Welsh digital TV take-up outweighs broadband

By Marjorie Delwarde | 28 Apr 2006

Wales has the highest digital TV uptake in the UK but still lags behind in terms of broadband and mobile phones uptake, reveals the Communications Market Report for the Nations and Regions of the UK published by the communications regulatory body, Ofcom.

The report, which examines the availability, take-up and usage of mobiles phones, radio, digital TV and broadband-internet services, compares findings across Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and nine English regions.

Findings show that Wales has the highest uptake of digital TV (72 per cent as opposed to 65 per cent for the UK as a whole), mainly driven by the high take-up of satellite in the region.

However, according to Ofcom's finding, Wales is doing less well when it comes to other communication services. Due to its particular geography, Wales has lower availability of DAB digital radio as well as lower coverage and take-up of 2G and 3G mobiles than in the rest of the UK. 3G is being rolled out primarily in urban rather than rural areas.

The same goes for broadband. Despite good basic broadband availability, take-up remains lower than the rest of UK. 54 per cent of internet households in Wales have broadband as opposed to the UK average of 63 per cent.

Possible reasons might be that even though BT has enabled most of its exchanges, many premises are too distant from the exchange or are not suitable for delivery of broadband services. Poor quality of the networks was another issue raised in the report.

John Wilson, member and consultant of the Wales Broadband Stakeholder Group, points out that statistics can be misleading and challenges the data mined by Ofcom and their degree of meaningfulness. In the past, another market research house has come under criticism for surveying only a fraction of Wales in its broadband uptake research.

Meleri Thomas, external relations executive at Ofcom Wales, says: “We try to provide a snapshot for each region. The sample in Wales was smaller than the other regions but [...] I don’t think a bigger sample would have dramatically changed the present results. We kept a balance between rural and urban. We surveyed all parts of Wales, not only the South East of Wales.”

Wilson notes: “Issues of coverage like far distance from exchanges apply to any other region in the UK. The broadband agenda in Wales remains pretty much the same. The last mile or first mile agenda will always apply to Wales, because it is a dispersed remote and rural region. However, within a UK wide context, the Welsh government has been proactive in addressing the next generation agenda and defining broadband. The [Ofcom Digital Dividend Review] (DDR) may provide some solutions for Wales."

The DDR project will examine the opportunities arising from the release of spectrum following the switchover from analogue to digital.

Other findings from the Ofcom report show that 83 per cent of SMEs in Wales have or are in the process of gaining access to the internet and 47 per cent own or rent mobile phones.

Insight into UK's digital habits

Thursday, 27 April 2006, 11:49 GMT 12:49 UK
Insight into UK's digital habits

Family in a digital home
The survey assessed digital take-up of TV, radio and internet

Internet take-up and use is now higher in rural areas of the UK than in big cities, according to a survey of regional communication habits.

But the study reveals that rural users are often stuck with slow dial-up connections rather than the fast broadband enjoyed in urban areas.

Scotland tops the list of countries with access to broadband.

The study by communications watchdog, Ofcom, also examined differences in digital TV, radio and mobile phone use.

It found that people in the UK are now more likely to send a text than talk to a person on the phone.

Digital decisions

On average 28 texts are sent for every 20 mobile phone calls made every week.

People in Northern Ireland are the most prolific texters, thumbing on average 35 texts every week.

London is the only area to buck the trend, with people still preferring to talk than text.

Londoners also have one of the lowest take-ups of digital TV with just 58% of people from the capital using digital services, compared to 72% in Wales and the north-east of England.

QUICK GUIDE

Digital switchover

Only Northern Ireland's population of texters have a lower take-up of digital television services.

Those people that have taken the plunge into digital television tend to watch on average 19 hours per week.

People in Scotland watch an extra three hours of television while those in the south-west of England watch three hours less.

Digital radio use is harder to measure but estimates suggest that 79% of the UK now owns technology, such as a PC or set-top box, that would allow them to listen.

However, fewer than half (32%) of the people surveyed said they have access to digital radio. Ofcom say this indicates a "low awareness of set top box and internet functionality".

Digital divide

On top of television and texting, people in the UK also spend about 10 hours a week on the internet although Londoners again buck the trend, spending an extra four hours glued to their computer screens.

Digital radio
Digital radio can be accessed in many different ways

This could be in part because people in cities like London enjoy access to faster internet connections that allow people to view today's more sophisticated websites.

The report highlighted the gap in broadband services available to people living in rural areas, although there is a high demand for internet access.

It states that 61% of people living in rural areas now use the internet compared to an average of 57% across the UK.

However just 55% of rural households use a broadband connection compared to 63% nationwide. The highest number of broadband users live in London, the North West and North East.

This digital divide is despite another figure from British Telecom that says that 99.9% of premises in the UK are connected to a broadband exchange.

However the report says that "local technicalities such as distance from exchange or poor quality of networks," can affect the service that users access.

Welsh MP calls for faster standard broadband

Posted: Tue, April 4, 2006
Welsh MP calls for faster standard broadband

Roger Williams, MP for Brecon & Radnorshire, has called on the government to encourage the industry to increase the speed at which internet connections can be defined as broadband.

In a Westminster Hall debate on the issue, Mr Williams, who is Liberal Democrat spokesperson on rural affairs, questioned Alun Michael, minister for industry and the regions, about how broadband was defined and was told that 128kbps (Kila bits per second) was the Ofcom definition.

The standard for ADSL is 512kbps.

"To allow such a slow speed [128kbps] to be defined as 'broadband' is ridiculous," said Mr Williams.

He went on to say that the government should encourage the industry to move to universal provision of broadband "at a much higher speed".

"It is vital that people living and working in rural areas have access to broadband facilities fast enough to meet the demands of modern business. High-speed broadband is an essential tool for the diversification of the rural economy," he added.

It was recently announced that a new study is looking in to the feasibility of a large-area wireless broadband scheme for mid Wales, covering Aberystwyth and further afield.

The Mid Wales Partnership has published a report urging the development of such a system that could eventually be extended to cover Newtown and Welshpool.

The BBC 2.0

The BBC 2.0
Auntie on tap

Apr 27th 2006
From The Economist print edition

The BBC lays out ambitious plans for its future online

“UNLOCKING our archive is one of the biggest challenges we face and, potentially, one of the richest gifts we can give to the nation.” So declared Ashley Highfield, the BBC's head of new media, as the corporation outlined a vision for its future on the internet this week. Its most ambitious idea is to go “on-demand”, making the million programmes it has produced since 1937 available to viewers online, mostly for free. Soon it plans to introduce a new service, BBC iPlayer, to allow people to catch up on programmes they missed on its main channels.

Mr Highfield reckons that opening the vaults would be of huge cultural value. His grandfather, for instance, was a pilot who set long-distance flying records before the second world war, and his father hopes to find old footage of air shows at Hendon if the BBC's library is digitised. This week, as a first step, the BBC put a list of 946,614 TV and radio programmes on half a million different subjects up on the internet.

Those who pay licence fees would doubtless enjoy an on-demand Beeb. But the plan is controversial. Giving away programmes could deal a blow to commercial providers of video content. Under the BBC's new charter, Ofcom, the communications regulator, must examine any new service for its market impact. BBC iPlayer will be the first for inspection this summer.

Though the BBC's stated aim to nurture new media in Britain is laudable, says a person close to government, “there's a question over whether it's a pillow under the baby's head or stifling it.” This week the BBC said it would re-launch its website to include more material generated by users. It wants to become the “premier” destination for unsigned bands. Commercial firms already offer similar services—Rupert Murdoch's MySpace.com, for instance, has lots of new bands. Newspaper bosses say the BBC has been stifling their online efforts for years. So far the Beeb has so much money for its website that they find it hard to compete.

Opening up the BBC'S archive, mainly for free, could amplify the corporation's market-distorting effect. Lots of popular past programmes will suddenly be available alongside its current shows. People have a limited time to goggle, and if they spend it watching old BBC favourites such as “Smiley's People”, they will skip something else, which might include pay-TV or DVDs or TV financed by advertising. “Just as commercial business models are taking shape for on-demand television and new media, it would be a shame if a large free intervention by the BBC were to choke them off and stifle innovation,” says Mike Darcey, group commercial and strategy director at BSkyB, a pay-TV firm.

