzehn Jahren besinnungslosem Gesurfe erlaubt sein, einmal zu fragen, woher das Internet eigentlich seinen konkurrenzlos guten Ruf hat. Und ob es ihn verdient."

Ganteföhr kommt in diesem Zusammenhang auf die Vision des Global Village zu sprechen, d.h. das Internet als freier Raum, in dem Grenzen überwunden werden, Informationen fließen, der aber auch zu Reichtum verhelfen kann. Jedoch ist von dieser Vision nicht viel übrig geblieben.

"Von diesem Schmalz zehrt das Netz bis heute. Mit der Realität hat er wenig gemein. Denn wie alle Erlösungslehren gibt es auch das Internet in zwei Versionen: als zusammenfantasiertes Pixelparadies, siehe oben, und als real existierenden, autoritären Moloch. Von den Dingen, die die reine Lehre versprach, sind wenige eingetroffen. Die genauen Gegenteile dafür umso öfter."

Im Folgenden bezieht er sich zum einen auf den Börsencrash von 2000 als die Internetblase und damit der Traum vom Reichwerden für viele platzte. Auch die Idee von der Hierarchielosigkeit hat sich nicht erfüllt, im Gegenteil ist das Internet laut Ganteföhr an Hierarchie kaum zu übertreffen. Beispiele hierfür sind die Ranglisten, Bestenlisten, Trefferlisten usw. der Suchmaschinen. Durch Google schließlich ist das Internet zur "Alles-Maschine" geworden:

"Mit Google als Motor ist das Internet endgültig zur Alles-Maschine geworden. Wir erleben in Echtzeit, wie es unser Leben nicht nur vereinnahmt, sondern identisch mit ihm wird. Bei privater Kommunikation, Partnerschaftsanbahnung, Job- und Wohnungssuche fängt es an. Und es hört bei geschäftlichem Datenverkehr, öffentlicher Infrastruktur und Finanzwesen noch lange nicht auf."

Und trotzdem erfreut sich das Internet weiterhin der Beliebtheit aller.

"In der Netzwelt existiert nur noch, wen man googlen kann. Und so verbringen die Nutzer ihre Zeit mit einem permanenten digitalen Hallo-hier-bin-ich, einem Wirrwarr aus Weblogs, Bildern, Forumsbeiträgen und Kumpel-Listen, in denen man sich vor allem eines gegenseitig bestätigt: auch da zu sein."

Dabei wird dann häufig vergessen, dass ein großer Teil der Weltbevölkerung, ja sogar der größte Teil bisher noch nicht am Internet beteiligt ist, dass zum Teil ganze Kontinente wie Afrika fast völlig fehlen. Die Mehrheit der Datenströme wird in Nordamerika und Europa produziert. Man spricht hier vom sogenannten Digital Divide. Somit wird die Vision eines Global Village nicht erfüllt. Und wo bleibt da jetzt die Anti-Web-Bewegung?

Der Autor, Martin Ganteföhr, ist Game Designer, online seit 1994, surft mit dem Handy und ist Besitzer einer UMTS-Mobilkarte. ;-)

Meiner Meinung nach ein sehr interessanter Artikel, der dazu anregt, in gewissen Punkten kritisch über das Internet nachzudenken. Ich selbst bin eine begeisterte Internet-Nutzerin und kann mir ein Leben ohne kaum noch vorstellen. Allerdings vergisst man in seiner eigenen Begeisterung über das Internet tatsächlich häufig, dass es immer noch viele Menschen gibt, die keinen Zugang zum WORLD wide web haben. Ein Missstand, der aufgehoben werden sollte und worum es sich lohnt zu kämpfen. Desweiteren ist es wichtig, eine gewisse kritische Grundhaltung gegenüber dem Internet zu bewahren und nicht alles bedingungslos zu befürworten.

Where did these expectations for how online collaboration should work come from? What is the precedent for this type of behavior? Many have described MapMaker as Google's approach to "Wikipediaize" mapping, but Chris Kelty would argue that Wikipedia, too, is a cultural descendant of the free software movement.

