Internet Opens Doors to the Arts September 2nd, 2010
Portia Krebs

A National Endowment of the Arts report called “Audience 2.0” shows that many Americans – particularly older and lower-income individuals – use the Internet to participate in the arts, watching music, dance, and theater performances online. The study, which is interactive, features an introductory video message from NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman in which he stresses that technology is enhancing the arts and creating new audiences – rather than disconnecting them from these experiences.

Outlined below are key findings illustrating how Americans are engaging in the arts through electronic media, including the Internet, computers and handheld devices:

• 53%, or 118 million U.S. adults participated in the arts via digital and electronic media.
• For many older Americans, low-income individuals, and racial/ethnic minority groups, electronic media is the only forum through which they participate in benchmark arts events.
• The 15.4 percent of U.S. adults who use media only to engage with the arts are equally likely to be urban or rural.
• 21% of U.S. adults said they utilized the Internet to view music, dance, or theater performances in the last 12 months.
• 24%, or 55 million U.S. adults, gathered information about the arts online.
• Arts participation through media does not appear to replace “live” participation or personal arts performance or creation.

From visual art to music and more, the NEA study makes clear that the Internet is expanding access to cultural events – regardless of geography, race, or socio-economic factors.

USTelecom Welcomes Further Study of Open Internet Proceeding September 1st, 2010
USTelecom Media

Background:  Today the Federal Communications Commission issued a public notice seeking comment on two complex issues involved in the open Internet proceeding. The first seeks input on treatment of specialized broadband Internet services, and the second asks whether open Internet rules should apply to wireless broadband services.

The following statement is from USTelecom President & CEO Walter B. McCormick Jr.:

We welcome Chairman Genachowski’s request for further comment as being pragmatic and wholly consistent with his commitment to employ a data-driven approach to regulation.  Broadband continues to be a bright spot in the economy.  It has been a source of consistent investment and job creation throughout the downturn. Since there are no imminent threats to the open and robust Internet that consumers enjoy today, it is prudent for the Chairman to make sure that the Commission proceeds in a way that is fully-informed, measured, and avoids doing any harm to this dynamic sector.  We look forward to participating in the process, and to continuing to work with both the FCC and Congress on a policy consensus that will safeguard consumers’ Internet freedoms, while promoting continued innovation, investment and job growth.

Twitter Influence September 1st, 2010
Portia Krebs

Social media sometimes seems like a giant popularity contest.  How many friends have you collected on Facebook?  Do you have legions of followers on Twitter?  A recent study from HP says that when it comes to Twitter, quality is more important than quantity.  Better to have a few active Twitter users that help propagate your message than many who just read.

The research shows that the majority of people who use Twitter are passive, in that they rarely retweet messages.  Therefore, to build “IP influence” a Twitter user must motivate their most passive followers to retweet their message.  In other words, tweets that travel farther carry more influence than a single tweet sent to a finite number of followers.

But how do you capitalize on social influence?  The website empireavenue.com is taking this notion to a whole new level.  The site is the first fantasy stock market that measures, and allows you trade on, your social influence.  An individual’s value is measured by how many Facebook friends they have, their Twitter activity, and other social merits, which make up their stock price.  It may sound cold, but you can even buy and sell your friends.

What’s your return on investment for engaging in this social stock market?  Your blog or Facebook page will likely attract more visitors, and you can earn virtual currency to establish more social connections.  And, as your “influence score” and currency points rise, your shareholders will likely recommend you to others.

Back To School: Broadband Education August 31st, 2010
Portia Krebs

The virtualization of education is a hot topic today, and broadband is fundamental to rolling out expanded learning opportunities.  The U.S. spends $8 to $15 billion dollars on textbooks each year.  The cost of attending a four-year public college today exceeds $70,000 – even at the discounted, in-state tuition rate.  And for those living in rural areas where the range of courses may be limited, online classrooms hold a key to enriching education.

Broadband holds massive potential for the field of education, and policy makers and private citizens alike are working to maximize its power.  Recently, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the creation of the Online Learning Registry, which will connect Americans with thousands of documents, photos, and other data housed at the Smithsonian.  The Registry will serve as a tremendous resource for every American student and teacher, and will be invaluable to school districts located in rural areas.

Many are also calling for digital textbooks to cut costs and enable easy updates to course material.  For example, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is advocating a switch to digital books, which he says will save the state $350 million annually.  Amazon has launched a Kindle for textbooks, partnering with several universities and publishers.  The website Curriki aims to become an online hub for free textbooks and course material.  And the company Inkling is introducing a new application for the iPad that enables textbook publishers to include interactive graphics and pop quizzes.

