Monday, October 31, 2005
SOCIAL NETWORKING: India workers in bangalore reject unions
SOCIAL NETWORKING: India workers in bangalore reject unions
tcavallo's blog SOCIAL NETWORKING has a link to an article about the attempt to unionize call center workers in Bangalore. This is interesting because it is about the globalization of the union movement in response to the globalization of capital. If we truly live in a flat world for corporations who can pick up and move their operations anywhere in the global market, can the same be said about unions? It seems that IT workers in India are not flocking to join the union despite the often difficult labor conditions they work in. Why is this? What would happen if the unions were successful in Bangalore? Would the call centers just pick up and move to the next low wage country on the list? Is that what would happen if we lived in a truly "flat world"?
tcavallo's blog SOCIAL NETWORKING has a link to an article about the attempt to unionize call center workers in Bangalore. This is interesting because it is about the globalization of the union movement in response to the globalization of capital. If we truly live in a flat world for corporations who can pick up and move their operations anywhere in the global market, can the same be said about unions? It seems that IT workers in India are not flocking to join the union despite the often difficult labor conditions they work in. Why is this? What would happen if the unions were successful in Bangalore? Would the call centers just pick up and move to the next low wage country on the list? Is that what would happen if we lived in a truly "flat world"?
Relationships in the Digital Age: The World is Flat...Some Answers
Relationships in the Digital Age: The World is Flat...Some Answers
Cbarr's Relationships in the Digital Age has a good post on Friedman's discussion how America needs to respond to the threat of continuing job loss to outsourcing and offshoring. Yes, there is hope. We can compete, but you need to analyze your career plans to make sure that your job is "untouchable":
Cbarr's Relationships in the Digital Age has a good post on Friedman's discussion how America needs to respond to the threat of continuing job loss to outsourcing and offshoring. Yes, there is hope. We can compete, but you need to analyze your career plans to make sure that your job is "untouchable":
He refers to those in the job market whose jobs can not be outsourced as "untouchables", and he writes that "Untouchables come in four broad categories: Workers who are 'special,' workers who are 'specialized,' workers who are 'anchored,' and workers who are 'really adaptable.'" He goes on to explain who would fall into each of these categories, which is helpful when thinking about what can do to maintain a labor force in this country. If we create a society filled with these types of "untouchables", Friedman thinks our job market will be safe.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Bangalore's Tech King
BW Online October 13, 2003 India's Tech King
Azim Premji is the chairman of software-services provider Wipro. He is arguably the most influential business leader in Bangalore. Businessweek has a profile of him and his company. Wipro is a corporate leader in the Bangalore tech explosion. The success of Wipro and its chairman has outgrown Bangalore itself. These are global companies playing in a world market. Bangalore was Wipro's home base but the global market forces expansion and mobility on every corporation:
The threat of competition from India has many people in the digital services industry concerned. As Americans come to understand the consequences of outsourcing and offshoring there are increasing calls for political action to limit the competition. According to Businessweek:
However Indian corporations have their own worries about competition from American and Western Corporations which are moving to bangalore and the other high tech centers of India and the developing world. Will Wipro be able to compete? Or will Indian high tech companies be swallowed up or driven out of business by more powerful transmittance corporations? According too Businessweek Azim Premji is only too aware of the global competition:
Azim Premji is the chairman of software-services provider Wipro. He is arguably the most influential business leader in Bangalore. Businessweek has a profile of him and his company. Wipro is a corporate leader in the Bangalore tech explosion. The success of Wipro and its chairman has outgrown Bangalore itself. These are global companies playing in a world market. Bangalore was Wipro's home base but the global market forces expansion and mobility on every corporation:
"At 4:30 a.m., a light switches on in Azim H. Premji's spacious stone bungalow in the southern Indian city of Bangalore. The 57-year-old chairman of software-services provider Wipro Ltd. (WIT ) is awake, fueling up on coffee and bombarding company managers on four continents with e-mails about everything from geopolitics to contract details. At 7, Premji walks the 250 meters to his office on Wipro's five-hectare campus. There, he has breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast with visiting customers or government officials. That's followed by meetings where he focuses on the minutiae of the business -- the cost of airline tickets or whether frequent-traveling Wipro salespeople should have permanent cubicles. Before the sun is overhead at noon, Premji has already worked seven hours, with another seven to go. Frequently, Premji ends his day on a commercial flight -- there is no corporate jet -- to Bombay, San Francisco, London -- anywhere his sales team needs a boost.
The threat of competition from India has many people in the digital services industry concerned. As Americans come to understand the consequences of outsourcing and offshoring there are increasing calls for political action to limit the competition. According to Businessweek:
For the growing number of white-collar workers from Silicon Valley to Sydney worried about losing their jobs to low-wage software experts in India, the ambitious billionaire is a serious threat. Yet this IT mogul faces the challenge of being too successful. With the U.S. caught in a jobless recovery, the issue of outsourcing to low-cost destinations is becoming ever-more controversial. American politicians are calling for restrictions designed to make it harder for companies like Wipro to win business. On Oct. 1, the number of U.S. visas available to foreign professionals fell by 66%, to 65,000. The move will hit Indian companies such as Wipro especially hard, since they often dispatch engineers from Bangalore to their U.S. customers' offices.
However Indian corporations have their own worries about competition from American and Western Corporations which are moving to bangalore and the other high tech centers of India and the developing world. Will Wipro be able to compete? Or will Indian high tech companies be swallowed up or driven out of business by more powerful transmittance corporations? According too Businessweek Azim Premji is only too aware of the global competition:
Mostly, though, Premji seems to see himself as a citizen of Wipro. Competing with rivals that have long-standing, clubby, boardroom-level relationships with top U.S. and European companies is a tough game. Premji knows what he has to do: move quickly into the lucrative consulting area and try very, very hard to win business. "I've learned to overrespect the competition," he says. "You have to build some paranoia into your system."
The competition, meanwhile, seems to have learned to respect Wipro -- and is taking a page from its success. Global tech-services firms have awakened to the new, low-cost, high-quality IT services India offers. Accenture, IBM, and Electronic Data Systems are moving into India aggressively. Together, the three companies have hired 4,000 new staff over the past year and are renting prime office space on Premji's own turf in Bangalore and elsewhere. That will allow them to offer the benefits of India's lower costs to customers, just as Wipro does.
Analysts say Indian companies' lower overhead, smaller size, and greater agility will give them a fighting chance. If they don't succeed, though, Indian enterprises such as Wipro could end up being just coding-contract factories for the West. As long as that threat remains, Premji is likely to remain sleepless in Bangalore -- or wherever he happens to be doing his laundry that night.
Faster, Cheaper Networking Power: A new discovery from Stanford, Intel & DARPA
Engineers Make Leap in Optical Networks - New York Times
Engineers from Stanford University have made a break through that may result in a real advance in the power of computing and networking. Their research was funded by the "Intel Corporation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency at the Pentagon." A partnership of business and government making basic research possible for technological progress. Optical networks make the internet possible through fiber optic cable. Optical switches using laser light speed the transfer of information at high speed. This research has potentially enormous implications for the global digital economy. According to the Times: "Such an advance could accelerate the decline in the cost of optical networking and transform computers by making it possible to interconnect computer chips at extremely high data rates." The hope here is that this technical innovation would make it possible to make cheaper optical switches that would could be used to "create data superhighways" in your computer and for the networking of the world:
This discovery is still very much in the research and not even at the development stage. The ability to make the use of laser beams more efficient for optical switching and storage is exciting to analysts who understand the implications of this development. Any advance that would make optical networks cheaper and more efficient will speed the wiring of the world and make global high-speed networking a reality:
The delivery of massive files and powerful services on demand would be a reality if this discovery can be developed into real products for the digital infrastructure.
Engineers from Stanford University have made a break through that may result in a real advance in the power of computing and networking. Their research was funded by the "Intel Corporation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency at the Pentagon." A partnership of business and government making basic research possible for technological progress. Optical networks make the internet possible through fiber optic cable. Optical switches using laser light speed the transfer of information at high speed. This research has potentially enormous implications for the global digital economy. According to the Times: "Such an advance could accelerate the decline in the cost of optical networking and transform computers by making it possible to interconnect computer chips at extremely high data rates." The hope here is that this technical innovation would make it possible to make cheaper optical switches that would could be used to "create data superhighways" in your computer and for the networking of the world:
"The vision here is that, with the much stronger physics, we can imagine large numbers - hundreds or even thousands - of optical connections off of chips," said David A. B. Miller, director of the Solid State and Photonics Laboratory at Stanford University. "Those large numbers could get rid of the bottlenecks of wiring, bottlenecks that are quite evident today and are one of the reasons the clock speeds on your desktop computer have not really been going up much in recent years."
This discovery is still very much in the research and not even at the development stage. The ability to make the use of laser beams more efficient for optical switching and storage is exciting to analysts who understand the implications of this development. Any advance that would make optical networks cheaper and more efficient will speed the wiring of the world and make global high-speed networking a reality:
"Several industry executives said the advance was significant because it meant that optical data networks were now on the same Moore's Law curve of increasing performance and falling cost that has driven the computer industry for the last four decades. In 1965, Intel's co-founder, Gordon E. Moore, noted that the number of transistors that could be placed on a silicon chip was doubling at regular intervals. The semiconductor industry has held to that rate of change since then, giving rise to the modern era of microelectronics that has transformed the global economy.
