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April 2016

Journalism isn’t dying. But it’s changing WAY faster than most people understand.

[Commentary] There's a tendency to assume the future of media is an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you report the "what" or you spend your time putting rubber bands on watermelons and turning optical illusions into web traffic bonanzas. False choice -- and one that serves as a conversation stopper in a conversation that we in journalism badly need to have.

Truth: We need to do both the "what" and the "so what/now what" of journalism. But as the audience for the "what" continues to be harder and harder to capture (and, less fun to talk about but no less true, monetize), we need to also understand that the best way to get people addicted to our content may be to spend more time and energy on the "so what" and "now what" sides of the journalistic equation.

How Facebook Could Tilt the 2016 Election

Over the past two years, journalists have discovered the incredible power wielded by Facebook’s News Feed. The feature can divert massive amounts of money and attention to news sites. Detecting changes in how News Feed works is notoriously hard: In today’s New York Times, web publishers fret that they are rarely sure whether drops in traffic from News Feed are felt across the industry or only happening to them. But there is an easier way that Facebook (or a few rogue engineers) could change American history, and it would be even trickier to verify.

Since 2008, Facebook has displayed an “I Voted!” button on every major election day. If you tell Facebook you voted, your name and picture appear near the button when other friends view it. Facebook encourages your friends to go out and vote as well. Social pressure like this can be quite potent, and the company has often deployed this button for experimental ends. In 2010, researchers at the University of California used the button and internal Facebook data to conduct a “61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization.” They found that someone was 0.39 percent more likely to vote if they were told by Facebook that their friends had voted. Because of the social ripple effects of this, they concluded that more than 340,000 additional votes were cast in that midterm election because of the “I Voted!” button. If Facebook’s effects on voter turnout are as large as this research suggests, then Facebook could easily skew the 2016 election.

New E-Rate Toolkit Helps School Systems Meet Connectivity Needs With Fiber

A new toolkit will give school system leaders the guidance to leverage the expanded fiber connectivity opportunities in the federal E-rate program. Produced by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, Maximizing K-12 Fiber Connectivity Through E-Rate: An Overview comes at a time when schools are feeling a bandwidth crunch. A recent CoSN survey revealed that 68 percent of district technology officers believe their school systems do not have the bandwidth to meet their district’s connectivity demands in the next 18 months. K-12 broadband demands, meanwhile, are growing at an annual rate of more than 50 percent. The toolkit comprises three parts:

Part One, which provides an overview of the E-rate program and the types of fiber eligible through the program. Through case studies, it also shares how three school systems managed their fiber connectivity challenges.
Part Two, which describes important considerations for schools to assess their options. It also includes an additional case study that details how a school district’s E-rate reimbursement for a fiber “self-build” could support wider fiber build-out.
Part Three, which issues a call to action for school systems to begin taking measurable steps toward deciding on and making effective use of today’s fiber connectivity options.

“Communities across the nation need world-class Internet access. The expanded options for fiber network construction allowed under E-rate make it particularly important for school, municipal and county leaders to coordinate with one another,” said David Talbot, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and co-author of the toolkit.

Technology is helping Verizon ride out one of its biggest strikes ever

Verizon's worker strike is about to enter its second week as tens of thousands of employees, outraged about the telecommunication company's efforts to outsource jobs and redeploy labor from one part of the country to another, remain on the picket line. But a decision Verizon made at least two years ago to cut the human out of many customer interactions is blunting some of the strike's effects, company executives say. The technology-driven shift — from hold music and long wait times toward instant, digital self-service — could give Verizon a greater ability to withstand one of the biggest walk-offs in company history. And that may have implications for continuing negotiations between union leaders and management.

In 2014, about 1 in 5 customer service interactions was resolved by customers themselves using Verizon's website or its interactive phone menus, Senior Vice President Tami Erwin said. The figure covers home network and router troubleshooting, as well as requests ranging from billing inquiries to bundling upgrades. Today, even more customers are clearing up their service issues without the aid of a human agent. Customer self-service now accounts for more than 60 percent of all service transactions, Erwin said.

Remarks of FCC Commissioner Clyburn at 2016 California Telehealth Network Annual Summit

While broadband is completely changing when, how, and where medical care takes place, a persistent digital divide too often means that millions lack access to these advanced offerings which in turn means that all of us will be denied those benefits. In the past, I have spoken about the Federal Communications Commission’s three-pronged approach when it comes to addressing these issues: universal access, spectrum allocation, and collaboration. Today, I would like to share what I trust are novel thoughts, on how we can strengthen and expand our efforts to meet the needs, of both consumers and health care stakeholders today and for the future. Ultimately, this all starts with ubiquitous access to broadband, without which none of this would be possible.

The FCC's Connect2HealthFCC Task Force is also working to better understand local broadband health care ecosystems and what gaps and challenges remain. In the next month or so, The Task Force plans to launch a nationwide mapping tool that takes a unique approach to overlaying and integrating broadband and health data, down to the county level. For example, the map will help us to better understand where infrastructure gaps, poor health outcomes, and limited health care access coincide. At the end of the day, we all have to prioritize and it is critical to identify the areas, where public/private partnerships can get the biggest bang for the buck.

FirstNet seeing 'multiple different' possible carrier partners, won't delay RFP deadline anymore

FirstNet President T.J. Kennedy said that the organization is seeing interest from "multiple different partners" for its network partner request for proposal, which is why FirstNet has extended the deadline for the RFP twice now. However, he said that the industry shouldn't expect another delay to the RFP. "I wouldn't necessarily expect further extensions going forward," Kennedy said here during a keynote presentation at the Mobile Carriers Show.

The event, from the Competitive Carriers Association, brings together the nation's smaller and rural wireless carriers, some of which may well be bidding on FirstNet's RFP. Kennedy added that FirstNet's rollout schedule is "extremely aggressive." The association plans to move forward quickly to reach its goal of beginning initial deployment of a nationwide LTE network for public safety starting around August of 2018. FirstNet expects to name the winner or winners of its network partnership RFP by November 2016. "We believe it's absolutely necessary that we move in a rapid fashion," Kennedy said.

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