Broadbanding the Nation archived by NLA

Broadbanding the Nation was recently selected for preservation on Pandora by the National Library of Australia on 9 March 2010: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/117322.

The blog can also be accessed in the archives via Trove: http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/37039338.

While you are checking out the National Library's archives, have a look at the project to digitise historical newspapers. While you are there, why not take a minute or two to correct any OCR errors?

Photo by Brenden Ashton via Wikimedia CC: By

NBN Co requests capability statements: So what does that mean?

The Minister for Broadband's press release yesterday mentioned "another significant milestone in the rollout" of the NBN. But few would grasp the amount of detail in this sentence:

NBN Co will use the Industry Capability Network to assist the participation of small and medium enterprises and intends to require tenderers to prepare Australian Industry Participation plans.

So what does that mean?

NBN Co has issued a Request for Capability Statement (RCS) for the design and construction of the NBN's fibre access network. Simply, this means that NBN Co wants to identify:

Potential construction partners [who] will need to show they have the capability and capacity to design and deliver telecommunications infrastructure projects of significant size and complexity

Under Commonwealth procurement law, tenderers for this project may also be required to outline how they will be "providing full, fair and reasonable opportunity to Australian industry" to participate in the project. But will there be a range of SMEs involved in the build at the community level?

One of the success stories from Canada's early move into broadband was the process adopted by Industry Canada's Information Highway Applications Branch (IHAB) in the mid-2000s. In implementing its programs, IHAB:

operate[d] at the local, regional and national levels to assist Canadians and communities in overcoming barriers to information and communications technologies (ICTs). This include[d] the provision of a national community-led, partnership-based electronic delivery infrastructure platform based on community Internet access sites across Canada

Australia does not have the same intensity of community involvement, but NBN Co's announcement provides  some scope for local businesses to participate.

The participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is to be facilitated by the requirement for tenderers to submit an Australian Industry Participation Plan (AIPP). AIPPs are administered by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research and look something like this. The requirement was introduced at the beginning of this year:

From 1 January 2010 tenderers for large Commonwealth procurements (generally above $20 million) will be required to prepare and implement AIP Plans (Dept of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research).

But how much of the AIPP process actually makes a difference for local SMEs? Is there scope for local businesses within the grand national plan?

It would seem so. One way that SMEs can become involved is through one of the 24 Industry Capability Network (ICN) offices. Here in the ACT, Business ACT in the Chief Minister's Department runs the local ICN which is an:

Australia & New Zealand wide network that helps businesses to maximise the opportunities that arise from purchasing requirements from both the government and private sectors.

Small to medium size businesses can subscribe to opportunities to participate in the NBN build through ICN.

While the organisational arrangements appear at face value to be unnecessarily complex, the replication of the ICN at state and territory levels is a good thing.

Yet there remains a distinct lack of broader community involvement, a factor which clearly helped Canada 's broadband take-up in the early 2000s.

But while Canada was once a global leader in broadband that status has recently been slipping. To make matters worse, many of Canada's Community Access Program (CAP) sites will no longer be funded. Marita Moll states that the worst part is that along with the end of the CAP:

15 years of good will and good work in communities will be destroyed with it

So while Canada slips behind, it will be interesting to see if Australia's attempt to catch-up via the NBN develops any good will with SMEs. It will also test whether the Australian  industry participation policy is more than just a throw-away compliance requirement in tender submissions.

Photo of Stephen Conroy by Dr Ron from wikimedia.org. CC-By-SA

No good news for broadband in Palmerston via Gungahlin

I had it all worked out. I would save a fortune every month by getting rid of my traditional telephone line and go onto a naked ADSL plan, a VoIP number for incoming calls and voila! My telephone bill is halved forever! No more would I be paying a stupid amount for a service I don't even use. YEAH RIGHT!

That is not how the system works, and I remain stuck in the telecommunications past. What's worse is that I do this in the national capital with the Black Mountain Tower in full view from just up the hill. Palmerston via Gungahlin.

I had to check with a few providers, and I was reluctant to take any random salesperson at their word before I turned off my landline forever. Fortunately, my plea for "someone who knows about the problems with the Crace exchange" didn't go unnoticed:

Unfortunately it doesn't look like there is much good news I can give you. The issues with the Gungahlin sub-exchange are something that I am well aware of.

