February 2010

Study links online transparency efforts, trust in government

The first-ever quantitative assessment of online open government efforts has concluded that the perceived transparency of federal Web sites drives trust in government.

ForeSee Results, a market research firm, conducted the study, which was slated to be released publicly on Tuesday. Nextgov was briefed on the results by ForeSee Results. Over the past year, many organizations have tracked the amount of previously undisclosed information that agencies are posting online. Earlier this month, the White House began tracking compliance with the president's open government directive. But no one has measured the effects of Web-based disclosure on American public opinion. The longstanding approach to quantifying transparency has been, "well let's measure how much data they put out there," said Larry Freed, ForeSee Results' president and chief executive officer. "To me, that's not measuring transparency. That may be measuring confusion." Freed opted instead to survey citizens on their reactions to government Web sites, using the model of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, for which ForeSee Results also collects data. Researchers asked users questions related to how thoroughly the sites disclosed information about what the agency is doing, how quickly information was made available online and how accessible that information was on the sites. The answers were then run through the ACSI statistical engine to generate a score on transparency.

Public Knowledge Proposes New Copyright Reform Act

Saying that, "We need a bolder vision that starts to break down the barriers to free culture - that starts to break the vise grip the few and powerful have on ownership," Public Knowledge President and Co-Founder Gigi B. Sohn announced a new five-part Copyright Reform Act. Sohn said the discussion draft for the model legislation proposes five changes that "are to intended update copyright law for the digital age and in doing so tip the balance back in favor of the constitutional mandate that copyright protection 'promote the progress of science and the useful arts.'"

The general topics for copyright change are to:
1) strengthen fair use, including reforming outrageously high statutory damages, which deter innovation and creativity;

2) reform the DMCA to permit circumvention of digital locks for lawful purposes;

3) update the limitations and exceptions to copyright protection to better conform with how digital technologies work;

4) provide recourse for people and companies who are recklessly accused of copyright infringement and who are recklessly sent improper DMCA take-down notices; and

5) streamline arcane music licensing laws to encourage new and better business models for selling music.

Google Sees Facebook, Amazon, Kayak As Competitors

On February 12, Google filed its 2009 annual report, which for the first time named social networks like Facebook, e-commerce sites like Amazon and vertical search engines like WebMD as competitors. Google's previous annual report named only software maker Microsoft and Internet giant Yahoo as "primary competitors," even though it acknowledged competition from unnamed start-ups and established companies that are enhancing or developing search technologies. Google's expanded list of rivals reflects its growing ambitions and highlights the emergence of social networks on which many users increasingly rely for product or service referrals, rather than seeking information through traditional search engines. Also named were review and recommendation Web site Yelp and micro-blogging service Twitter.

Health IT Jobs Outlook Bright

Most new health information technology jobs over the next five years will be filled by consultants and application trainers, a survey of IT professionals showed.

In addition, the survey conducted by the American Society of Health Informatics Managers found that 90% of the respondents believed that employers were looking for people with both IT and healthcare experience and knowledge. Fully 96% of the respondents believed that the number of new health IT jobs that will be created between now and 2015 will fall between 50,000 and 200,000.

Viewing the Mouse Tracks You Leave Behind

If you've ever wondered about the flow of your mouse around your computer screen, a free downloadable application, called "mouse pointer track," can help you follow these esoteric movements and turn them into a fascinating blur between art and information. The simple application was developed by Anatoly Zenkov, a Russian graphic designer and programmer, and has been downloaded tens of thousands of times since he first released it in late January this year.

Broadband: Our Enduring Engine for Prosperity and Opportunity

Speaking at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners conference in Washington (DC), Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski set an ambitious target to deliver 100 megabit per second Internet connections to more than 100 million households calling it the "100 Squared" initiative.

He said that the goal should evolve over time as technology and use patterns develop, and the plan will have milestones for ongoing review and updating. Other countries with broadband plans have universality goals ranging from 1 to 2 megabits. Our goal for universal service will be higher. He set the adoption goal at 90 percent -- up from today's 65 percent -- and said every child in America must be digitally literate by the time he or she leaves high school. The National Broadband Plan, Chairman Genachowski said, will set a course for a once-in-a-generation transformation of the Universal Service Fund -- cutting waste, driving efficiencies, and converting it over time to broadband support so that all Americans can enjoy the benefits of 21st century communications networks.

The plan will also include:

A recommendation for improving the highly successful E-Rate program -- which made Internet connections in America's classrooms and libraries a reality -- so that kids and teachers can have a 21st century educational experience that is the envy of the world.
A recommendation to modernize the FCC's rural telemedicine program to connect thousands of additional clinics and break down bureaucratic barriers to a telehealth future.
A recommendation to take the steps necessary to deploy broadband to accelerate a smart grid.
A recommendation to develop public/private partnerships to increase Internet adoption, and ensure that all children can use the Internet proficiently and safely -- with programs like NCTA's new A+ program playing a helpful role.
A recommendation to free up a significant amount of spectrum in the years ahead for ample licensed and unlicensed use.
A recommendation for lowering the cost of broadband build-out -- wired and wireless -- through the smart use of government rights of way and conduits.
A recommendation for creating an interoperable public safety network to replace the currently broken system.

Digital Nation: 21st Century America's Progress Towards Universal Broadband Internet Access

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration released a new report taking a first look at data collected through the Internet Usage Survey of more than 50,000 households, commissioned by NTIA and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in October 2009.