Now that rate of change could be directing the future of the telecommunications industry. Computer and communications industry executives say they believe that advancements in inexpensive optical networks will transform the computer industry and other major industries as diverse as the financial marketplace and Hollywood."
The delivery of massive files and powerful services on demand would be a reality if this discovery can be developed into real products for the digital infrastructure.
Extreme Capitalism: Chinese Style
Living Hand to Mouth - New York Times
Arriving in Shanghai:
Thomas Friedman's column this week is the dynamism of capitalism in China today. This strange mix of a strong centralized communist state and the market has created a tremendous engine for growth:
He might have added that it will have the same affect here at home on our frugal welfare state. Friedman's argument is that this rate of growth will have consequences and is in the long run unsustainable. The effect of unchecked development on the environment is enormous. Friedman's point is that China is a bigger economic and environmental threat than a military one, and that the U.S. needs to encourage China towards a path of sustainable development.
Arriving in Shanghai:
"As you wait for 90 minutes to get your visa stamped at the airport, crushed between traveling Chinese and visiting investors, you can feel that you are in a country engaged in extreme capitalism. Every other person around me in the visa line was already on a cellphone or P.D.A. - as if people could not wait to get through passport control to start doing deals."
Thomas Friedman's column this week is the dynamism of capitalism in China today. This strange mix of a strong centralized communist state and the market has created a tremendous engine for growth:
"Not only is China not a communist country anymore, but it may also now be the world's most capitalist country in terms of raw energy. Indeed, I believe history will record that it was Chinese capitalism that put an end to European socialism. Europe can no longer sustain its 35-hour workweeks and lavish welfare states because of the rising competition from low-wage, high-aspiration China, as well as from India and Eastern Europe."
He might have added that it will have the same affect here at home on our frugal welfare state. Friedman's argument is that this rate of growth will have consequences and is in the long run unsustainable. The effect of unchecked development on the environment is enormous. Friedman's point is that China is a bigger economic and environmental threat than a military one, and that the U.S. needs to encourage China towards a path of sustainable development.
Monday, October 24, 2005
IT for India: A ten point plan for future developlment
Ten point agenda declared by hon'ble minister for communications and information technology, shri dayanidhi maran on 26.05.2004 - Department of Information Technology
India's Department of Information Technology has a ten point agenda for the development of their digital infrastructure. This is the kind of national policy that supports the growth of digital cities like Bangalore and tries to extend that development into rural India so that the rest of the population does not get left behind.
Some key points from the Ministers top ten agenda items:
1. National goal of bringing "Cyber Connectivity to every citizen." Cheap PC's for all.
2. Promoting transparency and India's National E-governance Plan.
3. Broadband Connectivity for all.
4. "Next Generation Mobile Wireless Technologies: I plan to leapfrog from the current generation of mobile telephony to the next 4G." Setting standard for telephony to "leap frog" to latest technology skipping 3G.
8. Item #8 is worth quoting in full:
10. "Outsourcing Skilled Manpower and R&D Thrust: I shall make all endeavours to make India the world's hub for outsourcing skilled manpower in the IT sector."
To sum up the ministers agenda: Broad band cyber connectivity for all. Leap frog generations of technology and set standards. Promote e-governance and transparency. Use digital communications and information technology to promote rural development, education & healthcare. Make India the "world's hub" for IT outsourcing.
India's Department of Information Technology has a ten point agenda for the development of their digital infrastructure. This is the kind of national policy that supports the growth of digital cities like Bangalore and tries to extend that development into rural India so that the rest of the population does not get left behind.
Some key points from the Ministers top ten agenda items:
1. National goal of bringing "Cyber Connectivity to every citizen." Cheap PC's for all.
2. Promoting transparency and India's National E-governance Plan.
3. Broadband Connectivity for all.
4. "Next Generation Mobile Wireless Technologies: I plan to leapfrog from the current generation of mobile telephony to the next 4G." Setting standard for telephony to "leap frog" to latest technology skipping 3G.
8. Item #8 is worth quoting in full:
Media Lab Asia: I shall ensure that the programme of Media Lab Asia of the Government focus on the following areas of importance to the large Indian populace:
i. Providing seamless communication connectivity to rural areas and promoting value-added services and micro enterprises to double the village GDP in a couple of years.
ii. Extend quality healthcare services to remote areas using the technologies of telemedicine and internet access
iii. Use Information and Communication Technology tools to improve literacy through distance education, inclusive processes and pedagogy,
iv. Promote development and availability of low-cost PCs and communication access devices to increase internet penetration 10-fold in a few years.
10. "Outsourcing Skilled Manpower and R&D Thrust: I shall make all endeavours to make India the world's hub for outsourcing skilled manpower in the IT sector."
To sum up the ministers agenda: Broad band cyber connectivity for all. Leap frog generations of technology and set standards. Promote e-governance and transparency. Use digital communications and information technology to promote rural development, education & healthcare. Make India the "world's hub" for IT outsourcing.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Banglore: Paradise for IT professionals?
D A I J I W O R L D
"Despite a high disposable income and the glamour of consumerism, employees in the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services in the city are not a happy lot."High pay, but long hours and a stressful work environment is what IT professionals can expect in Bangalore. According to "Gopal Mahopatra and Naga Siddartha of the National Human Resource Development Network" these employees have "little time for themselves or their families and this tells on their mental and physical health." The outsourcing business is competitive and there is a lot of pressure. New employees seeking work in the outsourcing centers are not in for an easy time:
There is also disappointment among newcomers, especially in the business process outsourcing sector. Other studies have revealed that call centre executives suffer from deep feelings of inferiority owing to factors such as working during nights and not really using their technical skills.It seems the IT bonanza in Bangalore has its down side. Welcome to the digital life Bangalore style: Prosperity comes with heart attacks and divorce, traffic jams and headaches. But those trips to the mall with all of that disposable income should make up for it a bit, if you can find the time.
The skewed work-life balance affects health and family life. Among the respondents in the study, 80 per cent have some health problem. Considering their young age, 78 per cent have heart problems, 50 per cent suffer from chronic headaches and insomnia, and 31 per cent have high blood pressure.
Interpersonal relationships are also affected. At least 62 per cent report poor family relations, 28 per cent have strained marital relations, and 22 per cent are either divorced or are on the verge of it.
What is a global delivery centre?
IBM opens global delivery centre
Gee, what is a global service delivery center (GSDC) and why is IBM opening one in Bangalore?
ZDnetIndia published a short item describing IBM's latest investment in Asia. According the Press Trust of India, IBM's new center in Bangalore
That is everything you need to manage high-tech outsourcing. The article cites an IBM statement describing what the center will offer its clients:
Consider the language: Limitless computing power on demand . . . delivered consistently across locations . . . in a secure environment . . . including remote monitoring . . . able to move work quickly to other locations . . . Welcome to the brave new world of outsourcing.
Gee, what is a global service delivery center (GSDC) and why is IBM opening one in Bangalore?
ZDnetIndia published a short item describing IBM's latest investment in Asia. According the Press Trust of India, IBM's new center in Bangalore
"will provide local and global clients with command centre services, including remote monitoring of servers, security operations and network operations, data centre services, including server hosting, server management and storage management and it help desk services"
That is everything you need to manage high-tech outsourcing. The article cites an IBM statement describing what the center will offer its clients:
The GSDC will utilise a centralised model of delivery, which offers clients a greater ability to move work quickly to other locations and reduced risk, thus ensuring very high-value, high-quality service that is delivered consistently across locations, it said.This is one stop shopping for any company looking to set up an outsourcing operation in India. Demand is growing, and IBM promises that they will be able to expand the 1000 seat center as the market grows.
Through the GSDC's modern infrastructure, clients will have their data housed in a secure environment and be able to tap into virtually limitless computing power on demand and pay for it on a per-usage basis, it said.
The new centre features a high-performance network infrastructure and leading-edge technology and telephony systems.
Consider the language: Limitless computing power on demand . . . delivered consistently across locations . . . in a secure environment . . . including remote monitoring . . . able to move work quickly to other locations . . . Welcome to the brave new world of outsourcing.
On the road to Bangalore -- The Washington Times
On the road to Bangalore -- The Washington Times
Palm Meadows, it's called -- an enclave of gently curving streets, Spanish-tile roofs and lawns manicured to putting-green perfection. Before Christmas, colored lights go up around the windows of its tidy suburban homes. At Halloween, costumed children ring doorbells up and down the block.Southern California? No, a gated community near Bangalore, catering to young Indian professionals who are returning to India from the United States. Living in the U.S. had been a goal for many young high-tech professionals, but now, the jobs are moving to India and so are the programmers and engineers. According to the Associated Press, "The Indian press call it the "reverse brain drain." and the AP concluded, "Many of those brains came to Bangalore." For many of these former U.S. residents and their families living in Bangalore can be quite a change:
But it can be a shock to arrive in India from an American suburb.
Wealthy customers can wander through India's air-conditioned shopping malls, but this is still a country where more than 800 million people survive on less than $2 a day. Even the wealthy must face cities crowded with poverty, where malnourished children are commonplace and railroad tracks double as open-air toilets.
The returning expatriates worry about the country's pitifully slow ambulance services and wonder what to tell their children about the beggars tapping on car windows at stoplights.
"What Will We Do for Employment?"