In practice, however, Ofcom may not find much evidence of potential market impact this year. That is partly because the video market is changing rapidly, and also because people will be able to access the BBC's archive only on their personal computers, for the time being. Commercial internet firms are not protesting. The likely outcome, says a media consultant, is that Ofcom and the BBC's governors will say yes to on-demand programming, but with conditions. The kinds of programmes that compete most directly with commercial products—drama and comedy, for example—may not be allowed.

Even within the BBC, according to a media executive, there is disagreement over the extent to which the BBC should make people pay for access to its library. Mr Highfield wants most of the archive to be free. But people at BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, want to use on-demand access to earn more from BBC content. Worldwide already gets money from a number of pay channels which show popular old BBC programmes, in partnership with Flextech, the content arm of Telewest, a cable company. It is unclear what would happen to these channels if the BBC were to open its archive.

The most effective limit on the BBC's expansion into new media may prove to be money. The Beeb has asked for a big annual increase in its licence fee to pay for it all. This week the government published an accountant's report which says that the BBC could get by with less. Auntie may find that she cannot afford to make quite as rich a gift as she would like.

Ofcom/ The Communications Market: Nations and Regions

[1]

a)


Ofcom
Press release
26|04|06
Ofcom publishes research on communications in the Nations and Regions of the UK


Ofcom today publishes its Communications Market Report for the Nations and Regions of the UK. Under Sections 2 and 3 of the Communications Act, 2003, Ofcom has a duty to secure a wide range of services to people living in the different parts of the UK.

The report, which forms part of Ofcom’s ongoing Communications Market research programme, examines availability, take-up and usage of internet, telecommunications and broadcasting services. It compares findings across Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the nine English Regions.

The research shows that Londoners spend the most on communications services. However, as a proportion of disposable income, London has one of the lowest spending levels and Northern Ireland and Wales are among the highest.

The report shows that availability, take-up and consumption of communications services are generally determined by social background and rural or urban differences. Satisfaction with electronic communications services is generally high across the different parts of the UK. However, the research reveals a number of areas where national or regional differences seem to affect availability, take-up and consumption.

KEY FINDINGS ACROSS THE UK
INTERNET AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

* Internet take-up (dial-up and broadband combined) in rural areas across the UK is higher than in urban areas. Urban areas have embraced broadband more quickly although rural areas are catching up.
* Levels of PC ownership, internet and broadband take-up (among internet households) in the Nations and Regions can vary by as much as 18 percentage points.
* BT data shows that 99.9% of premises in the UK are connected to a broadband enabled exchange. However, not all premises within these exchange areas are suitable for delivery of broadband services, particularly at higher speeds, due to local factors such as distance from the exchange.
* Approximately 97% of households in London are within 5km of the exchange. The figure for Northern Ireland is 74% and the UK average is 86%. Some 17% of UK households are within 2km of an exchange.
* Rollout of local loop unbundling (LLU) is occurring in urban areas first. UK wide, 44% of households and businesses are connected to an LLU-enabled exchange. Some 95% of London households and businesses are connected to an LLU-enabled exchange. The North West (63%) and both East and West Midlands (both at 49%) are next highest.
* Take-up of landlines in Scotland and Yorkshire and The Humber is lower than the UK average of 91%. In these areas, consumers rely more on mobile phones only for their calls.
* Across the UK, the number of texts sent exceeds the number of calls from mobile phones made per week, with people in Northern Ireland and the East Midlands sending the most texts. London is the only part of the UK where the number of mobile phone calls exceed texts.

BROADCASTING

* Wales and the North West of England have the highest take-up of digital television, both at 72%. London and Northern Ireland have the lowest levels of digital television take-up at 58% and 53% respectively.
* There are clear geographic differences in television viewing habits - people with digital TV in Scotland and the North East watch the most television in the UK (both at 28 hours per week) whereas those in London and Northern Ireland watch the least (at 23 hours per week).
* Programmes with a local flavour attract larger audiences in some parts of the UK – for example, Midsomer Murders in the West of England, Doc Martin in the South West of England, Heartbeat and Emmerdale in Yorkshire, Hogmanay Live in Scotland, Wales on Saturday in Wales, EastEnders in London and Coronation Street in the North West.
* Radio listening also varies geographically with the number of weekly hours spent listening to the radio highest in the South of England (at 26 hours per week) and lowest in the North East, Scotland and Wales (at 22, 23 and 23 hours respectively).

KEY FINDINGS IN THE NATIONS AND REGIONS
WALES

* Digital television has been widely adopted in Wales with higher than UK average take-up (72% compared with a 65% UK average). This is largely driven by higher satellite take-up.
* Despite the availability of a variety of sports programming on free-to-air television services, sport did not feature in the top ten programmes viewed across the UK in 2005. In Wales, however, four out of the top ten programmes were primarily rugby related.
* People in Wales rely more on mobile phones as their only means of making and receiving phone calls (13% compared with an 8% UK average). Mobile phone consumers in Wales are also more likely to use pre-pay mobile phones than the UK as a whole.

SCOTLAND

* A higher proportion (22%) of people in Scotland live within 2km of a broadband enabled exchange than the UK average (17%) and are therefore more likely to receive higher speed broadband services.
* The research indicates that people in Scotland rely more on mobile phones as the only means of making and receiving phone calls (11% compared with an 8% UK average).
* People in Scotland watch the most digital television in the UK at 22 hours per week.

NORTHERN IRELAND

* People in Northern Ireland send the most texts per week – 37 texts against a UK average of 28 texts – and listen to more hours of radio than the UK average.
* People in Northern Ireland rely more on mobile phones as the only means of making and receiving phone calls (12% compared with an 8% UK average).
* In Northern Ireland, with a high rural population, more people live further than 5km from a broadband enabled exchange than the UK average and are therefore less likely to receive higher speed broadband services (26% compared with a 14% UK average).

THE ENGLISH REGIONS

* The North West has the second highest percentage (63%) of households and businesses connected to a local loop unbundled telephone exchange in the UK, second only to London (95%).
* Digital terrestrial television availability is highest in the North West (94%) compared to a UK average of 73%.
* People in Yorkshire and The Humber rely more on mobile phones as the only means of making and receiving phone calls (16% compared with an 8% UK average).

Ofcom Chief Operating Officer Ed Richards said: “This is the first time that robust comparative data for the Nations and the English Regions has been brought together in this way. The analysis highlights a series of important challenges that will face industry, Ofcom and various tiers of government in the future.”

Ofcom is today also publishing supplementary reports for Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the English Regions. The full text of all reports can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/nations/

Source here

b)


The Communications Market: Nations and Regions - Wales

Foreword

This survey is part of Ofcom’s Communications Market series of reports. It examines availability, take-up and consumption of communications services across the UK, exploring how citizen and consumer interests are being met and how this picture varies by each of the nations and regions.

This report sets out the findings from the survey for Wales, setting them in the context with the UK as a whole and the other three nations ( England, Scotland and Northern Ireland). For the full findings of the survey, please refer to the main report The Communications Market: Nations and Regions.

We undertook this project to address stakeholder feedback that Ofcom’s work should take into consideration the differences between the nations and regions of the UK. The project is consistent with Ofcom’s duties to secure the availability of a wide range of electronic communications services throughout the UK, having regard to the different interests of people living in different parts of the UK and in rural and urban areas.

The survey considers the three basic communications platforms; telecoms (including telephone landlines and second and third generation mobile phones), internet (including broadband and high speed services) and digital broadcasting (including digital TV and radio). It explores the key patterns for these services as they apply to availability, take-up and consumption across the UK, amongst consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Most of the data in the report was collated from research undertaken in the second half of 2005, including Ofcom’s residential tracking study, the Media Literacy Audit and operator data for mobile phone, digital subscriber line ( DSL) and cable coverage.

This report should be seen in the context of a series of complementary research surveys to be published by Ofcom during 2006. These include the Media Literacy Audit, (the main report was published in March 2006 and the supplementary report on media literacy in the nations and regions is being published alongside this report), reports on consumer and SME engagement with digital services and the annual Communications Market report, (all to be published later in the year).

We believe that this report will provide a valuable resource for Ofcom, national, regional and local government and other stakeholders, to tailor their approach to national and regional differences in availability, take-up and consumption of communications services. A series of Rural, Regional and Remote seminars in the nations and regions will be held shortly after publication so they can be used as a forum for discussion of the research findings. Ofcom will then publish a final report which will assess the implications of the research findings on current and planned Ofcom work and, where appropriate, make recommendations.

It is our intention that the nations and regions survey should be repeated on a regular basis and supplemented, where appropriate, by further UK-wide research amongst ethnic minorities, disability groups and key age and social groups.