Virtual schools and classrooms are on the rise too.  A whopping 75% of U.S. K-12 school districts have at least one student enrolled in online courses.  More school districts are also taking advantage of broadband by creating “virtual schools” enabling students to attend from home, using a web cam and microphones.  Whether today’s student is inside the classroom or out, wherever there’s a broadband connection, abundant interactive, multi-media learning experiences are just a click away.

Improve Data Collection on Special Access Market August 27th, 2010
USTelecom Media

A new government report advises the Federal Communications Commission to improve the data it collects on the special access services market so it can measure the state of competition in the wireless industry. More detailed data and analysis of prices, special access rates and capital expenditures would help the commission oversee the market, the Government Accountability Office said. We support that recommendation.

Special access services are high capacity dedicated transmission links used to distribute voice and data traffic. The services are sold by wireline, cable and fixed wireless companies. Multiple providers compete in this market. Surveys show there are as many as 65 national and regional providers of competitive special access services. These providers include traditional CLECs, cable companies, and wireless broadband providers.

Prices for wireless services have continued to fall even as services are improving, GAO observed. The study also noted a trend toward consolidation in the industry. But a “high concentration of firms in an industry does not necessarily mean that the interest of consumers are poorly served,” the report said.

GAO’s conclusions that wireless prices are falling supports the evidence we have provided to the commission demonstrating that special access prices have also declined since the FCC implemented pricing flexibility. As GAO points out, many wireless companies either provide their own alternatives to special access or rely upon competitive alternatives from cable, micro-wave and CLEC providers. The GAO report makes it clear that providing these services to wireless companies is a complex market with a broad range of competitors. For that reason we have been supportive of the FCC’s plans to gather detailed data about the extent of all competitive offerings, as GAO recommends.

Storage is the Next Internet “Land-Grab” August 27th, 2010
Tom Soroka

The recent bidding war between HP and Dell for storage leader 3Par is a clear example of where these IT giants see the opportunities of the future. And they are not alone. Cisco, Google, Apple, EMC and other Fortune 500-IT companies are making sizable investments in virtual and/or cloud-based storage technologies in preparation for what looks to become a very lucrative business in the coming years. They are anticipating meeting the growing demand for the storage and archiving of data generated from: Monitoring devices, medical records, RFI transmitters, SmartGrid energy data, legal documents, text, voice, photos and video content that is exploding everywhere. This content will need to be saved and archived for various periods of time, thus requiring massive electronic storage resources.

Storage demand is already growing from all levels of IT, from consumers like us backing up our home computers that hold our photos and songs to the various branches of the government, to the insurance, legal, medical, energy, and scientific communities.  As storage costs come down, people and companies are also backing up their back-ups with redundant storage systems, thus adding to the demand for storage resources. Where will this trend end? Or will it end at all?

A Growing Public Uses Social Media for Emergency Response August 26th, 2010
Portia Krebs

Over the past several years, disaster relief organizations, local law enforcement and fire departments have all started tapping into social media in the face of an emergency.  Now, a report from the American Red Cross highlights how citizens also increasingly rely on social media and the Internet when an emergency strikes.  Here are a few highlights from the report:

• Gathering Information. One in six of us turn to social media to get information about an emergency.  For example, 14% look at Facebook, and 6% use Twitter.  Websites are another prominent resource with 37% tuning into online news, 12% consulting local utility or government websites, and 10% viewing online websites for disaster emergencies.
• Emergency Alerts. Half of the individuals surveyed indicated they would sign up for emails, text alerts, or applications to receive emergency information.
• Social Media Postings. Approximately half of the respondents also said they would mention emergencies from flooding to crime to car crashes via their social media channels.  18% of those surveyed reported posting information or photos related to an emergency or newsworthy event on their social media pages.
• Communicating with Emergency Responders. More than half said they would send a text message to an available response agency if someone they knew needed help.  More than two-thirds agreed that response agencies should consistently monitor and respond to postings on their websites.
• Keeping in Touch with Loved Ones. The majority said they would use Facebook to post information about their safety, and during an emergency nearly half said they would use social media to communicate their well-being.

Interested in learning more?  Click here to view videos from the Emergency Social Data Summit.

