[Broadband] Life in Palmerston via Gungahlin

My family first established themselves in Australia at Tenterden via Guyra, NSW in the 1850s. Such addresses were quite common in Far North Queensland where I grew up and once worked as a surveyor's assistant: Sudley Station via Weipa, Queensland, for example.

I never thought I would find myself within view of Parliament House with an address like Palmerston via Gungahlin. But here I find myself every Sunday night.

For some time, Gungahlin, the fourth satellite suburb of the Australian Capital Territory, has been left behind in the generally outstanding infrastructure available to Canberrans. It is common knowledge that the Gungahlin region experienced very little access to typical metropolitan services (and continues to do so) for many years since the region's establishment.

There have been many improvements in recent times (for example, greater presence of emergency services - with a response time second to none), but the simple things still matter:

• No bike racks on the buses to Civic (at least via Palmerston);
  
• No responses from contact via the TAMS (formerly DUS, effectively the 'local council' of the ACT) website about local issues;
  
• No local 'diner' (can you believe the G Spot is now closed? - once apparently the only roadside food vendor in Australia with Foxtel).

But these things pale in comparison to the access to broadband services.

I pay for a 1.5mbps connection that delivers approximately dial-up quality services lately, every Sunday evening. A far cry from the problems experienced 40 km away where people can't even get television reception, and in remote regions where Net service is even worse. But the place I live in is the capital of our great nation, not a remote region.

So, I now refer to my address as Palmerston via Gungahlin. A place where you would expect to receive metropolitan-level services, but receive remote region services in full view of Parliament House. Bring on the NBN - and who really cares who pays for it? I am happy to have my taxes pay for a connection that works, rather than 'user-pay' for a connection that doesn't.

NBN 'breathtaking'

Larry Smarr, one of the early pioneers of the Internet, says:

the Rudd Government's announcement last month of a new broadband network is "breathtaking" and puts Australia at the forefront of government policy around the world embracing "intelligent infrastructure".

read more | digg story

Given the criticism of the project from many on the conservative side of politics, this will be welcome news for the government. The NBN represents a significant change in Australian communications policy, although it maintains the historical role of the government in controlling communications infrastructure centrally. The bold move certainly puts Australia into the 'world leader' category for the first time in a very long time.

But how we manage the many changes in government, business and society the NBN will no doubt usher in remains to be seen. Chairman of the ACS, Kumar Parakala, makes some valid points on some of the pending issues here.

Pipe Dreams: A vision for a connected Australia

The University of Canberra is hosting a free public seminar on Thursday 21 May 2009 from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Details of the event are available here: http://www.canberra.edu.au/announcements/current/pipe-dreams.

Speakers:

• Senator Kate Lundy: New Media and Citizen Engagement
• Professor Keith Lyons: Connecting communities: Bandwidth and incandescence
• Michael de Percy: Broadbanding the Academy: Changing the rules of the gam

Please indicate your attendance by emailing me: michael.depercy@canberra.edu.au.

CSIRO: Pleasantly Public

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has been at the forefront of research for a very long time. Most recently:

The CSIRO has won its long-running battle to enforce a patent on technology used in Wi-fi connections that have become virtually ubiquitous in laptops and other devices around the world.

read more | digg story

The CSIRO is a statutory authority operating under the Science and Industry Research Act (1949).

The achievements of the CSIRO are so numerous it would take me too long to develop the list. Most lists on the Net appear to be segregated by reseach area, the achievements are so comprehensive.

In addition to Wi-fi technology and defending its patent, CSIRO has also ventured into the Creative Commons area. My favourite application for teaching (and soon research) is a *relatively* little known wiki-based application called VotApedia.

I have always wanted an application which enables the capacity to gauge audience opinion. Like 'the worm' used during political debates. VotApedia provides this capacity through mobile phones (you call a number which corresponds to your answer - to an engaged signal for free) or through the web (like SurveyMonkey, but CC).

In my lectures of about 460 students, VotApedia is perfect for providing 'the worm'. But I have also found it useful to gauge opinions about almost anything. It took me about two minutes to set up a quick web survey today to investigate respondents' views on Net etiquette on a particular application. Poor survey design on my part, but an interesting experiment nonetheless.

