[Advisors] Convergences

Fri Jan 31 16:35:28 PST 2014

Garth,

nobody has captured the story yet.

Not TC, not iCANADA, not academia, not business, and definitely not industry or government.

We lack a compelling narrative that speaks to hearts rather than minds, because we are all too much in our heads.

The unfolding ICT Revolution is a revolution in personal enablement and empowerment, which is where the narrative needs to shift... to the needs and interests of the citizen.

There is no better way to mobilize adults and youth than to help them understand what they stand to gain from mobilizing, and what they stand to lose if they don't.

Community initiatives will emerge in force, organically, when enough people understand what's at stake for them personally. 

Among our deepest needs and desires are security, autonomy, capability, possibility and prosperity.

How does ICT enablement help us become more secure, autonomous, capable, hopeful and prosperous?

It is important to be specific in answering this question, but the generic and all-encompassing answer is "access to more and better opportunity." 

Automobiles and road networks enable us to access more and better opportunity IF we can operate automobiles and IF our road networks are accessible, affordable, capable, reliable and secure.

Digital tools and broadband networks enable us to access more opportunity IF we are digitally literate and IF our broadband networks are accessible, affordable, capable, reliable and secure.

We are a small nation with an immense geography. 

Far more than most people, our horizons of opportunity are determined by the accessibility, affordability, capability, reliability and security of our transportation and telecommunication networks.

These networks are quite literally the foundation of economy, community and society in Canada.

We need to understand that our broadband network status quo leaves us all at growing disadvantage, unless we take action to address challenges relating to the accessibility, affordability, capability, reliability and security of Canada's broadband networks.

I see digital literacy as a secondary challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. 

In many cases, including many Aboriginal communities, addressing network challenges will be essential to meeting challenges relating to digital literacy. 

I therefore recommend that we shift the focus of our attention and advocacy to the Canadian citizen. 

Let iCANADA do their thing with enterprise, which is where their hearts and minds are at (I tried). 

Relatively few Canadian enterprises seem interested or able to respond effectively to this unfolding revolution in personal enablement and empowerment.

The revolution is presenting unwelcome complexities to enterprise management, a discipline that generally remains captive to a highly autocratic paradigm from our industrial economic history. 

Until there is widespread change of leadership in our enterprise and government sectors, I do not expect either sector to become a strong driver for ICT enablement in Canada. 

The demographics of our current government and industry leadership will remain a liability until attrition and shareholder activism have driven required changes in the character and competencies of leadership.

As the shareholders in government, it is incumbent upon us as citizens to demand appropriate action where government has a fiduciary responsible to act (e.g., telecom and broadcast policy). 

It is also incumbent upon us to at least let industry know what we need (to which they presently respond, "You don't really need that").

Finally, it is incumbent upon us to take action ourselves when neither government nor industry are willing or able to act. 

The community broadband trend has now exploded in the U.S., and the regulator (FCC) is keenly aware of it.

The FCC has become the public sector champion for the needs and interests of the consumer, and our own regulator appears to be taking a similar tack. 

Not that it makes much of a difference here yet, because we don't have federal leadership that is willing to back up the regulatory rhetoric with serious policy initiatives. 

Perhaps the Digital Economic Strategy (expected in the spring) will serve up some pleasant surprises, but I'm not getting my hopes up. 

In the meantime, let's focus on how we can most effectively mobilize Canadians. 

James

On Jan 31, 2014, at 1:17 PM, Garth Graham <garth.graham at telus.net> wrote:

> Some interesting convergences in my email this morning.
> 
> First.
> i-CANADA Alliance.  The Digital Adoption Campaign for Canada now Launched: http://www.cata.ca/Media_and_Events/Press_Releases/cata_pr10191301.html
> i-Canada says, “many Canadian enterprises, particularly small and medium-sized ones, have not moved their use of mobile much beyond e-mail or surfing. Pointedly, they have failed to adopt more advanced mobile capabilities such as e-commerce, inventory and supply chain management, remote diagnostics and monitoring, and other operational areas, that, if adopted could significantly contribute to improving the Canada’s productivity and innovation performance.”
> 
> In spite of James Van Leeuwen’s excellent efforts to provide real substance to CATA’s appropriation of “community-based projects,” none of the executive “thought leaders” (the campaign’s critical element) show evidence of any such perspective.
> 
> Second.
> What’s the latest on SparkLab?
> http://www.telecentre.org/2014/01/whats-the-latest-on-sparklab/
> “The basic idea of bringing under one roof the best practices of the global telecentre community, and combine that with the latest software, technology, content and training, along with a unique network of mentors and other strategic partners, continues to captivate many.  More than a next-generation telecentre (Telecentre 2.0), the SparkLab is envisioned to become a true center of innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship, a place in which mobile technologies will work seamlessly with the normal infrastructure of a telecentre. “
> 
> To me, this is evidence that community, and “community-based projects” is, once again, leading the way forward to effective moods of development BEFORE the business “community” figures out how to implement its rhetoric. Three loud cheers. But how can this model influence public policy in Canada?
> 
> 
> Third
> I was pleased to note that the same January edition of the Telecentre.org newsletter that contained the SparkLab update http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/1038651/430a97602a/521759637/4494a47eee/ also has a link to the Community Informatics Declaration:
> An Internet for the Common Good - Engagement, Empowerment, and Justice for All
> 
> To me, that’s evidence that the theory and practice of community online is not as entirely separated as I had feared.
> 
> GG
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