Life on the Broadband Internet
The role of technology and policy in transforming online culture – chronicled by David Ellis
Cellphone etiquette: absence makes the heart grow much fonder
Sep 3rd
I spend a lot of time here in my Starbucks office, a busy location near the centre of the universe (Yorkville). 
I’ve been coming here since the day this location opened, over a decade ago, when there was still a Chapters.
The clientele includes people from the neighboring boutiques, like Gucci, so it’s handy for shopping… along with undergrads from U of T, street people, academics, seniors, tradesmen ripping up the street, not quite a cross-section but getting there.
I’m mesmerized by the cellphone culture. I wish Roland Barthes were still here to tell us why 80% of women under 30 carry their phone in their hand, at all times, thrust out at the world, some in a feisty overhand grip, some in a reveal-all come-on, even as they balance hot drinks and purses the size of duffle bags. Are they saying, I’m here, I’m equipped? Or, I’m cyberlinked to somewhere much cooler?
But for now, what I really want to know is why almost everyone – demographically speaking – finds it acceptable to sit with a colleague or loved one or BFF while their smartphone sits conspicuously on the table between them, just begging to be called or texted. Apparently nothing is sacred any more and whatever you might have to say to close the sale, or console the GF about the BF, will never be as important as the hoped-for message that could arrive at any moment. More >
Now US Republicans want to scrap their “invasive” census
Aug 26th
What is it about right-wing politicians?
Ted Poe explains why the census is bad to a group of beauty queens
Well, I have a theory. Canadian Conservatives like Tony Clement and US Republicans like Ted Poe (from, you guessed it, Texas), are scared silly of statisticians and scientists and would prefer to see them take a hike… because they deal in facts, not opinions or headlines or the party line. That makes these guys and their facts much harder to manipulate – and when it comes to major issues like global warming, a threat to established business interests.
A story ran in The New York Times recently entitled “Census Survey Asks Too Much, G.O.P. Says.” Hard on the heels of Minister Clement’s mighty gaffe over Canada’s Chief Statistician, we learn his US counterparts are demanding their Census Bureau put a stop to this data outrage – an unconstitutional outrage no less. As The Times reported (Aug. 19):
The Republican National Committee is demanding that the Census Bureau stop being so nosy, or at least stop requiring that Americans comply.
The Republican Party isn’t taking on the census itself, the count of the United States population made every 10 years, but the more comprehensive American Community Survey. More >
The CRTC needs to connect with Canadians, not consult with them (part 2)
Aug 22nd
Leaping onto the social network bandwagon
The consultation site came equipped with some basic Web 2.0 tools, i.e. a video with a YouTube imbed and links to several social networking sites (SNS). With over 500 million people now on Facebook, and the use of other social networking sites (SNS) growing, it would seem there’s a compelling case for having SNS links on any big site. There is. But SNS badges aren’t medicine for a site that’s not reaching its audience.
That’s where the CRTC has run into problems. It has done nothing in creating material for the consultation to expand its audience outside those with a professional stake in regulatory affairs. Nor has it understood the need to overcome the inertia of demographics.
Even when the site is trying to help, as in the FAQ, the non-expert reader is unlikely to take comfort. Reading suggestions include two CRTC telecomm notices, one of which (CRTC 2010-43) concerns the larger consultation on the obligation to serve. It begins thusly:
In this notice, the Commission initiates a proceeding to review issues associated with access to basic telecommunications services, including the obligation to serve, the basic service objective, and local service subsidy. This proceeding will also re-examine the local competition and wireless number portability frameworks in the territories of the small incumbent local exchange carriers. In addition, the Commission will re-examine the appropriateness of the existing forbearance framework for mobile wireless data services.
Why would anyone put ILECs and the existing forbearance framework for mobile wireless data services anywhere near a site devoted to a vox pop consultation? If the Commission is not making these arcane but important issues accessible to the public, it’s not only doing a disservice to taxpayers; it’s also failing to look after its own relevance as a Canadian institution. More >
The CRTC needs to connect with Canadians, not consult with them (part 1)
Aug 21st
Anatomy of a public consultation
Friday (August 20) marked the last official day of the CRTC’s 4-week online consultation on the “obligation to serve” (link may die any time). In my previous post I looked briefly at the Pew Internet’s current Home Broadband survey, in particular, the things people say about why they’re not on broadband.
I saw a hook to the CRTC consultation, since the consultation is focussed heavily on a similar group in Canada: those who don’t have broadband because they live in rural and remote parts of the country. That’s where the similarities end.