Relationships in the Digital Age: The World Is Flat
CBarr's Relationships in the Digital Age blog has an interesting comment on a key question raised by Friedman in The World is Flat She asks:
CBarr's Relationships in the Digital Age blog has an interesting comment on a key question raised by Friedman in The World is Flat She asks:
What will we do for employment? Will we need to be a country filled with doctors, lawyers, and investors? What does this mean for the level of education required for finding employment? It is already such a competitive job market, with many jobs requiring an MBA or Masters degree. What will happen to those that only have a high school education, Associates degree, or Bachelor's degree? With the cost of living steadily rising and property rates rising, will people be living with their parents well into their 30s and 40s while they finish up their advanced education? Will the government do more to fund advanced education so we can keep up? What will happen to the poverty level as unemployment climbs (which it seems it might if we don't do something drastic to create jobs that won't be outsourced). I fear for our future if we can't find an innovative way to keep up with the game.Friedman would concur, we need to change our ways if we are going to compete as a nation and as individuals in the global marketplace.
Digital Age Journalism: Evidence of a flat world? Or just too much information?
Digitally Yours, Revolution: TWIF Reading Overview
MsTorres's blog Digitally Yours, Revolution has posted a thoughtful discussion of a key point from The World Is Flat>. She makes an interesting comparison to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. MsTorres writes that Friedman uses the example of a "digital age journalist" to make the point that "the increasing connectivity of our culture is flattening the world." She then raises a different point about the increasing connectivity made possible by all of the hi-tech toys available to journalists and amateurs alike:
We will become more efficient information searchers and consumers or we will surely drown.
But many will try to "banish" the complexity by building barriers against this tide of information. Political firewalls are being constructed that any reader of Fahrenheit 451 will recognize as attempts to destroy or at least control dangerous ideas.
We don't need to spend hours researching every story, nor do most people have the time or inclination to become amateur journalists with cellphone cameras. But citizen journalists will increase connectivity for those of us who are ready to surf the tsunami of information. The traditional media have to confront this challenge and so do we as citizens and consumers of news.
MsTorres's blog Digitally Yours, Revolution has posted a thoughtful discussion of a key point from The World Is Flat>. She makes an interesting comparison to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. MsTorres writes that Friedman uses the example of a "digital age journalist" to make the point that "the increasing connectivity of our culture is flattening the world." She then raises a different point about the increasing connectivity made possible by all of the hi-tech toys available to journalists and amateurs alike:
So now is everyone going to be a news reporter? How reliable is this "news" that the "Digital Age Journalist" has to report? Or is this what we need? This world is run by major cooperation's, and those cooperating own news outlets...so how reliable are they really? So is this "DAJ" the real deal and just what the doctor ordered to dodge the politics of media? Ardolino expressed that, "Being a journalist is a hobby that sprang from my frustration about biased, incomplete, selective, and/or incompetent information gathering by the mainstream media,". He continued to say that "...-a need is not being met by current information sources."My reaction would be that we are indeed facing a world with too much information, but that new technologies for information management are being developed as well, not just technologies for information production. We will have to spend hours at times, researching crucial issues, but that may well be the price of freedom.
In Fahrenheit 451, books and other reading material were banished because they were said to be too complicated. One book contradicted another, one philosopher down talking another. Is it possible that at some point we are going to have too much information? Or is that kind of mentality just a conditioning of commercial media? How badly do I want to know the news? Will I sit in front of my computer for hours trying to find correspondents in Cuba to uncover the realities of a country under embargo?
We will become more efficient information searchers and consumers or we will surely drown.
But many will try to "banish" the complexity by building barriers against this tide of information. Political firewalls are being constructed that any reader of Fahrenheit 451 will recognize as attempts to destroy or at least control dangerous ideas.
We don't need to spend hours researching every story, nor do most people have the time or inclination to become amateur journalists with cellphone cameras. But citizen journalists will increase connectivity for those of us who are ready to surf the tsunami of information. The traditional media have to confront this challenge and so do we as citizens and consumers of news.
Will you pay higher tuition to catch terrorists?
Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems - New York Times
The New York Times reports that universities are protesting the federal government's mandate that they and every other internet provider upgrade their networks to allow law enforcement agencies to monitor internet communications in order to apprend criminals and terrorists.
The catch is that the government expects theses companies and institutions to pay for this upgrade themselves, which in the case of the hundreds of universities providing internet service to their communities is astronomical and could come out of your pocket:
The fascinating point about the opposition to this federal mandate is that it is an unfunded and not on any fear of Big Brother snooping through our email and listening in on internet phone calls. The universities are worried about the bottom line and do not see any threat to civil liberties here: "Because the government would have to win court orders before undertaking surveillance."
Should the govenment be allowed to control the architecture of the net for security purposes? Or should the private network providers and other institutions have some liberty here?
Do security concerns trump civil liberties in our current climate of risk? Forever?
Certainly the government of China is also seeking to make sure it can monitor every online communication by its population. Will our government do the same? Should we be worried about federal surveillance of political dissidents in this country or will they really limit this to the pursuit of criminals and terrorists?
The New York Times reports that universities are protesting the federal government's mandate that they and every other internet provider upgrade their networks to allow law enforcement agencies to monitor internet communications in order to apprend criminals and terrorists.
The catch is that the government expects theses companies and institutions to pay for this upgrade themselves, which in the case of the hundreds of universities providing internet service to their communities is astronomical and could come out of your pocket:
Technology experts retained by the schools estimated that it could cost universities at least $7 billion just to buy the Internet switches and routers necessary for compliance. That figure does not include installation or the costs of hiring and training staff to oversee the sophisticated circuitry around the clock, as the law requires, the experts said.
"This is the mother of all unfunded mandates," Mr. Hartle said.
Even the lowest estimates of compliance costs would, on average, increase annual tuition at most American universities by some $450, at a time when rising education costs are already a sore point with parents and members of Congress, Mr. Hartle said.
The fascinating point about the opposition to this federal mandate is that it is an unfunded and not on any fear of Big Brother snooping through our email and listening in on internet phone calls. The universities are worried about the bottom line and do not see any threat to civil liberties here: "Because the government would have to win court orders before undertaking surveillance."
Should the govenment be allowed to control the architecture of the net for security purposes? Or should the private network providers and other institutions have some liberty here?
Do security concerns trump civil liberties in our current climate of risk? Forever?
Certainly the government of China is also seeking to make sure it can monitor every online communication by its population. Will our government do the same? Should we be worried about federal surveillance of political dissidents in this country or will they really limit this to the pursuit of criminals and terrorists?
Cisco plans to make $1 billion bet in India
Cisco plans to make $1 billion bet in India
John Boudreau of Mercury News reports that Cisco Systems,the "San Jose network equipment company -- whose routers, switches and other gear power the Internet" is planning to invest $1.1 billion in India, "a move that reflects the growing importance of India as an emerging market for technology." Cisco will be "tripling" its staff in India:
The size of the emerging Indian market and the changing relationship between Silcon Valley and India (i.e., "Silicon Valley needs India as much as India needs Silicon Valley,") are the lessons here. Bangalore is the center of this investment and the big question is whether the city can provide the urban and IT infrastucture that will support this kind of international investment and growth. The commercial real estate market in Bangalore is booming along with the services that these new corporate residents and their employees will require. Will Cisco be making a similar new investment in San Jose California? Will they be tripling their staff there as well? Investment in India is a strategic decision that will pay off for Cisco, their stockholders and their current employees but how will it affect the American labor market? Are you ready to move to Bangalore?
In Bangalore, upscale malls are rising up fromstreets. A new crop of subdivisions, designed for the newly prosperous, are popping up on the landscape. Every day, hundreds of new cars are added to the already jammed crowded, dusty roads.
John Boudreau of Mercury News reports that Cisco Systems,the "San Jose network equipment company -- whose routers, switches and other gear power the Internet" is planning to invest $1.1 billion in India, "a move that reflects the growing importance of India as an emerging market for technology." Cisco will be "tripling" its staff in India:
``India is a marquee market for us,'' said Dan Scheinman, senior vice president for corporate development at Cisco. ``Over the last couple of years, we've averaged 50 percent growth a year in India. We think we can grow 30 percent a year for the next three years.''Big players in the digital economy are investing in India and Bangalore to exploit the talent of their pool of engineers and progammers as well as call center employees. High end IT jobs are being created in Bangalore. But the news here is that these companies are also positioning themselves to produce for the Indian domestic market, with a growing population of 1.2 billion people and an increasing middle class the Indian market is a great opportunity. Products designed and produced in the U.S. will not be as competitive as products designed and produced by Indian engineers and programmers according to Cicso's logic of investment:
Cisco's India ramp-up follows in the steps of other large tech companies, including Oracle, Intel, Microsoft and SAP, all of whom have significant operations in India. The wealth of cheaper, but high-quality, engineering talent, coupled with a growing middle class and business opportunities, is luring tech companies to India.
Cisco's Indian operations are headquartered in a trendy section of Bangalore, the tech hub in southern India that is rich in engineering talent.
Eventually, Cisco hopes its Indian team can customize products for the Indian market.
``The hope is we can have innovation and whole product lines there,'' Scheinman said. ``When you have the magic of engineers near customers, good things happen. You want your engineers near your customers. Customers are a source for a lot of innovations.''
The eastern expansion reflects the growing confidence valley companies have in the engineers they can hire in India, as well as expanding market opportunities, said Ash Lilani, head of global markets for Silicon Valley Bank, which has an office in Bangalore.
India, one of the world's fastest growing economies, reported an annual 8.1 percent growth rate in the most recent quarter. Overall, its economy is expected to grow at least 7 percent for the year ending March 31.