<Prologue! class="In Medias Res">

What geeks may lack in social adroitness, they make up for in archival hubris.
- Chris Kelty, Two Bits

Alongside my friends Tim, Diana, Alex, and Mike, I am going to be blogging my responses to Prof. Kelty's new book about this whole free software thing, Two Bits, chapter-by-chapter as part of 2B2P (the official abbreviation for the Two Bits Processor Project). I'm excited about this because:

1. All the people I just mentioned are brilliant and totally interesting.
2. As an aspiring historian/anthropologist of science and a free culture activist besides, this book is right up my alley. More to the point, it is up my thesis's alley.
3. In addition to being a kickass moderator for ROFLCon and amazingly well-dressed, Chris Kelty is the only professor I've taken more than one class with. His History of Software and Networks (which is how Tim & I met Mike!) basically convinced me to become a History of Science major after one lecture.

Of course, reasons 1 & 3 also mean that this is somewhat stressful for me. I have to write commentary on a book written by one of my most respected mentors? And have it look good while sitting next to the posts of my brilliant friends? Damn.

So here's a quick summary of what you can expect to see here, just so I'm not fooling anybody. Unlike my wonderful housemate Mike, I am not capable of using the phrase "In a Marxian reading of Kelty" and you won't find much reference to existing social theory basically because I suck at reading. Unlike Diana, I am not full of delightful 19th century postcards that somehow manage to be relevant to every situation. Unlike Tim, I am not a robot.

This is what I can promise. I will always be asking the question "is this really new?" because history has surprised me enough times when I assume that something is revolutionary. I will always be wondering what the big picture is for those outside of the digital elite or even on the other side of the digital divide.

</Prologue>

This week, we read the introduction to Two Bits, which doesn't so much provide detailed arguments to chew over as much as a framework for how the rest of the book is going to proceed. I already have tons of questions, but I'm sure most of them will be answered later. Instead, I'll offer a bit of an introduction myself to two (as in bits) basic concepts: geeks and non-geeks. Along the way, I hope I'll reveal something about where I'm coming from...

<Geeks>

“Why do geeks associate with one another?” The answer—told via the story of Napster in 2000 and the standards process at the heart of the Internet—is that they are making a recursive public.

The first part of Two Bits is an ethnographic look at the international free software community--basically, a long-term study of geeks in their natural habitat of listservs and IRC chats. I'm sad to say that this is not a community I was ever a part of. Growing up, I never even FOUND the free software community, and since my introduction to it in college I still haven't really joined it in anything more than a sympathetic sense. However, I suspect that the characters and events that Kelty will describe will be incredibly familiar.

Within the introduction, Kelty uses the word "geek" many times to refer to his free software hackers. While this is almost certainly the self-identity chosen by most of this community, however, these days the term also encompasses a much larger subculture that may or may not agree with or even know of free software.

I'm not saying this just to nitpick Kelty's word choice, but to show that as the word "geek" evolved from an insult to a reclamation to a subculture to a not-so-sub-culture, the actual community, lifestyle, and connotation it describes also changes. This seems obvious, but I want to make it explicit. Once upon a time, the "geek" community--that is to say, the community of people who were proud enough of their geekdom to define themselves as geeks--was much more technically-adept as a whole. This meant that the people creating and participating in geek culture were also the ones involved in geek activities like free software. Now, however, geek culture envelopes much more because being a geek has become more socially acceptable, and the sites (no pun intended) where geek discourse take place are filled with people who have a strong stake in the culture and the identity without necessarily being involved in the actual infrastructural work. Basically, Slashdot's user base has not just free software hackers but also Microserfs and gamers and a whole bunch of other sub-sub-cultures who are united in geekdom but often divided on everything else. Are these other geeks part of the recursive public? If so, then what does it mean when not everyone in the recursive public is actually, you know, recursing?

The conflation of the two in the introduction, accidental or not, brings up the interesting question of how the two interact. Are "mainstream geek" and Free Software ever tugging in different directions? I'll be keeping an eye out on this for the rest of the book for sure.

</Geeks>

<Non-Geeks>

When it comes to non-geeks, one potential way of dividing them is by power.

