Tag: Citizen Journalism

Welcome to the Videodrome. Why High speed broadband is the wrong priority.

Two sources tell us the same thing – we need 100mbs internet links and we need them now. The Broadband Stakeholder Group tells us that future internet use in the UK will flounder without an expensive infrastructure upgrade

There was little evidence that the UK’s existing telecoms infrastructure would be able to bring such high speeds to much of the population

Whilst Om Malik warns the same is true of the US

Every day we twiddle our thumbs, we lose some of the edge when it comes to developing clever ways to use the bandwidth.

For me Om has the problem wrong. The first thing to solve is universal access. Ensuring everyone has their 2 or 4mbps is also going to unleash innovation. Compare it with the problem of clean water. Water to every home is the first priority, but not every home needs an industrial sized pipe. Those that do can and will find ways to get the supply they need.

And vast speeds dont give us more time. Being able to download an entire library does not mean I’ll read it. Downloading a thousand podcasts doesn’t mean I listen to them. If we want the internet to drive innovation and support some social benefit then universal access comes first, better upload speeds to make it easier for people to participate and express themselves next, and only then a more widely available ultra high speed network.

After all the latter is really designed to support the videodrome – as much about the online TV and advertising as it is about innovation which improves lives.

Others: Skuds Eric
Hat Tip Drew B Stewart Jones

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BBC – give us the tools and the space.

Richard Wilson at Involve has commented on the BBC’s tentative steps towards building public participation. “The BBC is stuck in 20th Century top-down parental thinking”, he says, continuing:

if the BBC really wants to support civil renewal it needs to give people the tools to make their own content without the aid of a studio or 10K camera. Yes support people understand what it takes to make a beautiful and inspiring documentary, but not in a way in which we are reliant on their filming or editing skills, but so we can do it ourselves, and eventually on our own.

My experience of BBC conversations about “user generated content” is that it is almost always perceived as something which will help create material for mainstream programming. The principal that the BBC has a role to advance democratic conversation by offering the freedom for people to have that conversation on their own terms seems to be rarely considered.Meanwhile Kevin Harris at the Neighbourhoods blog sets out some principals for wider involvement: Read more

The power inquiry uses Youtube

Pam Giddy at the power inquiry has been in touch to tell us about a handful of films made to challeneg the process of reforming the Lords. You can find them through these links to www.makeitanissue.org.uk.

– Alex Hardy and Phil Hall’s ‘The Road to House of Lords Reform’
– Mark Wrainwright’s ‘The Trouble with Lords’
– Duncan Tilly’s ‘House of Lords Fudge’.

Pam also sets out arguments for the adoption o fhte hayden review on party finances:

Party funding, as it exists today, gives parties less incentive to cultivate membership because they can rely on large donations, lends itself to the perception that party members have less influence than super rich donors and focuses spending at the national, rather than the local, level…..If the main parties continue to reject caps on individual donations and total spending at elections, they will knowingly allow some of the most damaging sources of disengagement to continue unchecked.

See also

Iain Dale

Stumbling and Mumbling

Political Betting

Birmingham’s Digital Citizens – a new podcast on the Grassroots Channel

bismarckandmillie fromnewtownnickboothThis programme was recorded by the people of Birmingham to tell us what they love about their neighbourhoods. We’d been offered some space in the marquee on Victoria Square as part of the first birthday of Digital Birmingham.

We just wanted to accomplish a couple of things: introduce more people to the Grassroots Channel and give as many as possible the opportunity to record and then edit their own comments for this programme. It was a chance for people to get their hands on some simple digital technology. Millie and her son Bismarck (in the picture) had a go and everyone found it pretty easy. Most seemed to really enjoy the power of digital editing.

And what were they talking about? It was Valentines’ day so we asked them to tell us what they love about their neighbourhood: