News and commentary about the intersection of information technology, politics, and policy presented by the members of Digital Politics, a course at Hamilton College.
I think this article's potency comes from the concluding thought provided by networking pioneer Robert Metcalfe: "The Internet is vulnerable today. It’s not that it will collapse, but that opportunities will be lost.”
I believe the internet's enormously high growth rate "corresponds to the improvements that technology is giving us." Nonetheless, Metcalfe is a successful venture capitalist and I heed his premonition. High speed networks are indeed "economic and scientific petri dishes of innovation," but as the internet slows down, so does the incubation process. To this end, we have to take note of what we are sacraficing for our own entertainment. Streaming videos, downloading music, and playing online computer games is, as this article points out, soaking up a great amount of bandwith and detracting from future buisness ventures and even, to relate to todays topic, e-Governance. This may lead to the question, what is more important: YouTube or being able to aquire a travel visa online?
Chances are we'll never have to choose, but if I had to, I'd be tempted to say YouTube. Perhaps the convenience of the internet provides more harm than good as far as e-governance goes. Some things just shouldn't be made that easy. Other things, like access to a television show you missed because you were at work, should.
This provides a nice segue to a point about e-governance I'd like to make. The article Chris found, "The Electronic Bureaucrat," notes that "in the online world, government is competing for users' time and attention." This is a somewhat perverted notion. The government, which serves to protect us and our rights, should never take a backseat to "beautifully designed sites thare are gun to use" and are made for our entertainment. This is, however, a legitamate concern. I hate to think of us citizens as the state's "customers," but with the birth of e-government, that is what we become --consumers preyed upon by companies (and the government) aggresively trying to "sell" their goods.
2 comments:
I think this article's potency comes from the concluding thought provided by networking pioneer Robert Metcalfe: "The Internet is vulnerable today. It’s not that it will collapse, but that opportunities will be lost.”
I believe the internet's enormously high growth rate "corresponds to the improvements that technology is giving us." Nonetheless, Metcalfe is a successful venture capitalist and I heed his premonition. High speed networks are indeed "economic and scientific petri dishes of innovation," but as the internet slows down, so does the incubation process. To this end, we have to take note of what we are sacraficing for our own entertainment. Streaming videos, downloading music, and playing online computer games is, as this article points out, soaking up a great amount of bandwith and detracting from future buisness ventures and even, to relate to todays topic, e-Governance. This may lead to the question, what is more important: YouTube or being able to aquire a travel visa online?
Chances are we'll never have to choose, but if I had to, I'd be tempted to say YouTube. Perhaps the convenience of the internet provides more harm than good as far as e-governance goes. Some things just shouldn't be made that easy. Other things, like access to a television show you missed because you were at work, should.
This provides a nice segue to a point about e-governance I'd like to make. The article Chris found, "The Electronic Bureaucrat," notes that "in the online world, government is competing for users' time and attention." This is a somewhat perverted notion. The government, which serves to protect us and our rights, should never take a backseat to "beautifully designed sites thare are gun to use" and are made for our entertainment. This is, however, a legitamate concern. I hate to think of us citizens as the state's "customers," but with the birth of e-government, that is what we become --consumers preyed upon by companies (and the government) aggresively trying to "sell" their goods.
Also, I'd just like to add that I read this article in the print version of the times this morning. Hmmm.
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