Yesterday there was an announcement of a recommendation for all UK homes to have access to 2Mbps broadband by 2012. It’s part of Lord Carters “Digital Britain” report and it’s got me thinking about how this is going to be delivered and how to get community involvement.
Yes, I agree it’s a noble aim and that we need to make sure that the digital divide is reduced with currently about 60% of homes having broadband access, but what isn’t clear as yet is how they are going to fund the delivery of it and how they are going to encourage people to actually take up their right to have the access.
It got me thinking about a project that was launched in 2004 in Nuenen (near Eindhoven). Ons Net (our net) was a community broadband project which took a local community which a commercial company said it would be too expensive to give broadband and setup a scheme where local residents all paid a small amount which meant they could get connected. Because there was no profit motive for the venture (rather it was a co-operative designed to get the community on-line) they needed about 35% of people to sign up to 15 Euros a month to make the installation viable. In fact they got closer to 85% and made over £1 million profit in the first year. What is really interesting though is not that they managed to make it work and install next generation 100Mbps fibre into most homes in the town but that the town demographic was mostly retired elderly people. Instead of just focusing on speeds or anything technological they focused on community services such as supporting security, home care, the local TV channel and improving the community as a whole. Building communities like this and using the technology as a tool to help aspects of everyone’s daily life deliver surely has to be a focus in the new digital Britain in order to gain inclusion of the community as a whole rather than just the people who are used to the internet and can see it’s benefit.
If you want to read some more on Ons Net take a look here. There is a UK based Co-operative following the same type of approaches and they can be found here.
It's 2009 and like plenty of people around the world I've descended into another year with a set of resolutions to try and be a better person in the coming year.
One of the things I've resolved to get more involved in my local community... By that I don't just mean Moseley (where I live) but actually the digital community which comes without the same geographic boundaries.
This is something I've been giving a bit of thought to as it's an interesting take on the 7 principles that govern co-operatives in which the last one states:
"Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members." (see more at Co-operatives Uk)
So - when you work in an Internet company does this mean that you follow the historical local geographic community definition or is it more applicable to do something on a wider digital scale?I think it is but it would be interesting to hear anyone else's thoughts on the matter - it's not something I've seen raised in Co-operative circles. I guess it's like many things within Co-operatives in that it's a framework for good decent behaviour but there is a little room for your own (or your members) interpretation.
Anyway, I've started doing a few bits and pieces to start off the year in the right fashion - hopefully there will be lots more to follow!
Wi-Fi in Birmingham is an attempt to construct an accurate map of all wi-fi hotspots across the UK, one area/city at a time - this is obviously the Birmingham version so if you live there or know anyone there then get on it and update the map! If you don't live in Birmingham then there might be one near you - check out Wi-Fi in the UK which is the founding site setup by the person behind the idea - Neil Cocker - and if there isn't then contact him via the site and setup your own.
I've also voted, and generally annoyed other people by asking them to vote, for Created in Birmingham to win best blog at the 2008 weblog awards. It's local to me, great, and has the chance of beating some more well known names which can't be bad for this city...
Anyway - there are the first steps... Hopefully this won't be like the annual gym resolution which starts off well but then fades after the first month.
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