``People have awakened to the potential of the huge domestic market'' in India, Lilani said. ``You will see more and more corporations and venture funds trying to exploit that local economy.''
Oracle has a staff of 7,000 engineers and other professionals in India; German software maker SAP invested $1 billion in India in 2004 alone and has nearly 2,000 employees in India, most doing research and development. Intel employs about 2,800 tech workers in Bangalore.
Like China, companies now see India as a place to not just build products, but to sell them, as well. [. . .]
Every year, some 55 million Indians -- a number close to the population of Great Britain -- buy cell phones, Scheinman said. Broadband growth, while much slower than soaring mobile phone sales, is expected to explode in future years as hundreds of millions of Indians go online, he added.
``Nobody can afford to ignore this market,'' B.V. Naidu, director of government-run Software Technology Parks of India, said in a recent interview in Bangalore. ``Silicon Valley needs India as much as India needs Silicon Valley.''
While the cost of hiring engineers in the tight Indian job market is increasing as foreign and local companies compete fiercely for talent, the benefits of operating there remain, said Sam Wilson, an analyst with JMP Securities.
``A lot of what Cisco is doing is strategic,'' Wilson said. ``It doesn't work to make a U.S. product and send it to India and say, `Buy this.' You've got to build products for the local market. That's why you need engineers there. That's why you need a sales force there.''
Wilson said Cisco's big expansion in India is a bit late. ``It's classic Cisco does this now, instead of doing this five years ago. I'm like, `Duh.' ''
The size of the emerging Indian market and the changing relationship between Silcon Valley and India (i.e., "Silicon Valley needs India as much as India needs Silicon Valley,") are the lessons here. Bangalore is the center of this investment and the big question is whether the city can provide the urban and IT infrastucture that will support this kind of international investment and growth. The commercial real estate market in Bangalore is booming along with the services that these new corporate residents and their employees will require. Will Cisco be making a similar new investment in San Jose California? Will they be tripling their staff there as well? Investment in India is a strategic decision that will pay off for Cisco, their stockholders and their current employees but how will it affect the American labor market? Are you ready to move to Bangalore?
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Data Mining for Beginners
An Algorithm as a Pickax - New York Times
The Times has a great interview with Stephen Brobst who has the imposing title of "chief technology officer of the Teradata division of the NCR Corporation." He is an expert Data Miner. In this interview he provides a brief overview of the increasing sophistication of data mining techniques used in government, business and politics. Data Mining is used by political campaigns, marketers and corporations to make important decisions about how to target consumers and predict their behavior.
The Times has a great interview with Stephen Brobst who has the imposing title of "chief technology officer of the Teradata division of the NCR Corporation." He is an expert Data Miner. In this interview he provides a brief overview of the increasing sophistication of data mining techniques used in government, business and politics. Data Mining is used by political campaigns, marketers and corporations to make important decisions about how to target consumers and predict their behavior.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
the cluetrain manifesto
the cluetrain manifesto
Here's a link to the "Cluetrain Manifesto" a document that many online business people feel sums up what's new about the interactive digital economy.
Here's a link to the "Cluetrain Manifesto" a document that many online business people feel sums up what's new about the interactive digital economy.
Monday, October 17, 2005
What Would Jesus Blog?
Wired News: What Would Jesus Blog?
"We need to start thinking about how we can harness and focus the Christian blogosphere for greater impact." --Rev. Andrew Jackson
Wired as an interesting article about chrisitian bloggers exploring the question of what it means to be a christian in the blogosphere. One topic is the conflict of cultures between the traditional church and the many who are launching religion into cyberspace. For example some of these bloggers have the idea that christian bloggers can act act as a sort of check on any abuse of power in the religious community:
"We need to start thinking about how we can harness and focus the Christian blogosphere for greater impact." --Rev. Andrew Jackson
Wired as an interesting article about chrisitian bloggers exploring the question of what it means to be a christian in the blogosphere. One topic is the conflict of cultures between the traditional church and the many who are launching religion into cyberspace. For example some of these bloggers have the idea that christian bloggers can act act as a sort of check on any abuse of power in the religious community:
Some predicted bloggers could play a role in reforming the modern church by keeping televangelists and other high-profile Christian leaders honest.Harnessing the blogosphere seems to be the topic on the minds of business people, politicians, marketers and it seems anyone interested influencing the public mind. Religious blogging is another subculture of the blogosphere that is attempting to define itself. Blogginng is an activity that opens up a christian conversation to the public eye, and this seems to concern some of the bloggers who attended this Christian blogging conference. Another topic of conversation was about how to interact with non-believers that you would meet in the blogosphere:
At one well-attended workshop -- "When Non-Christians Read Your Blog" -- Biola University professor Timothy Muehlhoff gave instructions on writing about faith without alienating nonbelievers.Will the culture of the blogosphere transform the culture of the church? Or will the church transform the culture of the blogosphere? If it is changing they way they talk, it may change the way they walk. There is a reason that many religious cultures (not all) discourage contact with outsiders who may be carriers of heretical ideas. Will the churches accept members of their congregations blogging away about the things they like or dislike about their pastors and practices? Or will they be shunned? Bloggers as truth-tellers has an idealistic ring to it, but throwing the money-changers out of the temple has never been very popular with the priests in any era.
He stressed that God blogging has the potential to be a "train wreck" because done wrong it can reinforce stereotypes of evangelical Christians as angry and close-minded "pit bulls of the culture wars."
"As Christians today we are embroiled in the argument culture and we have forgotten this one thing: 'Blessed are the peacemakers,'" he said. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could say we brought a level of civility back to the conversation?"
Cyber-Dating in Somaliland
Relationships in the Digital Age: Impact of Cyber-Dating in Somaliland
cbarr's "Relationships in the Digital Age" blog has a great link to an article about "Cyber-Dating in Somaliland" It seems that the internet is offering new options for young women that many in Somaliland are finding threatening. Check it out.
cbarr's "Relationships in the Digital Age" blog has a great link to an article about "Cyber-Dating in Somaliland" It seems that the internet is offering new options for young women that many in Somaliland are finding threatening. Check it out.
Friday, October 14, 2005
AOL becomes a portal to profit
With Fewer Paying Up, AOL.com Shifts to Free - New York Times
America Online the first great online service is slowly running out of paying suscribers. So what's the solution? A metamorphosis before our very eyes from a paid suscription service to a free portal. The business pages have been full of discussions about who will buy AOL, several big players seem interested including Microsoft. Media concentration, mergers and acquisitions and the transformation of AOL into another company that sells eyeballs to advertisers. The business model for online success is free access to build a large following which can then be sold to marketers.
America Online the first great online service is slowly running out of paying suscribers. So what's the solution? A metamorphosis before our very eyes from a paid suscription service to a free portal. The business pages have been full of discussions about who will buy AOL, several big players seem interested including Microsoft. Media concentration, mergers and acquisitions and the transformation of AOL into another company that sells eyeballs to advertisers. The business model for online success is free access to build a large following which can then be sold to marketers.
"Play more Video Games" --Stephen Spielberg
Globetechnology: Spielberg, EA team up to make video games
The convergence of the movie industry and gaming now has the imprimatur of one of the gods of Hollywood, Stephen Spielberg. "In a speech last year, he told film students they could change the face of film making if only they played more video games." Spielberg will actually be working at EA, the "world's largest gamemaker":
The convergence of the movie industry and gaming now has the imprimatur of one of the gods of Hollywood, Stephen Spielberg. "In a speech last year, he told film students they could change the face of film making if only they played more video games." Spielberg will actually be working at EA, the "world's largest gamemaker":
Instead, Spielberg will have an office in EA's studio. He plans to work side-by-side with game developers to create original gaming content beginning with the concept — not a game based on a movie, or vice versa, both of which are common practices nowadays.It's a mashed-up media world. The convergence continues.
Mobile Phone Revolution in Africa?
New Statesman - It's good to talk - even better to sell
Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society has written an article for the New Statesman in which he claims that there are two important factors speeding development in Africa. Factors that may be more important than Western aid to the continent. The first is China's increasing demand for raw materials. The Chinese government views Africa as an important market and a source of raw materials for its economic growth. (Unfortunately, it is willing to deal with even the most corrupt African goverments to get what it needs to sustain Chinese growth.) The second is the explosion of cell phone use in Africa which is having important economic and politiical effects:
Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society has written an article for the New Statesman in which he claims that there are two important factors speeding development in Africa. Factors that may be more important than Western aid to the continent. The first is China's increasing demand for raw materials. The Chinese government views Africa as an important market and a source of raw materials for its economic growth. (Unfortunately, it is willing to deal with even the most corrupt African goverments to get what it needs to sustain Chinese growth.) The second is the explosion of cell phone use in Africa which is having important economic and politiical effects:
"The internal driver is the mobile phone revolution that has transformed business and politics in Africa in the past ten years. In 2001, only 3 per cent of Africans had telephones of any sort. Now there are 50 million mobile-phone users, with numbers growing by 35 per cent a year. The phone companies completely misjudged the market - they thought that only the super-rich would buy mobiles. But it turned out that the people who really needed them were small self-employed businessmen, market women, taxi drivers and the casual workers who keep Africa going. In some areas, beer sales have plummeted as people have invested their meagre earnings in mobile phone cards instead. The pace of life has picked up hugely.Computer mediated communicaitons in the form of the cell phone here is changing the velocity of development in Africa providing a tool for economic growth and political change. That's the optimisitic analysis anyway.