First and foremost [naked ADSL2+], or any kind of naked, is not going to be available for you at that address. As the sub-exchange is basically a giant RIM it needs active phone lines to provide you with internet service. As much as we would love to be able to provide you with  a [naked, ADSL connection] it just isn't currently possible.

Well there we have it. No VoIP for me and I struggle to develop Web 2.0 teaching materials using a dial-up speed at the cost of 1.5mbps. Palmerston via Gungahlin. Imagine if I lived on Sudley Station via Weipa?

Original photo by Bidgee on wikimedia.org, re-use via CC-By-Share Alike.

Broadband Wagon: White House=Killer Apps; Parliament House=Kill Broadband

The Role of Student-Led Innovation in ...Killer Apps“ for Broadband Networks | The White House

After a week of trying to incorporate Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom while battling an extremely slow network with outdated computers running outdated software, things are not so good in the Australian broadband scene.

But in the US, the White House is encouraging students to get on the broadband wagon.

Australia has a long way to go. Even the basic capacity is missing. Two things make matters worse:

1. Sceptics who think broadband and educating students in the use of new media are passing fads; and
2. Slow networks, outdated computers and software systems run by conservatives.

It is always a challenge to balance standardisation versus innovation but in Australia the trend toward standardisation starts at the top and flows on down to the bottom. This is not a trickle effect, it is a bitter torrent.

As a nation, there is an urgent need to enable innovation around broadband technoligies, starting with the infrastructure and then moving into the education sector to encourage the use of new communications technologies. Not as an interesting aside, but as a necessary part of the teaching process.

Gone are the days of submitting handwritten assignments, we all accept that. But until we can accept that social media is the new word processor, we remain behind the eight-ball.

Thanks to Bill St Arnaud for this link.

Time to renew your "Do Not Call" registration: But will it make any difference?

Who can believe it is almost three years since the Do Not Call register first opened on 31 May 2007? It is now time to re-register, but will it make any difference?

Who can forget the spectacular failure of the Do Not Call site as the beleaguered horde of telemarketing victims rushed to join? The crash of the Australian register was not unique, with the Canadian register experiencing similar problems when it was launched over a year later.

But does it matter? Recently, a number of my colleagues have been complaining about receiving telemarketing calls on their work telephone numbers. And not just from random 'Scamway' businesses but from some of the major banks and other *respectable* corporations.

The federal government is addressing this issue, but it seems for the moment the Do Not Call register is for private telephones only:

In the 2009-10 Budget, the Government announced plans to widen the scope of the Register, to allow the registration of all telephone and fax numbers, including the numbers used by businesses and emergency service operators (DBCDE website).

The worst thing is that the federal opposition disagrees. So much for corporate social responsibility and encouraging productivity. An unintended consequence of the register has been to re-direct telemarketing to consumers in the workplace.

But how much capacity does government have to regulate telemarketing, spam, scams and so on? It would seem  that regulation of poor business behaviour would best be left to a combination of self-regulation and market forces. 

But half the trouble is that the issues of telemarketing and spam are converged (all related to communications channels and marketing practices) while the legislation is still actively diverged along old ideas of  communications technologies.

It would be good to see the major industry groups collaborate to encourage an acceptable way to conduct marketing - something along the lines of the Internet Industry Associations' Spam Code. Judging by the responses from consumers in both Australia and Canada, it is obvious that poor marketing techniques are an unwanted nuisance for most of us.

In short, it doesn't take a genius to see that poor marketing practices aren't good for business and there is clearly a role for government to regulate such practices. But government needs to stop trying to do it all alone. Granted that many *respectable* businesses are often the main perpetrators, but greater consumer involvement in a self-regulatory model just doesn't make it onto the policy radar. 

In the meantime all we can do is hope and re-register.

Step 5: Sharing my Web 2.0 Teaching Tools

This week all the hard work paid off when my ESL students were writing, learning new concepts, discovering new technologies, reading the news and even talking in the classroom. I trialled a wiki learning activity where students (in groups of two) answer a series of questions on the concept of globalisation. Students can copy and paste anything from the Net in order to answer the questions - no references necessary. I am sick of the blank faces in tutorial discussions so I thought this approach would work in the computer lab. As it turned out, every student was able to explain the globalisation in a variety of ways - they learnt more in one hour then they would have in a full week.

