Government Technology

Media Mergers a Threat To Community News?

Ron Tang — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:54:00 -0400

The policies set by the U.S. federal government on media ownership have tremendous impact on community media that traditionally has played an important role in fostering community awareness and involvement. For local municipalities and constituencies, the on-the-ground media ownership rules ultimately boils down to the question of how diverse the opinions expressed in local media will be and how representative of topical issues the local news will be.

The past twenty years have seen an unprecedented number of media mergers spanning TV, radio, film, publishing and online holdings. An oligopoly has emerged whereby a half-dozen massive corporations control enormous numbers of… more

Overseas Wireless Deployments Offer Lessons For U.S.

Ron Tang — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:45:00 -0400

How we measure success is as important as what we are measuring. On March 19, 2008, the FCC dramatically revised its broadband data collection, in essence, finally giving in to mounting evidence that current assessments have been woefully inadequate. Previous data collection may have allowed politicians to declare "mission accomplished" -- that universal affordable broadband is available throughout the United States -- yet the fact remains that large swaths of the United States have fallen behind a growing list of other countries in broadband provision.

Within the U.S. context, wireless networks have often followed a familiar trajectory: utilizing hyperbolic and misleading… more

Municipal Wireless Success Demands Public Involvement, Experts Say

Ron Tang — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:00:00 -0400

Most media have it wrong. Municipal wireless networks across the United States didn't stumble in 2007 -- high-profile cities where deals fell apart, such as Chicago, San Francisco and Houston, were not going to finance, own or operate their respective networks. These weren't municipal networks at all. The business model that faltered in 2007 was the "private corporate franchise" model based on the deal that Philadelphia and EarthLink agreed to in 2006. It was, in fact, the free market that failed last year -- not governments in their traditional role as the builders and maintainers of critical infrastructure.

How we… more

J.H. Snider Discusses Unlicensed Spectrum in Government Technology

Communications — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 01:36:00 -0400

New America in the News:

When do we recognize a shift in the fundamental social fabric of civilization? Where do we look to find better exemplars of participatory democracy? When do we realize that notions of justice have to expand to include a new ways of thinking about human rights? How do we change our institutions to support a more just and equitable world? These are the questions that thought leaders in the community and municipal wireless movement have been asking themselves more and more over the past few years.

Many telecommunications scholars have written that the first decade of the 21st Century is a "critical juncture" in communications history....

However, certain tools were consistently mentioned by those interviewed for this series as useful to digital inclusion efforts -- "more unlicensed spectrum," "low-cost hardware," and "education initiatives" for the general public and local, state, and national policy makers were all discussed by multiple interviewees. As Jim Snider, Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, warns, for wireless systems, "the network can ultimately only be as good as the spectrum it uses." Many thought leaders see one promising avenue as the growing support for "bipartisan legislation in Congress to open up the TV white spaces for unlicensed use." According to Snider and others, these frequencies would provide new tools and resources for network implementers and greatly expand and enhance broadband implementation efforts across the country...

For the complete article, please visit the Government Technology website.

Government Technology Quotes J.H. Snider on the Internet's Role in Encouraging Democracy

Communications — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 23:50:00 -0400

New America in the News:

An overarching theme that came up time and again during the interviews I conducted for this article is that we often think far too small when we talk about community networking. In a communications age, access to the resources, information, opportunities, and conversations that broadband services and community and municipal wireless networks facilitate is a vital element -- the foundation upon which the future of civil society rests...

Paralleling this analysis, Jim Snider, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, states, "Democracy requires well educated citizens. The Internet has become a necessary foundation for a well educated, economically productive citizenry for the 21st century."

For the complete article, please visit the Government Technology website.

E-Government vs. E-Democracy

Articles — Wed, 01 Aug 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Why do government officials love e-government and hate e-democracy? The answer is implicit in the definition of the question. E-government uses information technology to make government operate more efficiently, often by copying techniques first developed in the private sector. E-democracy uses information technology to make elected officials more accountable to the public.

In the minds of elected officials, encouraging e-government is a win-win proposition. The public loves to cut waste while improving service, and politicians are happy to show that tax dollars are being spent more efficiently.

Encouraging e-democracy is less desirable to elected officials. On the contrary, most… more