The full document is available below

* The Communications Market: Nations and Regions - Wales [pdf]
Full Print Version: see here

Source here


[2]

bbc.co.uk
Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 15:43 GMT 16:43 UK
Wales head of digital TV league

TV remote controls
The switch to digital will take place in 2009

More people in Wales have taken up digital television than in any other part of the UK, according to research by communications watchdog Ofcom.

It found 72% of Welsh homes with digital TV, against 65% across the UK.

The research also highlighted the differences between digital TV watching habits in Wales and the UK generally.

In the UK overall, none of the top 10 programmes contained sport, whereas in Wales, four of the 10 were sport-related, and all about rugby.

The report also confirmed that Wales continues to have among the lowest home internet usage in the UK.

One of the factors behind this could be that fewer homes in Wales have landline telephones than in other areas.

The Welsh are far more likely, at 13% compared to an average 8%, to rely on mobile phones as their only means of making and receiving calls.


Top 10 programmes in Wales, 2005 (digital viewers)
1. Eastenders
2. Rugby Six Nations
3. Coronation Street
4. I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here
5. Rugby Build-Up
6. Wales on Saturday
7. Rugby Union
8. Emmerdale
9. A Touch of Frost
10. Little Britain

But people in Wales primarily use the phones for emergency calls, and are more likely to use pre-paid mobiles.

Wales has the lowest mobile network coverage, with 79.8% of the country covered by all four networks, although 99.8% of the population can access at least one.

The report, The Communications Market: Nations and Regions, examined availability, take-up and usage of the internet, telecoms and broadcasting services. It sampled 4,426 adults across the UK, of whom 292 were from Wales.

Although digital TV take-up is high in Wales, the report noted that usage is mainly driven by higher than average satellite services.

Also, the proportion of homes receiving digital terrestrial television (DTT) via platforms such as Freeview is much lower than the UK average - 57% compared to 73%.


Rhodri Williams, director of Ofcom Wales

Everybody in Wales will have access to digital TV after switchover. Nobody who gets a quality picture at the moment is going to lose it

Rhodri Williams, Ofcom

With the switchover from analogue TV to digital in Wales scheduled for September 2009, there have been fears some viewers will be left behind.

However, Ofcom Wales director Rhodri Williams said the body set up to manage the switch, Digital UK, had the responsibility to ensure nobody would be unable to receive digital.

Media literacy

"Everybody in Wales will have access to digital TV after switchover. Nobody who gets a quality picture at the moment is going to lose it," he said.

The report noted that up to 204 relay transmitters in Wales needed to be converted to carry the DTT signal before switchover happened.

Although 59% of households in Wales have a personal computer, only 49% have internet access, and of that number, 54% use a broadband connection.

One aspect of the research focused on "media literacy". Welsh people were found to be less aware of internet issues and less internet literate than people in other parts of the country.

They were also more trusting of the medium, and more likely to give out personal information such as bank, credit card and mobile phone details.

Sue Balsom, the Ofcom content board's member for Wales, said knowledge of and access to communications services such as the internet were vital.

"If people don't know there is content there, and they can't find it, that raises huge citizenship questions," she said.

Source here


[3]

ovum.com
Annelise Berendt, Michael Philpott

Ofcom publishes Communications Market Report

Yesterday, UK regulator Ofcom published its Communications Market Report for the Nations and Regions of the UK, comparing the availability, take-up and usage of Internet, telecoms and broadcasting services across the country. Comment: The Internet statistics show two clear messages: the digital divide is still alive and kicking, and education is still the major barrier to greater adoption. Across all the UK regions, there is sizeable gap between the Internet adoption of the socio-demographic groups ABC1, and groups C2DE. The largest difference is in Northern Ireland, where 38% more people in the ABC1 group subscribe to an Internet service.

When asked why they had not yet acquired an Internet service as yet, a huge 81% of people stated 'no need/not interested' compared to only 18% who claimed it was too expensive and only 1% that did not have access to a PC and/or landline. This clearly shows that if this divide is to be closed, both service providers and government bodies should place greater emphasis on educating people on the benefits broadband Internet can provide.

On the broadcasting side, this is a timely reminder of the diverse make-up of the UK TV audience, whose local tastes vary along with propensity to try new technologies. Ofcom found that Wales and the North West of England have the highest take-up of digital television, both at 72%. London, in contrast, has one of the lowest levels of digital television take-up at 58%. If BT, which is set to launch its hybrid IPTV/DTT offering this autumn, is to "mop up" those who have not yet converted to digital TV - one potential target group for its service - then it would do well to look at these results closely when it comes to localised marketing campaigns.

The study also found geographic differences in TV viewing habits - people with digital TV in Scotland and the North East watch the most television in the UK (both at 28 hours per week) whereas those in London and Northern Ireland watch the least (at 23 hours per week). Furthermore, local content clearly counts - programmes with a local flavour were found to attract larger audiences in some parts of the UK. The tendency towards fragmented viewing patterns plays well to the strengths of IPTV and VoD services, but there will clearly be localised challenges in gaining consumer buy in to what is still a strange concept for some - getting TV from your telco provider.

Source here


[4]

Friday 28th April 2006
Digital divide splits Britain 10:29AM

The battle to broadband-enable the UK has largely been won according to a report by Ofcom. Almost every exchange in the country has been converted. Also, local loop unbundling is proceeding rapidly with almost half the country now able to choose an alternative supplier to BT.

After a battle that has lasted the best part of a decade, Ofcom now says that 99.9 per cent of domestic and business premises in the UK are connected to a broadband enabled exchange. There is a catch however. Not all premises within these exchange areas are suitable for delivery of broadband services, particularly at the higher speeds, due to local factors such as distance from the exchange.

Following another shaky start, local loop unbundling (LLU) is also picking up speed. Today, across the UK 44 per cent of households and businesses are connected to an LLU-enabled exchange. There are regional differences, though, with urban areas unbundled ahead of rural areas. Some 95 per cent of London households and businesses are connected to an LLU-enabled exchange with the North West at 63 per cent, and the East and West Midlands both at 49 per cent are next highest.

This tipping point for LLU will be good news for Carphone Warehouse, Bulldog, BSkyB and the host of other companies hoping to provide telephony, broadband and increasingly television services through the unbundled telephone

Given the pay rates in the capital its not surprising that Londoners spend the most on their communications services. However, as a proportion of disposable income, London has one of the lowest spending levels with Northern Ireland and Wales among the highest.

The survey also shows that the British have well exercised thumbs. On average the British send 28 texts per week and only 20 mobile phone calls. The findings were most pronounced in Northern Ireland where people send on average 37 texts per week. Only Londoners made more calls than texts.

However, before the urbanites get too smug, the report also reveals that Internet take-up (dial-up and broadband combined) in rural areas across the UK is actually higher than in urban areas.

Urban areas have embraced broadband more quickly although rural areas are catching up. Internet usage in rural areas covers 61 per cent of households compared with a national average of 57 per cent although only just over half have a broadband connection compared with a national average of 57 per cent. Partly this will be due to the fact that the urban areas were broadband-enabled first with rural areas only enabled some time later.

Cultural differences have made a difference to the development of digital Britain. For example, the biggest take up of digital television has been in Wales with a higher than UK average take-up of 72 per cent, compared with a 65 per cent UK average, largely driven by higher satellite take-up. The reason appears to be that while sport did not feature in the top ten programmes viewed across the UK in 2005, in Wales four out of the top ten programmes were rugby related.
Steve Malone

Source here

Insight into UK's digital habits

Insight into UK's digital habits: "Internet take-up and use is now higher in rural areas of the UK than in big cities, a survey suggests."

But the study reveals that rural users are often stuck with slow dial-up connections rather than the fast broadband enjoyed in urban areas.

Scotland tops the list of countries with access to broadband.

The study by communications watchdog, Ofcom, also examined differences in digital TV, radio and mobile phone use.

It found that people in the UK are now more likely to send a text than talk to a person on the phone.

Digital decisions

On average 28 texts are sent for every 20 mobile phone calls made every week.

People in Northern Ireland are the most prolific texters, thumbing on average 35 texts every week.

London is the only area to buck the trend, with people still preferring to talk than text.

Londoners also have one of the lowest take-ups of digital TV with just 58% of people from the capital using digital services, compared to 72% in Wales and the north-east of England.

QUICK GUIDE

Digital switchover

Only Northern Ireland's population of texters have a lower take-up of digital television services.

Those people that have taken the plunge into digital television tend to watch on average 19 hours per week.