This morning I present my workshop on Assessment 2.0: Blogs, Wikis and Media Sharing to staff at UC. You can see the three main components of the web ‘architecture’ based on Google Blogger, Google Sites, and UC Space. I had originally intended to use Wikispaces but since there is no way to prevent this from being publicly viewable, I decided to use UC Space, UC’s Confluence-based Enterprise Wiki instead. The UC Space site linked here *should* be viewable by the public.

The Blogger Template has been endorsed by the branding people so that is a great start. I have finally completed an assessment rubric for the media sharing assignment.

But my favourite is THE WEIGHBRICATOR - my rubric calculator which enables you to individually weight up to five criteria. Now I have the format established, I will be using rubrics for most of my assessment items.

The next tool I intend to develop is a rubric template in MS Excel with the calculations underneath each cell. But I need to work out how to convert the rubric into html so I can integrate it with the LMS. SpreadsheetConverter did a good job with the trial version, so maybe this is worth the cost.

This morning’s workshop starts at 9:30am. I will collect feedback from the session and make this available on the weekend.

Step 4: Sharing the [Web 2.0] Love

Trialling “Web 2.0 on the go” is not for the faint-hearted. This week was a major struggle to get through what needed to be done, with numerous problems along the way.

Most days, it feels like I am trying to drive a Lamborghini through the scrub. Each computer is different, each lecture theatre is different, each class a new problem to overcome.

The best move was to get all tutorial classes into computer labs. I am not sure how this will work out later once we are in full swing, but in the meantime, this week all students are signed up to the blog, have made at least one blog post and shared at least one media article on the topic for next week’s submission.

My plan is to develop a model for teaching using Web 2.0 tools that does not require staff to be ICT experts. There is a lot of talk about online and blended learning and incorporating Web 2.0 technologies in higher education, but there is very little in terms of policy, support, even clear legal opinion on copyright issues, duty of care for students in an online quasi/semi-public environment and so on to guide the trailblasers.

Next week, I will be running a workshop on how to use blogs and wikis as assessment items for staff at the University of Canberra. I am doing this as part of the development of our new Winter Term where I am a member of the UC Hothouse (see also the Tumblr blog).

Next week’s workshop will incorporate the following lessons learned:

• Use computer labs for all tutorial classes unless you have documented or video recorded the complete instructions. Don’t believe the hype about digital natives - they don’t know it all about Web 2.0 and there will be lots of hand-holding.
• Students hardly ever read their student emails. You will have to add at least half of the class to the blog manually because they don’t know how to do it.
• Students don’t follow instructions. If you use the Firefox Portable set up I made available in an earlier post, students will forget to use it the next day. Many are unaware of how to add shortcuts to their desktops and many other simple skills shortages which will surprise you.
• Google Blogger requires character recognition confirmation when there are a large number of blog posts. Students will become very frustrated because nobody can ever get these right the first time.
• Google blogger will only allow up to 100 authors for a single blog. This one would be easy to overlook.
• For the media sharing assignment, I have decided to ask students to write a summary of the article they are sharing. This has forced them to read the article, and I require them to comment on the accuracy of their colleagues summaries to make them read these articles, too. This means that each week, students will read three media articles relevant to the subject area. This will be three more media articles than many of them will read in a typical semester.
• Use the tech-savvy students to help you in class. This gives them a great ego boost, and encourages the students to help each other. Once one “gets it”, other soon “get it” and a domino effect occurs.
• Assume nothing, but don’t be discouraged. Once this week is finished, you will see that the digital natives really know how to use this stuff once they know how to use it. But you have to give them the kick-start. The students have started reporting how much they like the subject already!

The Squawk: Murray innovators release regional Web 2.0 community

"The Squawk" is a social and business network for regional communities which provides location-specific content. The site has been "kicked off" by Regional Development Australia, Murray.

I am a big fan of this type of local innovation. In my comparative research into Canada's broadband industry, Australia is lagging in terms of the extent and intensity of community-based communications innovations. But not in the Murray.

In fact, the Murray region has been home to numerous communications policy submissions and leaders in many communications initiatives. And not just focusing on the Murray region, but developing models which could be deployed elsewhere. Regional Development Australia, Murray has been working on community-based wireless infrastructure for some time and pushing on through the legacies associated with Australia's penchant for single national solutions to communications problems. The motto "Think globally, act locally" comes to mind.

Local and regional initiatives must be at the heart of Australia's push to fix our poor standing on broadband. It would appear that the Federal Government's shift in attitude toward funding local and regional initiatives has aided the Murray region to continue its tradition of innovation, but more needs to be done. But this latest initiative is a step in the right direction.