More Powerful Non-Geeks

A recursive public is a public that is vitally concerned with the material and practical maintenance and modification of the technical, legal, practical, and conceptual means of its own existence as a public; it is a collective independent of other forms of constituted power and is capable of speaking to existing forms of power through the production of actually existing alternatives.

So independence seems to be pretty important in Kelty's concept of a recursive public. That is to say, not independence as in we-don't-need-anybody, but independence as in sovereignty. What does this mean, however, in a world with proprietary hardware, ICANN, and Ted Stevens? Since absolute independence isn't feasible in a world as interconnected as ours, where does dependence begin? And what does that mean for free software? Understanding this will help, I think, in understanding which battles free software is capable of winning--and how.

Less Powerful Non-Geeks

The significance of Free Software extends far beyond the arcane and detailed technical practices of software programmers and “geeks”...it exemplifies a more general reorientation of power and knowledge.

If free software really is a reorientation of power and knowledge, what does it mean that those doing the reorientation are probably overwhelmingly American and definitely overwhelmingly male? What are the implications of the fact that because, as Kelty points out, geeks argue not only about technology but also through it, the technically proficient prevail? I mean, obviously this means that certain values are privileged over others, but are we actually in danger of losing something important to large swathes of the population because of this reorientation?

</Non-Geeks>

Hopefully, these are questions that will get brought up again (and perhaps answered?!) when I read through more of the book. Meanwhile, feel free to modulate on this blog post via commenting and responding! The more bits, the merrier.

A equação é simples. Coloque na rua boas políticas públicas de acesso aos computadores e à Internet. Agora, some tudo isso ao desenvolvimento da infra-estrutura de telecomunicações e a queda dos preços dos novos equipamentos. Combine os ingredientes anteriores às mudanças sociais e culturais da Sociedade de Rede. E o resultado são 40 milhões de brasileiros com acesso à rede mundial de computadores em casa, no trabalho, na escola, em cybercafés e nas bibliotecas. A marca foi divulgada hoje (27) aí no Brasil pelo Ibope/NetRatings e refere-se ao primeiro trimestre deste ano.

De acordo com nota publicada pela Folha Online, nos primeiros três meses de 2008, 41,565 milhões de pessoas com 16 anos ou mais declararam ter acesso à Internet, o maior nível atingido no Brasil desde setembro de 2000, quando a empresa começou a fazer a medição no Brasil.

Pela nova pesquisa, podemos dizer que 22,5% dos brasileiros são internautas, muitos dos quais podem acessar a Internet em centros públicos. É, sem dúvida, um dado positivo. Na hora de celebração, é sempre importante lembrar que parte desse resultado é reflexo das políticas acertadas implantadas pelo governo federal e por algumas administrações públicas locais. O mercado sozinho não dá conta do recado e até os sábios de Washington sabem disso.

Também é importante não esquecer que ainda há muito trabalho pela frente. Em março do ano passado, a Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios do IBGE mostrou que 79% dos brasileiros nunca haviam navegado na rede. Essa é a cara mais assustadora da brecha digital, o abismo entre navegadores e náufragos na Era do Petabyte.

A exclusão digital ou "e-exclusion" está longe de ser um problema brasileiro. É, sim, um tema tão global quanto a própria Internet.

Then I remembered why they were untagged. Because Kingston looks like this on Yahoo maps:

Hmmm. That's...actually really discouraging. I want to make my information useful, but the best level of accuracy afforded to me by Yahoo is "general region within grayish blob"? (The satellite view is, by the way, Kingston obstructed by an enormous white cloud over the entire western side. Thanks.)

I was particularly taken aback, I think, because just yesterday I was adding information about Kingston to Google Maps via MapMaker, their new project that allows users like you and me to input information about countries that Google doesn't know much about (read more here). While the tool is anything but perfect (um, why is "art gallery" not a category? Or "landmark"?), it's a big step towards democratizing the healing process of the digital divide. Sure, Google's engineers and whatnot probably know just as little about Kingston as do Yahoo's, but the fact that they CARE more is palpable. Just as code is law, so passion is code.

