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November 2007 Archive

Pearls of Wisdom make up a Broadband Necklace

If I could summarize and pull out the Pearls of Wisdom that fell out from my conversations yesterday, they would make up a string that looked something like this. You'll find some original thought in this list, some retreads. Interesting conversations happen not only with other industry insiders comparing notes, but also with smart people outside the industry looking in.

1. For Alternate Broadband to succeed and thrive, we'll need creative solutions to at least these three issues (deals that lack a solution to any one of these three issues have a high fatality index - some may make it, but most will not):
a. Government Interaction - What the role of the public sector will be, at each layer, from local to federal, is still up in the air. Successful deals are addressing this issue, finding a role for government that makes a Win/Win out of the Public Private Partnership. Creativity leads to Synergy.
b. Incumbent Buy-In - In all but the smallest markets, the entry of a new disruptive solution stimulates a defensive response from those who currently benefit from the Status Quo - generally, the current providers of telecom and cable services. Find a way to accommodate that reaction, or risk its wrath!
c. Sustainable Business Model - Because each local market is unique in some way, variations on business models are inevitable - what doesn't change is the need for the business model to be credible and sustainable over the long term. Duhh. Harder to do than to say.

2. Technology Change is moving faster than Cultural Adaptation. On the one hand, some technology is entering a mature phase, which means that costs are coming down and acceptance is hitting the mainstream (e.g., desktops, storage, cellular voice). On the other hand, the introduction of innovative new technology continues to occur more rapidly than the mainstream culture is able to adapt, so that we see are pockets of early adopters and large areas of slower adoption. What's more, societal institutions, such as laws and mores, will need to adapt to these changes, in some cases, but in other cases, it is the technology itself that will need to adapt. Either way, such adaptation takes time and it's ugly as it happens. On the one hand, more patience is needed, on the other hand, some parties need a kick in the pants. As much as we want things to move faster, the future will take a while to happen, and that's probably for the best (but once it starts to really take hold, watch out, rapid adoption is likely).

3. Opportunity abounds, even as risk remains high. There are ever more opportunities to accommodate these changes, and there is another Google lurking in the wings - some companies will solve these riddles. The challenge for investors is in discerning which particular idea has legs. Areas to watch include:
a. Infrastructure components - while fiber is fiber, the equipment on either end is where innovation can happen, same goes for radios and end-use devices, there's still more innovation left in this area;
b. Service Providers - Successful innovation in implementing new business models will separate service providers.
c. Data Devices - from Consumer Premise Equipment (CPEs) to handheld devices, to equipment that leverages local storage, innovation in handling and presenting data to meet business and consumer needs. Think Store and Forward as a possibility, for example, or Location-Based solutions...the list goes on and on.

4. We need less hype, more reality. The market has been too harsh and impatient on the new Alternate Broadband industry, whipsawing it in both directions. While riding the Gartner Hype cycle up, it has raised expectations beyond the capability to deliver. When the slide to the trough happened, it dashed hopes beyond reason. Alternate Broadband, from Wi Fi Mesh to WiMAX to BPL, has been neither as good as described, nor as bad as feared.

5. Four Different Story Lines are emerging, use these to connect with others when discussing Alternate Broadband
a. The Real Estate Development Model - anchor tenants lower risk in a development, pre-selling helps too.
b. The Radio/TV Broadcast Model - commercial advertising has the potential to pay for a lot of free content and services
c. The Utility Model - from electricity to gas to water, utilities provide services to entire populations over a single infrastructure, generally at commodity rates
d. The Railroad/Highway Model - my personal favorite, this story line describes two shifts: from closed to open and from service-orientation to infrastructure-orientation.

6. Four Alternate Broadband Business Models hold particular promise; combining two or more into one project compounds the benefits.
a. Ad Hoc Private (and Public) Projects - from Apartment (MDU) projects to high-end developments to downtown Hot Zones, smaller Alternate Broadband projects can define a good Return on Investment (ROI) and fill a gap in the service coverage of Conventional Broadband.
b. Smaller Municipalities - Smaller (>100 K in population) have sufficiently large government to see savings from a digital migration, but are sufficiently small to execute a network project from start to finish without undue political risk.
c. Regional Coordination - The denser the region, the more it makes sense to begin an early-stage coordination project. The easiest project to kick off is a mapping of Status Quo assets, coverage, and attitudes. Such assessments pack a one-two punch: first, they provide vital preliminary data that helps promote more sound broadband projects; and second, they raise up a common level of knowledge and encourage a spirit of cooperation and joint commitment. A natural follow-on to an initial mapping project is a joint planning effort, and taking it one step further, a pooled purchasing arrangement makes good sense if all the other pieces fall in line.
d. Open Access - in almost all scenarios, open systems have less risk than closed systems. Closed systems make sense in a limited market (regulated monopoly), but Open systems are superior in a competitive market, which favor not only more innovation, but also the inherent aspect of diversity to mitigate risk, for both revenue sources and costs.

As in any new endeavor, but especially in a private-sector competitive market, the smart and the quick end up capturing most of the lessons learned sooner and are thus able to gain early market share advantage. Whether they are then able to sustain their early success and grow into the large and the powerful before they get swallowed up by the bigger fish is one thing that makes these new markets so exciting.

Posted on November 29, 2007 at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)

Two Great Conversations Highlight All That is Good Right Now

I'm a lucky guy. I have a great family and great friends. I still have my health, more or less. I manage to keep the lights on and the bills paid, so far. I spend my time deeply involved in a fundamentally important industry in a time of great change and opportunity, and have a good shot at making a difference in life. I have a Passion that drives me forward and energizes my life. And, I get to live in a beautiful spot on the planet, in an open society, within a dynamic and vibrant community.

I love living in Austin, the only place I want to be in Texas, which has to be one of the best states in these United States, which is still despite all its many warts and current problems, a country that is a beacon of hope for the world. And from everything I've read about what we know today, in this unimaginably large Universe with billions of galaxies and untold solar systems and planets, the Earth is pretty unique as planets go in its ability to support intelligent life. Whether through some kind of great accident, twist of fate, or Grand Plan, looked at this way, we're all pretty damn lucky, I guess.

I hope by now that you're not thinking I'm secretly BiPolar, and this happens to be one of my Good Days...it is, but that's not because I'm bipolar ... in fact, yesterday was one of those better days that highlight all that is good in my life, and I can only hope I have many more days like that ahead of me, because I know there will be plenty more of the other kind that will challenge my patience and will.

I woke up this morning reflecting on two really good conversations I had yesterday, with two friends I hadn't spent time with for quite a while. And just the week prior I had a great lunch with another friend I had known since 1970, home for the Thanksgiving holiday. And I'm starting to get the emails and invitations of the season, which promise to reconnect me with many more friends and relatives whom I see all to rarely. So, let the holidays begin, a time when we reconnect with old friends, in breakfast meetings, lunches, Happy Hours, dinner and Holiday parties, office receptions - let's all celebrate our connectedness and the richness of our lives!

I'll have to dive down on those conversations in a second post, but for the record, I met my friend Eric Rothfus for lunch yesterday. Eric's one of the more fascinating guys I know - a successful serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, MIT grad, electronic engineer, vintage computer collector, and fellow Cub Scout dad. Given my Liberal Arts approach to life, Eric and I are in a sense two sides of a coin, which makes for stimulating conversation. Not long after lunch, I had a phone call with Greg Richardson, founder of Civitium, a principal consulting agency and driver of the nascent Municipal Wireless industry. Greg and I hadn't spoken in a while, and he and I always have good conversations comparing notes on how far this Alternate Broadband world has come. Greg's insights on the current events of the past several months are without equal.

Sharing thoughts on where the world is going and having an opportunity to help shape Change and Progress are what energizes me. Yesterday's conversations highlighted for me that there is still so much work to be done, yet so much potential in where we are today regarding technology and cultural change.

