Widespread Broadband Seen As Key to Opening Government
The Internet opens the door to increased participation in government, but innovative new tools won’t be effective without wider broadband adoption, White House and other government officials said Thursday at the FCC’s first broadband workshop. “Everything flows from civic engagement,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, introducing the workshop. “An active public offering its best ideas is the foundation of the solutions to all of our challenges, and in the 21st century there’s no excuse for not finding ways to connect all Americans to each other and to their government through high-speed Internet.”
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Broadband “has changed permanently” how people interact with government, but too many people can’t take part, said Vivek Kundra, the federal chief information officer. There’s a “hunger for information” in the public domain, and government can use the Internet to provide it on a “real-time basis,” he said. The Obama administration has started working on that, building Web sites like Data.gov and the IT Dashboard to release as much information as possible and get public comments, Kundra said. But improving broadband access is crucial, he said. “We have an imperative to ensure that communities who are not able to access broadband are not disenfranchised.”
The IT Dashboard is already influencing how the federal government spends money, Kundra said. The site allows officials to make decisions based on current suggestions from the public, he said. By providing as much public data as possible, Data.gov has led to the creation of several interesting applications, he said. “People are spotting patterns that we haven’t seen before.” An outside group used Federal Aviation Administration information to develop an app showing which commercial flights are often delayed, he said. The early success of Data.gov shows that “a national grid around information” will improve decisions, he said.
“Broadband is helping us to create the platform … to tap the intelligence and expertise of the American people,” said Beth Noveck, the U.S. deputy chef technology officer for open government. The Obama administration wants to “reinvigorate the democratic right of participation,” and encourage greater collaboration between government and the people to solve national issues, she said. The administration is using or looking at many online tools to increase openness, including blogs and even Web-based games, she said.
Creating a more open government is a “two-way street” that will require civic education, Noveck said. The government must provide more opportunities to engage, but citizens will also have to “step up” and take advantage, she said. People are used to a closed model and limited tools for engaging and may not immediately recognize new ways to speak out, she said. “As we open up and think about more open ways of providing data, providing webcasts of live events, creating online policy forums, that does mean there does need to be a degree of civic education and civic literacy and a strategy on the part of institutions who are now being invited to participate.”
Developing more intuitive user interfaces will also be critical to engaging the public in e-government efforts, Kundra said. Many current applications can be complicated to navigate, preventing widespread use, he said.
“What broadband does is allow us to build new collaborative networks of innovation and problem solving,” said Graham Richard, a former mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind. The FCC should consider its national plan complementary to “all the other national plans that are taking place,” including for energy, transportation, and homeland security, he said. “I see broadband in this plan being the infrastructure innovation platform to support all of those.”
The Internet can’t truly become a national public square until everyone has access to broadband, said Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. People who can’t get high-speed access are shut out of the public debate, he said. Rolling out broadband to the unserved would empower minority and low-income groups to organize and have more say in government, said Andrew Rasiej, the founder of the Personal Democracy Forum. An organized minority group is always more powerful than an unorganized majority, he said. -- Adam Bender
Workshop Notes …
The FCC’s webcast of the first broadband workshop Thursday left Mac users unable to hear. The FCC relied on WebEx, a conferencing service, and the virtual world Second Life to broadcast the meeting. Mac users couldn’t hear the proceedings. The host of the event sent out a message: “It seems like the problem is with the compatibility of our technology with Macs … I've talked to WebEx, we're going to try our best to get everything upgraded in time for future workshops. Part of trying something new is running into a few problems and making a few mistakes -- I'm really sorry for the inconvenience for now, and know that we're going to try our best to improve it going forward.” The webcast had a peak audience of 175, said Eugene Huang, the workshop moderator. Of those, 125 used WebEx, and 50 watched on Second Life, he said.
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Chairman Julius Genachowski again raised concerns about the quality of initial comments on developing the national broadband plan. “The first round of filings in this proceeding didn’t advance the ball forward as much as it should,” Genachowski said in introducing the workshop. To develop a good plan, the FCC will need full participation, “ideas that meet the moment,” and good data for tackling tough questions, he said.