SHELLY PALMER REPORT: U.S. Digital Deficiency Jeopardizes 'Super Power' Status

Children born in America this year will be the first true Digital Natives of the Information Age They will grow up in a time when all of their telecommunications tools video voice and data are based completely upon digital technology It is an interesting historical footnote to be sure But it made me wonder amp8220What will their rights be as Digital Citizens of the United States Does our public policy contemplate a future constrained by the agendas of big business or will it position America to truly prosper in the global information economyAn average broadband connection in the United States is 15 Mbps down and 768 Kbps up about enough speed to watch a fairly low resolution streaming video or do some casual web surfing Cable modems are faster and you can certainly purchase more connectivity if you can afford it But on average consumers are offered asymmetrical faster downloadslower upload broadband connections and no one seems that unhappy about it They should beA child born in Korea or Singapore this year will be a digital native of their respective countries They will grow up in a time when all of their telecommunications tools video voice and data are based completely upon digital technology And they are very likely to start their journey through the Internet with 100 Mpbs symmetrical broadband connectionLetamp8217s see American Digital Natives 15 Mpbs other competing countries 100 Mpbs You donamp8217t need to be a technologist or a mathematician to do this calculation They have 100 of something we have 15 of They can move information much faster than we canIn practice this is a real problem Information currency This is well understood If you have exclusive information you can easily convert it to cash As ever the flow of information equates to economic success So it logically follows that the faster one can move information the more successful one is likely to be From battlefield to Bloomberg terminal this is an immutable law of the doing of life How long can America maintain its Super Power status in the Information Age The simple answer is only as long as its digital citizens have the ability to move information faster than any competitive entity in the global information economyAmerica is used to being amp8220theamp8221 Super Power This term once reserved for our military industrial complex has been broadened by common usage to refer to all of our technological prowess amp8220American Technologyamp8221 is widely regarded by average American citizens as the best in the world Many would argue that we have already abdicated this role but assuming weamp8217re still at or near the top amp8211 how long can we stay thereWe need to understand that other countries around the world do not have legacy infrastructure owned by private companies Our private enterprises with private agendas are tasked with helping our Digital Citizens compete with foreign governments and their public agendas Our side is thinking about corporate profits their side is thinking about global competition in the Information AgeOn February 17 2009 analog television will cease to exist It will be replaced with digital television To facilitate the switch the government gave licensed broadcasters the rights to new amp8220digitalamp8221 airwaves and put their old amp8220analogamp8221 airwaves up for auction The big winners were Americaamp8217s two largest telecommunications companies Verizon and ATampampT Although it sounds like business as usual big telecommunications companies buying up digital spectrum this is anything but business as usualThe groundwork has now been laid for Americaamp8217s digital telecommunications future Our access to bandwidth and our ability to move information around the Internet is now firmly in the hands of a very few organizations What if anything should we do about itIt is time to start a public policy debate on this issue What are our rights as Digital Citizens of the United States Are we entitled to highspeed wireless on par with other countries Should we have the right to use the public airwaves to create private mesh networks Will we get to use the amp8220white spaceamp8221 in the television spectrum to create truly public unlicensed applications Will we as a nation have a public policy that allows America to compete with other digital superpowers or will we become a country of digital havenots unable to compete in a larger worldThis is an extraordinarily complex issue and it is well beyond the capabilities of any one individual to think through What I propose is a series of public policy debates Weamp8217ll bring together representatives from all areas of the telecommunications space and government and together weamp8217ll draft a comprehensive policy recommendation that we can bring to the leadership We need to articulate a clear vision for our technological future and we need to start right now You can help To get involved please visit wwwshellypalmercom and join the US Digital Citizenship mailing list We are putting together a series of Digital Citizenship workshops and conferences at major trade shows We would welcome your participationShelly Palmer is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked TV 2006 Focal Press Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences NY the organization that bestows the coveted Emmyamp174 Awards He is the ViceChairman of the National Academy of Media Arts ampamp Sciences an organization dedicated to education and leadership in the areas of technology media and entertainment Palmer also oversees the Advanced Media Technology Emmyamp174 Awards which honors outstanding achievements in the science and technology of advanced media You can read Shellyamp8217s blog here Shelly can be reached at shellypalmernet

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SHELLY PALMER REPORT: U.S. Digital Deficiency Jeopardizes 'Super Power' Status

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