I've been tremendously influenced in my life by the thoughts and writings of Joseph Campbell, a professor of comparative religion who spent his life mapping the world's myths and integrating Eastern and Western philosophies - Campbell's interviews with Bill Moyers, captured in the PBS videotape series The Power of Myth in the 1980s, are a must-watch, I recommend them. His classic The Hero with a Thousand Faces inspired George Lucas' Star Wars saga, enjoyed by billions on the planet, in no small part because the storylines of Anakin and Luke, the Empire and the Rebellion, track great themes in world literature. The universal Hero Myth that Campbell documented and studied is the foundation for the best storytelling in Hollywood screenplays. Campbell's principal admonition to his students throughout his career was to "Follow Your Bliss," pithy advice that's easier said than done. Still, if you make the pursuit of passion and fulfillment your guiding light in life, you're guaranteed both a challenging and fulfilling life. It's The Road Less Traveled, tough going, but worth the work in the end.

I've come to realize in the past five years that my life Bliss is helping the world better understand Community, and building strong and healthy communities starts and ends with good Communication. Most of what energizes me, from my participation in a small Episcopal church community, from my leadership in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, from my membership in my kid's school communities, and in my daily work with city leaders and communication specialists, has to do with making communities work better, and there's no end in the improvements possible in this area. Most communities are dysfunctional in one way or another, and because they're living and breathing entities, they're dynamic, fluctuating in their levels of optimization, in need of constant fine tuning, maintenance, and care.

Seen in this context, Broadband is about much more than the Triple Play - Voice, Video, and Internet Access - much more than cheap phone calls, abundant entertainment options, or even surfing the Web and getting access to emails more conveniently. Broadband is becoming the connector that makes our lives worthwhile. I'd summarize it thusly:

Broadband is the foundational infrastructure that enables communities to function in today's world, and life in community is the only life worth living.

In my view, the broadband network - today's Internet - is like the electricity grid. It has become a fundamental requirement for the civilized society we live in. Think that's an overstatement? Just imagine a world without the ready access to Energy and Information that we currently enjoy. Many parts of the world lack both ready access to electricity and information, living their lives daily, both literally and figuratively, in the dark.

I can think of no more fulfilling life than working to extend the broadband network as far and wide as the electric network has reached. In fact, when you think of it, that goal is too limiting. We can and will push out the information network farther than the electric network, because wireless technology will let us put access to information everywhere that a person can walk while carrying a mobile device. We can't do that with the electric network, although batteries are the substitute, I guess. And when much of that information we access has to do with connecting to our communities and making them more effective, then that is a very exciting prospect indeed!

This is the beginning of an extended Holiday Greeting to you, my reading community. I don't know you, but I feel connected to you, and I appreciate your continued readership.

Posted on November 29, 2007 at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)

Can I See the Rest of the Mail Bag?

What a great country where we actually have this kind of informed debate in a national newspaper!

In response to a provocative NY Times OpEd piece a few days ago, Taking Science on Faith, readers shared their own opinions in these Letters to the Editor, Scientific Method: Evidence, Not Faith. I was left thinking what a fun job this must have been for the Letters Editor staff, to wade through what must have been hundreds of letters to pick the Lucky Seven that made it onto the page...what the Times hasn't yet realized is that they could have put ALL the letters they recieved up on their website. Limiting the responses to seven is a hold-over from the print days, when there was a real cost to publishing, and they had to winnow the list down to the most essential.

I say, "Thanks for the summary, but I want more! Can I see the rest of the letters?"

Check out the list if you want a little jolt to your brain...deep thoughts, but good ones. I'd echo their comments, because I lean on both traditions very heavily. There's a place for faith in my life, which feeds a hole in my soul, giving me hope and keeping me going. There's also a deep reliance on science, which methodically explains things. Having to choose between the two would be like having to choose between bread and water - I need both.

This argument highlights the false choices we are presented with on a daily basis. To simplify arguments, the press often boil things down into two opposing arguments, but life is immeasurably more complicated than that. Such simplicity presents a false choice. We can use the dualistic approach - "This or That?" - to get the conversation started, but never to finish the argument, because more often than not, the answer lies in the middle - "A little bit of This, a little bit of That." The beginning of Wisdom is abandoning the choice between Black and White, and embracing the fact that the world is a Canvas of Graytones.

Getting to the nub of complex issues, and they abound in today's society, takes patience, understanding, compassion, and no small dose of hard work. And, we could all use more training day in and day out in developing that side of our intellect and heart that lets us tolerate ambiguity. Many issues we deal with are quite simply insoluble and subjective. Sometimes, the best we can get from a good argument is to gain respect for the opposing viewpoint, expand our horizons, and better understand why we hold the beliefs that we do, yet still tolerate the views of other intelligent people, who see the world differently than we do.

Posted on November 29, 2007 at 07:50 AM | Comments (0)

Another Kind of Change

One Last Word on Change, Then I'm On to Another Topic!

All the time, our customers ask us - "How do you make money doing this?" - the answer is simple: "Volume." Saturday Night Live Faux TV Commercial: First Citiwide Change Bank

Maybe that was Citibank's secret strategy with subprime mortgage debt - Volume?

Posted on November 28, 2007 at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)

When Complexity Overwhelms, Is It Finally Time for a Change?

How Do You Feel About Change?

Sooner or Later, with everything in life, there comes a time when ....

* more and more is expected from the same old system. and you begin to realize that you may have ridden this horse about as far as it can go;
* all the juice has been squeezed out of the lemon - you can try microwaving it, you can try squeezing it a little harder, but you start to realize that when the juice is all gone, there ain't no mo'.
* the old solution just no longer delivers like you expect it to, when one more layer of complexity costs ever more, but produces ever less;
* when what used to be investments in the current solution start to look more and more like expenses that you will no longer recover what you put in;
* it begins to dawn on more and more people, or on one person more and more frequently, that it's time for a change;
* the time just seems ripe for innovation;
* you realize that a new approach to an old problem is called for;
* change starts to look more and more attractive than keeping things the same.

Some of us are more conscious of this process than others, but in today's highly dynamic environment, it makes sense to bring change out of the closet and to be more explicit and deliberate about our attitudes towards Change.

How do you feel about Change?

I hit a moment of change last May when I decided to sell my old car. I hit a moment of change nearly five years ago when I left my job to go out on my own. Neither of those changes came about suddenly, rather, the pressure to change built up gradually.

But sometimes BIG Change is not warranted - sometimes you just need to freshen things up a little, sometimes you need a little change, a tweaking, so to speak. Whenever I begin to feel unsettled with my home life, I dig deeper to see what's bothering me and I ponder what I can do to renew my relationship - because I'm not ready for a wholesale change there, and I don't think I ever will be - I love my wife. But sometimes, even that relationship needs more energy and some adjustments are called for.

The point I'm exploring here is that as powerful a hold as the Status Quo has on our lives, it makes sense to re-evaluate on a regular basis to see how well your "Tried-and-True" is holding up. Over time, even in the best systems, employees get stale, machines slow down and become less effective, strategies wear thin...nothing in this universe lasts, even the Sun and the Earth are winding down, ever so slowly.

So, how do you feel about Change?

Sometimes, change is warranted not because of environmental shifts but just because complexity has reached a breaking point. One problem with evolution or incrementalism that avoids the shock of bigger change by changing slowly by adding to the Status Quo, is that complexity can build up to where more complexity adds little to no improvement, but most certainly adds more stress. I've heard this complaint about software, where instead of adding ever more lines of code, it becomes more expedient to start over with a cleaner approach.

So, if you feel your stress level rising, or notice that you get stressed over things that used to not bother you, take a look at your situation and ask yourself if its time to make a change to address what's bothering you. Does the situation call for a small change, or is something bigger in order?

We can become so used to the Status Quo that we forget why we do things, we just always have.

We can become so used to the Status Quo that we become attached to it.

We can become so used to the Status Quo that we consciously avoid something that would be better for us because we have turned Change into some kind of Big Negative, when in fact, it's the Status Quo that has become the Big Negative.

Sometimes, we need to put a hold on our emotional brain for a moment, the one that keeps us in our current situation - "Better the Devil that I know than the one I don't". Sometimes, we need to shed our assumptions and look clearly at our situation in a new light. Sometimes, we need to be more conscious concerning our attitudes about change.

Sometimes Simple can be like a breath of fresh air, when we have become so used to Complex...

Sometimes, the world has come up with a better mousetrap, but we don't know because we haven't been out there looking. Or, we know, but still, we find that we've become used to our old mousetrap. "You don't understand, I like hitting myself in the head with a hammer..."

So, how do you feel about Change?

Posted on November 28, 2007 at 04:36 PM | Comments (0)

The Times They Are a Changin' ... Or Are They?

Something tells me I may have to post this music video some more in upcoming months ... I hope!

Rudd, who was expected to be sworn in as prime minister in the coming week, had accused Howard of being out of touch with modern Australia and ill-prepared to deal with issues such as climate change and high-speed Internet. Australian Leader Defeated in Election

Long, long sigh here ....................................................................

Oh, to live in a country with a parliamentary democracy. Sure, it would take some getting used to having a Prime Minister instead of a President, but just imagine having a Vote of No Confidence to Force an Election!

Now that's what I'm talking 'bout!

I clipped this article because it tied together a "march to modernity" with the need to address the issue of High Speed Internet, or Broadband, as it's otherwise called.

I can only dream that one day my countrymen and women will wake up and realize that the issue of broadband infrastructure is worthy of more attention...if Australia can catch on, what about us???

So, at least Down Under, it's Out with the Old - Conservative Prime Minister John Howard, one of the Bush administration's staunchest allies - and In with the New - Labor leader Kevin Rudd, a Chinese-speaking former diplomat (and apparently, a broadband internet lover).

While much attention in the article is on Rudd's anti-Iraq War positions and plans for Australia to join the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the US alone out on an island - get it ("island", "Australia", oh, never mind), I'll be watching to see how the new government treats broadband differently.

It will be interesting to see what happens when yet another national government actually focuses on national broadband policy - could they offer us lessons? Will we even be aware of if they do? Stay tuned!

Posted on November 28, 2007 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

Are You on Facebook? Maybe it's Time to Join ... Come on Over to the Dark Side, Luke, the Power ... the Pooower ...

I called my old friend Bill Wong recently - he and I got to know each other in Austin three years ago, when he was at Tropos and I was consulting with Austin Energy, running a broadband research project we called GENie (Geodesic Energy Network - information + electricity).

I went on to a consulting engagement with Tropos and Bill and I got to know each other better, then Bill went over to Cisco .

Bill has become one of a handful of subject matter experts in how Wi Fi Mesh works in practice. He knows more about the technology than I could dream of knowing. I love to check in with old friends like Bill from time to time and compare notes, inevitably we wind up complaining about this or that - this time, we bitched about changes in our little industry and I put forward my idea that Municipal Wireless was too narrow for me anymore - it leaves out private sector wireless, public sector projects that also include fiber, FTTH, BPL, etc, etc. I've written on that theme here many times.

So, my hat's off to Bill, who challenged me to get out on the social networking site facebook. He said it's become more than a place where college kids hang out and socialize. It provides good tools for industry discussions, for instance. So, on Bill's urging, I joined yesterday, and we promptly launched a discussion group on Alternate Broadband.

As you can tell, this is all very spontaneous. I invite you to join us for a conversation at Facebook...I'm not altogether sure where it will go, but this is a chance to get a little more interactive. I'll keep writing my thoughts down here, but I see Facebook offering an opportunity for a broader discussion. Please check it out!

Posted on November 28, 2007 at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)

Ahem ... The Word is "ExaFlood"

A flood of new video and other Web content could overwhelm the Internet by 2010 unless backbone providers invest up to $137 billion in new capacity, more than double what service providers plan to invest, according to the study, by Nemertes Research Group, an independent analysis firm. In North America alone, backbone investments of $42 billion to $55 billion will be needed in the next three to five years to keep up with demand, Nemertes said.

The study is the first to "apply Moore's Law (or something very like it) to the pace of application innovation on the 'Net,"the study says. "Our findings indicate that although core fiber and switching/routing resources will scale nicely to support virtually any conceivable user demand, Internet access infrastructure, specifically in North America, will likely cease to be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years." Internet Could Max Out in 2 Years, Study Says

For more on the potential inadequacy of the Internet as bandwidth-hogging applications proliferate, see my sort-of recent post EXAmine This: A Growing Gap in Capacity Demand and Bandwidth Supply?

Posted on November 28, 2007 at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)

Onward, Through the Fog

Lake Austin Fog.jpg

I rode off today to drop my kids at school, after wiping off the windows, so dense was the fog. I waited at a busy corner, pulled out, only to hear a honk and see a pair of headlights on a silver Mercedes....just the color of fog. Note to self - don't buy a gray or silver car, you can't see it in low visibility.

After dropping the kids off, I made my way out onto the highway and as I moved up the hill, the fog dissipated and I had a spectacular view of Lake Austin at sunrise, something like this image I found on Flickr.

It struck me that "Onward Through the Fog" is a great metaphor to capture where we are when it comes to Broadband in America.

We're not sure what lies ahead, yet we can vaguely see into the near term future. We know that it involves lots more bandwidth, more mobility, and different business models than we have today - at least, that's my vision. But how it will work out is anybody's guess. Still, if we keep on driving, at some point we'll emerge from the fog and enjoy clarity of vision - a beautiful sunrise lies ahead of us, once we emerge from this fog.

Onward, then!

Posted on November 27, 2007 at 09:04 AM | Comments (0)

There's a Place for Fear, and Sometimes, Fear Should be Put In Its Place

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that everyone is NOT out to get you...

I write a considerable amount about Change, because it's impossible to think about the Internet, technology, and society, and not give a full dose of rational thought to Change, how it works, and how to be more effective at it. And anytime you consider Change, it follows that Fear must be close behind, because change involves moving into an unknown future, and it requires Courage.

I sometimes forget if I made something up, or if I heard it somewhere, so my apologies if the quote above is from a movie or something that I should be able to place. It's become a favorite expression of mine on the the danger of making blanket statements and one of the principal ironies of life.

You can be paranoid and still be in danger. Don't be paranoid, but don't forget about danger either.

We live in a dangerous world, and it makes sense to have fear. Fear is a very healthy emotion built into our genes through countless generations of natural selection. Our ancestors who had a healthy respect for danger and listened to their fears survived long enough to reproduce and pass along our genes. Fear is built into our culture and we teach our kids to be afraid, almost from the beginning, in order to help them learn to establish boundaries and get along in life.

Growing up is all about learning what to be afraid of and what to dismiss. Unfortunately, too many of us learn to give fear a central role in our lives and in today's society, fear has become all too common. It's an easy path to go down, and it is fraught with negative outcomes. It's the wrong path to go down.

Besides recognizing that life is inherently ironic, then, another truth I believe is "Life is About Balance." We live in a dualistic world, a world of opposites, so anytime we focus on one to the exclusion of its opposite, we fall out of balance. I think balance and harmony are the essence of Buddhism and most major religions, for that matter.

To have balance, then, in a world where fear is a constant, we need a counterpart to fear, which I think is two-fold. First, faith lets us carry on when we don't know what the future holds (other than danger, loss and death) and without faith, would otherwise be paralyzed by fear or go insane. And knowledge lets us put to rest unreasonable fears and empowers us to know the difference between healthy, rational fear and excessive, unhealthy, irrational fear.

I've got to go take the kids to school, so I'll stop for now, but leave you with this Good example of Fear as a Frame to Avoid.

Posted on November 27, 2007 at 06:24 AM | Comments (0)

Stepping Out in Front of a Parade

Sometimes leadership is more about acknowledging the inevitable than it is about being a visionary. Our nation's youth congregate on college campuses, and their lifestyles and technology adoption rates are driving significant trends in IT and broadband communications. College campuses have been and continue to be an early adopter of communication technology, as they respond to pressures created by their students.

This is a parade that those who wish to stay ahead of change can watch and learn from. If we want to see where our cities are going, it makes sense to watch college campuses. If you have the good fortune to have a college campus in your city or town, I'd spend some serious time contemplating how your city leadership can harness that energy to pull your town along with them.

Indeed, the largest campuses often resemble little cities all on their own. I live in Austin, home of the University of Texas and somewhere around 50,000 students. This fall, when we've walked to the DKR Memorial Stadium on football game days, we passed by a monstrous chilling station and one of the largest dormitories in the nation. I've been reminded that the University has its own zip code and it's own electric power plant. It has a huge budget and administration and by necessity, strives to meet the needs of its unique population with an administration not unlike that of a city.

