Barack Obama on Technology and Net Neutrality
November 14, 2007
Barack Obama will be giving a talk at Googleplex in Mountain View, CA today, in which he will lay out a comprehensive, 5-point technology policy:
- Ensure the full and free exchange of information among Americans through an open Internet and diverse media outlets.
- Create a transparent and connected democracy.
- Encourage the deployment of a modern communications infrastructure.
- Employ technology and innovation to solve our nation’s most pressing problems, including reducing the costs of health care, encouraging the development of new clean energy sources, and improving public safety.
- Improve America’s competitiveness.
The full text of the handout to be used this evening is here.
The most important piece of this is the second point of creating a “transparent and connected democracy.” Making government data and information available in standard, accessible formats is a brain-dead simple solution to the problem of not knowing how to access government information. The appointment of a US CTO is a good strategy because it would mandate someone with technical knowledge and experience actually make technology decisions [instead of people like Ted Stevens].
My hope is that other candidates will lay out thoughtful, progressive approaches to technology policy so that we can use this as another differentiator.
One Love. One II.
Barack Obama: The Internet is about equality
October 30, 2007
Not the most informed statement on the issue, but it seems like an honest promise to preserve net neutrality.
He must have listened to my podcast on Net Neutrality.
One Love. One II.
P.S. 10 Questions is hot. Big ups to Afro-Netizen and BlackProf for participating.
Why Black folks need broadband
October 11, 2007
The Center for Creative Voices in Media’s The Case for Universal Broadband: Now! study was released today. It says that this country needs everyone to have equal access to reliable high-speed Internet connections. I agree, and I think this is especially true for Black people.
The Abortion of the Female Scientist
August 28, 2007
It sounds like we not only need to save our girls, but we also need to debunk the myths of girls’ interest in science, technology, math, and engineering, which are literally killing girls’ desires to pursue these fields.
Here’s the most interesting quote:
The mentality of needing to “weed out” weaker students in college majors — especially in the more quantitative disciplines — disproportionately weeds out women. This is not necessarily because women are failing. Rather, women often perceive “Bs” as inadequate grades and drop out, while men with “Cs” will persist with the class.
I agree that this weed-out mentality is complete BS and is actually anti-competitive because it eliminates diversity in total competition.
Also, am I the only one to read this and think, “Man, the perceived bar for success is much lower for boys than it is for girls.” Perhaps those C-student boys should have been weeded-out too…
One Love. One II.
Creating Better Information Flow in the Black Community: A Discussion
May 31, 2007
This past Friday, 25 May 2007, I participated in a panel discussion at the Annual Blacks In Government Conference in Seattle entitled, “Say What? Keeping Information and Ideas Moving in the Black community.” The panel was moderated by K. Wyking Garrett, CEO of Remix Marketing and Communications, and included myself and Monique Carillo, Founder of Carillo PR.
The discussion, which was well attended by enthusiastic participants, grew from a general exchange on definitions of knowledge and information to an all-out brainstorming session on ways to communicate better with one another.
Podcast on the Importance of a Public Internet
May 30, 2007
Last week I recorded my first podcast for the Northwest Progressive Institute, a Washington-based think tank for which I serve as Senior Policy Analyst for Technology.
The title is “Reframing Net Neutrality,” and it talks about why an accessible and public and non-discriminatory Internet is important to preserve. You can listen to the audio here.
One Love. One II.
The end of the MySpace soldier
May 15, 2007
I wrote a short piece at Northwest Progressive Institute’s blog about the Department of Defense is banning soldier access to MySpace, YouTube, and other sites.
Do you think that this is a big deal? Soldiers will still be able to access the sites from their own computers, but it seems odd to me that the blocked sites are ones that thrive off of user-generated content, which means that they are sites where the site’s participants control what gets onto the site. I guess this is similar to policies at some draconian companies like GM, but I see it as a big brother play to try to prevent soldiers from hearing dissenting viewpoints.
One Love. One II.
Presidential Debates are closer to really being Public
May 6, 2007
An update on the push to make debate videos truly available to everyone.
It looks like CNN heard this call, and is responding by making their Presidential Debate Footage available without restriction. I appreciate the effort and support of those of you that supported this action.
Senator Chris Dodd, Former Senator John Edwards, and Senator Barack Obama, all Presidential candidates, all supported this as well. This is a good sign that these individuals will take thoughtful approaches to technology policy, should one of them be elected.
One Love. One II.
Are you afraid of the Internet?
May 6, 2007
The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan recently published a survey called The National Poll on Children’s Health. While this report calls out the usual suspects of drugs and obesity, there was one concern that was surprisingly high: the Internet.
The Weekly Dream: The Land Of Make Believe
January 22, 2007
Question of the Week: How Can you use your imagination more?
As a child, I loved watching Mr. Rogers. My favorite part of the show is when he would go to the land of Make-Believe, with the hand puppets and all. It was a place where anything was possible. But it did not stop at Mr. Rogers; I spent much of my childhood in a fantasy world. Rather than watch television, I opted for books on fairy and folk tales from different cultures. I loved stories, to believe that anything was possible and nothing was too absurd.
But something strange happened. The older I got, the less I used my imagination. Until one day, I found myself exiled from the Land of Make Believe.
The Peter Pan Syndrome
The rise of the Information Age, Reality TV and All-Access technology has ruined our imagination. There is nothing that cannot be known about anything, at any moment of the day. Let’s face it, there is not much wonderment left in the modern world. What is even sadder is that no one seems to care.
I believe that this is because we have forgotten what an imagination is for. Furthermore, in this fast paced world there is no time for Make Believe. We have all been exiled to the Land of Grown-ups.
What is an imagination for? Well, to me it is to explore not only your creativity but also what is in your subconscious. For all of our knowledge, very little is known about the subconscious mind. But we do know this, it is always on, soaking up everything we are exposed to. Too often our subconscious is only active at night, in our dream state, but day dreaming and imagining can be a powerful way to approach problems if we bring it under the discipline of our conscious.
Free Your Mind
What happens is that your conscious mind is constantly laboring under constraints imposed upon it from the outside world. We are always jumping from what is possible to what is not possible and back again. As such, we tend to get boxed in. Using our imagination opens up a world of possibilities and offers fresh eyes to the situation. Spend more time imagining things, absurd things, silly things in order to shake the shackles from your mind. Give yourself a little mental release; because quite frankly, reality can get a little drab. Remember to dream big, if you remember to dream at all. However, as Rudyard Kipling said, “You must dream, but not make dreams your master.”
I don’t know about you, but I am and forever will be a dreamer. And who knows, maybe I can win my citizenship back to the land of Make-Believe.
Truth and Peace,
Steven M DeVougas
Categories:
The Weekly Dream