Politically, too, mobile phones are having an immense effect. People no longer have to walk miles to talk to a friend or colleague or to make a business deal (there was no public phone system in Africa before mobile phones and the postal service, where it existed, took days or weeks). The chat programmes on radio stations in most African countries are also enabling ordinary people to express their frustrations and to know that others share their anger about the failures and corruption of their governments. A better-informed population that can listen to its own voices will put governments under pressure. I would even suggest that the Rwandan genocide could not have happened if mobile phones had existed."
Are multiplayer online games more compelling, more addictive? | csmonitor.com
Are multiplayer online games more compelling, more addictive? | csmonitor.com
The Christian Science Monitor has an article which asks whether MMORPGs are more "addictive" than previous generations of games. For the majority of players the obsession wears off after an intensive period of game playing but for a
Will there be a push for regulation based on this small minority of people who just can't stop playing? And how small will this minority be if current growth rates for online game playing continue? Of course, World of Warcraft is at the center of the debate. How will Blizzard handle this new situation? Warning labels? Denial? Online support groups?
The Monitor article also touchs on what makes these games so popular. One reason is the social networking aspect. The monitor interviewed several experts including a therapist:
Not everyone is so concerned, Aaron Delwiche, "an assistant professor of communication at Trinity University in San Antonio" who explores the gaming world in his courses is quoted:
Sounds like a fun class.
The Christian Science Monitor has an article which asks whether MMORPGs are more "addictive" than previous generations of games. For the majority of players the obsession wears off after an intensive period of game playing but for a
But for a small minority, obsession with these games can lead to bad habits or worse. Some players have been known to avoid eating and sleeping for many hours at a stretch while lost inside the game. In August, a South Korean in his 20s died after he spent 50 hours, taking only short breaks, playing an online game at an Internet cafe. One early MMORPG, called "Everquest," has earned the nickname "Evercrack."
Will there be a push for regulation based on this small minority of people who just can't stop playing? And how small will this minority be if current growth rates for online game playing continue? Of course, World of Warcraft is at the center of the debate. How will Blizzard handle this new situation? Warning labels? Denial? Online support groups?
The Monitor article also touchs on what makes these games so popular. One reason is the social networking aspect. The monitor interviewed several experts including a therapist:
For some, MMORPGs amount to a kind of "giant chat room" that just happens to have other stuff, like monster-slaying, going on, Yee says. They are "a very social space where you can chat and make long-term friends."
But even that can backfire, Dr. Orzack says. One of her patients told her how his wife decided to participate in an online "marriage" ceremony between her online character and that of another player she met in a MMORPG. They even e-mailed wedding invitations. The real-life husband "was absolutely beside himself," she says.
Not everyone is so concerned, Aaron Delwiche, "an assistant professor of communication at Trinity University in San Antonio" who explores the gaming world in his courses is quoted:
"When television was introduced, there was much concern about TV addiction," he says. "New media historically have tended to engender a lot of fear ... that bad social messages will be imparted."
But that hasn't stopped him from taking precautions. He talks with his students a lot about potential addiction," he says. "We have readings about addiction in the course packet." Some students go further: They "deliberately chose not to install the game on their home machines" and play only at the school's computer lab.
"I tell them, 'We're going to keep an eye on each other and make sure we don't get addicted to the game,' " he says.
Sounds like a fun class.
Are U Ready for New Songdo? U-Life City Rises in Korea
Korea's High-Tech Utopia, Where Everything Is Observed - New York Times
Here's a fine example of planning for the future, although perhaps not a future everyone will be happy with.
Urban planning has entered a new era in South Korea: New Songdo City will be the first real "ubiquitous city." What is a ubiquitous city you ask? Well it is based on the concept of "ubiquitous computing" (some call it pervasive computing:
One key figure behind this urban experiment is of a young Korean-American, John Kim. Mr. Kim was a "design leader at Yahoo" who is now leading the U-city planning effort. The development is a joint venture between an American developer, the Gale Company, and a subsidiary of "POSCO E&C, a subsidiary of South Korea's giant steel company. It is fascinating to see the collaborative process involved here. American corporations are involved in cutting edge projects around the globe. Does it matter that this kind of project could never happen in the U.S.? The article notes that most attempts to create cities from scratch have failed, citing Brazilia as a prime example. However while New Songdo may fail as a city it will be a great testing ground for a new way of life and all of the pervasive computing that will make it possible. The Times quotes Kim as saying that
The Times reporter cites one reason why the U-life would be a hard sell in the U.S. Many Americans have a healthy fear of high tech surveillance. New Songdo will be a city in which "everything is observed" through ubiquitous computing. The issue of privacy vs. convenience and service on demand rears it's head. How much privacy are you willing to give up to be served by an automated urban landscape? And you were scared of a few cookies. . .
Here's a fine example of planning for the future, although perhaps not a future everyone will be happy with.
Urban planning has entered a new era in South Korea: New Songdo City will be the first real "ubiquitous city." What is a ubiquitous city you ask? Well it is based on the concept of "ubiquitous computing" (some call it pervasive computing:
A ubiquitous city is where all major information systems (residential, medical, business, governmental and the like) share data, and computers are built into the houses, streets and office buildings. New Songdo, located on a man-made island of nearly 1,500 acres off the Incheon coast about 40 miles from Seoul, is rising from the ground up as a U-city.New Songdo is under construction and should be completed in about ten years. It represents a major collaboration between the South Korean government and high tech corporations to plan for Korea's economic and urban future. According to Mike An, the "chief project manager of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority, the government agency overseeing the project," there are some good reasons why this massive project is happening in Korea:
"Korea has gathered the world's attention with its CDMA and mobile technologies," Mr. An wrote, referring to digital cellular standards. "Now we need to prepare ourselves for the next market," which he said was radio-frequency identification, or RFID, and for U-cities. South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication has earmarked $297 million to build an RFID research center in New Songdo.The South Korean government is supporting their economy with crucial investments in longterm research and development that will pay off not today but in preparation for the "next market" Consider this a warning for American policy makers.
One key figure behind this urban experiment is of a young Korean-American, John Kim. Mr. Kim was a "design leader at Yahoo" who is now leading the U-city planning effort. The development is a joint venture between an American developer, the Gale Company, and a subsidiary of "POSCO E&C, a subsidiary of South Korea's giant steel company. It is fascinating to see the collaborative process involved here. American corporations are involved in cutting edge projects around the globe. Does it matter that this kind of project could never happen in the U.S.? The article notes that most attempts to create cities from scratch have failed, citing Brazilia as a prime example. However while New Songdo may fail as a city it will be a great testing ground for a new way of life and all of the pervasive computing that will make it possible. The Times quotes Kim as saying that
the city's high-tech infrastructure will be a giant test bed for new technologies, and the city itself will exemplify a digital way of life, what he calls "U-life."
"U-life will become its own brand, its own lifestyle," Mr. Kim said. It all starts with a resident's smart-card house key. "The same key can be used to get on the subway, pay a parking meter, see a movie, borrow a free public bicycle and so on. It'll be anonymous, won't be linked to your identity, and if lost you can quickly cancel the card and reset your door lock."
Residents will enjoy "full videoconferencing calls between neighbors, video on demand and wireless access to their digital content and property from anywhere in Songdo," he said.
The Times reporter cites one reason why the U-life would be a hard sell in the U.S. Many Americans have a healthy fear of high tech surveillance. New Songdo will be a city in which "everything is observed" through ubiquitous computing. The issue of privacy vs. convenience and service on demand rears it's head. How much privacy are you willing to give up to be served by an automated urban landscape? And you were scared of a few cookies. . .
Global Competition and U.S. Prosperity
Keeping Us in the Race - New York Times
Thomas Friedman's column this week raises some key points that are also covered in The World is Flat. According to Friedman there should be a national debate on the issue of
Part of the answer lies in America's lack of interest in science and science education when compared to our competitors; part of the answer lie in refusal of the Federal government to back the research and development of our scientific and technological infrastructure that we will need to be competitive in the years to come. There seems to be a crisis of leadership in this area, a failure to engage in long term planning on the part of government and industry. Friedman quotes from a report by a "bipartisan study group" formed by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine:
Both the report and Friedman seem to think that we will have trouble keeping up with other nations that are planning and investing in digital infrastructure and science at a rate that we do not seem prepared to match. The report comes up with a number of steps to narrow this gap. Friedman calls for a major federal campaign to address this imbalance:
Thomas Friedman's column this week raises some key points that are also covered in The World is Flat. According to Friedman there should be a national debate on the issue of
why so many U.S. manufacturers are moving abroad - not just to find lower wages, but to find smarter workers, better infrastructure and cheaper health care. It would be about why in Germany, 36 percent of undergrads receive degrees in science and engineering; in China, 59 percent; in Japan, 66 percent; and in America, only 32 percent. It would be about why Japanese on bullet trains can get access to the Internet with cellphones, and Americans get their cellphone service interrupted five minutes from home.
Part of the answer lies in America's lack of interest in science and science education when compared to our competitors; part of the answer lie in refusal of the Federal government to back the research and development of our scientific and technological infrastructure that we will need to be competitive in the years to come. There seems to be a crisis of leadership in this area, a failure to engage in long term planning on the part of government and industry. Friedman quotes from a report by a "bipartisan study group" formed by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine:
Because of globalization, the report begins, U.S. "workers in virtually every sector must now face competitors who live just a mouse-click away in Ireland, Finland, India or dozens of other nations whose economies are growing. ... Having reviewed the trends in the United States and abroad, the committee is deeply concerned that the scientific and technical building blocks of our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength. ... We are worried about the future prosperity of the United States. ... We fear the abruptness with which a lead in science and technology can be lost and the difficulty of recovering a lead once lost - if indeed it can be regained at all."