People in Scotland watch an extra three hours of television while those in the south-west of England watch three hours less.

Digital radio use is harder to measure but estimates suggest that 79% of the UK now owns technology, such as a PC or set-top box, that would allow them to listen.

However, fewer than half (32%) of the people surveyed said they have access to digital radio. Ofcom say this indicates a "low awareness of set top box and internet functionality".

Digital divide

On top of television and texting, people in the UK also spend about 10 hours a week on the internet although Londoners again buck the trend, spending an extra four hours glued to their computer screens.

Digital radio
Digital radio can be accessed in many different ways

This could be in part because people in cities like London enjoy access to faster internet connections that allow people to view today's more sophisticated websites.

The report highlighted the gap in broadband services available to people living in rural areas, although there is a high demand for internet access.

It states that 61% of people living in rural areas now use the internet compared to an average of 57% across the UK.

However just 55% of rural households use a broadband connection compared to 63% nationwide. The highest number of broadband users live in London, the North West and North East.

This digital divide is despite another figure from British Telecom that says that 99.9% of premises in the UK are connected to a broadband exchange.

However the report says that "local technicalities such as distance from exchange or poor quality of networks," can affect the service that users access.

Murdoch group attacks BBC web relaunch

Murdoch group attacks BBC web relaunch: "Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate has accused the British Broadcasting Corporation, the state broadcaster, of using taxpayers' money to build a 'digital empire' that would compete with commercial rivals."

Murdoch group attacks BBC web relaunch
By Emiko Terazono and AP in London and Aline van Duyn in New York
Published: April 26 2006 20:47 | Last updated: April 26 2006 20:47

Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate on Wednesday accused the British Broadcasting Corporation, the state broadcaster, of using taxpayers’ money to build a “digital empire” that would compete with commercial rivals.

The BBC, which receives about £3bn ($5.3bn, €4.2bn) a year in public funding, has announced plans to relaunch its website.

Dubbed “Creative Future”, the list of improvements includes greater personalisation and more user-generated content on the BBC website. And following the success of rock groups such as Arctic Monkeys through MySpace.com, the corporation said it wanted to be “the premier destination for unsigned bands” through broadband, podcasting and mobile phone services.

The BBC has joined other media companies in trying to find ways to reach younger audiences, which appear to spend less time watching traditional television and more on the internet and playing games. These consumers are particularly important as they are among the most sought-after by advertisers.

Apart from user-generated content, the BBC is planning to launch a video-on-demand catch-up service called BBC iPlayer.

James MacManus, an executive director of Mr Murdoch’s News International, accused the BBC of “blatantly commercial ambitions” and of seeking “to create a digital empire”.

“Our view is that can only damage the development of commercial digital media,” he said. “This is being done with public money. It really is outrageous.”

Rival broadcasters have long complained that the BBC uses public money to fund programmes supplied by commercial operators, abandoning a public service remit in a chase for viewers.

The BBC is seeking to renew the licence fee – now £131 a year – that it receives from every television-owning household in Britain. The government is considering the broadcaster’s request for increases that would take the fee to £180 by 2013.

Moving into new areas will require more investment. Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, said: “A strategy which concentrates uncompromisingly on content of the highest quality costs a great deal more than one which mixes outstanding output with repeats and content of low ambition. That’s why the BBC’s bid for more resources to make quality content is the most important line in the whole licence-fee submission.”

But a report commissioned by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport says the BBC is unlikely to receive the increase in funding.

The report points out the low level of cost savings in the BBC’s content divisions and recommends a higher rate of return for its commercial businesses.

It also recommends that the government and the BBC agree on various targets before any licence fee settlement.

GNER speeds up Wi-Fi trains

GNER speeds up Wi-Fi trains: "Commuters who use GNER will soon be able to get Wi-Fi on all its services"

(...) While GNER's Wi-Fi is free for those travelling in first class, other passengers will have to pay. Like most commercial wireless services, GNER's offering is much more expensive than using a standard Internet cafe. Thirty minutes of access costs £2.95, an hour costs £4.95, and two hours costs £9.95.

BBC- Beyond Broadcasting

Press Releases
Creative Future - BBC addresses creative challenges of on-demand

Category: BBC; New Media

Date: 25.04.2006


The BBC today unveiled Creative Future, a new editorial blueprint designed to deliver more value to audiences over the next six years and turn the BBC's public purposes laid out in the recent Government White Paper into quality content for the on-demand world.



The plans build on opportunities created by new and emerging digital technologies and confront the challenges of seismic shifts in public expectations, lifestyle and behaviours and on building new relationships with audiences and individual households.



Ten teams have, for the past year, been exploring what the world may be like in 2012, what audiences may need and want and what the BBC needs to do about it.



Key recommendations include:



* Relaunching the BBC's website to include more personalisation, richer audio-visual and user generated content
* Create a new teen brand delivered via existing broadband, TV and radio services, including a new long-running drama and comedy, factual and music content
* Create easy access points for audiences via broadband portals around key content areas like Sport, Music, Knowledge Building, Health and Science
* Start commissioning more 360 degree cross-platform content
* Shift energy and resource into continuous news on TV, radio, broadband and mobile, making News 24 the centre of the TV offering, moving talent to it and breaking stories on it
* Improve the quality of Sports and Entertainment journalism and appoint a specialist Sports Editor
* Create one single, pan-platform BBC Music Strategy and develop big events like this Autumn's first BBC Electric Proms as well as more personalisation enabling people to create the equivalent of their own radio station
* Take entertainment seriously, learn from the world of video games and experiment with commissioning for new platforms
* In Drama – create fewer titles with longer runs, find creative space for outstanding writers and cherish the programmes audience love best like EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City
* In Comedy – improve the creative pipeline across all platforms, pilot more shows, find new talent and build the big hits for BBC ONE
* Give sharper age targets to the CBeebies and CBBC brands and integrate all children's content – including online and radio - under these brands
* Pilot a Knowledge Building online project called Eyewitness – History enabling people to record and share their memories and experiences of any day over the last 100 years



Delivering the Royal Television Society's Fleming Memorial Lecture this evening BBC Director-General Mark Thompson will say: "There's a big shock coming.



"The second wave of digital will be far more disruptive than the first and the foundations of traditional media will be swept away, taking us beyond broadcasting. The BBC needs a creative response to the amazing, bewildering, exciting and inspiring changes in both technology and expectations.



"On-demand changes everything. It means we need to rethink the way we conceive, commission, produce, package and distribute our content. This isn't about new services it's about doing what we already do differently.



"The BBC should no longer think of itself as a broadcaster of TV and radio and some new media on the side. We should aim to deliver public service content to our audiences in whatever media and on whatever device makes sense for them, whether they are at home or on the move.



"We can deliver much more public value when we think across all platforms and consider how audiences can find our best content, content that's more relevant, more useful and more valuable to them.



"I see a unique creative opportunity. This new digital world is a better world for public service content than the old one.



"Better because great content will now be available forever. Better because finding it will no longer depend on being in front of the TV or radio at exactly the right moment. Better because, in areas like Knowledge Building, the new digital media will allow a far deeper, richer offer than the BBC has ever been able to deliver before.



"There has never been a better moment to be a public service programme maker - there has never been a better moment to be a public service viewer, listener or user."



Mr Thompson said some of Creative Future could be achieved through existing resources, efficiencies and cutting overheads, but not all. "A strategy which concentrates uncompromisingly on content of the highest quality costs a great deal more than one which mixes outstanding output with repeats and content of low ambition.



"That's why the BBC's bid for more resources to make quality content is the most important line in the whole licence-fee submission. It's what the public wants and expects."



Mr Thompson had earlier told staff around the UK and internationally that the Creative Future plan provided a map for the on-demand future where compelling, content, easier navigation and greater audience understanding were essential. "We need to focus on making great creative content which our audiences love and is relevant to their lives. It is that simple."



But he also warned that unless the BBC worked harder to reach younger audiences and those that felt increasingly distant more effectively, the BBC could lose a generation forever.



"Audiences have enormous choice and they like exercising it. But many feel the BBC is not tuned into their lives. We need to understand our audiences far better, to be more responsive, collaborative and to build deeper relationships with them around fantastic quality content."



The plans have emerged from the year-long Creative Future project, sponsored by Mr Thompson and the BBC's Creative Director Alan Yentob.



The project has involved hundreds of people across the BBC, the independent sector and other industry partners, underpinned by one of the largest audience research and insight initiatives the BBC has ever undertaken.