I see the same in San Marcos, just to the south, where Texas State University goes through much the same experience, if on a little smaller scale. And I see a similar sense of independence in both administrations that I'm sure keeps host city leaders in Austin and San Marcos busy adapting and accommodating.

So I was struck by this article in Government Technology about two trends that drive technology adoption: digital media and security.

Today, many students are digital natives, Web 2.0 consumers who expect their college or university to create a collaborative experience that integrates familiar technologies such as podcasting and on-demand video into their learning environment. Three of four young adults download and view Internet videos daily according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and Burst Media reports that college students spend more time online than they do using any other form of media, including TV and radio.

Additionally, schools are quickly moving to streamline campus communications not only to prepare for disaster responses but also to bolster efficient day-to-day operations that save university officials time and money.Two Significant Technology Trends Sweeping College and University Communities - Government Technology

In a sense, all cities and towns have an element of this trend playing out under their noses. It makes sense to spend some time understanding what these two trends portend, because the uptake of digital media and mobile devices and the need for security both benefit from a network.

Start with the network and you will be in front of the parade.

Posted on November 23, 2007 at 06:17 AM | Comments (0)

More from the "You Get What You Pay For" File

Sometimes when I start a post, there are more titles that come to mind than insightful analysis. A sampling of aternate titles for this post that came to mind:

Anyone Who Is Surprised, Please Raise Your Hand

Beware Desperate Companies Offering Free Services

OK, Now What?

The Other Shoe Falls

So, after more analysis, EarthLink has decided to turn the faucet all the way off. What does this mean for the rest of us? Not much, I think. It's like the impact of news on stock prices - we already devalued EarthLink's impact on this industry, some of us as long ago as this spring.

We wrote an awful lot about EarthLink's first major announcement of pull back in August (peruse the Archives for the second half of August and the early part of September).

More interesting developments will be in smaller towns, like San Marcos, where we have an active positive process underway, focused on municipal applications, Digital Divide, Economic Development and a Win/Win Public/Private Partnership. (See San Marcos Texas Progress Report)

More interesting developments will be in regional coordination, like in Orange County, where the county and the business council will analyze wireless broadband and host a summit to encourage integration and interoperability, where we have an approach best characterized as Regional Coordination, Local Control. (See SCAG Wireless: Wireless Broadband Reigns in Southern California)

This is not to say that the aftermath of EarthLink will not be interesting and educational, but less I hope, for the morbid fascination of watching a good company go down for the count, and more to highlight that the industry is moving in a new direction and to offer lessons for interested public and private sector players. Because, they have a lot to soak up, as we move Alternate Broadband in a new direction, as I discussed in a post last month (See Phoenix MetroNets, Rising from the Ashes).

For more detail on this latest news, see some of these articles
BusinessWeek - Philly Wi-Fi network hits snags, delays
Wi Fi Net News - November 16, 2007: EarthLink Says No More Money for Existing Muni Networks
MuniWireless - EarthLink: No more 'significant' investments in muni Wi-Fi
DailyWireless - Earthlink to Municipal WiFi: WereOuttaHere

I especially recommend Greg Richardson's analysis at his corporate blog (See Breaking up is hard to do - good title, Greg!). Greg has been perhaps the most intimately involved with some of these big city wireless deals that are likely to be the most affected by the recent actions of EarthLink, so his analysis carries a lot of weight.

Note the common thread in these analyses.
* We still have a long way to go.
* The immediate impact will be on the cities where EarthLink was active.
* The impact may be as much positive as it is negative, because someone will get to buy these networks at a discount.
* The impact may result in a more realistic contractual relationship between public and private partners.
* Other cities will learn lessons from the consequences of these failed altered plans.

Stay tuned, stay informed, Raise Your Network IQ, Feed Your Head. Avoid the mainstream press and surface analysis, which is often more misleading and confusing than it is informative.

More to follow.

Posted on November 20, 2007 at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)

A Wicked Wind Blows Through the Senate, The Shankill Butchers Ride Tonight

Shankill Butchers - Decemberists Live 10/27/06

"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. " -- The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions, A. Lincoln, at his Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838

I think that if Abraham Lincoln were a young (28 yrs old) lawyer today, he would be as likely to write a blog as to give a speech. In the particular speech that helped kick start his political career and make his reputation, young Abe decried the angry mobs that had strung up and burned a mulatto man for nothing more than his racial identity. He decries in this speech the angry mood of the country that preceded the Civil War, and calls on his countrymen to redouble their fealty to the spirit of the founding fathers, to the laws and system of government that they created to ensure justice. He warns that the institutions will not stand up on their own, but must be supported in times of peace as well as in times of strife.

Today, if he were around, young Abe would highlight another kind of mob spirit that is animating our nation and causing it to support actions by our political leadership that go well beyond the boundaries of the law, as they manipulate the system to evade the system of checks and balances designed by our forefathers.

We are a nation that remains, six years after that horrific attack on September 11, 2001, a nation in fear. We live in fear of another attack. We're reminded, in gory detail, by our president and opportunistic politicians that we could be subject to another attack at any moment, and encouraged to trade away our civil liberties in exchange for an opportunity to feel safer. (Over 1 Million Hits in Google search for "Bush+fear mongering" - or If you prefer the evidence in video form, see this search of You Tube for "Bush+fear mongering" - 58 hits, though some may be repetitive).

The measures this administration and its supporters would take cannot make us any safer, but they do offer to make us feel safer, in exchange for long-lasting political changes that serve their agenda. In response, we should be demanding hard evidence, we should demand to know: "How do massive violations of our laws to survey all data communications make us any safer?" What's the track record to date? It's been six years, after all.

We're fed the impression that we're being protected, but in fact, that's not possible by such means. In fact, our civil liberties are being traded away for a pittance in an historic power grab. We're buying a temporary feeling of security, in exchange for handing over our most precious asset: the system of laws, checks, and balances that are the very foundation of our government and our stable civil society.

This issue is coming to a head in the Senate, and I'm concerned.

In the Senate, two competing versions of the FISA Act have passed out of Senate committees. One, passed last month by the Intelligence Committee, saw Democratic Senators Schumer and Feinstein vote with the Republicans in favor of a version that contains immunity for telecom firms that cooperated with requests from the executive branch to break laws and provide surveillance of domestic data traffic without warrants.

The other, passed by the Judiciary Committee, voted out a version that did not include immunity, but also did not expressly condemn immunity, in effect punting to the Senate floor resolution of the issue of whether large telecom firms should be left subject to the consequences of their illegal activity.

In contrast, the House passed a version that expressly excluded such immunity. This article in Techdirt and its associated links help explain the confusing state of affairs in Congress.

I am not confident in our Democratic leadership, I'm afraid to say. I fear an ill wind blowing through the Senate, which could see this issue traded away in some high-minded compromise. I think it's important to take this stand, because the legal fight that would ensue when telecom companies are called to task for their behavior has the potential to uncover law-breaking by this administration as well, and that is the bigger fish. We have an opportunity to educate our nation on the risks we are taking, and turn the tide on the steady erosion of our civil liberties.

Similar voices echo Abe Lincoln, calling out today, warn us to beware. Consider this article and video clip, where a whistle-blower visited Washington two weeks ago to tell what he knows about illegal collusion between AT&T and the federal government.

Those documents detail how AT&T diverted portions of fiber optic internet cables, included powerful snooping hardware and a fat fiber connection out of the room.

The EFF filed those documents under seal with the court as part of their ongoing class action suit against AT&T. Wired News independently acquired and published the documents in May 2006.

Even prior to the Senate Intelligence committee's assent to the president's push for immunity for the telecoms, Klein believed that Congress was helping the administration cover up the spying, according to an interview with Wired News in May.

[KLEIN]: I've called and sent letters to senators and Congress members. They haven't called back. I don't think they want to pursue it. They want to talk about this behind closed doors. These days I am angry at Congress for helping them keep it secret. They could hold hearings and subpoena people and give them immunity. Right now there are people who could come forward and say what they know, but they need immunity. That's the bottleneck. I don't see a resolution coming from this Congress. It's a conspiracy against the American people.