The digital divide isn't just a problem of access, it's a problem of infrastructural support by the companies that govern information depositing as well. And it's a problem of passion. To some degree this would be fixed if all of that were open-sourced, but that potentially translates the problem from access to uber-literacy, which isn't great either.

Basically, Yahoo, step up your game. And Flickr, you guys left Yahoo already, right? DUMP THEIR GIS ALREADY.

[slideshare id=487081&doc=connect2books-1214491006061804-8&w=425]

Daily Digest: Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutley.
By Nancy Scola, 06/24/2008 - 3:54pm

This is Day Two of the 2008 Personal Democracy Forum and we’ll be (mostly) devoting the Daily Digest to a recap of what’s going down at the conference, being discussed in the halls, and heating up the back channels. We’ll return to our regular digest format tomorrow.

Visual presentation virtuoso Larry Lessig at a text-only mid-morning press conference here at PdF '08: "I'm a little lost because I don't have slides."

Google evangelist and wise guy Vint Cerf: "PowerPoint corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely."

(Yes, we know Larry uses Keynote in his presentations. But still, that's a great line.)

Bad weather kept keynoter Elizabeth Edwards away from New York City in body but she was still able to appear at PdF '08 via Skype, which preformed remarkably well. The upside of Elizabeth staying in North Carolina? Her husband, John, popped into view of Elizabeth's laptop camera [here's a photo] and stuck around to say a few words. The New York Times' Katharine Seely reports on the tech-focused discussion between Elizabeth and the PdF crowd.

NPR's Sunday Soapbox "field vlogger" Jacob Soboroff conducted video interviews with MySpace IMPACT's Lee Brenner, the Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington and Open Left's Matt Stoller. Also in NPR land, Soapbox's senior producer Davar Ardalan responds to Jay Rosen's take on notes on "semi-pro" journalism presented at a PdF panel yesterday morning and posted to TechPres last night, saying that digital integration "brings with it many philosophical questions about editorial control and the ethical rules we have all been trained to follow."

Over on the tech blog ArsTechnica, Julian Sanchez responds to yesterday's discussion over the modern media's "fake neutrality," to borrow a phrase from Arianna.

Silicon Alley responds to McCain advisor Mark Sohoo's defense yesterday of his candidate's relationship with the Internet. The Guardian UK also has coverage of the session under the in-no-way-judgmental headline "Republicans Admit Obama is Winning the Online Battle." Ooh, this just in: source material -- video of the exchange between Mark and John Edwards' online staffer Tracy Russo that has had people talking since.

CNN's iReport has a station set up here and the conference and has gone live with interviews and coverage with attendees.

Virtual reality pioneer Mark Pesce gave a keynote this morning on "hyperpolitics -- American style" that both Twitter and room tone seemed to indicate was very well-received. If the reporting on the speech strikes you as slightly fuzzy, that's because I unfortunately arrived at the talk where there was only about three minutes left; no worries, though, because Mark has generously posted the full text of his presentation.

PdF's Alison Fine has great coverage of Doug Rushkoff talk on "The New Renaissance" and Morely Winegard's presentation on the civic engagement of the millennial generation.

PC World covers the unveiling of Internet for Everyone, a new Free Press-engineered push for universal broadband launched at PdF '08 this morning. Nancy Scola (hey, that's me) has a quick guide to the the bite-sized arguments made by the project's supporters, from Vint Cerf to Writers Guild East president Michael Winship to TechPres contributor David All.

CNET's Caroline McCarthy reports on Larry Lessig's exhortation to the PdF crowd to not fall into the "four-year trap" of keeping a close watch on politics and politicians only when election time rolls around.

Nancy Scola (again, me) reflects upon a session featuring Mayhill Fowler where the OffTheBus contributor called for bloggers to agree to some "code of the road" that creates a safe, off-the-record space for press.

ThePoint.com's Alex Steed is doing some granular liveblogging of the conference.

Of course, there's more going on than we can possibly capture. So check out the Twitter stream tagged #pdf2008 on Summize.

Mr Irranca-Davies visited the Parents and Children Together (PACT) project, run by EverybodyOnline and held at South Liverpool Personnel, which runs a series of taster sessions to help local parents access the internet, learn new skills and find out how technology could improve their lives.