Ten teams have, for the past year, been exploring what the world may be like in 2012, what audiences may need and want and what the BBC needs to do about it.



Two pieces of work around Audiences and the Beyond Broadcast world, which covered technology and market developments, informed and shaped thinking in all the other content teams - Journalism, Music, Children's & Teens, Sport, Drama, Entertainment, Comedy and Knowledge Building.



Key recommendations by genre



Journalism



A new pan platform journalism strategy, including mobile devices, is already underway, putting 24/7 news on the web, broadband, TV and radio at its heart for unfolding stories as well as analysis.



BBC News 24 has been moved centre stage on TV and key talent are moving to it.



Sport and Entertainment journalism will be improved. Responsiveness and authenticity are important qualities to audiences.



Current affairs will be reshaped and BBC News will work with the education sector to get BBC journalism into secondary schools across the country through initiatives like Schools Question Time.



Sport



Creating a BBC Sport broadband portal with live video and audio, journalism, specialist sports and interactive comment, which builds on the recent success of the Winter Olympics and reflects the diversity of sport across the nations and regions of the UK.



Launching a new flagship Sports News programme on TV, appointing a BBC Sports Editor and phasing out 'portfolio' programmes like Grandstand, a brand which no longer has impact, in favour of BBC Sport branded live events and highlights.



Music



For the first time, a single BBC music strategy across all platforms, with regular cross platform events like this Autumn's Electric Proms, including TV Music Entertainment and commissioning in Radio & Music.



The aim is be the premier destination for unsigned bands and to seize the opportunities of broadband, podcasting and mobile.



Kids & Teens



All children's output, including radio, online and learning will eventually be consolidated under the CBeebies and CBBC brands which will be given tighter audiences targets – up to 6 and 7-11 years respectively.



Create a broadband based teen brand aimed at 12-16 years, including a high volume drama, comedy, music and factual content.



Comedy



Developing the creative pipeline for comedy across all radio and TV networks – local and national - and kickstarting contemporary sitcoms by increasing the number of pilots, investing more in rehearsal time and script development, maximising access through new media and experimenting with bespoke content.



Improving training, nurturing talent, relaunching the comedy website and holding an annual BBC Comedy day for those involved in creating comedy for the BBC.



Drama



Intensifying the pace, energy and emotion of TV dramas, such as the award-winning Bleak House or The Street currently on BBC ONE, while continuing to cherish the big runners like EastEnders and Casualty that audiences love.



Creating more writer-led radio landmarks, opting for fewer TV titles with longer runs and higher audience value, supporting single dramas and writers and experimenting with the drama inherent in gaming and interactive – such as the online drama Jamie Kane.



Entertainment



Deliver more consistent, braver, high production value entertainment on Saturday nights on BBC ONE, plus at least two stripped entertainment events on the channel each year.



More effective piloting, cross media commissioning and closer collaboration with other genres like factual and leisure to build top shows of the future like The Apprentice - from factual entertainment.



Knowledge Building



BBC content which documents the world and inspires audiences to explore, learn and contribute should come as one proposition and be available permanently after transmission. Knowledge Building content should be as big an offer from the BBC as BBC News.



The appeal to people's interests and passions has a long term value so the BBC will rethink its approach, pan platform, to key areas like Natural History, Health and Technology.



It will also pilot Eyewitness – a national grid marking every day over the last 100 years –giving anyone with a story to tell about a particular day the chance to record and share their memories with others.



Consistent themes emerged across the different teams and shaped their recommendations



Cross platform content and commissioning



Building on big ideas and events that can work across platforms as well as on linear channels, while meeting specialist interests via on-demand.



It will mean a different approach to commissioning and integrating key output areas. This will mean following BBC News' multi platform example in Sport, Music, Children's and Knowledge Building content.



Stronger emotional connections



Audiences want more than facts. They also want to be seriously entertained through Drama, Entertainment and Comedy, but also through factual programmes.



Findability



On-demand means content has to have proper labelling (metadata) or it will be hard to find and of no long term value to audiences. Better search tools, branding and navigation are essential, as are clear portals for big content areas like Sport, Music, Natural History, Leisure and Health.



The Young



The audiences of tomorrow currently get too little of real value from the BBC. The BBC needs to think how it engages them and reflect their lives better.



Active audiences



Increasingly, audiences of all ages not only want the choice of what to watch and listen to when they want, they also expect to take part, debate, create and control. Interactivity and user generated content are increasingly important stimuli for the creative process.



Mr Thompson said these and more detailed recommendations in each area were just the beginning of creative renewal.



Mr Thompson said these and more detailed recommendations in each area were just the beginning of creative renewal and would be facilitated by other important initiatives.



These include: feeding more audience insights and research into the creative process and developing new cross platform measurements; also putting technology and its potential at the heart of creative thinking; developing a pan BBC rights strategy; launching a more powerful search tool as bbc.co.uk is upgraded, cracking metadata labelling as a priority and ensuring that the BBC is organisationally and culturally ready to make the Creative Future recommendations real.

===

+ Related

Creative Future - detailed press briefing here:

(...)

Knowledge Building – led by Pat Loughrey, Director, Nations and Regions



Knowledge Building is one of the BBC's core purposes. It's the content that comes in many guises – factual, specialist factual, learning, documentaries. It helps people explore their world and their interests, to learn more about it, interrogate and celebrate it.



Using the archive, appropriate partners and compelling new navigation ideas, the BBC could create a living bank of knowledge to be linked, clipped, rediscovered and built in to bigger ideas.



The BBC should become a generator – as well as a communicator – of knowledge as people make their own observations and contributions and share them with others. The term 'archive' could forever become obsolete.



Recommendations include:

* Knowledge and exploration could become as big an offer from the BBC as its News and Journalism.
* Rebalance the Knowledge Building portfolio to increase its relevance, responsiveness and modernity, increasing development towards underserved audiences and maximising ideas which have real scale and impact like Planet Earth and Super Volcano.
* Develop cross platform strategies and commissioning in key areas, eg science, history, arts, religion, leisure, health and technology
* Make all the BBC's Knowledge Building content findable and link it to all other relevant BBC content
* Strengthen and enrich BBC Knowledge Building with user generated content adding real depth to existing material
* Pilot Eyewitness – History enabling people to click on a grid covering the last 100 years and contribute their own thoughts, observations and stories from any given day in the last century.


===

BBC's Director of New Media & Technology defines vision for the future
Category: New Media; BBC
Date: 25.04.2006
Here:


'Find' relates to the next generation of navigation. "Metadata is the information that we hold about our programmes; if we want to unlock the archive, and enable people to search by programme or theme, then we are going to have to have awesome metadata," said Highfield.



"Unlocking our archive is one of the biggest challenges we face and, potentially, one of the richest gifts we can give to the nation.



"To this end, tomorrow we are publishing an experimental prototype which puts the entire BBC programme catalogue onto the Web for the first time, at open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue.

BBC Creative Archive

BBC Press Release

BBC Creative Archive pioneers new approach to public access rights in digital age

Category : BBC
Date : 26.05.2004


The BBC outlined the broader scope of its Creative Archive initiative for the first time today with the first meeting of a consultative external panel including other broadcasters and public sector organisations.



Panel members include Channel 4; the British Film Institute; the British Library; ITN; JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee); The National Archives; the Natural History Museum; the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council; senior figures from the independent production industry; BBC Worldwide and Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, chair of the Creative Commons project.



The BBC Creative Archive, first announced by former BBC Director-General, Greg Dyke at the Edinburgh Television Festival in August 2003, launches in autumn 2004 and will allow people to download clips of BBC factual programmes from bbc.co.uk for non-commercial use, keep them on their PCs, manipulate and share them, so making the BBC's archives more accessible to licence fee payers.



However, the initiative also has broader public service ambitions to pioneer a new approach to public access rights in the digital age.



Paul Gerhardt, Joint Director, BBC Creative Archive explains: "We want to work in partnership with other broadcasters and public sector organisations to create a public and legal domain of audio visual material for the benefit of everyone in the UK.



"We hope the BBC Creative Archive can establish a model for others to follow, providing material for the new generation of digital creatives and stimulating the growth of the creative culture in the UK."



Access to the BBC Creative Archive will be based on the Creative Commons model already working in the United States (www.creativecommons.org) which proposes a middle way to rights management, rather than the extremes of the pure public domain or the reservation of all rights.



Using the internet, it offers rights holders the opportunity to release audio visual content for viewing, copying and sharing but with some rights reserved, such as commercial exploitation rights.



