Spain and UK innovative work
http://www.communityknowledgetransfer.org.uk/blog/installing-remote-wifi...
I was really amazed to see this post today, it just proves that citizens are coming up with solutions for themselves, and seed corn funding/support can enable knowledge transfer between countries.
We should encourage more of this, to fill in all the gaps we know exist everywhere. New businesses would start up and provide competition for the telcos who are throttling innovative practices and preventing the citizen having access whilst at the same time assuring governments that they have access. (Openzone is a standing joke).
http://guifi.net/ has 16410 nodes in operation serving countless customers.
Group audience:
Comments
Certainly by including the
Certainly by including the citizens on the innovation process, will very likely adress much better the user needs, including rural areas.
B4RN is also a very nice example of this local initiatives serving their communities.
Maybe one step forward could be to setup relationships between those local initatives, and by that become also a global experience and create spaces for sharing and reusing experiences and knowledge.
Definitely! the more we share
Definitely! the more we share, the more we know, and the more we grow. Looking forward to building more bridges between the nations and shrinking the world Rroca. Power to the People.
The time is coming where more people are becoming aware of the issues and willing to collaborate, whereas even a few years ago a lot of folk didn't know what the internet was all about. Now they are now assimilating into their lives, and starting to understand the problems we all face, with limited connectivity in so many areas.
We have to continue to involve more people in the discussions, so more of them can make informed choices to improve their local needs.
the amazing network of 16.000
the amazing network of 16.000 nodes!!:
http://guifi.net/maps
Very happy to hear you are
Very happy to hear you are excited about The collaboration between the Lyme Regis Development Trust, Creative Coop, Locality and Guifi.net to install the UK's largest Open Network in Lyme Regis.
With new found confidence, post prototype, Marcus Dixon and his team at the Lyme Regis Development Trust have big ideas for the expansion of the network.
If you'd like to follow how it impacts the lives of locals and improves the experience of those visiting the world heritage jurrassic coast, be sure to follow the blog http://www.communityknowledgetransfer.org.uk/blog and our twitter @cktransfer
Marc,
Marc,
Its really interesting to see how people can innovate and help themselves and their areas. The tourists are gonna love it! Well done.
On "connected TV".
On "connected TV".
This is how I see the significance of connected TV (but see earlier posts for wider context of content creation). It's hard to write about this without using some media business jargon (apologies!) - specifically the terms "dis-intermediation" and "intermediation".
Appliance manufacturers (in this case makers of televisions, like Samsung) want to sell more TVs and broaden their revenue streams by "intermediating" themselves into the value chain of content delivery. They will do this through apps. These apps will deliver content through dedicated TV or "like TV" channels providing films, music etc. Manufacturers will make money by charging carriage fees and various licensing deals. Content providers, who may be specialist "narrowcasters" providing niche services to particular communities, for example opera-lovers, or may be traditional publishers, will in theory be able to reach bigger audiences and make money through subscription packages, but in an increasingly fragmented market offering 1000s of channels the financial viability of new services can't be guaranteed: some will succeed in the longer term, but many will fail (as they have repeatedly done in the video-on-demand market).
This promises a landscape of even greater consumer choice, but we simply don't know what the economic and commercial impact will be. And there is evidence that many consumers can't deal with too much choice, or prefer to have less choice, so they gravitate towards trusted brands, which tend to be incumbent TV stations - like Sky and the BBC in the UK, or RAI or Mediaset in Italy.
It's all getting very complicated, but the significance for content providers is that they are having to work harder and harder to get a return on their investment. This in turn is impacting negatively on many writers, producers and actors, for whom the word "digital" translates as "less money".
As a citizen this negative impact is what I mainly worry about. It is a huge challenge for the future - for policy-makers, investors and the creative community.
The future is dumb fat pipes.
The future is dumb fat pipes. The country that grasps this concept and provides them is the one where consumers and content producers will win. It is only complicated because the current model is a scarcity one, with everyone fighting over scraps. Eventually the pipes will be open, and real consumer choice will be there. People know what they want. They just can't always find it at the moment with the myriad of vendors out there. The whole thing is in a state of flux, with people trying to hold on to market share etc. Everything is going to change and we can't keep putting our heads in the sand and trying to protect obsolete business models. The way we are now is similar to the monks trying to keep the monopoly on transcribing books. The internet is like the free press of the new modern digital revolution, and currently it is mainly in the hands of monopoly incumbents throttling and capping it through ISPs to keep us citizens in our places...
...bring on the fibre. Moral and optic.
There will always be some who gravitate to trusted brands, but as more becomes available they will have true choice. This will only happen when the infrastructure can support it. It has to be 'easy' or folk switch off. I agree Martin, it is a worry, and a challenge.