The Squawk is a place where you can connect and share information with others near you. Use The Squawk to build and maintain social and business networks and find support within your regional community

Check out the community and join at www.thesquawk.com.au. Let's hope there will be many more local initiatives like this one and governments continue to promote innovation where it counts.

Communications Innovations: CSIRO must be given greater Oz status

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is arguably one of Australia's greatest assets. Yet little more than lip service tends to be given to this organisation even when its innovations are ground-breaking. To make matters worse, Australia rarely takes advantage of its discoveries in the early stages of adoption.

Traditionally, Australia runs a trade deficit in telecommunications equipment and has been a technology 'taker' since the Canadian Samuel McGowan brought the telegraph with him to Victoria in the 1854. McGowan had to improvise on several occasions to overcome the challenges of deploying telegraph technology where there were manufacturing skills and capability were rare. 

Given that for most of Australia's telecommunications history, the telecoms equipment ndustry existed as a monopsony, it is little wonder that the industry never really developed. But it makes little sense why that should be the case now, unless Australia will simply focus on patenting new innovations.

For example, last year the CSIRO won a settlement for the use of its use of wifi technology by Hewlett-Packard, with many other well-known global communications companies in the firing line. The patent was registed in 1996 with hardly a sigh from the Australian community about the technology's potential.

Today, the CSIRO is producing another world's first with the miniturisation of a radio receiver onto a chip 5 x 5mm in size. The CSIRO has developed the chip with Sappicon Semiconductor which has its headquarters in Sydney. These chips will replace receivers used in radio astronomy which are currently the size of a fridge. 

But there is not even a whisper from the traditional media.

The National Broadband Network could assist with the development of an innovative Australian communications equipment industry. Given its reputation,  the CSIRO is well-placed to lead such an Australian revolution.

But the old debates over Telstra (not that Telstra is a laggard) and whether we need broadband at all are quietly ignoring a weak area of Australia' seconomy that makes no sense at all. In the meantime, Australians should be very proud of the CSIRO and give this national asset the status it deserves.

Once the rest of the world goes NBN the doubters will shut up!

It is one thing to debate the details of the NBN implementation, quite another to think that things are rosy in Australia. But does it matter? At the rate that other countries are building their own NBNs, let's just hope that it becomes commonplace before the naysayers kill off another Australian innovation.

Australians are notorious for waiting for others to move first. The number of times we hear: "How can the government do this when nobody else in the OECD is doing it?" is just another tired example of cultural cringe. Australians can and should innovate.

The skills shortage in electronic communication in this country is nearing the ridiculous. Assumptions about digital natives are drastically wrong. Less people know how to use Web 2.0 or higher bandwidth technologies than most people think. Without an NBN, this skills gap will only increase in comparison.

Rather than embracing the NBN, we seem to be sliding into a debate over its actual worth. In the meantime, the rest of the world is doing what Australia is doing already. We can't even see when we are in the lead. Let's take a brief look around the world:

According to AustralianIT:

President Barack Obama has pledged to put broadband in every American home and his administration has already designated over $US 7 billion in economic stimulus money to expand broadband access in underserved communities.

Governments such as New Zealand are claiming that the private sector is simply not moving fast enough and are funding new infrastructure. Not everyone agrees but the government is moving forward. Developing countries such as Jordan in the Middle East are also funding a NBN (with private sector support). There are many more in the pipeline.

This morning's Australian Financial Review article makes a great case study to explain to my students why they are not allowed to reference Wikipedia in my classes. But how long will the argument against Australia's NBN stand up to comparative wisdom?

It is always difficult to be a first-mover in Australia. Sometimes it is not worth the hassle. But Australia has the opportunity to be a world leader. Let Australians innovate and stop talking about innovation while holding us back. Give us the NBN. Let's debate the implementation, but there is no argument against the NBN itself.

It is time for those who don't know what they are talking about to simply shut up and get out of the way.

Step 3: Assessment Items

How do you replace an essay plan (worth 10%) and an essay (1500 words, worth 40%) with blogs and media sharing?