Million Dollar Question Makes Waves Online August 25th, 2010
Portia Krebs

A decade ago, the Clay Mathematics Institute chose seven of the greatest unsolved mathematical problems, offering a $1 million reward for the solution of each one.  The solutions to the selected problems elude computers and challenge some of the greatest math minds today.  But now, the rise of broadband is proving to be an invaluable tool for collaboration among scholars – as showcased by this intellectual challenge where equations have real-world practical and economic implications. 

Most recently, a mathematician and electrical engineer at Hewlett-Packard posted a proposed proof to one of the problems known as “P versus NP.” He invited a group of researchers to consider his work, and a flurry of online analysis and dialogue followed.  The discussion, which took place via blogs and wiki, demonstrated the power of the Internet to bring the world’s scholars together virtually to analyze a proposed theory.  This is a giant leap forward from the days when analysis of a proof was carried out through paper science journals and private, direct communications alone.

How does the Internet blow the doors wide open for researchers?  Clay Shirky, the author of “Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age,” says online collaborative tools could give rise to another scientific revolution.  The burgeoning web activity in scientific fields today certainly seems to indicate the potential for this kind of revolution.  The Polymath Project, for example, utilizes a blog and wiki collaboration tool to foster a team approach to mathematics.  Similarly, the website Mathoverflow taps into Internet tools to solve math problems through a combined effort.

The potential for online collaboration is vast, and scholars have barely scratched the surface.  Just imagine what innovation and answers lies ahead.  Who knows, perhaps a future Nobel Prize winner will make his or her great discovery thanks to online collaboration that sparked an inspired idea.

The Rise of Health IT Gets Insurers in the Game August 24th, 2010
Portia Krebs

Transferring American medicine from paper to digital records is a clear priority – with $27 billion in federal stimulus money devoted to health IT adoption and penalties for those who don’t go digital coming in 2015. The national attention and funding devoted to this initiative is keeping medical communities focused on making the switch.

In fact, one recent study from Embarcadero Technologies shows that 85% of health IT professionals are planning on implementing electronic health records by the end of 2011. And, McKinsey & Company reports that the effective use of health IT could save $40 billion annually.

With the projected rise of electronic record adoption, it follows that health insurance companies are racing to provide high-tech patient records. Winning a coveted “preferred designation” from the American Medical Association is one way companies are looking to connect with preferred providers. Others are creating compelling offerings that help subsidize the transfer to electronic medical records.

For example, Humana is partnering with athenahealth, Inc., offering approximately 100 primary care practices a savings of 85% for implementing their product. Expediting health IT in rural areas is also key to ensuring residents in those areas can also benefit from digital recordkeeping. To this end, WellPoint is putting millions of dollars toward helping rural hospitals finance health IT infrastructure.

How exactly can electronic records help patients? In addition to increasing efficiency and reducing medical errors and costs, medical institutions that have already adopted digital records have reported heartening stories. For example, at one institution, the record keeping system flagged a patient who had been told to have a breast exam but had ignored the recommendation. Because the system alerted her physicians to the lack of follow-up, they were able to call and encourage her to have the test. The result? They caught her breast cancer early and were able to proceed with treatment – illustrating the extraordinary health-enhancing benefits of health IT.

A Lack of Understanding August 23rd, 2010
Anne Veigle

Google and Verizon’s open Internet legislative proposal has prompted a flurry of media attention, even earning a spot on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Some members of the tech press and self-proclaimed tech pundits are doing a disservice to their readers and viewers by mischaracterizing the proposal. One wonders if some reporters have even read the seven principles the companies laid out in their joint policy proposal.

For instance, over the weekend, CNN’s Max Kellerman invited Luria Petrucci (AKA Cali Lewis) , a Dallas-based social media and technology blogger, on to appear on a segment to discuss net neutrality.

Petrucci seemed not to have read or understood the Google-Verizon proposal. During the segment, Petrucci was asked by Kellerman why ISPs might be opposed to net neutrality. She replied: “Companies that own the fiber that we use to connect to the Internet want to prioritize traffic and take money from people who can afford it.”

If Petrucci had read the Google-Verizon proposal, she would have found it recommended that blocking or degrading of content be prohibited, non-discrimination of content be enforced and prioritization of Internet connections be banned.

In reality, the proposal embraces much of what net-neutrality activists have demanded.  In fact, the non-discrimination provisions and bans against prioritization in the proposal are stronger than the principles already in place at the FCC that the ISP community has already agreed to follow.

The debate over regulating the Internet is challenging enough that we should all take the time to be sure we fully understand all the proposals that are out there.