If we were leaders of a Rural American Town…

Adam & Ian

We would propose a broadband network provided by the local government. This service would only be provided if the community was in favor of devoting government resources for it.

We think it would be good economically to provide such service. Many could benefit for a better community including tourists visiting the area.

By having the people own and pay for it, people will have more control over content and what it is that’s being provided.

week 9 – monday (15 August 2011)

Digital Divide: the gap between those who have access to or who can benefit from technology and those who do not/cannot

Cyberhome

This chapter seemed to have a “Big Brother” feel to it. Describing the fall of democracy, creativity, and impulsiveness being destroyed with the implications of the new technologies we have today. This will always be a factor involved with our society because it is technologically advancing at an incredible rate. What will also be a factor is the amount of people that have access to this technology.

In fifty years I predict that most people in the world will have portable devices that have unlimited data and very powerful communicating skills, but I don’t think that the majority of people in the world will not have access to the most commercially advanced software at that time.

I was recently in Istanbul, I met a guy that had a smartphone, which was very lucky because I was very lost. We ended up walking into a random park area that just happened to have public wifi so we were absolutely fine. This, although was convenient and surprising, did not change the fact that there were only internet cafes every few miles.

Establishing more networks that have better capabilities should be the main priority. This will allow for a more democratized environment to share information. Information will be the most useful form of currency in the future so integrating a more free model of communicating will be very important.

TiVo was originally made to increase the efficiency and convenience of television viewing. It did both with an additional result. TV viewing actually increased with the ability to personalize television. This can be applicable to the internet as well. We can personalize our internet experience much easier than just five years ago, and we can more appropriately and easily satisfy our “grazing” needs, which could easily influence the amount of usage.

There are still numerous laws and bureaucratic regulations that restrict the access of data. Public space of data went from library to pocket in a span of two decades. This is most influenced by what is the accepted archetype of data availability. It is very important to implicate more online access within school districts, and statistics suggests this has been done. At home, although, only the more educated tend to have more online access.

Cyberspace and accessibility standards are both plagued by the revenue system that has such a firm grasp over our communicative world. It seems morally unjust to cause a loss of jobs or a loss of company health, even though that is attempting to hold onto a dying model.

Universal data access is the most important goal in our media and educational future, in all areas of the world. Cyberspace should be internationally public and connected, which is based up to the authoritative restrictions that accommodate only a revenue model. It’s like trying to put coal in a gas tank, there needs to be synergy between the model and the demand.

week 8 – wednesday (10 Aug 2011)

Agenda

• Housekeeping (points sheet)
• Lecture/Discussion
• Group Project (remediation)
• Course Evaluations

Connectivism: A New Way to Learn

According to theorist, George Siemens:

“The domain of learning is significantly hampered by progressive revisions of what it means to learn, to know, and to understand. A subset of connectivism, network forming, is presented as an accurate model for addressing how people learn. The test of any theory is the degree to which it solves problems and incongruities within a domain. The shortcomings of behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist ideologies of learning are answered in light of learning as a connection-forming (network-creation) process.”