Disruptive technology
Digital film is considered disruptive technology by some. Polaroid announced it's finished with the instant film business as of February, 2008. There's some disruptive technology events coming in the not too distant future. One event that can't come soon enough, is the announcement by AT&T that they no longer will invest hundreds of millions of dollars to prevent decentralized broadband infrastructure from spreading across our nation.
Our kids go to school, today, and sit in a computer lab, get an introduction to some new technology, and then repeat that experience throughout their school education. They get an introduction, and not much more. Meanwhile, in the rest of the developed world, the kids go to school, today, start their multimedia projects in their computer labs, and then go home to complete their multimedia projects on computers in their homes in the evenings and on weekends. When they enter the labor force, they will have learned how to use the 21st century tools of technology, because they received a 21st century education. So, how many generations of kids will be prevented from getting a 21st century education, because AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Qwest continue to try and control progress in the U.S.?
San Francisco says not one more generation! Ypsilanti, Michigan, says not one more generation! What are they doing? Simple. They're adopting disruptive technology, and pursuing a dramatic change in how their kids will get a 21st century education. They're building a decentralized national broadband infrastructure. They've adopted a decentralized national broadband infrastructure policy that is yet to be promulgated by our administration in Washington.
Oh, sure, the president excitedly announced that every American will be able to watch digital tv, starting in February, 2009, and to make sure he has established a national every American gets to watch tv policy. The government allocated some $450 million dollars to be used to assist everyone who needs help, to get a device that plugs into a wall socket and lets them watch digital tv. Imagine, a box that plugs into a wall socket and automagically lets every American watch digital tv. The unit costs every house about $50. It's pretty simple.
Of course, if he wanted to, he could have announced, that starting in February, 2009, when all transmissions go digital, every American will have a $50 unit that plugs into their wall socket, and automagically enables their computer to send and received digital tv and radio and phone and the web. Yep! $50 bucks. The same price as the tv box. But, you might be surprised to learn that the president won't permit a single penny of that $450 million to be spent on such a unit. Why not?
Oh, come on. You know. You know it in your heart. You know it in your gut. Your brain is screaming! Listen to what it says.
San Francisco, when it completes its goal of outfitting every house, apartment and office in San Francisco with a $50 unit that plugs into a wall socket, will have a citywide decentralized broadband infrastructure. We call that a 21st century indigenous resource. The city officials, on behalf of the city residents will then issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to qualify applicants wishing to gain access to the city's resource (their broadband network) and evaluate those proposals for the provider that offers the most bandwidth at the lowest price for the city. The proposals almost surely will also evaluate for value-added services the provider might provide. That way, they get innovative technology the provider might offer, along with reasonable wholesale pricing for Internet access. The contract will most likely make previous cable company contracts pale by comparison. You see, the decentralized broadband infrastructure for San Francisco doesn't need Internet access to be viable, resilient, and functional.
Digital recording studios are little more than computers loaded with audio and video software. I have a low-end PC sitting on my kitchen table. It is loaded with freely available audio and video software from Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. It is a multimedia computer, and can do everything a major network broadcast studio can do, or major recording studio can do, or major film studio can do. It's the same software they use. I get all my technical support and training support from volunteers in the Open Source community around the world. I live on a small VA pension, but my $20,000 setup cost me just time and effort. That's all. I can configure the computer to stream live, interactive tv talk shows over the network. If that network spreads across the community, as in San Francisco, the entire city lights up with live, interactive tv talk shows, with folks using their webcams to carry on one big videoconference experience from dawn to . . . well forever. No Internet needed.
So, it won't be too long, before the city sees hospitals and universities negotiating contracts to pay for the opportunity to access the decentralized broadband infrastructure of San Francisco. They'll be offering telemedicine programs, and the universities will be conducting interactive social science studies with the city residents. Businesses will bypass the incumbent broadband providers, and negotiate directly with the city to access the citywide broadband infrastructure to offer marketing campaigns, sponsoring community programs and activities, and generating significant dollars for the city.
Fire, police and rescue will use the infrastructure to enhance their services. And, most importantly, the schools will negotiate access to provide their kids with a "last mile solution" that ensures each child a 21st century education.
Anyone need some content for San Francisco's wireless mesh network without Internet access? Look no further than the Internet Archive. It's right down the street.
So, I'm out in the middle of the corn fields of Iowa. It's a small rural community called, Charles City, Iowa. Maybe 8,000 population. Guess what we have? Would you believe the Mooney Art Collection? Would you believe prints from Picasso, Van Gogh, middle 15th century stuff? The library will trade content with you, if you want. Our big thing, though, when we get our Charles City decentralized broadband infrastructure in place, won't be the Internet. It will be our 24x7 general telethon. Neighbors from all over Iowa participating with their computers and webcams, talking, solving the problems of the world, and getting the true lowdown on corn prices, recipes, and good clean living. And, you better believe our kids will be getting their 21st century education in first-class fashion. No technical expertise within miles. Just buy a $50 unit, plug it in, and automagically the digital divide disappears. Maybe someday we'll have Internet access, but there's no hurry. We've got plenty of content right here, locally.
Now that's disruptive technology . . . finally!