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http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa - Details Below
Private and Public Roles - Comments and Responses #1
----------------------------------------------------
[Actually a mix of interesting posts on more than Theme 4.]
The following messages are included in this digest:
1. Stafford "Doc" Williamson - Perceived Values and Access
2. Jeffrey J. Richter - Pricing Policies
3. Neil Morris - Access for those with Learning Difficulties
4. Bob Maslyn - PPR Additional Questions
5. Arun Kumar Tripathi - Internet and Uses in Education
6. Margit Watts - A Why Story
7. Andrew Wen - Comment on Dyson Expert Systems Essay
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
[1]
From: "Stafford \"Doc\" Williamson" <docw@primenet.com>
Subject: RE: EMFA: T4E1 - Reality and Opportunity -
Johnson
Julia Johnson and EMFA forum participants,
I think that you (Julia) have hit one of the central reasons for
lack of universality of email and internet access at this time, a
complacent public. If the utility, or perceived value of the
internet in general and email in particular was sufficient,
people would find a way to access it.
My prime example of this is television. Poverty does not
prevent people living in cardboard shacks on the mountainsides
surrounding Rio de Janeiro from having a television set in their
homes. It may be old, small, black and white. The power is
likely (illegally) appropriated from some distant power pole that
passes some distance away and brought in via household type
extension cords strung together, but they do have television
reception.
Another key element, however is that the over-the-air broadcasts
in Brazil are advertiser supported. By comparison, internet
access, with some limited exceptions like libraries (inconvenient
distances and hours) and free.net (or similar, but not
universally available through local dialup).
When it comes to email, several email-only advertiser supported
services are available, and are growing all the time. Generally,
it is very possible that we will soon see entirely advertiser
supported internet (web) access.
When the public begins to perceive the benefits of access to be
sufficiently motivating, the "universality" aspect will follow as
a result of the natural ingenuity of the public. When
corporations wishing to reach that public realize that a
corporate presence at the point of access is worth more than any
other form of advertising, we will likely see more and more
"free" access through commercial support. But recognize too that
"literacy" is not much of a barrier to overall net access or even
email access. The utility value of a net connection is dominated
now by text because text is all the data density that the
physical means of access can support. When wireless and wired
transmission capabilities are spread to a much wider spectrum of
competitors, and the bandwidth increases to the point where High
Definition Television is a common content type, and not a strain
on the delivery system, we will certainly see the public
clamouring for "universal access", and "email" will be as likely
to be video mail as a text document lovingly labored over at a
keyboard.
My company does (mostly) postage stamp sized video delivery now,
but we have discussions every week about how to get to those
HDTV-on-the-net days, and I think they are coming faster than
most people realize. I certainly hope so. I am working on it.
-- Stafford "Doc" Williamson
President
WinfoTech Corp.
creators of MAQUE -- streaming video service for the internet
http://maque.net docw@maque.net docw@winfotech.com
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
[2]
Full Name: Jeffrey J. Richter
E-Mail: richtj@psc.state.wi.us
Policies on Pricing and Universal Service
for Internet Traffic on the Public Switched
Network; NRRI 98-11
http://www.nrri.ohio-state.edu
<new publications><98-11>
Exciting services that benefit the U.S. economy and individual
citizens are arriving on the Internet. The growth and promise of
this communications platform presents state and federal
regulators with new, difficult policy concerns because customers
use the public switched network (PSN) to reach the Internet.
Among the regulatory concerns are uneven availability of
advanced telecommunications services throughout the United
States.
This paper is derived from a report by members of the National
Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) Communications
Committee and Communications Staff Subcommittee to address
public policy issues arising from the advent of the Internet.
The Committees created the Internet Working Group in 1997 with
the initial task of addressing some of the most salient policy
issues that affect the states. The Working Group has reached
conclusions on a number of technical, pricing, and universal
service issues. One important concern is that the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 may not adequately support
deployment of advanced telecommunications services throughout
the United States.
In Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, "Advanced
Telecommunications Incentives," Congress allows three years
(until February 1999) to see whether or not the competitive
market can provide the facilities needed to bring advanced
telecommunications service to all Americans in a timely and
reasonable fashion. If the FCC finds that the market mechanisms
have failed, it is authorized to remove barriers to investment
and promote competition. No funding remedies are authorized.