But on Wednesday, Klein had a full D.C. day -- meeting with senators and Congressional staffers and doing rounds of interviews with the press, who have largely ignored the soft-spoken retiree.

Klein's stated intent for the visit is to stop Congress from giving immunity to well-connected telecom firms that the administration and its platoon of consent manufacturers say are being treated unfairly. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/att-whistle-blo.html

Here's Klein in person, in a clip put up on Sen. Dodd's website - watch it.

Having watched this video, I urge you to pause for a moment and then read Lincoln's speech in its entirety, below.

Lyceum Address
As one of Abraham Lincoln's earliest published speeches, this address has been much scrutinized and debated by historians, who see broad implications for his later public policies. Lincoln was 28 years old at the time he gave this speech and had recently moved from a rough pioneer village to Springfield, Illinois.

William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, describes the event this way: "we had a society in Springfield, which contained and commanded all the culture and talent of the place. Unlike the other one its meetings were public, and reflected great credit on the community ... The speech was brought out by the burning in St. Louis a few weeks before, by a mob, of a negro. Lincoln took this incident as a sort of text for his remarks ... The address was published in the Sangamon Journal and created for the young orator a reputation which soon extended beyond the limits of the locality in which he lived."

The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions:
Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois
January 27, 1838

As a subject for the remarks of the evening, the perpetuation of our political institutions, is selected.

In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American People, find our account running, under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era.--We find ourselves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them--they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors. Their's was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land; and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only, to transmit these, the former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader; the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation, to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.

How then shall we perform it?--At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. Accounts of outrages committed by mobs, form the every-day news of the times. They have pervaded the country, from New England to Louisiana;--they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former, nor the burning suns of the latter;--they are not the creature of climate-- neither are they confined to the slave-holding, or the non-slave- holding States. Alike, they spring up among the pleasure hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the order loving citizens of the land of steady habits.--Whatever, then, their cause may be, it is common to the whole country.

It would be tedious, as well as useless, to recount the horrors of all of them. Those happening in the State of Mississippi, and at St. Louis, are, perhaps, the most dangerous in example and revolting to humanity. In the Mississippi case, they first commenced by hanging the regular gamblers; a set of men, certainly not following for a livelihood, a very useful, or very honest occupation; but one which, so far from being forbidden by the laws, was actually licensed by an act of the Legislature, passed but a single year before. Next, negroes, suspected of conspiring to raise an insurrection, were caught up and hanged in all parts of the State: then, white men, supposed to be leagued with the negroes; and finally, strangers, from neighboring States, going thither on business, were, in many instances subjected to the same fate. Thus went on this process of hanging, from gamblers to negroes, from negroes to white citizens, and from these to strangers; till, dead men were seen literally dangling from the boughs of trees upon every road side; and in numbers almost sufficient, to rival the native Spanish moss of the country, as a drapery of the forest.

Turn, then, to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. A single victim was only sacrificed there. His story is very short; and is, perhaps, the most highly tragic, if anything of its length, that has ever been witnessed in real life. A mulatto man, by the name of McIntosh, was seized in the street, dragged to the suburbs of the city, chained to a tree, and actually burned to death; and all within a single hour from the time he had been a freeman, attending to his own business, and at peace with the world.

Such are the effects of mob law; and such as the scenes, becoming more and more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of law and order; and the stories of which, have even now grown too familiar, to attract any thing more, than an idle remark.

But you are, perhaps, ready to ask, "What has this to do with the perpetuation of our political institutions?" I answer, it has much to do with it. Its direct consequences are, comparatively speaking, but a small evil; and much of its danger consists, in the proneness of our minds, to regard its direct, as its only consequences. Abstractly considered, the hanging of the gamblers at Vicksburg, was of but little consequence. They constitute a portion of population, that is worse than useless in any community; and their death, if no pernicious example be set by it, is never matter of reasonable regret with any one. If they were annually swept, from the stage of existence, by the plague or small pox, honest men would, perhaps, be much profited, by the operation.--Similar too, is the correct reasoning, in regard to the burning of the negro at St. Louis. He had forfeited his life, by the perpetuation of an outrageous murder, upon one of the most worthy and respectable citizens of the city; and had not he died as he did, he must have died by the sentence of the law, in a very short time afterwards. As to him alone, it was as well the way it was, as it could otherwise have been.--But the example in either case, was fearful.--When men take it in their heads to day, to hang gamblers, or burn murderers, they should recollect, that, in the confusion usually attending such transactions, they will be as likely to hang or burn some one who is neither a gambler nor a murderer as one who is; and that, acting upon the example they set, the mob of to-morrow, may, and probably will, hang or burn some of them by the very same mistake. And not only so; the innocent, those who have ever set their faces against violations of law in every shape, alike with the guilty, fall victims to the ravages of mob law; and thus it goes on, step by step, till all the walls erected for the defense of the persons and property of individuals, are trodden down, and disregarded. But all this even, is not the full extent of the evil.--By such examples, by instances of the perpetrators of such acts going unpunished, the lawless in spirit, are encouraged to become lawless in practice; and having been used to no restraint, but dread of punishment, they thus become, absolutely unrestrained.--Having ever regarded Government as their deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operations; and pray for nothing so much, as its total annihilation. While, on the other hand, good men, men who love tranquility, who desire to abide by the laws, and enjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defense of their country; seeing their property destroyed; their families insulted, and their lives endangered; their persons injured; and seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the better; become tired of, and disgusted with, a Government that offers them no protection; and are not much averse to a change in which they imagine they have nothing to lose. Thus, then, by the operation of this mobocractic spirit, which all must admit, is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed--I mean the attachment of the People. Whenever this effect shall be produced among us; whenever the vicious portion of population shall be permitted to gather in bands of hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and rob provision-stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot editors, and hang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure, and with impunity; depend on it, this Government cannot last. By such things, the feelings of the best citizens will become more or less alienated from it; and thus it will be left without friends, or with too few, and those few too weak, to make their friendship effectual. At such a time and under such circumstances, men of sufficient talent and ambition will not be wanting to seize the opportunity, strike the blow, and overturn that fair fabric, which for the last half century, has been the fondest hope, of the lovers of freedom, throughout the world.

I know the American People are much attached to their Government;--I know they would suffer much for its sake;--I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another. Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.

Here then, is one point at which danger may be expected.

The question recurs, "how shall we fortify against it?" The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;--let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap--let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;--let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.

While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally, or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom.

When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of all the laws, let me not be understood as saying there are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise, for the redress of which, no legal provisions have been made.--I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say, that, although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they continue in force, for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed. So also in unprovided cases. If such arise, let proper legal provisions be made for them with the least possible delay; but, till then, let them, if not too intolerable, be borne with.

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law. In any case that arises, as for instance, the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true; that is, the thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of all law and all good citizens; or, it is wrong, and therefore proper to be prohibited by legal enactments; and in neither case, is the interposition of mob law, either necessary, justifiable, or excusable.

But, it may be asked, why suppose danger to our political institutions? Have we not preserved them for more than fifty years? And why may we not for fifty times as long?

We hope there is no sufficient reason. We hope all dangers may be overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise, would itself be extremely dangerous. There are now, and will hereafter be, many causes, dangerous in their tendency, which have not existed heretofore; and which are not too insignificant to merit attention. That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now, is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that period, which now are decayed, and crumbled away. Through that period, it was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment; now, it is understood to be a successful one.--Then, all that sought celebrity and fame, and distinction, expected to find them in the success of that experiment. Their all was staked upon it:-- their destiny was inseparably linked with it. Their ambition aspired to display before an admiring world, a practical demonstration of the truth of a proposition, which had hitherto been considered, at best no better, than problematical; namely, the capability of a people to govern themselves. If they succeeded, they were to be immortalized; their names were to be transferred to counties and cities, and rivers and mountains; and to be revered and sung, and toasted through all time. If they failed, they were to be called knaves and fools, and fanatics for a fleeting hour; then to sink and be forgotten. They succeeded. The experiment is successful; and thousands have won their deathless names in making it so. But the game is caught; and I believe it is true, that with the catching, end the pleasures of the chase. This field of glory is harvested, and the crop is already appropriated. But new reapers will arise, and they, too, will seek a field. It is to deny, what the history of the world tells us is true, to suppose that men of ambition and talents will not continue to spring up amongst us. And, when they do, they will as naturally seek the gratification of their ruling passion, as others have so done before them. The question then, is, can that gratification be found in supporting and maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others? Most certainly it cannot. Many great and good men sufficiently qualified for any task they should undertake, may ever be found, whose ambition would inspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presidential chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle. What! think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon?--Never! Towering genius distains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.--It sees no distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving freemen. Is it unreasonable then to expect, that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time, spring up among us? And when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs.

Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm; yet, that opportunity being past, and nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling down.

Here, then, is a probable case, highly dangerous, and such a one as could not have well existed heretofore.

Another reason which once was; but which, to the same extent, is now no more, has done much in maintaining our institutions thus far. I mean the powerful influence which the interesting scenes of the revolution had upon the passions of the people as distinguished from their judgment. By this influence, the jealousy, envy, and avarice, incident to our nature, and so common to a state of peace, prosperity, and conscious strength, were, for the time, in a great measure smothered and rendered inactive; while the deep-rooted principles of hate, and the powerful motive of revenge, instead of being turned against each other, were directed exclusively against the British nation. And thus, from the force of circumstances, the basest principles of our nature, were either made to lie dormant, or to become the active agents in the advancement of the noblest cause--that of establishing and maintaining civil and religious liberty.

But this state of feeling must fade, is fading, has faded, with the circumstances that produced it.

I do not mean to say, that the scenes of the revolution are now or ever will be entirely forgotten; but that like every thing else, they must fade upon the memory of the world, and grow more and more dim by the lapse of time. In history, we hope, they will be read of, and recounted, so long as the bible shall be read;-- but even granting that they will, their influence cannot be what it heretofore has been. Even then, they cannot be so universally known, nor so vividly felt, as they were by the generation just gone to rest. At the close of that struggle, nearly every adult male had been a participator in some of its scenes. The consequence was, that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, a father, a son or brother, a living history was to be found in every family-- a history bearing the indubitable testimonies of its own authenticity, in the limbs mangled, in the scars of wounds received, in the midst of the very scenes related--a history, too, that could be read and understood alike by all, the wise and the ignorant, the learned and the unlearned.--But those histories are gone. They can be read no more forever. They were a fortress of strength; but, what invading foeman could never do, the silent artillery of time has done; the leveling of its walls. They are gone.--They were a forest of giant oaks; but the all-resistless hurricane has swept over them, and left only, here and there, a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage; unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few gentle breezes, and to combat with its mutilated limbs, a few more ruder storms, then to sink, and be no more.

They were the pillars of the temple of liberty; and now, that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.--Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws: and, that we improved to the last; that we remained free to the last; that we revered his name to the last; that, during his long sleep, we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our WASHINGTON.

Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler.

The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions, A. Lincoln, at his Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838

Isn't it time we woke up and recognized the path we're on? We know where the path took Lincoln's nation a short 12 years after he made this speech, which propelled him to lead our nation during its most trying time. Can we not learn from history and avoid repeating the same mistakes? Will we let passionate anger and fear outvote our brains in our national debate today, in the same way that we let passionate anger and fear hold sway 170 years ago?

Posted on November 19, 2007 at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)

I was hoping for at least Community College Reading Level

cash advance

Posted on November 18, 2007 at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)

Government as a Layer Cake

You're born, you take shit.
You get out in the world, you take more shit.
You climb a little higher, you take less shit.
Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what shit even looks like.
Welcome to the layer cake son.
Eddie Temple, top gangster in the 2004 British drug gangster movie, Layer Cake

Just as an aside, this is one of those movies you'll want to watch two or three times. I watched it first on DVD and could only make out about half the dialogue, so strong were the Cockney accents. I watched it a second time with the subtitles on - I kid you not! - and finally understood the plot, then immediately watched it again to get the full effect, this time with subtitles off. The movie's loaded with foul language and violence - I think that's what they call realistic in the drug gangster environment - but it introduced me to Daniel Craig, the latest James Bond, and it was a compelling story. It also introduced me to a concept called the Layer Cake, brutally described above.

This Gangster Layer Cake involves power over others ("taking shit") and in some senses, the parallel is there when we move through the layers of the Government Layer Cake (note to self - resist comparing politicians to gangsters...) If we use accessibility as the means to compare layers of government, then the farther up the layers you go, the less accessible your government representatives are. Talked to your Congressman, Senator, or President lately? No? But odds are, if you really wanted to and you lived in a town that was small enough, you could get a meeting with your mayor or council member.

Yesterday morning, I made some bold proclamations in one of my more strident posts in recent memory (Time to Challenge Some Bad Thinking about the Role of Government). I guess I woke up with an attitude. Here is the bolded list from that post:

Let me say it in bold - as a society, we should have figured out these truths by now. Deep in our hearts, we know this is true.

* Government is not THEY, it is US.
* Government is the means by which we act together to address our common problems, to forge a society that is worth living in.
* Government is only a Problem if we let it be - it can still be a Solution if we make it be one. We're in charge, still, believe it or not - we just need to reward adult thinking and send those public officials and political candidates who lie to us back into the private sector, by voting more with our brains and less with our hearts..
* Taxes are like a shared donation to address our common problems, a shared duty, just like supporting your church budget is a shared duty, like pulling together to support your family is a shared duty. Problems don't get solved if there is no budget to pay for solutions, and some solutions are best accomplished by working together - indeed, some solutions can only be accomplished in a group effort.
* The Free Market is a wonderful thing, but it is not a panacea - it leaves behind gaps that only government can fill.

Clearly, such general statements are not enough, not by a long shot...they beg questions and responses like -
"Just which government(s) are we talking about?"
"How can I - little old me - make government more effective?" and
"Tell me, in detail, how this could work - statements like this are too general and not worth a whole lot..."

Government exists at a variety of levels (layers in a cake), so before we start talking about the Role of Government in broadband infrastructure, we should at least define which government, which layer we're talking about. There's a different level of interface, a different role to play, and a different strategy for interfacing with each layer. Each layer generally has an executive and a deliberative body.

Government Layer Cake.jpg

1. At the bottom, easiest-to-get-to layer is Local Government, mayors and city councils.
2. At the next layer, also fairly accessible, is County Government, county judges and commissioners courts.
3. Moving on up, we find the Regional layer, usually appointed members to a body, perhaps with a board made up of local and county government officials - generally a Council of Government (e.g., Capital Area COG here in Austin) or an Association of Government (e.g., Southern California Association of Governments - SCAG - in So Cal, from my visit last week to LA).
4. Next we find State Government, with governors and bicameral legislatures (House of Representatives and Senate).
5. Finally, we find Federal Government, with the President and the Congress (House of Representatives and Senate).

I guess the first question is "Does Government have a role to play, at any level?" While others may choose a debate on this question, I'll forge ahead and say "Yes, of course." But the challenge that follows is "If so, then what role can Government play, and what role should each layer play?"

This analysis will take some time, so I'm going to close this post and revisit this topic soon, to compare the layers of government and investigate such aspects as:
- Public accessibility
- Freedom to take action
- Speed to act once a decision is made
- Access to capital
- Ability to spend
- Impact on National Broadband Connectivity problem

Your thoughts?

Posted on November 17, 2007 at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)

In Assessing Change v. MOTS, Start with Putting Consensus Ahead of Coercion

We live in a world of dynamic tension. (I'm not talking about Charles Atlas' Dynamic Tension, although I could use a little of that!). I'm talking about the dynamic tension that Time gives us, as the forces of change in the universe pull on the present, tugging it into the future. I'm talking about the change and dynamic tension I experienced growing up, as any younger generation does when it challenges the world of its parents. To the young, More of the Same (MOTS) is the Kiss of Death. To the old and established, however, Change can represent a threat to all that they've worked to create.