Both the report and Friedman seem to think that we will have trouble keeping up with other nations that are planning and investing in digital infrastructure and science at a rate that we do not seem prepared to match. The report comes up with a number of steps to narrow this gap. Friedman calls for a major federal campaign to address this imbalance:
These proposals are the new New Deal urgently called for by our times. This is where President Bush should have focused his second term, instead of squandering it on a silly, ideological jag called Social Security privatization. Because, as this report concludes, "Without a renewed effort to bolster the foundations of our competitiveness, we can expect to lose our privileged position."
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Thin Clients or Fat Servers?
SiliconValleyWatcher.com
Tom Foremski of SiliconValleyWatcher reports that the ever-growing market for more powerful PC's maybe threatened by the increasing ablity to provide the same services online from some distant large computer system. This would make it possible to buy cheaper less powerful microprocessors for home computing that would simply connect to a broadband connection linking the home or office to massive computing power on demand. Not only are the software titans like Microsoft threatened by the service on demand model but the hardware manufacturers as well will be scrambling to adjust their plans for future production. According to Tom Foremski:
People would spend less on buying fancy computer and expensive software and instead sign up for suscription services or even free services offering the same kinds of computing power and software packages. The implications of this transformation could be enormous in terms of the narrowing the global digital divide, according to Foremski:
Foremski's predictions are cliearly optimistic and somewhat utopian, but he is very persuasive and the evidence does seem to make his predictions seem plausible. Clearly the price of entry into this delivery system could still be substantial even if the barriers of expensive pc's and software are eliminated. Broadband for all is a major sticking point here. It is not clear that every nation state would permit their population to have access to that kind of information infrastructure that this dream requires even if it were economically possible. Certainly it would be a major shift in control of the digital world away from the microsofts and manufacturers and towards the portals and search monsters.
What are the distopian possiblities of this move to fat servers and thin clients. Is big brother a fat server? Does increasing centralization of computing power mean a concentration of control and surveillance power as well? Will everyone wish to have all of their files stored in central data bases or let these online providers search our hard drives so that the programs we are using will work? Thin clients could be easily controlled by fat servers in ways that independent computing power could avoid. There is room for much speculation here.
Tom Foremski of SiliconValleyWatcher reports that the ever-growing market for more powerful PC's maybe threatened by the increasing ablity to provide the same services online from some distant large computer system. This would make it possible to buy cheaper less powerful microprocessors for home computing that would simply connect to a broadband connection linking the home or office to massive computing power on demand. Not only are the software titans like Microsoft threatened by the service on demand model but the hardware manufacturers as well will be scrambling to adjust their plans for future production. According to Tom Foremski:
This trend is being enabled by companies such as Google, Yahoo, Ebay, MSFT, IBM, and the large telcos; all are building massive aggregations of computer power to support the large web based commercial/collaborative applications companies are using.
Increased broadband access also helps this trend as large computer centers suck in more data packets, process them, and kick them back out--faster than a PC could.
We will all timeshare a big computer in the ether(net) and we already do much of the time now (Google). It's back to 1965 and Doug Engelbart.
The PC of the near future, just needs to decrypt and render pixels and audio bits--jobs done very well by inexpensive multimedia graphics chips, much cheaper than a general purpose microprocessor.
People would spend less on buying fancy computer and expensive software and instead sign up for suscription services or even free services offering the same kinds of computing power and software packages. The implications of this transformation could be enormous in terms of the narrowing the global digital divide, according to Foremski:
Importantly, PCs/notebooks/mobile phones would be affordable to huge populations that otherwise wouldn't be able to get online for decades.
Think how such a computer architecture model could accelerate global development?
As opposed to the current attempts to slash PC prices by making ever more powerful and complex PC microprocessors.
We can get to the promised land of digital experiences for all, all the time--much faster with this type of computer architecture.
The graphics/audio processor then becomes the key chip. It has to handle the sights and sounds of a PC at lightning speeds.
Similarly, make the PC OS/browser simpler, not more complex.
Of course, in such a scenario I am assuming we have ubiquitous broadband access anytime, all the time, anywhere. Which we know will happen. And so will the rest. imho. :-)
Foremski's predictions are cliearly optimistic and somewhat utopian, but he is very persuasive and the evidence does seem to make his predictions seem plausible. Clearly the price of entry into this delivery system could still be substantial even if the barriers of expensive pc's and software are eliminated. Broadband for all is a major sticking point here. It is not clear that every nation state would permit their population to have access to that kind of information infrastructure that this dream requires even if it were economically possible. Certainly it would be a major shift in control of the digital world away from the microsofts and manufacturers and towards the portals and search monsters.
What are the distopian possiblities of this move to fat servers and thin clients. Is big brother a fat server? Does increasing centralization of computing power mean a concentration of control and surveillance power as well? Will everyone wish to have all of their files stored in central data bases or let these online providers search our hard drives so that the programs we are using will work? Thin clients could be easily controlled by fat servers in ways that independent computing power could avoid. There is room for much speculation here.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Tagging makes the Times: Folksonomy & del.icio.us tagged as important
'Folksonomy' Carries Classifieds Beyond SWF and 'For Sale' - New York Times
The New York Times is recognizing the significance of the latest online fad: tagging. The article describes three important tagging phenomena: del.icio.us, 43things.com, and PledgeBank. All of these are forms of the "new user-classified information structure." A social networking of keyword tags for different purposes. The NYT article describes the activities of one del.icio.us power user Thomas Vander Wal, a web production manager who is credited with coining the term "folksonomy":
These user-classified information services are making it possible for professionals to cope with the massive overload of information that the web pours into our computers every second. Efficient and creative information management can boost our intellectual productivity and keep us from drowning in meaningless data.
See also Wired's article "Folksonomies Tap People Power" from February 2005.
The New York Times is recognizing the significance of the latest online fad: tagging. The article describes three important tagging phenomena: del.icio.us, 43things.com, and PledgeBank. All of these are forms of the "new user-classified information structure." A social networking of keyword tags for different purposes. The NYT article describes the activities of one del.icio.us power user Thomas Vander Wal, a web production manager who is credited with coining the term "folksonomy":
Mr. Vander Wal is passionate about this new user-classified information structure, so he closely follows the Web sites that others tag with the term "folksonomy" and related words. As any user can, he signed up to receive notifications when new bookmarks with this tag come in, and he estimated that he received 20 such messages a day.
Over time, Mr. Vander Wal has found himself following the bookmarking activities of specific users who share his interests. That is usually as far as the contacts go, but not always. Last January, a lively blog discussion led to an e-mail exchange among Mr. Vander Wal, David Smith and Michal Migurski, all folksonomy-focused del.icio.us users. Mr. Vander Wal met Mr. Migurski in person that month in San Francisco.
"It's difficult to explain to my wife what I'm doing, who these people are or how I've met them," he said. "But they're insanely helpful with the issues I'm interested in."
These user-classified information services are making it possible for professionals to cope with the massive overload of information that the web pours into our computers every second. Efficient and creative information management can boost our intellectual productivity and keep us from drowning in meaningless data.
See also Wired's article "Folksonomies Tap People Power" from February 2005.
World of Warcraft link from Mike's Blog
Mike's Blog: World of Warcraft
Mike's Blog has a great link to a New York Times article about World of Warcraft. Gaming is our topic for this week and this article is a good introduction to WOW:
One fascinating aspect of all this is that is appears that World of Warcraft has "taken on a life of its own." At "peak hours" there are more than 250,000 people battling away in WOW. There can be as many as 100,000 South Koreans logged on during prime gaming hours.
The social dynamic of the interaction in World of Warcraft is fascinating. Status as a game player trumps real world identity. The times reports that managers watching the exchange of messages between players are getting a real lesson in the social pecking order of cyberspace:
The construction of fantasy is a serious business for the designers behind WOW. The attention to detail and continuity is a part of making WOW an addictive "immersive experience" rather than merely a "mechanical diversion." As one Blizzard designer explains:
Emotional investment in the World of Warcraft, anyone? Gird your loins and construct your avatars. Immersion or diversion? More blurring of the line between real and cyber world identity? Or just a profitable activity and a harmless amusement?
Mike's Blog has a great link to a New York Times article about World of Warcraft. Gaming is our topic for this week and this article is a good introduction to WOW:
"It was 4:33 p.m. Thursday, and 263,863 people were reaching through cyberspace to explore the sprawling World of Warcraft"It seems that Blizzard Entertainment is having trouble coping with the massive number of new suscribers pouring in from all over the world. They don't call it a massively-multiplayer game for nothing. If Blizzard can keep WOW up and running smoothly they will rule an online gaming empire on which the sun never sets.
One fascinating aspect of all this is that is appears that World of Warcraft has "taken on a life of its own." At "peak hours" there are more than 250,000 people battling away in WOW. There can be as many as 100,000 South Koreans logged on during prime gaming hours.
The social dynamic of the interaction in World of Warcraft is fascinating. Status as a game player trumps real world identity. The times reports that managers watching the exchange of messages between players are getting a real lesson in the social pecking order of cyberspace:
And in sifting through all of the messages (or as many as they can get to), the community managers have developed a rich understanding of how people's real and game identities can intersect.