Since 2007, the data show that while virtually all demographic groups have experienced rising broadband Internet access adoption at home, historic disparities among particular demographic groups overall continue to persist.

Highlights include:

Broadband Internet access at home continues to grow: 64 percent of households have broadband access compared to 51 percent in October 2007.
Notable disparities between demographic groups continue: people with low incomes, seniors, minorities, the less-educated, non-family households, and the non-employed tend to lag behind other groups in home broadband use.
While the digital divide between urban and rural areas has lessened since 2007, it remains significant. In 2009, two-thirds (66 percent) of urban households and only 54 percent of rural households accessed broadband Internet service, compared to 54 percent of urban households and 39 percent of rural households in 2007.
Overall, the two most commonly cited reasons for not having broadband Internet access at home are that it is perceived as not needed (38 percent) or too expensive (26 percent). Besides these value and affordability concerns, Americans also cite the lack of a computer as a major factor. In rural America, however, lack of broadband availability is a more frequently-cited major reason for non-adoption than in urban areas (11 percent vs. 1 percent).
Households without any type of Internet access at home most commonly cite insufficient value, or no need, as the reason. In contrast, households that have dial-up access to the Internet as well as Americans who do not use the Internet in any location most frequently cite cost as the reason they do not have broadband access at home.
Despite the growing importance of the Internet in American life, 30 percent of all persons do not use the Internet in any location.

Tracking broadband data...

[Commentary] Something that's become increasingly clear as we've been drafting the National Broadband Plan is the need for good data on broadband: Where is it available? From how many providers? At what speeds? How many people subscribe? How robust is the competition? We've tried to gather and analyze all the data we can get our hands on, which has made us increasingly aware of the shortcomings of the data historically collected by the Commission. As a result, the Plan will include recommendations on improving FCC data collection, analysis, and reporting going forward.

Good data practices will help policymakers meet the Plan's goal of robust broadband access for everyone, as well as giving researchers and consumers more of the information they want.

This brings us to the FCC's latest report on broadband service, known as the High-Speed Report. The FCC has published this report twice annually for the past decade, based on data that carriers must submit using Form 477. Released on Friday, the report uses much better data now than in the past, reflecting improvements made by the Commission in 2008. However we recognize that the Form 477 data could still be improved. To take one example, the current report does not provide sufficient information to assess competition.

The FCC collects its data with a promise of confidentiality for provider-specific data, which requires that the data be aggregated for reporting purposes. Therefore today, in some of the maps in the Report, a provider is depicted as serving a census tract even if it has only a single customer there or serves only a small portion of a geographically large census tract. Because of this aggregation, the reported counts of "number of providers" cannot be interpreted as the number of competitors among which consumers can choose their broadband service. And even if they are available to the same customers, some of the offerings may not effectively compete - consumers may not view 768kbps DSL service as a close substitute for 6 Mbps cable modem service.

Furthermore, in some places in the report, high-speed connections are defined for historical reasons as 200 kbps - not really broadband by any current standard. Although this threshold has been chosen to be consistent with past reporting practices, it makes some of the report's maps showing ubiquitous coverage overly optimistic.

Finally, although we will be sharing as much data as we can with state regulators and mapping entities, as well as posting information online for researchers and the public, we recognize that the confidentiality requirements necessary for comprehensive data collection to some extent limit the analyses that third parties may be able to conduct.

[Sharon Gillett is Chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau and Paul de Sa is Chief of the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis]

Mobile Data, the Next Generation: High Speeds but at What Cost?

The next great leap forward in wireless broadband networks, a superfast technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE), is being hailed as a breakthrough that will transform the world's mobile operators into the lucrative gatekeepers of the on-the-go Internet. But despite its theoretical potential to redefine the online experience -- with download speeds many times faster than currently available -- many of the world's major carriers are holding back.

They are wary of repeating the mistakes of a decade ago, when billions were spent on equipment and licenses for third-generation networks, the current standard, only to see consumers largely ignore the technology until Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007. "Despite the benefits of the technology, many are wondering whether LTE will be a sustainable business," said Paul Gainham, director of service provider marketing at Juniper Networks, a maker of network routers and switches. The problems start with the cost of new networks, which range from the hundreds of millions to the billions. Aircom International, a London research firm, estimated a U.S. operator would pay up to $1.8 billion for LTE -- in the first year alone. A European operator faces $880 million in costs. There are also concerns over whether the network would deliver service that is that much better than that available, despite the potential speed. Some of the latest 3G networks, using a technology called HSPA+, can already deliver download speeds of up to 21 megabits a second, a vast improvement over the 2 to 3 megabits a second available in most home Internet connections, although not the 250 to 500 times LTE promises.

DNC Hiring a Social Networks Manager

President Barack Obama is looking for an official Twitterer. The Democratic National Committee's "social networks manager" job description says the position entails maintaining the President's accounts on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Mia Cambronero, who currently holds the job, "will be stepping down from my infamous role as 'Barack Obama's twitterer,'" she said in an email message posted to a listserv. "We're looking for someone who is available to start immediately." The new hire will work closely with the rest of the new media department to execute grassroots campaigns to advance the President's agenda for change, the listing says. Among the qualifications sought: "Ready to work hard; this isn't a 9-5 sort of job."

Benton

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