Following this he went onto St. Cuthbert’s Catholic Community College for Business and Enterprise in St. Helens to hear about the Community Grid concept, which provides the local community with easy-to-use, low-cost, low-energy home access to the internet and other computing resources.

More information on the GMDDA news site.

Social changes, such as young people living further away from their own parents and the rise of ‘virtual community’ on the internet, mean that 41.7 per cent of Scottish mums turn to the internet first for advice on health and parenting.

It means the internet has edged ahead of words of wisdom from kith and kin, with 41.4 per cent saying they’d ask their own mum or sister for tips first. A health visitor would be the first port of call for 10.8 per cent and 5.4 per cent would consult their GP first.

The BT research reveals a new picture of connected Britain, with mums using the internet not only for information gathering and research, but also for friendship and support.

Online friendships, previously considered by some to be superficial and anonymous, are now being taken beyond the computer screen and out into the community. Almost half of the Scottish mums, 47.8 per cent, have met friends through the internet, and nearly one quarter, 24.4 per cent, have actually met up in person.

Siobhan Freegard, co-founder of Netmums, said: "It’s astonishing how important the internet has become to mums of today. Right across the country, mums from all walks of life are using the internet for social interaction, support and advice from other mums whether they live just down the road or 400 miles away. Even more astonishing is the number of online friends who are now meeting up in their local areas and putting a face to the name.

"The way families use the internet has changed so much over the last few years and the change is most extreme when you look at us mums. The internet is now a well-established lifeline to many mums and this study shows that when they need a sounding-board, they will log on to get support even before they call a family member or their GP for advice."

Lesley Gavin, BT Futurologist, said: "The dramatic growth of broadband in Scotland means modern mums can find the help and support they need online.

"Twenty years ago, mums had a limited number of options when it came to help and advice; being online now opens up so many opportunities. No matter where they are or what time they log on, the internet can help mums to seek advice and reliable information about a hundred different things at the click of a button. To me, the internet is all about empowerment and increased choice for modern mums.

"In an age of globalisation, it is also interesting to see how much the internet is doing to bring people together. In the early days, 'surfing the net' used to merely involve finding basic information but today’s internet allows real relationships to be forged and this trend is set to continue. The internet has become a very real extension to our day-to-day support network.

"It is important to us that we encourage mums who haven’t been online before to give it a go and see how it can help them in their everyday life. As part of our ongoing digital inclusion work, and specifically our Crossing the Divide campaign, we have been working with our friends at Netmums to bring to life just how beneficial the internet can be."

Other key findings from the research:

• Two-thirds, 65 per cent, of Scottish mums use the net ‘heavily’
• 38.4 per cent of respondents have considered setting up their own business thanks to the opportunities that the internet provides;
• 5.4 per cent of mums are already running full-fledged businesses thanks to the internet
• 95 per cent of mums said that the internet helps them to save money

Netmum user Jay Greengrass met her husband Jon thanks to an online climbing forum. Jay, who lives near Elgin, said: "I started climbing and began using the climbing website ukclimbing.com and Jon was already an established poster. We got to know each others personalities online and clashed - we both enjoyed taking the rip out of each other! Then we met at a climbing event one of the regular posters organised, but didn't know who each other was. We got talking over a bottle of whisky and a campfire, liked each other and then it was "Oh My God!" when I realised who I was talking to! Now 5 years later we're happily married with two small children. If it wasn't for the internet we would never have met. There is no way we would have bumped into each other otherwise. I never thought I would end up married with kids, never mind to someone I met on the Internet, but you just don't know the way things are going to turn out. I'm now blissfully happy as a mum!"

BT is a founding supporter of Netmums. Since Netmums launched, BT has provided technological support to the site as part of its aim to bring communications benefits to everyone.

*The research was carried out on behalf of BT by Netmums between 20 and 27 May 2008. More than 3,600 mums were surveyed.

*The Crossing the Divide programme is a real-time study designed to chart the progress of a group of individuals as they gain access and knowledge of the internet. For more information, visit www.bt.com/betterworld/journeytoinclusion