"You literally can see a 68-year-old doctor arguing with a 13-year-old about some obscure gameplay issue, like how paladins should be nerfed," Mr. Della Bitta said.
"The only real way to determine status on the message boards is the level of your character. If you're Level 60, what you say immediately has weight. But if you're only like Level 5, you could make a perfectly valid point on something and everyone will be like, 'Shut up, what do you know?' And if you're a doctor or lawyer or something in real life, you're probably not used to that, so we see the frustrations."
The construction of fantasy is a serious business for the designers behind WOW. The attention to detail and continuity is a part of making WOW an addictive "immersive experience" rather than merely a "mechanical diversion." As one Blizzard designer explains:
Within a few minutes, Mr. Metzen determined that the history and culture of the tower's long-dead inhabitants decreed that the architectural animal motifs progress from horse heads at the tower's base to eagle heads a bit higher, culminating in lion heads at the grand opera house.
"But don't put these heads all over the place," Mr. Metzen told an artist. "Just sprinkling them in here and there will really sell the history to the players who are paying attention."
And if Blizzard has learned anything from its World of Warcraft experience, it is that the players are certainly paying attention.
"It's the difference between an immersive experience and a mechanical diversion," Mr. Metzen said. "You might spend hundreds of hours playing a game like this, and why would you keep coming back? Is it just for the next magic helmet? Is it just to kill the next dragon?
"It has to be the story. We want you to care about these places and things so that, in addition to the adrenaline and the rewards of addictive gameplay, you have an emotional investment in the world. And that's what makes a great game."
Emotional investment in the World of Warcraft, anyone? Gird your loins and construct your avatars. Immersion or diversion? More blurring of the line between real and cyber world identity? Or just a profitable activity and a harmless amusement?
Give Them Da Boot: Blogging As The New Journalism?
Give Them Da Boot: Blogging As The New Journalism?
Give Them Da Boot has a link to a post by Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine discussing the changing world of journalism as it is over run by the innovations of interactive media and blogging. Jarvis is covering a meeting at the Museum of Television & Radio’s Media Center which featured bloggers and journalists "working at the intersection" of journalism and blogging. It's a great article because it leads you to other key participants in this conversation. Jarvis is summarizing the observations of the participants and providing links to their blogs as well.
Give Them Da Boot has a link to a post by Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine discussing the changing world of journalism as it is over run by the innovations of interactive media and blogging. Jarvis is covering a meeting at the Museum of Television & Radio’s Media Center which featured bloggers and journalists "working at the intersection" of journalism and blogging. It's a great article because it leads you to other key participants in this conversation. Jarvis is summarizing the observations of the participants and providing links to their blogs as well.
Gender and Sexuality in the Digital Revolution: What's Next? Sex Robots!?
Gender and Sexuality in the Digital Revolution: What's Next? Sex Robots!?
cbarr' Gender and Sexuality in the Digital Revolution has an interesting post about an odd "advance" in robotics. It seems that robot bomb squads, teachers, nannies, workers, cleaners, and vacuums are not enough. Robots are preparing to invade the bedroom. It sounds like a bad sci-fi movie. As cbarr comments "it is scary to think how we can both humanize and dehumanize sex at the same time."
cbarr' Gender and Sexuality in the Digital Revolution has an interesting post about an odd "advance" in robotics. It seems that robot bomb squads, teachers, nannies, workers, cleaners, and vacuums are not enough. Robots are preparing to invade the bedroom. It sounds like a bad sci-fi movie. As cbarr comments "it is scary to think how we can both humanize and dehumanize sex at the same time."
"Videogame industry + interactive marketing = enormous opportunity."
iMedia Connection: The Gaming Evolution Comes to SF/BIG
Emma Brownell wrote an article for Imedia about an interactive marketing conference in San Francisco. The topic of interest: using gaming as a medium for marketing. Advertisers are interested in gaming because key demographic groups are spending less time with the traditional mass media. Marketers are scrambling to recapture their attention through the interactive media:
Brownell describes a presentation by Kate Everett-Thorp, "president of interactive advertising at AKQA," in which she describes how her company has sought to capture gamers attention by changing the form of their messages to fit the interactive nature of gaming:
Emma Brownell wrote an article for Imedia about an interactive marketing conference in San Francisco. The topic of interest: using gaming as a medium for marketing. Advertisers are interested in gaming because key demographic groups are spending less time with the traditional mass media. Marketers are scrambling to recapture their attention through the interactive media:
As of 2002, males in the 18- to 34-year-old category played as many hours of videogames as they spent watching TV. Currently, the videogame industry is worth $25 billion, with 110 million players worldwide. Videogames reach 70 percent of males aged 18 to 34.The key issue for interactive marketers is how to transform the advertising messages used in the mass media into the form and content that will engage interactive gamers.
Brownell describes a presentation by Kate Everett-Thorp, "president of interactive advertising at AKQA," in which she describes how her company has sought to capture gamers attention by changing the form of their messages to fit the interactive nature of gaming:
To reach gamers, marketers must evolve their communication plan: don't talk to gamers; let them "own" the advertising; take them on a journey; make sure there's an element of inclusion, and present the campaign as a quest for discovery.Advertising for gamers must mimic the form and logic of gaming, of pursuit, discovery, and collaboration in the creation of the message itself.
Everett-Thorp referred to the Halo 2 campaign that AKQA launched in 2004 as an example of how to target gamers. Initial Halo 2 pages launched with no English text, as not all gamers are English-speaking. Translating the text so that all gamers, across the globe, could read it would have been too expensive. Instead, AKQA teamed up with Bungie.org, which created a language called Covenant. Within 48 hours of the page launches, some gamers had decoded the language and published a decoder page. By the end of the week, 16 language translations had been published. And this was all before the website even went live.
Everett-Thorp cites this example not only because it was an extremely successful product launch, but also because it demonstrates the energy and capacity of the gaming population. Leverage that population as AKQA did, and you can, as Everett-Thorp said, stretch your budget to the max.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Are We Losing our Technological Edge?
America's Fall in R&D: "Nobody Cares"
"I think our politicians believe that that the leadership we have enjoyed since Sputnik has been God-ordained. It's not."
--Brian Halla, Ceo, National Semiconductor
A Businessweek interview with CEO Brian Halla of National Semiconductor discussing the danger of the U.S under funding of basic research. Halla compares the Chinese approach to state supported education, research and development with the U.S. government's reliance on private sector R&D to keep America competitive in the world market. Halla's observations are disturbing but not surprising, his testimony is one of many accounts of the increasing imbalance in resources devoted to basic research in the sciences which will result in "America losing its technological edge." Halla describes several key reasons for China's phenomenal growth and increasing competitiveness in the world market. He also discusses U.S. failures to promote technological innovation since the end of the Cold War. Halla also believes that the American public is ignorant of the competitive threat that China poses not just for traditional manufacturing jobs but also for high-tech production and professional activity:
Businessweek asked Halla if China has an educational advantage in this competitive market:
The central issue here is the question of what role should government have in creating the conditions for economic prosperity in a free market society. China with its centrally planned economy is supporting its IT sector with massive funding and planning. The U.S. has chosen a free market approach that relies on the corporate sector to fund long term research and development for future competitiveness. On the question of education there is also clearly a different philosophy it at work. The emphasis on science and engineering in China is producing a generation of technical professionals that our educational system is not going to match. Another key factor that made America powerful, prosperous and independent was our ability to produce for a large domestic market that is still the envy of the world in its ability to out consume any other domestic market in the universe. Access to our market is a powerful card that we have played in the past to control our economic rivals. Halla cites our ability to influence Japan by threatening limits on their ability to export to the U.S. But China is swiftly developing an enormous domestic market that will ultimately dwarf the U.S. market. Halla explains the comparison:
"I think our politicians believe that that the leadership we have enjoyed since Sputnik has been God-ordained. It's not."
--Brian Halla, Ceo, National Semiconductor
A Businessweek interview with CEO Brian Halla of National Semiconductor discussing the danger of the U.S under funding of basic research. Halla compares the Chinese approach to state supported education, research and development with the U.S. government's reliance on private sector R&D to keep America competitive in the world market. Halla's observations are disturbing but not surprising, his testimony is one of many accounts of the increasing imbalance in resources devoted to basic research in the sciences which will result in "America losing its technological edge." Halla describes several key reasons for China's phenomenal growth and increasing competitiveness in the world market. He also discusses U.S. failures to promote technological innovation since the end of the Cold War. Halla also believes that the American public is ignorant of the competitive threat that China poses not just for traditional manufacturing jobs but also for high-tech production and professional activity:
I think the perception of most people outside the technology industry is that China is still full of people working with their hands by candlelight. It's not like that. China has state-of-the-art semiconductor fabs and state-of-the-art everything, and they're producing cool stuff.
And I don't think that most people understand that China is graduating 400,000 engineers a year when the U.S. is graduating 65,000. The U.S. is still the IQ magnet of the world, but the best and brightest are finding more and more reasons not to come here. One is they can't stay once they get their PhD. Two is that it's just tougher to get in here, post-9/11.
Businessweek asked Halla if China has an educational advantage in this competitive market:
I often tell a story that illustrates this. There's a major university in the [San Francisco] Bay Area that you would have thought was one of the best-funded universities in the world. And one of our fellows at National is a professor there. And he said they just got a new gift of a network analyzer from Agilent (A ). It's worth about $110,000 and they put it on a metal cart, and professors will hide it away and hoard it. And to use it, you have to sign up for it days in advance, and they roll it around from lab to lab.
