Direct Democracy: Are You Ready for the Democracy Channel?
Any legitimate ETM [Electronic Town Meeting] must be based on the New England town meetings of yore, when ordinary citizens debated the issues of the day and then voted yea or nay.
Archives: Expert Predictions
Direct Democracy: Are You Ready for the Democracy Channel?
Madison and Hamilton might retch at the vision of sofa spuds choosing to ratify or eradicate NAFTA with a click-click of their remote controls or a beep-beep of their touch-tone phones. Our Founding Fathers, in their white wigs, feared that the lower classes would vote to seize their property. So they intentionally created a representative republic, not a full-fledged democracy, to keep power out of the hands of the masses. But others at the Constitutional Convention were notably less paranoid. Thomas Jefferson might find electronic town meetings an absolute scream.
Direct Democracy: Are You Ready for the Democracy Channel?
Mixing television, politics, and interactive electronics could be a formula for either new public enlightenment or a country run by push-button impulse. It all depends on how the concept is executed. No doubt, it will run into some opposition.
Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy
There is concern among advocates of broadband networks, coming from both technologists and policy-makers, that ISDN is a dangerous diversion on the path to fiber. In reality, most of the money needed for ISDN has already been spent or committed to upgrades for digital switches in central offices. At issue is the availability and pricing of the service. ISDN is likely to find its place as a service for the last mile.
Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy
The Jeffersonian ideal – a system that promotes grassroots democracy, diversity of users and manufacturers, true communications among the people, and all the dazzling goodies of home shopping, movies on demand, teleconferencing, and cheap, instant databases – is composed of high bandwidth, an open architecture, and distributed two-way switching. It’s our choice to make. Let’s not blow it.
Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy
Without junk, there is less of a chance for real quality to emerge. Let the marketplace of ideas rule.
Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy
Provision of a national video infrastructure would mean a shift from an ecology of a small number of instances of high quality to a large number of instances of varying quality. Over time … the average quality of production will increase … The design of the broadband network will make the crucial difference in whether goals of promoting diversity are met.
Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy
If users have more control over the uses of the networks, these new opportunities are more likely to get the early nurturance they need to turn into big, recognizable business opportunities. To accomplish this, we should consider a process for setting aside experimental frequencies on broadband networks for developing significant new uses.
Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy
Universal service is the baby that must not be thrown out with the bath water of a dysfunctional regulatory system. In truth, no one knows how to accomplish this yet. It is therefore imperative that, in the public policy debate about broadband networks and increasing competition in local phone and cable service, the right to service must be given priority.
Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy
The Jeffersonian option requires a commitment to openness in all of its dimensions. We should be paying attention to issues of openness today because while it is easy to build openness into networks, it is difficult to add it after the fact. Policy makers and business leaders need to ask themselves these key questions before committing to any one path: Who has access to the network? Is it affordable? … Who can put content onto the system? … Will novel uses of the network be allowed to develop? … Where do services originate? … Will system specifications and interfaces be publicly available and defined in an open process?