So, in the case of audio visual material, the public are allowed increased access but the exploitation of the same material in the commercial arena by rights holders is protected.



The US experience suggests that this model can benefit rights holders by increasing the size of the market for their work.



"Should we be successful with our approach," says Paula Le Dieu, Joint Director, BBC Creative Archive, "we may be able to release, over time, more programme genres – sport, music, drama – and possibly longer formats to the public.



"We can build on the initial factual clips offered at launch by the BBC Creative Archive and offer a new public asset drawn from broadcast content for the whole UK."



Professor Lawrence Lessig, chair of the Creative Commons project, adds: "The announcement by the BBC of its intent to develop a Creative Archive has been the single most important event in getting people to understand the potential for digital creativity, and to see how such potential actually supports artists and artistic creativity.



"If the vision proves a reality, Britain will become a centre for digital creativity, and will drive the many markets – in broadband deployment and technology – that digital creativity will support."

Source here

BBC to shake up web with more interactivity

BBC to shake up web with more interactivity: "The BBC, already the UK's biggest online brand, signalled its determination to join the fast-growing web world of blogs, open access and online communities."

The public broadcaster said it would relaunch its website to feature greater personalisation and more user-generated content as it laid out its strategy to adapt to the so-called “web 2.0 world”, where users increasingly create their own online communities.

Following the success of rock groups including Arctic Monkeys through MySpace.com, the community internet site, the BBC also set itself the goal of becoming “the premier destination for unsigned bands” through broadband, podcasting and mobile phone services.

Outlining the strategy, Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director-general, said: “There is a big shock coming”, warning that unless the corporation worked harder to reach younger audiences and those that felt increasingly distant from the broadcaster, the corporation could lose a generation forever.

“We need to understand our audiences far better, to be more responsive, collaborative and to build deeper relationships with them around fantastic quality content,” he said.

Channel 4, the publicly owned but advertising-funded broadcaster, also extended its reach into community-led online offerings on Tuesday, saying it planned to launch a user-generated comedy broadband channel. This follows the earlier launch of a channel that allows audiences to post their own documentaries.

The changes reflect the rapid growth in internet sites dedicated to building up communities and that allow the exchange of information and content.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation was among the first big media companies to invest in such social networking sites, spending $580m (£324m) last year on MySpace, the biggest of the sites with about 70m users.

ITV last year bought friendsreunited.com, which brings old school and college friends together online.

The big question for the sites, which reflect the changing internet behaviour of those aged under 30, is how to make money from advertising.

So far, internet advertising is small relative to traditional advertising but it is the fastest-growing sector. Continuing shifts in behaviour, such as decreased television viewing, are expected to accelerate the shift from mass advertising to targeted marketing.

The increase in such digital experimentation will not come cheaply for the public broadcasters, and both the BBC and Channel 4 on Tuesday laid out claims for financial support.

===

+ Related

BBC unveils radical revamp of website
Mark Sweney
Tuesday April 25, 2006

Ashley Highfield
Highfield: refocusing BBC digital output around three concepts - share, find and play

The BBC today unveiled radical plans to rebuild its website around user-generated content, including blogs and home videos, with the aim of creating a public service version of MySpace.com.

Ashley Highfield, the BBC director of new media and technology, also announced proposals to put the corporation's entire programme catalogue online for the first time from tomorrow in written archive form, as an "experimental prototype", and rebrand MyBBCPlayer as BBC iPlayer.

Mr Highfield was unveiling the results of the broadcaster's Creative Future review of programming and content before an audience of BBC new media staff.

The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, is also talking to staff today about the wider implications of the Creative Future review.

Mr Highfield's presentation, Beyond Broadcast, outlined a three-pronged approach to refocus all future BBC digital output and services around three concepts - "share", "find" and "play".

He said the philosophy of "share" would be at the heart of what he dubbed bbc.co.uk 2.0.

Mr Highfield said the share concept would allow users to "create your own space and to build bbc.co.uk around you", encouraging them to launch ther own blogs and post home videos on the site.

The BBC is also running a competition to revamp the bbc.co.uk 2.0 website, asking the public to redesign the homepage to "exploit the fuctionality and usability of services such as Flickr, YouTube, Technorati and Wikipedia".

At the heart of the play concept is MyBBCPlayer, which will allow the public to download and view BBC programming online and was today rebranded as BBC iPlayer.

"BBC iPlayer is going to offer catch-up television up to seven days after transmission," said Mr Highfield. "At any time you will be able to download any programme from the eight BBC channels and watch it on your PC and, we hope, move it across to your TV set or down to your mobile phone to watch it when you want."

The find concept relates to next-generation search and unlocking the BBC archive. From tomorrow internet users will for the first time be able to search for details of the corporation's entire programme catalogue as far back as 1937

Source here

Wiki wizard looks to future

cnet news.com| Apr 25, 2006 12:17:00 PM

Ward Cunningham speaks at Computer History Museum

John Gage, chief researcher and vice president of the Science Office at Sun, interviews wiki inventor Ward Cunningham in Mountain View, Calif., on April 24, 2006. The program took place at the Computer History Museum.

Video: here

N.Y. County Mandates Wireless Security

N.Y. County Mandates Wireless Security: "Mynister writes 'CNN has an article about Westchester County NY forcing small business to use basic security on their wireless networks. From the article 'The law also requires that businesses offering Internet access -- coffeehouses and hotels, for example -- post signs warning that users should have firewalls or other security measures.''

"

Everyware

Adam Greenfield | Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing | New Riders Press, first edition, March 10, 2006

- Website here

- See A List Apart for Introduction here and Conclusion here

(...) In everyware, the garment, the room and the street become sites of processing and mediation. Household objects from shower stalls to coffee pots are reimagined as places where facts about the world can be gathered, considered, and acted upon. And all the familiar rituals of daily life, things as fundamental as the way we wake up in the morning, get to work, or shop for our groceries, are remade as an intricate dance of information about ourselves, the state of the external world, and the options available to us at any given moment.

In all of these scenarios, there are powerful informatics underlying the apparent simplicity of the experience, but they never breach the surface of awareness: things Just Work. Rather than being filtered through the clumsy arcana of applications and files and sites, interactions with everyware feel natural, spontaneous, human. Ordinary people finally get to benefit from the full power of information technology, without having to absorb the esoteric bodies of knowledge on which it depends. And the sensation of use - even while managing an unceasing and torrential flow of data - is one of calm, of relaxed mastery.

This, anyway, is the promise.

(...)

The stakes, this time, are unusually high. A mobile phone is something that can be switched off, or left at home. A computer is something that can be shut down, unplugged, walked away from. But the technology we're discussing here - ambient, ubiquitous, insinuative into all the apertures everyday life affords it - will be environment-forming in a way neither of those are. There should be little doubt that its advent will profoundly shape both the world and our experience of it in the years ahead.

As to whether we come to regard that advent as boon, burden or blunder, that is very much up to us, and the decisions we make now.

Source here

Politics of Net Neutrality

Politics of Net Neutrality: " For the loser now, will be later to win.
For the times they are a-changin'

This neatly summarizes the current network neutrality debate.

Advocates for network neutrality will lose this year. AT&T and Verizon will be allowed to try and favor certain companies (Yahoo) and their Web sites over everyone else. They will be allowed to turn their lines into Cable TV lines.

But something interesting is going on. Folks are noticing. MyDD has noticed. Public Knowledge has prepared a YouTube video on the subject. Online leftists like Atrios and Think Progress have talked it up. American Progress has written about it and (as previously noted) Moveon.org has launched a petition drive about it. FreePress has a petition on it, and on Monday a coalition including Google will launch a Web site called Savetheinternet will launch dedicated to the issue.

Right now all these people, and the experts lined up on their side, and the giant companies allied with them, are not enough to carry the day.

But there is an election coming in November (...)"

Public Knowledge

Public Knowledge is a Washington DC based advocacy group working to defend your rights in the emerging digital culture.

~~~

Broadband issues: here and here:

Principles for an Open Broadband Future: A Public Knowledge White Paper
"These problems arise because broadband technologies are operating in a policy vacuum. Today, there is no plan to ensure that broadband will be affordable; there are no enforcement measures to ensure that broadband networks are open and transparent; there is no plan to maximize the provision of unlicensed wireless broadband services and there is no guarantee that municipalities have the right to deploy broadband services for their consumers. This policy vacuum creates uncertainty, chills innovation, and depresses both the demand and supply of broadband services.

The U.S. needs to enact a clear set of principles for broadband services to ensure that these networks are widely deployed, open, affordable and accessible to all consumers. Without such principles, there is great danger that any future legislation on these issues will become a grab bag of special interest provisions. Therefore, the following principles should be the starting point for any telecommunications legislation (...)