I have decided on this:

1. Media Sharing Activity:

Due by 9am Monday in the following Weeks:

    Sharing Topic 1 = Week 3
    Sharing Topic 2 = Week 4
    Sharing Topic 3 = Week 5
    Sharing Topic 4 = Week 6
    Sharing Topic 5 = Week 7
    You must comment on two other media article posts per week using the 'comments' function

Details: Each week, share at least one media article, using the AddThis application provided in Firefox Portable, and add the article to the blog with some of your own commentary of at least 80 words on the following topics:

    Topic 1: Industry Policy
    Topic 2: Competition Regulation
    Topic 3: Industry Regulation
    Topic 4: Assistance to Business from Government
    Topic 5: Trade Policy

2. Blogging Activity:

Due by 9am Monday in Weeks:

    Blog Question 1 = Week 9
    Blog Question 2 = Week 10
    Blog Question 3 = Week 11
    Blog Question 4 = Week 12
    Blog Question 5 = Week 13
    You must critique two other posts per week using the 'comments' function

Blog Questions:

• Why did many governments believe there was no alternative to opening domestic economies to global competition? Use examples to support your argument.
• Is Australian society elitist, corporatist or pluralist? Use examples to support your argument.
• Should governments support industries which are not internationally competitive? Why or why not? Use examples to support your argument.
• How much influence does the OECD have on Australian industry policy? Use examples to support your arguments.
• Are corporations able to respond to society's needs faster than governments? Why? Provide examples to support your argument.

Click here to view the file I am using for today’s lecture. Please note that this is only one part of the lecture which will include research skills, using the library databases and various demonstrations.

I am not posting the recorded lectures outside of the LMS just yet, as I need to work through the copyright issues. I need to ensure my lectures do not breach the provisions of the new Flexible Fair Dealing section 200AB of the Copyright Act 1968 before I make this next move during the Winter Term.

NBN public hearings likely to be held in April

The public hearings on NBN Co's ability to operate in the retail market announced by the Senate Select Committee on the NBN last week are likely to held in April.

See below the Committee's response from my email request last week:

Thank you for enquiring about the Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network public hearing schedule.  The three public hearings are likely to be in April, the actual dates are still yet to be scheduled.

You can keep check on the following link:

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/hearings/index.htm

for the hearing dates as they become available.

I will report back once the dates are confirmed.

Extended public hearings should focus on local initiatives for NBN

The Senate Select Committee on the NBN announced in the media yesterday that public hearings will be extended until 30 March to focus on the part of the draft NBN legislation that will allow NBN Co to operate as a retailer.

Details of the hearings are yet to be released but I have contacted the committee for more information and will report back shortly.

In the meantime, two pressing questions have arisen in the NBN debate: 1) Should Telstra's wholesale and retail businesses be separated? and 2) Should NBN Co be allowed to operate its own wholesale and retail business?

If NBN Co is allowed to operate in the retail sector, we may have witnessed a costly exercise in re-inventing the wheel.

Previous governments were fond of using Telstra as a big policy lever. If political leverage was needed, simply pull the big lever and Telstra did the government's bidding. T3 changed that forever, although the government's 17% share in the telco meant that the policy lever was still within reach - until Sol Trujillo took away the handle, that is.

So is the government's insistence on NBN Co's retail operations simply a way to re-establish the old policy lever?

Maybe. But there might also be some logic to NBN Co entering the retail market. For example, in areas where there is insufficient competition or limited retail services, NBN Co might be able to break long-established pockets of poor service. Palmerston via Gungahlin is a case in point, with NBN Co or TransACT expected to break the service deadlock with the support of Senator Kate Lundy.

On the other hand, we might just be recreating the Australian way of doing communications policy by sticking to the single national solution.

The Coalition are not happy about the proposed break-up of Telstra and there is some merit in extending the public hearings on NBN Co's proposed retail operations.

But separating these two issues is simply wrong.

If Telstra is forced to separate, then NBN Co cannot operate a retail arm. Otherwise, we return to telecommunications business as usual - the reason Australia became a broadband laggard in the first place.

But the public hearings and the focus on NBN Co's proposed retail operations provide an opportunity for local operators to be involved in the NBN. If NBN Co is given the go-ahead for retail operations, there will be little scope for local operators to deliver retail or last-mile services.

Instead of allowing NBN Co to operate in the retail market to fix existing pockets of poor service (like Palmerston via Gungahlin), the government should call for tenders from the private sector and enable community and municipal proposals to be considered.

The public hearings proposed by the Senate Select Committee on the NBN may be the last opportunity for the local element of the network to be developed. But this approach flies in the face of the federal government's desire to re-attach their handle to the old school policy lever.

