Necessary Ingredients Part 2 - Neutral Internet November 5, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Net Neutrality, Opinion.trackback
The second necessary ingredient in a successful and meaningful integration of technology is also access. In this case, network access. Computers by themselves have great potential. Computers that allow people to connect with each other have even greater potential. The fact that you’re reading this post right now is a small example of how networked technology can connect people.
Follow some of the work by George Siemens for more information about the power of connections. See this recent post on elearnspace entitled “The Value of Connections”: http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/archives/003132.html
He also has a wiki to help explore the concept of connectivism:
http://www.connectivism.ca/
This brings up a second area that I write about from time to time: Net Neutrality. For those who don’t know what it is, it is basically the idea that the companies who supply the infrastructure should be required to maintain an open and unrestricted use of the network. In other words, they built the highway (largely with our tax dollars) and should be able to now charge tolls for different kinds of cars or speeds or directions. Here’s a link to a Bill Moyer’s PBS special “Moyers on Americs, The Net At Risk” on what Net Neutrality is:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/index.html
I’ve also put up additional links and resources about what you can do about Net Neutrality on another page for a presentation I did last Spring:
http://villagegreen.edublogs.org/presentations/tie-2007-p2/
If you need additional reasons for why Net Neutrality is important, consider the following recent examples of companies who are demonstrating they will make decisions for us unless their behavior is legislated.
- Gotham Gazette “Censored by Verizon” http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/tech/20071029/19/2331
- Consumer Affairs “Verizon Overrides Internet Searches With Its Own Results” http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/tech/20071029/19/2331
- Geek.com “Comcast blocks Bit Torrent traffic” http://www.geek.com/comcast-blocks-bit-torrent-traffic/
- Consumer Affairs “Comcast Cuts Off Heavy Internet Users” http://consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/08/comcast_ban.html?imw=Y
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