~~~

Artists, Technology, Telecommunications and Copyright: A Glossary of Key Terms
A glossary of key terms every artist should know when talking about the intersection of art, technology, telecommunications and copyright. More here

hearusnow.org/ Consumers Union

Consumers Union
hearusnow.org
Consumer Voice for Communications Choice


Issue Alert :: Your Guide to Open-Internet

Everything you need to know about protecting your right to unrestricted access on the Internet. Click here for polls, news, reports and more. Read More


Connected

High-speed Internet access isn't a luxury. These days, it is a necessity. Unfortunately, many people lack this critical communications service because a few large companies fail to provide access in many areas or charge prices that are out of reach for average families.

But communities have options to bridge this "digital divide." Community-sponsored Internet projects are vital tool to expand competition and extend the benefits of the Internet to more people.

Affordable high-speed Internet means:

* Improved economic development opportunities
* Expanded educational opportunities
* Access to important job-training skills
* Connections to diverse viewpoints and vital information
* Use of new, exciting technologies such as telephone calls and video services over the Internet

More here

Surprise in Net Neutrality Debate

Surprise in Net Neutrality Debate: " The surprise is that the debate exists at all.

By its nature, net neutrality is not a high-profile issue. It is assumed that net neutrality will be an issue dealt with by elites, by what Bob Frankston calls the regulatorium.

But the Democratic Netroots are being activated on this issue. Here, for instance, is an article accusing former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry of pushing 'Astroturf' for the phone companies. Movon.org has even launched a petition drive on behalf of network neutrality.

What got this started was the AOL Goodmail controversy, which we have covered here. But now that these groups are looking more closely, they are seeing the issue of network neutrality clearly.

This fact should not be underestimated. For reasons unrelated to network neutrality the power of these groups is due to rise after the next elections. Phone and cable companies operate with fairly long time horizons. They are not going to like to have to fight against an aroused, and networked majority in order to gain short-term advantages that can be"

UPDATE: Consumers Union has also decided to enter the fray through a Web site called Hearusnow.com.

Save the Internet, viral campaign

Jeff Pulver's Viral Marketing Contest to Save the Internet


Ok, I am officially putting my money where my mouth is. I am initiating a viral video/ad contest to save the Internet.

I am fed up with the current wave of soundbites, platitudes, ads and marketing flooding the airwaves that profess to speak for the advancement of the Internet and communications. These ads are influencing Congress and governments around the World as they write the rules that will shape the future of the Internet and communications.

But, where is the voice and message of the Internet community -- the Internet innovators, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts -- in this world-changing discussion? We are primarily sitting out the battle, or perhaps comfortably blogging and Monday-morning quarterbacking on the sidelines. Sure, we’ll be able to point to our blogs and do a big “I-told-you-so” if the rules ultimately prove to undermine the promise of the Internet. But, we will not be justified in our criticism if we don’t at least try to affect a positive result.

Rules have to be written to enable us. If we do not participate in the debate, if we do not transform the messaging, the rules will not be written with our best interests at heart. And, frankly, we will have no one to blame but ourselves. We have to take over the messaging, both within the corridors of power and within the public zeitgeist.

We need soundbites of our own, messaging of our own. We are allegedly the revolutionaries of the Internet and communications. Shouldn't we be the ones revolutionizing the way advocacy is done and communicated in the 21st Century? Shouldn't we be the creative forces verifying that the medium is the message? Who better than us to harness the enabling power of the Internet to bring our message to legislators, to policymakers, to the public? Let's throw away the old rulebook and try to think outside the box to send a message to Congress from the global community of Internet innovators and enthusiasts.

We might not have the lobbying muscle, money, resources, or connections of the entrenched players in the communications debate, but we surely have the individual and collective will and creativity to transform the debate. (...)

SavetheInternet Coalition

[New US coalition to defend the Open Internet]

The SavetheInternet.com Coalition is a group of grassroots organizations, bloggers and concerned citizens that are banding together to protect a free and open Internet.

The Coalition believes that the Internet is a crucial engine for economic growth and democratic discourse. We are working together to urge Congress to take steps now to preserve network neutrality, the First Amendment for the Internet that ensures that the Internet remains open to innovation and progress.

From its beginnings, the Internet has leveled the playing field for all comers. Everyday people can have their voices heard by thousands, even millions of people. The SavetheInternet.com Coalition — representing millions of Americans from all walks of life — is working together to ensure that Congress passes no telecommunications legislation without meaningful and enforceable network neutrality requirements.

[Announcement of new coalition]

Cerf’s Up in Telco Tussle
From Broadcasting & Cable, April 21, 2006
By John Eggerton

The coalition wants particularly to turn a spotlight on lobbying campaigns by AT&T and Verizon on the bill, which they say are intended to “gut” network neutrality.

Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, gun owners, librarians, and consumer groups are (broad)banding together to push for Internet neutrality protections in legislation rewriting the 1996 Telecommunications Act to reflect the government’s compelling interest in speeding the rollout of high-speed Internet service.

Monday, they will announce the formation of the SavetheInternet.Com Coalition in advance of a planned markup of the bill Wednesday in the House Commerce Committee.

The bill passed out of the Telecommunications Subcommittee with strong bipartisan support (27-4), although some legislators expressed concerns that protections against discrimination in Internet access service were not explicit enough and that the FCC did not have enough power to enforce them.

The bill contained authority for the FCC to punish violators of its broad Internet nondiscrimination principles with $500,000 fines, but the authority is only to adjudicate complaints, not to establish regulations mandating network neutrality. An amendment that would have established that authority was defeated soundly as well (23-8).

Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) argued that since noone could even come up with a consistent definition of network neutrality, it was better to simply support it generally, and let the FCC, the agency with the expertise, determine violations on a case-by-case basis.

The coalition wants particularly to turn a spotlight on lobbying campaigns by AT&T and Verizon on the bill, which they say are intended to “gut” network neutrality.

