NBN cheaper, but so is the politicking

Today's release of the National Broadband Network (NBN) report suggests that the NBN will cost taxpayers $5 billion less than the initial proposal and will be affordable for consumers with or without Telstra’s participation. This is good news for Australia. But the way Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is handling one of the most important events in 21st century nation-building is an absolute disgrace.

The long awaited report by KPMG and McKinsey was released at 1:30pm today after a budget-style lock-up of selected journalists. And this is where the problem with Conroy begins.

The NBN has the potential to put the "public" back into public policy-making. But with the current minister at the helm, all we seem to be getting is a one-size-fits-all solution dictated by policy-making elites.

Australia has one of the most modern democratic political systems in the world, yet citizen participation in policy processes is effectively blocked by elitist attitudes. Indeed, public consultation usually results in little more than a placebo to calm the masses rather than a deliberate attempt to understand what issues are actually in the "public interest".

The bill for neglecting Australia's communications infrastructure has finally arrived and while it is significantly cheaper, the sneaky manner in which publicly-funded reports are delivered by government is nothing short of tyranny.

To make matters worse, the government is delivering mixed messages. In response to the Government 2.0 Taskforce report recently, the government is suggesting that the use of new communications technologies (which will be enabled by the NBN) will “shift public sector culture and practice to make government information more accessible and usable [and] make government more consultative, participatory and transparent”.

It would seem that somebody forgot to tell Stephen Conroy.

The minister is doing everything possible to sabotage public involvement in the NBN's implementation. Today's cloak and dagger style meeting of Canberra's press elite is just an extension of what we have come to expect from a minister who wants to implement an Internet filter to censor what Australians can access on the Net before the NBN is even available.

But none of this is necessary. Any number of people involved in delivering services such as health and education know just how important access to the NBN will be in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. But even the problems in these two areas are not being addressed by innovative practice or new ideas - giving more and more responsibility to the federal government is all the elites have been able to come up with so far. Maybe it is time someone else had a go.

Those educating young Australians know just how desperately Australia needs the NBN. In comparison to their counterparts in the UK, Canada and the US, Australian students are not only behind in accessing affordable and adequate communications services, but their involvement in creating, disseminating and accessing public goods such as open education and other information resources is about a decade behind. So much for the education revolution and preparing for the knowledge economy.

Further, education now ranks in the top 5 Australian export industries. In a country where the standard of living rests on major exports of unsustainable resources such as coal, the education industry provides the biggest opportunity for sustainable future prosperity. But without the NBN, our chances of continuing to grow our exports in this industry are effectively hamstrung.

While today’s government-funded report is nothing more than an expert opinion to back up the government's NBN proposal, the price tag and the expected increase in access to the infrastructure will provide welcome relief for the government. And few would doubt the report has been held back for so long for any reason other than political opportunism.

With Opposition Leader Tony Abbott speculating recently that the Coalition could deliver the NBN faster and cheaper, Conroy will be able to take a breath while the details of the 500 page report are being absorbed.

But don't be fooled into thinking that things will be better under a Coalition government. After all, Conroy says the Coalition were responsible for keeping Australia's communications infrastructure in the dark ages.

And this is one area where Conroy is actually right. Abbott and the Coalition will no doubt cut spending on the NBN or scrap the project altogether, and this would be tantamount to deliberately making Australia part of the developing world.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is well aware of the consequences of failure with the NBN, stating that he doesn’t “intend to be Prime Minister of Australia which consigns our 21st Century to a 20th Century technology”.

But none of this bodes well for the whole point of having the NBN – to enable citizens to have greater access to information and communication services.

Today’s NBN report “lock-up” harks back to convict times. In the information age, the way policy is being made is simply not good enough.

Australia needs the NBN, but it also needs a major attitude change from senior ministers such as Conroy. Public money belongs to the public and hiding information for political sensationalism is just plain wrong.

Don’t expect the public consultation that is planned to be conducted as part of the NBN rollout to be anything more than a farce. Consumers might be “the big winners”, but citizens are getting more of the same. So much for 21st century nation-building.

For further info, see  Delimiter's coverage here.

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

Electioneering via Social Networks: Preaching to the Converted?

With an election looming, some of the old favourites like "let's kick a dole-bludger" among other idiotic policies are being tossed around in the popular media. Targeting Tony Abbott in particular, it appears that the ACTU will be using Facebook and Twitter to 'hammer out a warning' about a re-painted Workchoices industrial relations environment.

Everybody knows that such a policy is not a winner - just ask John Winston Howard and Stanley Melbourne Bruce. But it makes me wonder how much difference the use of social media will make this election?

The inherent beauty of social networks is that you don't have to engage with or read stuff you don't like. If you have a friend or followee who annoys you, you simply unfriend or unfollow them and move on.  But how many people will be happy about having their social networks infiltrated by those annoying politicians during the election campaign?

The reality is that most of us will either only read or engage with those we are already going to vote for, or alternatively we will keep a safe distance away from the more evangelistic politicians. 

I am not a betting man, but if I were my money would be on social networks being nothing more than a sideshow for the traditional media, or at the every most a case of simply preaching to the choir.

UC 2.0: The Hothouse Rocks!

Today I met with the UC Hothouse crew to report on my progress for the Winter Term. I arrived 1/2 hour early to finally use the room set aside for us. After teaching from 8:30am to 3:30pm without a break, I spent the time listening to Scheherazade on my old iPod Shuffle while responding to student emails on my new Netbook. I was surprised to learn how quickly time has passed this semester with just over a week left to go for the semester, and now only two weeks for us to use the Hothouse room.

The trial with the University of Canberra College using my Web 2.0 techniques is proving to be a real winner with students with English as a second language (ESL). On sabbatical last year in Jordan, I really got to know what it was like to be a foreign ‘student’ and Google Translator and other tools became firm friends. On returning to the UC College fold, I decided to change my attitude toward ESL students and now students are providing me with links to the tools they are using - typically tools peculiar to particular languages.

Not everyone will agree with the approaches to teaching I am using (see the video in the coming weeks!). But the simple fact is that using traditional teaching methods, my ESL students sat stupefied as my head talked at them in the classroom. At the end of a class, nobody could correctly answer a single question asked of them. Now, it is rare that I get vacant faces when I ask questions - indeed the converse is true.

What is obvious is that the days of the talking head at the front of the tutorial class are limited - and for me the computer lab is the place where learning is ramped up to warp factor.

Next week, Leonard Low of the Hothouse crew will be producing a video record of my approach to teaching ESL students. I still need to collect detailed feedback from students but the informal feedback I have been receiving from numerous students and peers has been mind-blowing. My gut feeling is that the system I was using in Jordan works as a teaching method with a class of about 90 students. Nonetheless, the method is resource intensive, requiring computer labs for every face-to-face contact period except the 2 hour lecture.

My biggest fear is how I will be able to replicate the results I have achieved in the computer lab in a fully online unit. To be honest it is stressing me no end as the numbers for the new Winter Term are approaching 80 students and rising. What makes the difference is knowing that the Hothouse crew are behind us the whole way. After today’s meeting, I am noticeably less stressed. Whether that is the result of the meeting or that 1/2 hour of chilling out this afternoon I am not sure, but either way it is attributable to the Hothouse!