Section 254(h), on the other hand, authorizes subsidies for
advanced telecommunications services for schools, libraries, and
rural health care institutions. Other ratepayers may not
directly benefit in their homes and businesses from this
subsidy. Rural and low-income markets often experience a lag in
infrastructure investment that regulators in some states may
find intolerably long in the case of Internet services.
Regulators must be careful not to over-plan the deployment
of advanced services or fund infrastructure investments that
would occur anyway.
Nonetheless, universal service planning should address the means
to support investments necessary for designated advanced
telecommunications services which customer demand will not
currently support. This may mean subsidizing, in some areas,
infrastructure necessary to provide advanced services or to
facilitate Internet access.
Internet service providers benefit from the subsidies for
advanced services to the institutions designated in the Act when
the subsidies make it possible for the institutions to use ISP
services. In addition, the definitions of data, voice, and video
telecommunications applications are blurring.
As beneficiaries of subsidies to institutions accessing the
Internet, and due to their public offering characteristics, it
can be argued that ISPs should share in the cost of subsidizing
services that are deployed to access the ISPs' services.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
[3]
From: Neil Morris <Neil@pop3.poptel.org.uk>
Subject: Universal Access - people with learning
difficulties
Universal Access to several colleagues of mine means the Internet
becoming accessible to them and other people with learning
difficulties (people with developmental disabilities)
We are working with a group of people with learning difficulties
from the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom to make this a
reality.
We are using e-mail, chat programmes, voice and video.
Further details of the work can be found on the Northamptonshire
People First Web site
http://www.peoplefirst.org.uk
follow the links to the mailing lists and online meeting and
conferences.
Its having an exciting affect as it is bringing together leaders
of the self advocacy movement from around the world on a daily
basis. This compares with once every 4 or 5 years if people were
lucky and could get to an international conference.
In April there was an Online Conference running in parallel to
the 4th International People First Conference held in Anchorage.
The aim of the work is not just about leaders but about all
people with learning difficulties having access and being part of
the online community. Its about ensuring people are not left
behind and further disabled by society.
What is happening is that a community of interest is being formed
amongst a group of people who traditionally are left behind in
getting access to technology.
The work is also having spin off benefits as if things are
accessible to people with learning difficulties they become
accessible to all members of society.
These developments are being done with a zero budget. The
International Committee is very keen to hear from any
organisation or funder who may be interested in
sponsoring/funding the development of the work.
If anyone would like further details of the work please e-mail
northants@peoplefirst.org.uk or myself neil@pop3.poptel.org.uk
cheers
Neil
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
[4]
Date sent: Wed, 13 May 1998 23:00:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: UAC Comments
Full Name: Bob Maslyn
E-Mail: rmaslyn@clark.net
Comments: Regarding Public and Private Roles, questions I would
add are:
(1) Do we need a new form of digital age organization that is
both public and private -- a Public Business -- to leverage a
public, civic mission with business resources, beyond the
nonprofit, government, and business incorporation choices we have
today?
(2) Suppose a community "entity" succeeds in providing email,
Internet access and even coordinates the community online
informed civic conversation. Does such an entity displace the
role of local government or does it extend the role of an
existing community "institution", or, perhaps, a wholly new
community "institution" especially needed for digital
communication? Should only one such community "entity" exist per
community by law or regulation, akin to a utility or school
district...or not?
(3) If national government succeeds in closing the gap between
citizen and government via email and other digital tools
universally accessible or available and simultaneously reinvents
itself to be leaner, flatter and more agile, then, at least for
the US, might that fundamentally alter the need for and
relationship with geographic-bound entities called US States and
local governments?
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
[5]
[Host Note: Check out Global Learn Day II and a real audio
broadcast on May 14: http://www.bfranklin.edu/learnd.html ]
TOPIC:The Internet and its Uses in Education
Name:Arun Kumar Tripathi
Title/Organization: Research Scholar cum Internet Educator,
University of Dortmund E-mail Address:
<tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de> Location/Country:
Dortmund, Germany Snail mail: ARUN KUMAR TRIPATHI,c/o
Braun,Luetgenholthauser Strasse 99
44225,Dortmund,Germany
The Internet and its Uses in Education
by
Arun Kumar Tripathi
*Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is
best*
---- Bod Tolbert -------------
The World Wide Web and the Internet offer new horizons to reach
modern global audience. The Internet is the largest province for
researchers and academics in laboratories, offices, classrooms,
and homes. Now, the Internet is everywhere, it is growing rapidly
worldwide. The purpose of this publication is to offer an
overview of the Internet and its uses educational implications.