802.11s

(...)The IEEE's 802.11 Task Group S was formed to bring some order to mesh networks, and as of the March 2006 meeting, the competing groups with mesh proposals (... Mesh and Wi-Mesh Alliance) have merged to create a single proposal that was unanimous confirmed as the start point for a specification.

~~~

See also:

IEEE P802.11 - TASK GROUP S - MEETING UPDATE
Status of Project IEEE 802.11s
ESS Mesh Networking
here

IEEE 802.11
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
here

IEEE 802.11s
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
here
(...) Status
Task group TGs hopes to narrow-down the 802.11s proposals into a single joint proposal by the end of 2006 or the beginning of 2007. The standard is targeted to be approved by 2008.

Electric Cafe

Internet Archive
KraftwerkElectricCafe: here
Creative Commons license: Public Domain









Open Source Audio: here

Broadband Wiki

Broadband Wiki, an open source project to collect Broadband information from around the planet.

Will Cyworld Stop MySpace Juggernaut?

Will Cyworld Stop MySpace Juggernaut?: "By Jackson West

Korean social-network juggernaut Cyworld has landed on American shores, with a new office in San Francisco. The social-networking service has reached saturation among young South Koreans, with reports estimating 90% of people in their late teens and early twenties as users according to Businessweek Online. A division of mobile wireless provider SK Communications, the company has already expanded into the Chinese and Japanese markets. How successful it will be in the US, especially against the MySpace?

While the American press is currently obsessed with MySpace, and media positing Cyworld as a potential competitor, the two products are very different in their approaches, though they’re striving for the same demographic users. While MySpace is relatively open to modification and third-party functionality, Cyworld is a walled garden. But Cyworld’s look and feel is very attractive, whereas MySpace pages are often eye-numbingly awful. And Cyworld is immensely profitable, reportedly earning over $12 million on revenue of $110 million.

Mini-homepages, or hompy,have long been a fact of life in Korea, and were often pointed out as hampering the growth of the Korean blogosphere. Like MySpace pages, they were often an eclectic mix of graphics, audio and text messages, with an array of online vendors selling hompy content for nominal fees. What Cyworld has done is integrate all the features of the traditional hompy into a nice package, complete with an internal economy and mobile access.

Cyworld promises to be anathema to hardcore geeks because of its rather blatant commercialism. Users are given a ‘room’ which they can then decorate with grahics of furniture, art, music and other personal touches. But these all come at a price in virtual shekels. The original Cyworld sees about $250,000 change hands in-network. The currency can be purchased via debit, credit, charged to a users mobile account or through prepaid gift cards (an ingenious system I’ve only seen in online porn here in the US). Users can also post their own public updates and photos for free.

Mashable points out that the US market demographics will probably skew even younger than MySpace, and because it’s a closed system and therefore more easily policed, the company may be better prepared to avoid negative stories about explicit content among other things. The look and feel I’ve seen are cute, with pixelated graphics and an isometric perspective like a cartoony version of The Sims Online.

The localized beta has gotten off to a rocky start, first going public but soon after shutting its doors. After contacting the San Francisco office, Red Herring could not get them to pin down a firm release date. While it probably won’t reach the saturation rate stateside that it has in South Korea (approximately 25% of the population, or 15 million users), with smart marketing it could definitely begin adding millions to their already impressive user base worldwide."

Power to the People

APRIL 17, 2006
Web Services
By Steve Rosenbush

Power to the People
New Web services are undermining the status quo -- not only in entertainment but for office tasks as well. The Establishment better watch out

(...)That's just one of many "damn cool" services that are sprouting up all over the Internet. Web sites have become simpler and more powerful while putting more control in the hands of the individual. "The number of new tools and applications on the Web is growing fast," says Jeff Lanctot, vice-president and general manager of Avenue A Razorfish, an interactive ad agency owned by aQuantive (AQNT).

MY NEWS, MY WAY. Regular people are using these tools to make their voices heard, upsetting the balance of power in industries from software to entertainment. Consumers can tap into the expanding universe of blogs and social networking sites to provide constant and sometimes unwanted feedback on products and services, creating a challenge for companies that carefully defend their brand (see BW Online, 11/15/05, "Users Crowd into MySpace").

The combination of powerful new Web tools and the always-on communications ability of blogs is upending the old order in many industries. Journalism, for example, faces a huge online challenge, and not just from bloggers.

Readers can use sites like Newsvine and Digg to comment on stories and simply vote for which they think is most interesting. That creates a potentially threatening grassroots alternative to professional news judgment. With these new services, readers are able customize their news reports.

(...)Many of the new Web services are linked to the growing popularity of video on the Web. VideoEgg gives people the ability to take homemade videos from all sorts of different devices and edit, store, and share them on the Web.

That used to be a difficult task, requiring a fairly advanced knowledge of rival technical standards. But VideoEgg, launched last year by three recent grads from Yale, works in the background to help devices communicate, so that users don't have to worry about the technical details. YouTube has grabbed an early lead in the increasingly important area of video search. And Veoh is an entirely Web-based TV network with a broad range of shows from cult classics to politics.

The latest generation of Web tools isn't limited to entertainment, though. Other seemingly mundane tasks such as word processing and contact management have been reinvigorated on the Web. Writely provides a free online word processor, 30 Boxes is a free online calendar, and Box is a free online document-storage site.

If these features become widely adopted, the implications could be huge. Manufacturers of expensive hardware and desktop software could suddenly find themselves on the wrong end of technological disruption. The only sure winner would be the individual, who would benefit from these powerful and free Web tools.


(...)The Web's first big boom was all about communications and efficiency, and moving industries online. The latest boom is putting more power in the hands of the individual. As those individuals come together in ever-expanding communities, they have the potential to be the most productive, or disruptive, force the Web has seen to date.

The Wealth of Networks

Making the Wealth of Networks visible...

[JW note: With interest surrounding two recent seminal studies- both with the title "Wealth of Networks"- by Yochai Benkler (a social theory approach, published in May 2006 by Yale University Press) and Tom Vest (an economics of networks approach, still in pre-publication form), we may identify a current conjuncture of understanding regarding the changing nature of production in the digital networked world.

A Digital C21st updating for Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations?

These two exercises in theorisation of "the wealth of networks" will likely form a fulcrum of progressive debate for some time.

Future wealth and creativity in the networked world lies in open and collaborative networks, both technologically and socially speaking. However we inhabit a contested terrain, as legacy and emergent interests enact the real "digital divide" that exists between open and closed systems.]


[1]

Yochai Benkler | The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom

Amazon details here

Publisher: Yale University Press (May 15, 2006)

Book Description:

With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today’s emerging networked information environment.

In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing—and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained—or lost—by the decisions we make today.

Reviews:

Lawrence Lessig: "In this book, Benkler establishes himself as the leading intellectual of the information age. Profoundly rich in its insight and truth, this work will be the central text for understanding how networks have changed how we understand the world. No work to date has more carefully or convincingly made the case for a fundamental change in how we understand the economy of society."-Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
(...)



Download pdf's of The Wealth of Networks here

Wealth of Networks WikiNotes here

"In the networked information economy, the physical capital required for production is broadly distributed throughout society. Personal computers and network connections are ubiquitous. This does not mean that they cannot be used for markets, or that individuals cease to seek market opportunities. It does mean, however, that whenever someone, somewhere, among the billion connected human beings, and ultimately among all those who will be connected, wants to make something that requires human creativity, a computer, and a network connection, he or she can do so—alone, or in cooperation with others. He or she already has the capital capacity necessary to do so; if not alone, then at least in cooperation with other individuals acting for complementary reasons. The result is that a good deal more that human beings value can now be done by individuals, who interact with each other socially, as human beings and as social beings, rather than as market actors through the price system. Sometimes, under conditions I specify in some detail, these nonmarket collaborations can be better at motivating effort and can allow creative people to work on information projects more efficiently than would traditional market mechanisms and corporations. The result is a flourishing nonmarket sector of information, knowledge, and cultural production, based in the networked environment, and applied to anything that the many individuals connected to it can imagine. Its outputs, in turn, are not treated as exclusive property. They are instead subject to an increasingly robust ethic of open sharing, open for all others to build on, extend, and make their own". (Excerpt from Chapt 1, pp. 6,7: pdf download here)

[JW note: I attended the Budapest RE:activism conference here in Oct 2005, where Benkler provided a keynote on "The Political Economy of Peer Production Networks" - see here. Ufortunately I missed Benkler's early morning spot because I was doing last-minute prep for my presentation in the succeeding session "State Intervention and Regulatory Issues in the Information Age" here (-in which I presented a case study of a networked approach to policy intervention), but I did join in the later plenary debate on Peer Production Networks. See audio archive of the RE:activism conference here]


See also:

Yochai Benkler | Coase's Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm

"I suggest that we are seeing is the broad and deep emergence of a new, third mode of production in the digitally networked environment. I call this mode "commons-based peer-production" (...)

Abstract: here
Full text: pdf here


[2]

The COOK Report on Internet is currently framing debate on Tom Vest's Wealth of Networks:

[JW note: The COOK Report is itself a demonstration of the process of creative production via peer networks: as a peer network engages in a real-time, global discussion list, followed by expert analysis and publication by list host and veteran Net analyst Gordon Cook (-"the oldest continuously owned and published technology policy newsletter on the Internet having started 15 years ago in March 1992")]

See:

The COOK Report on Internet, May 2006: here

Introducing Tom Vest's Wealth of Networks as First Step Toward an Empirical Discipline of Network Economics

"We Explore Vest's Synthesis of the Global Internet as an Interlocked Honey Comb of Local Ecologies Where Network Operational Data May Be Studied over Time against a Backdrop of Changing Governmental Policies to Determine Economic Outcomes

(...) "As the repercussions of The Earth is Flat continue to unfold, we all understand that this Internet "thing" has importance to local economies. The problem is that we lack any common framework to evaluate how policy and operational changes at the regional or national affect the ability of IP networks to generate economic activity. Vest's work does just this as it presents a set of concepts that can be applied to internet datasets overtime and in so doing devloped an understanding of why some internet policies appear to generate economic growth while in similar areas of the globe different policies lead to stagnation.

"In the fifteen years that I have been immersed in writing about the internet I have never seen any framework or any description that puts the immense complexity of the global internet into any kind comprehensible focus. Until, that is, I plunged into Tom's work. The have been three seminal works in the past quarter century in this field. The end-to-end paper of reed Clarke and Saltzer in 1983. Isenberg's Stupid Network of 1997 and Vest's Wealth of Networks of 2006. I will stick my neck out and say now that Vest's work is the most important thing I have ever written about.

Source here
See Vest's Wealth of Networks website here

See my related post: The Social Life of Information here