Here are two of them:
Jon citing David on simplifying the Net Neutrality cause under the more general framework of Structural Separation.
And I certainly concur: Structural Separation is the way to go. There’s a lot to be learned from the folks that convene around David Isenberg at Freedom-to-Connect. Don’t think I can make it there this year - but I would if I could! (Or I will if I can? We’ll see.)
Billy & Marnie explain the MashUp Challenge concept. Challenge Deadline: March 14, 5 PM - Pacific.
Robin Chase (ZipCar, GoLoCo) is great! In this 2007 TED talk Robin addresses Carbon Emissions and the Digital Divide.
(The video was only just released.)
I composed a short list of some essential readings that reflect a world-view appropriate to the Internet Era, I shared it with friends studying Community Informatics and Civic Entrepreurship, two domains seeking a better world. Since I recently catalogued (part of) my personal library using LibraryThing, it makes sense to share these here as well (as they are part of my virtual library).
These writings provide a conceptual matrix for an interesting breed of Civic Entrepreneur- (it’s a partial list) … really a new model of Citizenship and Society/Polity. They aren’t new to a lot of you - and if you have other works that you think really need to be on the list, please let me know.
Movement as Network, by Gideon Rosenblatt, also: The three pillars of social source
David Isenberg’s Rise of the Stupid Network
Pushing Power to the Edges (pdf) by Jillaine Smith, Martin Kearns, Allison Fine
The Cluetrain Manifesto (Doc Searles, et al.)
Cory Doctorow’s Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom
Coase’s Penguin: (by Yochai Benkler … his book The Wealth of Networks is also recommended. There’s a wiki inviting discussion of his ideas.)
The list doesn’t represent any hierarchic ordering.
Free and Open Source Software Rules, and so do Free and Open Networks.
(Let’s not neglect open-hardware nor open-standards!)
With commodity tech running Free & Open Source Operating Systems and Software, priced at $300 $200, new (do I hear $100 per new system yet?) and with plenty or older hardware available for re-purposing, not to mention a proliferation of new networking and communication devices … we might take a moment to think of the potential ready to be unleashed, and to view how far we have come an achievement worthy of note.
What is next? Take our cheap hardware running software we’re free to modify and improve and interconnect, and let’s start interconnecting on our own terms.
We can and must move civil society communications infrastructure to the next level.
The International Summit for Community Wireless Networks is on the horizon… these are the folks who have been leading the way. We have the power to create the networks we want and need. If you were outraged at efforts to sink Net Neutrality or by the lack of a National Broadband Policy worthy of the name, if you are shocked by aspirations to filter, block and spy on content and services over the ‘Net, now is the time for us to (re)build our own.
Josh Breitbart blogs a warning to all who seek digital inclusion or more (perhaps excellence) for their community, here: Horizontal vs. Hub-and-Spoke Relations, or The Emperor has no Invisible Thread. The bottom line: unless your city has character and backbone, and cares for the people, the people will be ill-served by the network they get.
There are no tangents in holistic approaches to technology and community, so please bear with me as I tug that thread metaphor in another important direction.
Robust networks/redundancy; generosity/capacity.
Consider this image (evoked by Breitbart’s commentary on the as-yet missing (but promised) invisible thread): Sidney J. Mussberger (the character in the Hudsucker Proxy played by Paul Newman) dangling upside down at the ledge of a skyscraper reflecting on the need for the robust redundancy of a double stitch as the seam at his waist begins to give.
Mussberger (Newman) reflects on his (stingy/cynical) scoffing at his tailor’s suggestion of the double-stitch for his hand-tailored trousers. When a single-stitch will do, why spend more? He regards the tailor’s suggestion as an unnecessary expense and worse, an attempt to rip him off.
(Warning: Minor spoiler!) Mussberger’s pants don’t give way at the moment he needs them to hold together most. The Tailor generously gave him the double-stitch anyway.
What lessons to draw?
Along with tying our communities together in many horizontal relations (Neff and Philadephia’s “invisible thread”), and assurances of digital inclusion and economic development benefits there are public safety needs related to these networks. (We should explore how horizontality in planning and design would strengthen those purposes.) Robust, redundant networks are critical to public safety. Or, consider the demonstrated value of a small cadre of community wireless networkers post Katrina. (The lesson there being, volunteer knowledge and technical capacity, and the freedom to act in the deployment of networks is just as critical.)
We are being promised a lot of things in the selling of broadband and wireless networks. We had best make sure we are getting what we pay for and that we are prepared to pay enough. I wouldn’t bank my hopes on the generosity of the network vendors. Get what you need and get it in writing, then get it verified. You don’t want to be left in regret or wonder when hanging by a thread.
Joshua Breitbart has been developing and promoting a vision of Digital Expansion. I have had some trepidation with regard to this phrasing since he first shared it with me. I engaged a little on the matter in some of his blog entries on the topic, and I planned to do a longer piece in reaction to the concept. Most of my criticism comes down to whether the name suits what is being described and whether the name advances the cause or what will best serve the cause. But all that is perhaps minor and unnecessary, especially in light of the recent statement by Josh under the title: These are difficult conversations.
This recent presentation of the concept and the vision resonates deeply for me. The Digital Expansion Initiative speaks most strongly when the social justice aspects of Digital Access are made explicit.
The recognition that these issues we regularly broach in public fora lead us quickly to difficult (sensitive) conversations is important. I affirm the timeliness of that recognition. Now is indeed the time for such conversation. Be undaunted.