Finding a balance between these two competing forces of nature occupies a large part of our time. When is it right to embrace the Opportunity of Change and let go of the Benefits of the Status Quo? When is it right to say No to Change and hold on to the Good Old Tried and True? While our egos and need for expediency often argue to "Just Do It," using coercive means to either stay where we are or move forward to short-term gains, we should resist our primary urges. Here's why:

The Paradox of Change
Moving slower, forgoing short term gains in favor of long-term benefits while pursuing a path to consensus, is almost always the more effective path. The time invested to reach consensus will result in a better selection of the path forward, better decision-making, and an optimal solution for the society at large, which will in the end benefit all stakeholders and provide a firmer foundation for long-term sustainable benefits.

I'll explain my argument, but it'll take a little time.

John Zogby, the pollster, wrote a post that put these thoughts in my head. See Is 2008 a 1932 Moment?. Zogby's is the second essay I've read in as many days that ponders whether we're entering a new age of Progressivism similar to what we saw under FDR in the first half of the 20th century (see my post from earlier this week - When Big Government Thinks Big, Big Things Get Built, where I commented on a NYT OpEd Public Works: When 'Big Government' Plays Its Role, which talks about the massive public works projects under FDR and our current crumbling infrastructure today).

In a post from a month ago (see Rock of Ages v. Water of Life), I talked about change over Deep Time, from the beginning of the planet onward, showing how the pace of change picks up over the course of time, and as the complexity of the system rises, ever more dramatic change becomes a near constant, and the Internet brings our human complex system together and enables changes that once we could only dream about.

Today, I'm focused on the dynamic between Change and holding on to More of the Same - MOTS. It's something we all deal with, every day. We either follow our routines, or we take on a new way of doing things, either actively choosing to do so, or passively reacting to a stimulus, when something from the outside steps in to make us react.

In fact, the United States is a nation constructed on a foundation of dynamic tension; when it comes to politics, Dynamic Tension is just another way of saying Balance of Powers. Having successfully broken free from the world's most powerful monarchy, our forefathers understood the need to have checks and balances against unfettered political power, so they built into the Constitution a system of government that had the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches watching and controlling each other. They also designed a system of federalism, whereby individual states maintained significant authority on some matters, and the federal government reigned in other areas where it was more appropriate. Finally, the private and public sectors have been locked in a system of dynamic tension ever since the first regulatory body was formed.

This structure has served us relatively well until recently, when it came under a strong challenge by the current occupants of the White House, who've sought to make the executive branch supreme under an argument labeled the Unitary Executive Theory. But as my topic today is the dynamic tension we face from a rapidly changing society, I'll leave discussion of this tangled mess for another day (see Unitary Executive v. Constitution for more on this topic, if you have the stomach for it.)

I mention the wisdom of the founding fathers, because the flexible government structure they gave us has served us well, with a few notable exceptions, the Civil War principal among those. The march of time puts all kinds of pressure on society, as the forces of change pull the nation forward, raising challenges to the status quo. But resisting that pull to change, the forces of inertia claim a hold on the present, challenging it to justify how the change would make things better than they are currently.

Inevitably, those who have less tend to favor change. While things can always get worse - never forget that one! - those who have little see change as an opportunity, hoping for a better world for their kids. Let's take a quick look at the forces of change.

Immigration is driven by this force, as immigrants physically relocate to find better fortune for themselves and their families. When they move into new spaces, they bring change with them and as their numbers grow, they challenge the status quo, transforming work forces and neighborhoods.

Entrepreneurialism has a similar impact on the business community, where entrepreneurs, like immigrants, take advantage of holes and gaps to solve problems, make a better world, and with any luck, create new fortunes. When they do what they do, they challenge the status quo in order to find a foothold for their new ideas.

Innovation is the lifeblood of technology and business. Evolution involves incremental technology advances, making familiar tools faster, more productive, more efficient. Revolution, on the other hand, changes the name of the game and rocks the playing field. In radical innovation we see the seeds for major change.

Complementing these three drivers of change are open societies and open access networks, the infrastructure that complements the open societal component. In his Creative Class series of books, Richard Florida writes about the three Ts (Talent, Technology, and Tolerance) that drive regional economic development, setting these forces for change in a receptive environment. (See also Wi Fi Mesh + the Birds and the Bees = Creative Class Attraction, What's Municipal Wireless Good For? The Whole Enchilada, and Chasing the Key Demographic for a Sustainable Future for more insight on how a hospitable environment can harness these drivers for positive change.)

The challenge of this debate between the Progressive forces of Change and the Conservative forces of MOTS is that they see the world in fundamentally different ways. Where Progressives tend to see Opportunities, Conservatives tend to see Threats. The challenge is that they are both right, and the healthiest societies embrace both and find harmony in the middle. I'm an Episcopalian, a member of a global church that trumpets the Middle Way between Catholicism and Protestantism.

Contrast if you will the balancing of Consensual Change and Consensual MOTS, a la the Episcopal Church - gradual and inclusive, with a focus on preserving the body while still moving forward - with Coercive Change a la the Bush, Cheney, and their unilateral move to a Unitary Executive and Coercive MOTS a la the actions of incumbent telecoms and cables and the FCC and their unilateral move to gain an Internet society via existing companies.

Consensus values the inputs of all parties at the expense of rapid change, while Coercion values the inputs of the few who are powerful, at the expense of the many who lack power AND ironically, at the expense of optimal progress (those who coerce are fine with moderate progress, or even regression, as long as they stay in charge). Those who would coerce Change or MOTS place more value on their own Wins than they do on those of the society or body at large, so coercion by definition provides fewer benefits to society in the long run.

I would argue that as we start to talk more openly and often about National Broadband Policy, we'll be forced to adopt a consensus model in order to move forward. It will take time to resolve differences and chart a path that is workable to all stakeholders - how much time will depend on the willingness of stakeholders to be open to others' viewpoints. And it must start by discrediting coercive means that exploit power positions, which are by definition inefficient, as they leave valuable contributers on the sidelines.

Any student of sports knows that a winning team must play both Offense and Defense. I learned from coaching Pop Warner football that good offense is about taking advantage of your own strengths, while good Defense is about exploiting an opponent's weaknesses. But you need both to win consistently, and especially, you need a good Defense to win championships. And, you need a team attitude to harness all the resources of the team, to get them to work together. We lack a team attitude in the United States right now, as we see our opponents within, instead of focusing on other regions in the world as our true opponents.

If Economic Development is a globally competitive arena (and it is), then shouldn't these sports metaphors hold true? Every region in the world competes with every other for location of jobs, industry, and talent. Some lucky regions have inherent cultural and geographic advantages, while most others don't.

In this analysis, then, Broadband Infrastructure becomes an enabler for regional economic development. With the best infrastructure, a region can offer those it seeks to attract something they can't get elsewhere.

Logic argues then that regions and stakeholders that fall in the Progressive camp, seeking change and new opportunity, should take a look at the potential of Broadband Infrastructure to advantage them over the competition, the sooner the better, and they should actively and loudly promote Consensus and Initiative.

Conversely, regions and stakeholders that fall in the Conservative camp, wishing to preserve what they have and keep the forces of change at bay, have alternatives:

1. They can fight to maintain the status quo, preserving current value equations - which not only has short-term advantages but also long-term consequences.
2. They can relax and let the status quo proceed as it will, which will result in moderate, slow change, but will inevitably put them behind in Broadband Infrastructure.
3. Or they can actively pursue consensus amid open discussion of alternatives, and investigate the use of more advanced Broadband Infrastructure to build incrementally on their current strengths and moderate the forces of change.

I would argue then that the forces of Conservatism, whether they be the US GOP, or repressive governments worldwide, or repressive religious regimes, are on the wrong side of history. They fight for short-term gain at the expense of their long-term future. Technology energizes the disenfranchised of the world and promotes change like never before.

Progressivism is on the rise because there is a need to react to changes and embrace a new world view. And, the forces of Conservatism have enjoyed a long reign in the US. If you believe in cycles, it's worthwhile to note that we've been in this particular cycle since Reagan ascended in 1980, that's 27 years, or a whole generation, if anyone is counting. Sure, we had a brief hiatus under Clinton, with glimpses of progressive change, but the GOP Congress mitigated any progressive ideas they sought to launch - see the Hilary Health Care Plan, for instance, ridiculed for its faults, instead of embraced and improved as a model for change - the problems have only worsened in the ensuing years, however flawed the first model for change was.