In short, if NBN Co is given the go-ahead to provide retail services, then we can expect to have a brand-new, $43 billion, re-invented wheel.

Step 2: Solving the Browser-Consistency Dilemma

How do you provide a consistent browser experience?

Firefox Portable has solved one of the biggest dilemmas - not all browsers and machines are the same, and I need to ensure that all students have access to the required tools.

In the past, access to required learning tools was delivered to students on a CD-ROM. For example, Deakin University provided all off-campus students with the Deakin Learning Toolkit:

“Students receive a Deakin Learning Toolkit. This contains basic written material introducing the website, services and support available. They also receive a CD, which gives them the necessary software to become connected and lots of information about support services, how to connect to the web, library resources, faculties and courses. The CD is designed to set up the students with all the necessary resources and information for them to begin their studies.”

Higher bandwidth has overcome most of the distribution challenges of the past. But just try and organise a large group of students to access a particular add-on in a particular browser which must be at a particular version and on a machine with the correct plug-ins and apps installed. Not once has this ever been possible with a 100% success rate in more than a decade of computer lab teaching!

With Firefox Portable, I set up the browser with the add-ons I require students to use. For the media-sharing assignment, I have decided upon the AddThis add-on for Firefox. The choice was based on the ability to restrict the choices of sharing sites in the button to Blogger only. To see the set up, a zip-file containing the full portable browser (as delivered to students) is available here.

With a class of over 60, separated into two computer labs, the first shock was to see the entire class turn up to a workshop which is deemed quasi-compulsory. The next challenge was that every fifth computer did not have java installed, so registering for a Google account required access to a mobile phone to retrieve the SMS code. Surprisingly, most of the students simply entered their phone numbers, retrieved the code, and wetn on with their registration.

By the end of the one-hour workshop, every student had registered a Google account, logged into the blog (I had to mass email the students beforehand and add late enrolments during the class), and posted a comment. Some had even downloaded Firefox Portable and added it to their student desktop (on the roaming profile). Those who had installed Firefox Portable had all attempted the use of the AddThis add-on. In the next workshop, this process will be complete and we should be able to start with the blogging and media-sharing the week after.

Lessons for next time: Ensure everybody has a Google account before arriving and have full written or video-recorded instructions on how to download and install Firefox Portable. Also, check whether the roaming profile is big enough to handle the 35mb required by Firefox.

Blog 'comments' provide Spam Act loophole for Oz spammers

Have you received one of these comments on your blog yet?

"There are many Australians that use wireless broadband as an additional home broadband service, allowing them the convenience of being connected to both the home and office while out and about or when traveling. -- http://www.let.com.au"

Now check out the search engine results here. As you can see, this is clearly a form of spam.

But not according to the Spam Act 2003. I received this response from the ACMA to my query from last week:

The Spam Act 2003 covers unsolicited commercial electronic messages. This includes emails, SMS, MMS and iMS services.

Under the Spam Act, the distinguishing feature is that a commercial electronic message needs to be sent via an Internet carriage service or any other listed carriage service to an address connected with an account of some sort.

In the case of the posting commercial messages on blogs, the blog itself and not an account (such as an email address) is used to receive the message.

Therefore, such postings are not within the scope of the Spam Act.

Obviously it is difficult to keep up to date with spammers and their techniques, and in many ways Australia was a pioneer in introducing legislative protection from spammers.

Nonetheless, the spammers seem to have the upper hand in extra-territorial matters. Interestingly, it has been two telecommunications companies who have posted spam comments on my blog.

While domestic communications networks remain tied to territorial jurisdiction, it would seem that a Wilsonian approach to solving the global spam problem is needed. The ITU has shown some leadership in this role although the international institution views 'appropriate legislation and effective enforcement' as the best means of reducing spam.

But businesses can also play a role. Recently, Microsoft received court approval to shut down the Waledac botnet.

And what of Australian businesses? At the moment, blog comments are not counted as spam and it would be difficult for any domestic government to police. But what about updating the Internet industry code of practice? I will attempt to submit something to the IIA about this issue and will report back later.

Step 1: Managing the Web 2.0 Environment

The Assessment Items

Two main assessment items are being addressed in this first project:

    A group blog: This activity requires students to write a number of blog posts, with a set word limit, each requiring references using the APA referencing system. Students are required to comment on a set number of their colleagues’ posts.
    A media sharing assignment: Students are required to identify and share a set number of media articles related to set topics, and then comment on their colleagues’ articles.