It also provides teachers and students a guide for hands-on
experiments with the Internet. Finally, this paper will show how
some educators around the world have used the Internet in their
classroom to enhance teaching and learning.
[ Sections Clipped - Request full paper from Arun Kumar
Tripathi - tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de ]
Teachers and students gain access to the world's largest
archives, the NASA Space Center, see
http://www.gsh.org/wce/arunnasa.htm, the Dow-Jones Report,
satellite weather stations, and thousands of other educational
and research sources.
The Internet can provide opportunities for inquiry-based
learning. Students and teachers can network, study, and
collaborate with others around the world. Teaching strategies can
be shared through communication with other educators and may be
integrated across the curriculum. see
http://www.gsh.org/wce/arunfeb.htm
[ clip ]
The Internet and the World Wide Web are (or will soon become)
most of the infrastructure a college or school needs, and that
infrastructure is in place worldwide. With the computer becoming
the total technology machine combining text, sound, and images,
there is no need to invest in one-way television systems or other
expensive "monologic" technologies that require the student to
come to a specialized place for instruction. see Global SchoolNet
Foundation at http://www.gsn.org
Students using the Internet and the World Wide Web will:
* Develop the technical skills required to use the Internet for
communication and information gathering.
* Acquire geographic awareness based on understanding the global
nature of
Internet connections and communications.
* Improve their ability to learn and understand new and changing
information
technologies.
* Learn to evaluate the validity of information acquired through
Internet
resources.
* Learn to synthesize data acquired through the Internet into a
meaningful
whole.
* Develop the skills required to rate information for relevence
in meeting a
specified need.
* Understand and know how to use at least one Web Browser.
* Understand differences and similarities among search engines.
* Understand how to use a variety of search engines.
* Develop strategies for finding and evaluating new Internet
growth and use.
Distance Education describes educational activities which
interactively link two or more people at two or more loactions.
Distance Education is a viable, effective and efficient training
medium for a number of reasons.
[ Clip ]
At the same time, EDC's international work grew beyond basic
education to include projects to promote community health,
nutrition, and democratization. For Details, see
http://www.edc.org (Education Develop Center)
What the Web offers the Classroom
[Clip]
The Information Superhighway is transporting teachers and
students beyond the walls of their classrooms by providing access
to people around the world and to vast amounts of informations.
ISTE (http://www.iste.org) has compiled a list of books, about
the telecommunications, the Internet, and the World Wide Web
(WWW) to help all the Internet educators and students navigate
and use the unlimited resources of Cyberspace.
The Web as a Resource
The web is also called another Virtual library at your disposal.
Not only does it offers access to many libraries, but it offer
sites developed on topics of special interest...Example of some
resources--
http://www.rbs.org/mata tells about the Mid-Atlantic
Telecommunications Alliance. http://www.nsta.org -National
Science Teachers Association The Science Learning Network-
http://sln.fi.edu/sln/sln.html Pathway to School Improvement--
http://www.ncrel.org/ncrel/
The Web connects students around the Globe
Not every country is present on the web...but many of the
developed and also developing countries are on the web. This
gives the trends to an unprecented educational opportunity for
students....It also affords the opportunity to collaborate on a
project with another classroom over great distances...The
International Telecomputing Consortium has already conducted a
World Class Project in the year 1997, the theme was USING THE
RENEWABLE SOURCE OF ENERGY...The details and archives can be
found on http://www.itc.org/wcl97
With Kind Regards
Arun Kumar Tripathi
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
[6]
From: Margit Watts <watts@hawaii.edu>
Subject: a story...
The "why" of all this hype about access was clarified to me by a
young female student about 6 years ago.
Part of my freshman program offers students opportunities to
connect with community mentors. For the first meeting I would go
along to serve as a comfort zone for both the mentor and the
three students in the group.
One such occasion was a lunch with two male and one female
student, myself, and the president of a local airline. We went
to Ruth Chris' Steak House, a rather upscale place for the
students. During the entire meal the male students discussed
flying, being pilots etc. The female student was quiet.
Eventually the boys asked her if she'd ever been off the island.
She said no. They asked, "oh, have you been on a canoe?" She
answered yes. They asked, "and have you been on a boogie
board?". She nodded yes. "So," they said, "you have been off
the island!"
She grinned at them but remained quiet. The airline president,
however, took this as his cue to offer her the possibility that
he would make certain she took a trip 'somewhere' that school
year.