The Pew survey, like all Pew’s work, is rigorous and empirical, yielding results that can form part of a policy-oriented discussion (even if you don’t agree with all their conclusions). It is a) a tracking survey, i.e. done on a regular basis to identify trends over time; b) based on a large sample (N=2,252), which allows for over-sampling of minorities, regional populations, etc; and c) done by random, which means the results are representative of the US adult population within known margins of error.
The CRTC consultation, on the other hand, was initiated “to hear Canadians’ thoughts about their access to basic telephone and Internet services” (About this consultation). That’s the stated goal. The truth is the consultation couldn’t make up its mind what it was. It turned out like a shaky combination of crowdsourcing (to unearth novel policy ideas); surveying (to see what Canadians think); and marketing (to inform visitors what the CRTC thinks).
PARTIAL SCREENSHOT OF CONSULTATION HOME PAGE
Pew Internet’s “Home Broadband” on non-adopters
Aug 13th
This week, the Pew Internet Project released its indispensable annual survey, Home Broadband, 2010 edition. Both pdf and online versions are available here. The big headline for me is in the latest data about a) the attitude of non-Internet users to broadband as a policy priority, and b) the reasons non-adopters don’t adopt.
Surprise! High-speed access is a low priority for non-onliners!
This chart from the report (p.19) shows that, among non-users of the Internet, an astonishing two-thirds (66%) believe that expanding “affordable high-speed Internet access” is either not too important as a priority or should not be a priority at all, while another 15% of this group are in the DK category. More >
The iPhone4: Gatekeeping Swings Both Ways
Aug 3rd
Photo by Abhijit Tembhekar
Last Friday I stumbled up to the Yorkdale Apple Store to have something looked at in my MacBook Pro. And I was suddenly reminded by the milling throng it was launch day for the iPhone 4. At one point, the lineup apparently stretched almost to the Rogers store… where there was no lineup. Just a hastily made sign warning customers Rogers might run out of units. How times have changed.
Battle of the control freaks
In the midst of the feeding frenzy, the Apple lady in charge of the front door found a Genius who wasn’t on phone duty. He pushed me past a phalanx of security guards, pronounced my MBP fan busted and ordered the replacement part. He apologized for not having the part in stock and insisted that being a month out of warranty was not a problem. Kids, don’t try that at your local cellular store.
In fact, three years ago I tried something along those lines with a handset I bought from my carrier. Even though I had been with them for over 10 years, their reward for loyalty was to lie to my face about the Bluetooth functionality in the unit. One or more profiles, including the Object Push Profile, had been crippled, probably for the purpose of forcing transfers of files like jpeg’s to run over the cell network (see ARPU). The vendor rep told me I didn’t understand how the phone worked and I should have read the 200-page manual in the store before I bought the phone. More >
More evidence: in Canada, consumer connectivity is weakest link
Jul 25th
The Connectivity Scorecard scores again
The Len Waverman team, they of Connectivity Scorecard fame, have given us a brand new version for 2010 – and as usual, plenty of things to disagree over. But today I’m going to pass on the fine print and go straight to this chart from the Canadian pdf (main Web page).
From the 2010 Connectivity Scorecard
This chart shows gaps in performance between Canada and the corresponding best performing country. The three pairs cover government, business and consumer variables respectively.
The really interesting part is where Canada’s consumer variables stand next to the best countries: significantly worse, especially for infrastructure. The numerical gap in consumer infrastructure (Canada vs the best performer) is double – 0.96 vs 0.48. Our business infrastructure is behind by a much smaller proportion – 0.86 to 0.79. (The Scorecard assigns a higher weight in the final scores to business variables, but that’s another debate.)
With this evidence in hand, would you start designing a national digital strategy devoted to ICTs for business – which never mentioned consumer welfare? More >
Broadband as a legal right (part 2)
Jul 19th
Why is this (Finnish) man smiling?
Finland’s new classification of broadband doesn’t just confer a legal right on consumers – the hook for all the news reports I’ve read. It also imposes a legal obligation on Finland’s ISPs to extend service to everyone in their licensed territory – and not just in rural areas. As FICORA (the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority) puts it, July 1 is the date when “telecom operators’ new universal service obligations enter[ed] into force.”
The regulator has given 26 operators their marching orders, apparently without having to spend years in court and Cabinet backrooms fighting appeals. This was accomplished by way of an amendment to the Communications Market Act. More >