The Web 2.0 Challenge

A significant challenge for teaching in the Web 2.0 environment is developing efficiencies which can be up-scaled to large numbers of participants. After using Facebook as an optional channel for online participation in 2007 (with about 200 participants), I found the effort required was not worth the ‘wow’ factor which some students experienced, even though participation improved dramatically.

Working in an online environment with large groups also means waiting for participants to perform simple tasks like registering new accounts (such as Blogger or Facebook) and requesting new passwords to forgotten email accounts. Further, it is surprising the number of 'digital natives' who have not received a 'digital education'. For example, out of a class of 65 students aged 18-22, only two had blogged before. The administrative tasks are therefore a major obstacle.

Purpose-built learning management systems (LMS) provide better administrative controls to monitor and keep track of participants' contributions. However, LMS do not give students experience with common Web 2.0 applications. I am focusing on assessing the learning outcomes, which include contextual and conceptual knowledge, but in a Web 2.0 environment. The approach is designed to develop students' generic skills in online written communication. While the online environment is a secondary focus, it tends to require the most effort.

The Web 2.0 challenge, then, is to minimise the transaction costs yet provide students with a genuine Web 2.0 experience.

The Browser Drama

In the near future, we should have access to a hosted blog-aggregator or buddypress site. In the meantime, I have set up a simple, private Google Blogger blog and invited students to join as contributors via their student email. During the first computer lab session, numerous problems with web browsers emerged, such as outdated versions, a lack of plugins or no flashplayer or java installed. The usual forgotten email passwords occurred, too, but there is little that can be done other than allowing plenty of time and providing concurrent activities for those who are better organised.

Without a blog aggregator, I decided to use just the one group blog to enable me to keep track of all students and control access to outsiders. But the media sharing activity proved to be a difficult. The different browser characteristics also prevented some students from posting comments during the practice run. I had originally intended to use digg.com for the media sharing, but without an aggregator the setup time seemed daunting.

After dicussions with UC Hothouse colleagues today and some trials this evening, I have decided on the following solution:

• Firefox Portable enables the browser environment to be controlled. I have set up the relevant add-ons, and the blog and other instructions have been set as the home pages. Because Firefox is self contained, I will set up a html intro page with instructions for using the browser with the blog. The entire browser is 35mb so I can set this up on the LMS page for students to download to their flashdrives. I have also located a number of old marketing flash-drives that I can provide for students who need them. This has solved the browser problem.
• I tested a number of sharing apps that integrate with Blogger. I found the AddThis function the best as it enabled me to restrict the sharing choices to Blogger only. This means that students can simply search the Net for relevant media articles, and then use the AddThis button in the browser to share the article via the blog.

This is where I am up to today. Tomorrow I will be testing this approach during the computer lab workshop. The next steps are to solve the browser consistency dilemma and then the identity drama, but more on that later.

What does it mean to be a Lecturer 2.0?

As society moves from the bad old days of the “closed, formal, and protected” educational institution to the “open, inclusive, and shared” educational revolution, there are numerous challenges which will only be addressed by those brave enough to enter uncharted territory.

Lecturers in Australia face a very different environment to their US counterparts, many of whom have been Lecturer 2.0s for some time. Significantly, issues of copyright, duty of care for students, availability and access to higher bandwidth, and a culture which is particularly awkward with higher technologies in traditional institutions, Australian lecturers have many issues to work through.

So I will attempt to be frank and open about my experiences in an effort to become a Lecturer 2.0. While this blog may be predominantly cathartic, I hope that it provides some value for others who attempt to navigate through the big picture and the small picture in an institutional environment which is yet to provide a network of lighthouses.

It's Fraud Week. So get active and report scammers and spammers!

The Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce launched the 2010: Online Offensive—Fighting Fraud Online! yesterday and have provided some great tools to keep an eye on online fraud.

The SCAMwatch Radar provides warnings and alerts on the latest scams. Telstra have also released information on Fraud Week, which runs from 1-7 March.

According to the ACMA (cited by Telstra):

[M]ore than one-third of Australians [encounter] a scam in a 12 month period

Online scams have become a fact of online life. Indeed, spam has been increasing on almost all social media sites. During Fraud Week, I have decided to install the ACMA's SpamMATTERS software and have reported a number of constant spammers who annoy me in a variety of ways.