You wouldn't believe how wonderful I thought I was at that time.
The best educator in the entire universe, I was certain of that.
Look at what I had done! Forging this relationship for her. In
my mind I practically had her in Paris!
Aah, but things are not so simple. We left the restaurant and
the young men went to look at a store, the airline president
stayed behind to chat with a pal, and this young female student
came up tome and tugged on my jacket sleeve, "Dr. Watts, Dr.
Watts!?" I turned and asked her "what?"
She said, "that's the first time I've ever been inside a
restaurant."
That became the driving metaphor for everything I have done
since.
And, as far as I can determine, access, in its many shapes and
forms will is crucial in helping us level the playing field of
experience.
margit misangyi watts, director
rainbow advantage/freshman seminars
university of hawai'i at manoa
2500 campus road room 21
honolulu, hawaii 96822
(808) 956-4040
(808) 956-3731
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
[7]
From: Andrew Wenn <AndrewWenn@vut.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: EMFA: T3E4 - Expert Systems to Online
Community - Dyson =
On Mon 11 May, E-Mail for All wrote:
> - - E-Mail for All - - - EMFA-EVENT - - - Universal Access - -
> http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa - Details Below
>
>
> Theme: Networking Communities - Essay 4
> Author: Esther Dyson
> E-mail: edyson@edventure.com
>
> >From expert systems to online community
>
> So let's think of the Net as community support, not a community
> (or communities) in itself. The Net can support all kinds of
> communities. My communities tend to operate through e-mail. We
> use the Net for our communications, for sending and sharing
> information, for setting up meetings, for catching up on news.
> Other communities operate through the Web, with people posting
> and reacting to one another's comments, or even representing
> themselves as avatars. People can put up their own home pages
> describing themselves, but what makes a community is the
> interactions among people, not their mere presence.
>
I agree that it is the interactions that make the community. I
have spent some time studying the development of an email
community in our libraries and the person-to-person interactions
are as important as the virtual ones. In this case p eople who
have may never have used the internet before have to seek help
from other users as the library has a policy of "you can use the
internet for email, but we cannot help you either get an address
or with any problems you may have."
I guess my point here is that physical as well as virtual
communities matter - what is really happening is that we are
extending the scope of community interaction.
> Beyond that, I can imagine a lot of physical communities using
> the Net in more mundane ways: bulletin boards for teenagers
> offering babysitting services, listings of school events, sites
> for restaurants with constantly changing daily specials, news
> of local sports teams. People in companies can use online
> support to share information about sales prospects,
> competitors' activities and other useful information; they can
> also organize company outings, complain about the state of the
> bathrooms or recommend local coffee shops.
These are more mundane ways as Esther points out but isn't it
strange how complaining about the state of bathrooms or
recommending local coffee shops now has to be done electronically
rather than face-to-face. I find this movement away fr om human
interaction via speech rather interesting. It is as if we no
longer want to take responsibility for our words. We just dash of
an email complaining about something and leave it at that. I have
always found recommendations about c offee shops much more
interesting when coming from the people I know personally.
>
> But that's not an electronic community, you might say. No, it's
> not, but it uses electronic support. Most online communities
> have a certain physical component; the members like to meet one
> another in real life and get to know one another in different
> ways. And more physical communities are beginning to use
> electronic support. Families send one another e-mail.
See above comment.
> In the future, we'll take online community support for granted
> just as we do expert systems. Some communities will be mostly
> offline, some mostly online, and people's physical location
> won't matter as much. But that won't be the key thing about any
> particular community. For that, consider another problem with
> the concept of expert systems: they simply follow the rules
> they are given. Expert systems never say, "Hmm, maybe we should
> consider some new factors". Nor do they ever say, "Perhaps we
> should be asking some new question to make a decision about".
> For that, you need a person willing to make a new decision. And
> in a community, you need leaders. A technical system can
> support a community, but it needs active members to lead it,
> and to make it worth joining.
>
I would also like to hazard a guess that the technical community
will also fall by the wayside in a similar way to a sports club,
friendship group, local action group if it doesn't have active
and interested members. Electronic communitie s are similar to
real world ones except that space and time play different roles.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Wenn Victoria University of Technology, Footscray
Campus
PO Box 14428 MMC, Melbourne, Victoria 8001
Australia
email AndrewWenn@vut.edu.au
www http://westgate.vut.edu.au/~awenn/
phone +61 3 9688 4342 fax +61 3 9688 5024
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