The CSIRO is one of the more successful Australian statutory authorities. Statutory authorities have been one of the more useful innovations in the Australian political system. The approach should have been used to deploy the NBN. Regardless, the CSIRO deserves credit for the work it does. Often overlooked and undervalued, but certainly at the bleeding edge of innovation in Australia.

And it is pleasantly public. Well done, CSIRO, and more of the budget to you!

Wowsers beware: Public Sphere 2.0 is here

Last week I attended Senator Kate Lundy's 'Public Sphere: Higher bandwidth for Australia' at the ANU. The event raises many possibilities for enhancing the citizen experience.

My musings on the event have been published by ABC Unleashed here.

Presenting my research at UC

On Wednesday 13 May, I will be presenting some of my research findings at the National Institute for Governance, University of Canberra. The event will run from 12:30pm to 1:30pm in Building 6, Level B, Room 34.

Details of the event are available here.

NIG - Broadbanding The Nation

View more documents from Michael De percy.

Broadband Reform: Getting it right

I have written a piece for Open Forum, an independent public policy think tank, on broadband reform. My blog is also 'Blog of the Day' today at Open Forum. You can read the article here.

Some interesting broadband statistics comparing Canada & Australia

I have put together some interesting statistics from the OECD, Aikima, Statistics Canada and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to compare broadband in Canada and Australia. Given the similarities (apart from the Big Mac Index purchasing power parity indicator), there is plenty of reason to argue that 'competition' or lack thereof has not been a significant factor in the differences in broadband adoption and take-up.

Click on the picture below to see the table.

Kate Lundy's Public Sphere

Already the impact of citizen engagement using new media is providing opportunities for politicians to develop creative ways to enable greater participation in policy development.

Senator Kate Lundy is an active user of new media and will be hosting a forum on 'High bandwidth for Australia' at the ANU on Wednesday 7 May 2009. Details are as follows:

Workshop details
Topic: The opportunities and issues around getting high bandwidth Internet in Australia
Place: Australia National University, Seminar Room 101, in the Department of Computer Science Ground Floor
Date: 7th May
Time: 8.30am for a 9am start till 12pm
Agenda: To be published by 5th May, but short 10 minute talks with simultaneous online discussion and questions
Social Media: Twitter: #publicsphere or blog: publicsphere or ”Public Sphere”
Online Participation: via Twitter using #publicsphere as the tag. Participants both in the room and remotely will post questions to @katelundy and comments and feedback on the content as it is being presented to #publicsphere. Speakers will see the questions as they come up and be able to deal with them either throughout their talk, or at the end. By driving everything through Twitter we hope to effectively be able to both encourage and capture different perspectives from all participants, local and remote.

This workshop provides an opportunity for citizens to participate either face-to-face or online. The workshop will also provide an excellent case-study of how citizen engagement can occur in the New Media era.

You can RSVP for the event here.

OpenAustralia: Community and the Net

A recent venture by Open Australia to list 'real' politicians using twitter is a fine example of the capability of the emerging Net community in Australia.

The use of new media in bringing citizens closer to their representatives is not everyone's cup of tea. But organisations such as OpenAustralia, which aims 'to make it easy for people to keep tabs on their elected representatives in Parliament', are certainly moving in the right direction.

The use of new media enables people to be involved in the emerging public e-sphere. For most citizens, work and family commitments make it difficult to participate in democratic processes. With technology making it easier for citizens to participate, the dreams of cyper-citizenship and e-democracy are fast becoming a reality.

New media presents many challenges to governments and traditional approaches to citizen engagement. But community organisations now have access to an efficient and cost-effective means of providing information to citizens and influencing public debate.

Once the NBN becomes available, community participation in the public e-sphere will likely increase. Organisations which take advantage of new media in the early stages are likely to establish their credentials for years to come.

Legitimacy remains an important element in democracies, but with the ability to remain anonymous on the Net, many people are wary of e-democracy in practice. The Net community has a role to play in providing such legitimacy, and OpenAustralia is to be congratulated for taking some of the first steps with their latest initiative.