If we accept that Change is inevitable when it comes to technology in general, and broadband infrastructure in particular, then the Middle Way of Consensus between Progressives and Conservatives will lie in the former accepting slower more moderate change and the latter accepting change as a necessity, making it into a positive instead of a negative (see Option #3 above). Progress in this area will start with each side acknowledging the need to engage in dialogue in pursuit of consensus and the right of the other side to have a seat at the table.

That's a first step role tailor-made for governments, by the way, a better way for them to lead than is to engage in what some may see as risky adoption of new technologies and business models. I fully support cities moving when ready to adopt new technology, and some cities are more ready than others to take this next step. But I'm promoting public sector leadership in forging consensus and collaboration, above all else, because all local, regional, state, and federal governments are ready for this role. Such working together will naturally lead to new technology adoption, in time and in ways appropriate for each region.

The winds of Progressive change are blowing - how it will unfold remains to be seen, but we'll get a clearer picture with the first Primaries in 2008...When it comes to Broadband, stay tuned to this website and raise your Network IQ, because at some point, if progressive trends continue, they'll start to influence the broadband equation and we'll see more movement in these areas as well.

Posted on November 15, 2007 at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

Time to Challenge Some Bad Thinking about the Role of Government

First law on holes - when you're in one, stop digging.Denis Healy

Denis Healy was a smart man, we should abide by his advice.

Sometimes I feel that we are a nation sleepwalking into our future. It's almost like one can predict what some politicians will say - regardless of the facts or the reality on the ground. I'm reminded of the dolls that passed for high tech in the 1960s, with a pull string that said one of three not-so-random pre-recorded phrases. Just pull the string and listen, but also understand what they are not saying, but thinking in those little cartoon bubbles above their heads.

"Don't Listen to those Tax and Spend Liberals! Elect me and I'll lower your taxes!" (And then let's all sit back and watch as our federal deficit mounts, our national debt soars, and our dollar weakens so that we can't afford to travel abroad or bring in imports. Let's watch as our social services go unfunded, our roads crumble, our bridges collapse, our schools go to hell, and our dollars flow to the very petro-rich authoritarian states that we're warring against - see Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. And please, be sure to look the other way as your hidden fees go up - license plates, phone bills, electric bills, etc. - fees aren't taxes, after all! I'll leave it to my successors to raise taxes, suckers...)

"Big Government is the Problem! Elect me and I'll make government smaller" (Only, I won't. I'll cut social service spending to the bone, not fund children's health care to be sure, and I'll certainly cut budgets in regulatory agencies. But I'll also be sure to add tremendously to our military spending, while not accounting for expenses, not bidding out contracts to get the best price, and turning a blind eye to corruption. I'll also look away as natural disasters cause immense damage that we're ill-prepared for - because, well, because big government is the problem, not the solution!)

"Let the Free Market Take Care of Us, Just Get Government Off Our Backs!" (I'll make sure that the free market is there to take care of its shareholders and management first. Got to take care of my friends in the free market, because I'll be heading that way when I'm done with my government "service." But I'll turn a blind eye to areas where the free market is slow to act, if it acts at all. I'm not all that concerned about addressing issues that have a tremendous impact on all of society, like Traffic Congestion, Clean Air, Clean Water, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Oil Spills and other Environmental Damage. Those issues are big headaches, to be sure, so I'll leave those for someone else to deal with - my successors - suckers.)

Let me say it in bold - as a society, we should have figured out these truths by now. Deep in our hearts, we know this is true.

* Government is not THEY, it is US.
* Government is the means by which we act together to address our common problems, to forge a society that is worth living in.
* Government is only a Problem if we let it be - it can still be a Solution if we make it be. We are in charge, still, believe it or not - we just need to reward adult thinking and send those public officials and political candidates who lie to us back into the private sector.
* Taxes are like a shared donation to address our common problems, a shared duty, just like supporting your church budget is a shared duty, like pulling together to support your family is a shared duty. Problems don't get solved if there is no budget to pay for solutions.
* The Free Market is a wonderful thing, but it is not a panacea - it leaves behind gaps that only government can fill.

Our society has evolved to a point where the message that we heeded long ago (cut taxes, reduce government, turn to the free market) maybe had some relevance - long ago. But what worked 20 years ago no longer seems to be working. Things have gone too far. Our cures have become our problems. Down is indeed Up, Up has become Down. It's time to stop, re-evaluate, and correct. We are not robots marching to orders on a treadmill, nor are we inert boxes moving forward on an assembly line, nor are we helpless victims waiting for the next bad thing to happen to us.

We are free-will actors, with all the tools and resources we need to turn things around. What we lack is the will to act, the leadership to tell us the truth, and the courage to call a Spade a Spade, to challenge Falsehoods peddled as Truths. We lack the will to Change, but it's not too late.

The road to a better tomorrow begins with reclaiming our brains and observing the realities of nature - the signs are all around us that our current solutions are old and tired, no longer effective or appropriate for the new problems that the 21st century throws our way.

Let's start by letting go of our old thinking. Go ahead, grieve over the loss, but for Pete's Sake, let go of behaviors that don't work.

And let's start by shedding these labels of Liberal and Conservative. I'd prefer Smart and Dumb. Let's accept solutions that make sense. Let's listen to leaders who tell the truth, whether it's hard to hear or not. Let's be as smart as we know we really are, and let's resolve to stop those behaviors that hurt us.

Folks, we're in a hole, we should stop digging long enough to figure out how to get out!

Posted on November 14, 2007 at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)

When Big Government Thinks Big, Big Things Get Built

Infrastructure is under the microscope, in particular, government's role in infrastructure, in an OpEd piece in today's New York Times. It's about time, is all I can say.

In today's society, we so disregard infrastructure, it's as if we assume that infrastructure is like so many mushrooms after a good rain, just popping up all over from out of nowhere. Au contraire. By definition, infrastructure must be planned for, financed, built, and then maintained, if it is to be the effective foundation of an economy that it is intended to be. It's as boring as the day is long, and easily overlooked, but just go ahead and neglect it and see how it gets your attention.

The story of the 1930s public works programs is timely again, because much of America is falling apart. The deadly collapse of a Minnesota highway bridge in August shined a light on the poor state of the nation's bridges, many thousands of which are "structurally deficient" by federal standards. Georgia's failure to build enough reservoirs has contributed to a water crisis that could cripple metropolitan Atlanta. We should be thinking today about replicating some of the successes of the Depression-era programs. Public Works: When 'Big Government' Plays Its Role

I couldn't agree more. I've been talking about broadband as infrastructure for some time now, and I'm starting to hear some confirmation from other parts that it should be regarded as such. This article led me to reflect, a little.

For a few months back in 2005, I did my own little part to promote progress, working with various interested parties (Tropos, Patton Boggs, etc.) to help stem the tide of anti-municipal wireless legislation in state legislatures across the nation. I'd stress the little part out of deference to those who carried much heavier loads, but still, I was involved and in the thick of things. In the face of recent pullbacks in this industry, it almost seems quaint then to reflect that 2.5-3 years ago, large telecom and cable companies actually acted as if they were threatened by a rising tide of municipal wireless projects and pushed for laws to ban municipal ownership of communication infrastructure. It didn't work, for the most part, but the process was revealing in oh, so many ways.

The argument against government ownership rested largely in the philosophical proposition that private sector companies, even huge ones with dominate market power, should not have to compete against the same government entities that regulate them, or at least, grant them franchise rights - that would be inherently unfair and un-American. Oh, and also, government projects are by definition inefficient and its workers incompetent, and since telecom is a complex arena, getting the government involved would just muck it up. What's more, when we look at examples of municipal projects, they're messed up and there's a risk of losing big money on them. Finally, we were told that the private sector was already executing on a plan to deploy broadband, so we should all just be patient and calm down.

These guys pulled out the stops, using their powerful lobby influence and astroturfing in attempts to wage a war of public opinion. I have rich memories