One area which doesn't appear to be captured by the Spam Act 2003 is the annoying trend where spammers make fake blog comments. These are becoming increasingly difficult to identify and are bulk-posted on topic-specific blogs.

Most recently, I received a comment which read:

There are many Australians that use wireless broadband as an additional home broadband service, allowing them the convenience of being connected to both the home and office while out and about or when traveling. -- http://www.let.com.au

If you do a quick Google search of the above text, you will find that the same post has been made on numerous blogs which are related to telecommunications.

This is the first such blog comment spam I have received which links back to an Australian company (I do not know if the company is aware of the comment spam), but I have reported it to the ACMA using their complaints and enquiries form.

I will report back on any response on this matter, as I understand that the Spam Act 2003 does not cover blog comments directly. But in the meantime, Fraud Week is an appropriate time to be deliberately active in reporting scammers and spammers.

The Draft National Curriculum: A Model for Policy Feedback Online?

This morning, the draft K-10 National Curriculum opened for public feedback, comments, and discussion. This represents a significant improvement in large-scale online policy participation on an issue of wide appeal. And rightly so, as there are few families who will not be affected in some way by the standardisation of the K-10 curriculum.

Usually, I am not a fan of standardisation. But an issue which does need to be sorted out is the differences between states. And not just in the curriculum.

As a ten year old, I experienced the joy of moving to Queensland from NSW. I left NSW in Grade 5, and landed in Queensland in Grade 5. One sister left Grade 3 and landed in Grade 4, whereas another sister went from not being at school to being forced into school halfway through the first year. Different ideas about grades and commencement ages and so on played havoc during the foundational period of our education.

The curriculum was very different in a number of ways, too. The only real similarity was that we sang 'God Save the Queen' followed by 'Advance Australia Fair' with both the British and Australian flags unfurled every Monday morning. Our idea of the world was pretty much wrapped up in that weekly indoctrination process.

With the draft national curriculum up for feedback, I was quite concerned about how history will be taught. History is an important subject, but I was really worried that a particular view of history would be included to reinforce a nationalist idea of Australian identity.

By using the intuitive search functions, I was able to discover that my fears were unfounded. Although there are certain aspects of Australian history covered, this has not swamped other aspects of history. There is plenty of scope to broaden aspects of the history curriculum, but it does not resemble the Howardian view of Australian brain-washing that I envisaged.

Although there seems to be an ambiguous mix of copyright and Creative Commons 2.5, it is pleasing to see the use of the Creative Commons licensing in the online consultation portal.

The website is quite good, too. One feature of the National Curriculum website I like is that it requires you to provide your personal details and to login to view the content. I understand that feedback can be provided anonymously, but at least there is some control over how people participate.

Others might suggest that this is a bad thing. But I am fast being converted to the idea that if anyone is going to participate in public life, then their identity should be clear. Indeed, the anonymity of the Net is not as self-assured as it once was, as an 'anonymous' Perth reputation-slammer just found out.

Conversely, recent attempts to restrict political comment in South Australia were quickly terminated by a backlash of public opinion. But is political blogging the same as policy participation? I think not.

I argue that political blogging is more about the debates that occur before and after an item finds its way onto the policy agenda. But once an item is on the agenda, and indeed is about to be implemented, the rules need to change. Political bloggers and anonymous commentators can influence policy implementation and voters' decisions, but it makes little sense how anonymity is helpful when engaging in participation that is supposed to be meaningful.

Why? Well, it is one thing to live our private lives publicly (to paraphrase something I heard on the radio recently about social media), and another to actually participate in public life. Facebook are dealing with this problem right now.

But surely participation implies that others know who they are actually engaging with?

It might be appropriate for anonymity during the early stages of the policy cycle where a solution is being sought to a policy problem, but once an item is firmly being addressed by a particular policy, it makes little sense why anonymity should be required to take part in public debate.

Voting, surveys and opinion polls are obviously a different matter. And of course, journalism and 'the fourth estate' as means of keeping governments in check should not be confused with direct policy participation.

Clearly, there is a time and place for anonymity in the policy process. And there is certainly some way to go in enabling greater participation in deciding which policy problems find their way onto the policy agenda.

In short, the draft National Curriculum consultation provides a useful working model on how governments should enable public input on important policy issues. For me, the openness has allayed my fears of government-mandated history infiltrating primary and secondary education.

The opportunity to provide comments and feedback on the draft National Curriculum ends on 23 May 2010.