And then he was invited over to China to give a speech and was given a tour of Tsinghua University. And he was shocked and amazed that every lab had one of those very same Agilent network analyzers. Some of them had never been used or turned on, but they had them just in case they ever needed one. The funding is incredible, and meanwhile we're sitting here thinking we're doing fine.
I think our politicians believe that that the leadership we have enjoyed since Sputnik has been God-ordained. It's not. Someone has to fund it. We're not asking for handouts for companies. But the vast majority of companies these days don't do R&D, they just do D. And we work with universities to get the R, and now the universities are saying that they can't do basic research anymore.
Look at Bell Labs back in the 1940s. It was very unsuccessful in that only 1 of 20 projects was successful. But look at the successes: the transistor, the laser, the Telstar satellite, stereophonic sound. That's my long-winded way of saying funding needs to increase for basic research.
The central issue here is the question of what role should government have in creating the conditions for economic prosperity in a free market society. China with its centrally planned economy is supporting its IT sector with massive funding and planning. The U.S. has chosen a free market approach that relies on the corporate sector to fund long term research and development for future competitiveness. On the question of education there is also clearly a different philosophy it at work. The emphasis on science and engineering in China is producing a generation of technical professionals that our educational system is not going to match. Another key factor that made America powerful, prosperous and independent was our ability to produce for a large domestic market that is still the envy of the world in its ability to out consume any other domestic market in the universe. Access to our market is a powerful card that we have played in the past to control our economic rivals. Halla cites our ability to influence Japan by threatening limits on their ability to export to the U.S. But China is swiftly developing an enormous domestic market that will ultimately dwarf the U.S. market. Halla explains the comparison:
Five years ago, I talked with a peer CEO friend of mine who dismissed the China threat by saying he had heard it all 20 years before, with Japan. But Japan is a tiny island that ran out of people very quickly, and their cost of wages dramatically exceeded the U.S.'s. Second, Japan had to obey our laws, because the U.S. market was the only market, and so when it came to dealing with anti-dumping legislation, they had to obey, because they had to sell here.Access to the Chinese market may in the long run be more important to us than access to American consumers is now to them.
But it's different with China. They have a total addressable market of 400 million upper- to middle-class spenders they can sell to without ever having to touch the U.S.
Cyworld: South Korea
E-Society: My World Is Cyworld
A Businessweek article describes a popular and profitable social networking site called Cyworld from South Korea. It seems to be a more advanced form of MySpace. According to Businessweek, its popularity is hard to exaggerate:
Cyworld is threatening to swallow South Korea. Less than four years after its launch, 15 million people, or almost a third of the country's population, are members. Among those in their late teens and early twenties, 90% are hooked.
Cyworld is a social networking service that offers web pages, email, blogs, IM, etc. But unlike it's American cousins it offers a deeper immersion in the cyberworld, or as Businessweek puts it this South Korean "web phenomenon" is "indicative of a more general blurring between the digital and physical realms." It is more of an immersion because it offers a 3D experience and the creation of personal avatars to explore this three dimensional landscape:
Home pages, for example, appear three-dimensional. Users decorate their "rooms" with digital furniture, art, TVs, even music. Since avatars stop by, the idea is to make your space as cool as possible. Instant messaging is included in the service, so you can chat with visitors. You can even enter Cyworld from a mobile phone.
Cyworld took off after it was acquired in 2003 by SK Telecom Co. (SKU ), Korea's largest wireless service provider. The idea, of course, was to generate revenues. Although the service itself is free, when people add digital couches or TVs to their home pages, they spend real money. They swap cash for a digital currency called dotori (Korean for "acorns"), which cost 10 cents each. For instance, a digital couch costs six dotori. SK Communications, the subsidiary that runs Cyworld, chalked up a profit of $12.5 million on sales of $110.4 million, nearly half by selling dotori. The company expects sales to double this year.
One feature that has helped Cyworld take off is "wave riding." It works like this: When you're reading posts on bulletin boards or looking at photo files, you can click on the name of someone who has added a remark or photo you find interesting and you'll be transported to that person's digital room. If you like the art or music, you can introduce yourself and put in a request to become a "cybuddy." If accepted, you can use your buddy's goodies -- from art to photos -- on your own page. The chain of wave-riding visits creates communities on the Net, which often develop into clubs of common interest in the real world: clubs for fishing, bike riding, and going to jazz performances, among others.
Surfing through digital rooms, making cybuddies and forming communities of interest, networks that can create realworld contacts. . . If the numbers that Businessweek cites for the popularity of Cyworld in S. Korea are accurate, a third of all South Koreans are swiftly entering a new dimension of social life and community that may be a guide for our future development. The question becomes why is South Korean society the early adopter here? What is it about South Korean culture, corporate culture, government and demography that makes this nation a laboratory for the digital future?
Sunday, October 02, 2005
"In Which Humans Merge With Machines"
Ray Kurzweil deciphers a brave new world | CNET News.com
A CNET reporter interviews Ray Kurzweil about "singularity" which the reporter defines as "a future in which humans merge with machines and the pace of technological development accelerates beyond recognition." If you are interested in the digital future then visionary Ray Kurzweil has some predictions for you.
A CNET reporter interviews Ray Kurzweil about "singularity" which the reporter defines as "a future in which humans merge with machines and the pace of technological development accelerates beyond recognition." If you are interested in the digital future then visionary Ray Kurzweil has some predictions for you.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Google in San Francisco: 'Wireless overlord'? | CNET News.com
Google in San Francisco: 'Wireless overlord'? CNET News.com
The political debate over how to provide broadband access across the country will be affected by Google's gambit:
"Google again is out in front as the most talked about tech company making other tech companies squirm, and I, for one, welcome our new wireless overlords," wrote Ars Technica blogger Jade.
CNet News.com and all the major papers are reporting that Google proposes to provide free Wifi to the City of San Francisco. It is a bold move that promises to be quite controversial. Yes it's a scary idea to Google's competitors, but it also producing some anxiety amongst internet activists who are concerned about Google's willingness to protect the privacy of users logged on to their free network. Google will be tracking user behavior for behaviorial target marketing, which could entail a loss of privacy:
That prospect has some people concerned. "They will know much more information about your activities" than they can glean from a stationary PC, Ira Victor, managing partner for security information firm Data Clone Labs, said in an interview.On the positive side this proposal is a real wake up call for other corporations competing to provide broadband service across the country. If providing free Wifi works as a business model driving 800,000 San Franciscans through Google's portal, we can expect other players in the market to start offering free Wifi to attractive urban centers. It's hard to knock free wireless connectivity for an important urban center. Could this happen across the country?
"There are still a lot of unanswered questions, the most important being related to privacy," wrote blogger Charles Jade on the Ars Technica Web site. "Will Google be watching users? It's unlikely a city like San Francisco with a large contingent of professional protesters and unreconstructed communists would support such a compromise, but we will know shortly."
The political debate over how to provide broadband access across the country will be affected by Google's gambit:
"Google's move to enter the broadband access market could even impact developments in Congress, which is considering various approaches to a Telecom Act rewrite," wrote Mitch Shapiro on the IP & Democracy Web site. "Among the more contentious issues addressed by various draft bills are network neutrality, municipal broadband and privacy, all of which are raised--and with a somewhat novel twist--by Google's Wi-Fi proposal."CNET quotes Dan Gillmor's blog as approving Google's plan but
Citizen journalism advocate Dan Gillmor concluded that the benefits outweigh the risks.
"The word 'free' in this context is problematic. Google expects more than incurring costs from this test bed, and it'll be keeping all kinds of data about what people do on the network. (Yes, there's that Google-versus-privacy question again; it just keeps coming up.)," he wrote in his blog.
"Still, the innovation potential--or at least disruption potential--is enormous. I'm looking forward to seeing what Google does with this, especially in connection with its expanding voice offering. Maybe the incumbent telecom biggies, SBC and Comcast, have something to worry about; wouldn't that be great?" Gillmor wrote.
Code V.2 (and Other Laws of Cyberspace ) Revised in a Wiki
WikiHome - codebook - JotSpot
Lawrence Lessig is one of the most interesting experts on the subject of free expression, intellectual property and digital rights management in cyberspace. He is revising his 1999 book Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace using an open Wiki:
Lawrence Lessig is one of the most interesting experts on the subject of free expression, intellectual property and digital rights management in cyberspace. He is revising his 1999 book Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace using an open Wiki:
Professor Lessig is using this wiki to open the editing process to all, to draw upon the creativity and knowledge of the community. This is an online, collaborative book update; a first of its kind.
Once the project nears completion, Professor Lessig will take the contents of this wiki and ready it for publication. The resulting book, Code v.2, will be published in late 2005 by Basic Books. All royalties, including the book advance, will be donated to Creative Commons.
Is U.S. control over the Net a Myth?
John Palfrey: The US "control of the Internet"
John Palfrey's blog had this reaction to the Times article on the challenge to U.S. domination of the internet:
"But the notion that the United States has 'effective control of the Internet,' as reported here and elsewhere misses is badly misleading. (The NYT/IHT quote lead reads in full: 'The United States and Europe clashed here Thursday in one of their sharpest public disagreements in months, after European Union negotiators proposed stripping the Americans of their effective control of the Internet.') The US does not have 'effective control of the Internet' via its partial authority over the DNS (which, I repeat, ought to be fixed). The Internet is controlled by the interplay of an incredibly complex series of laws, code, markets, and norms, as Lawrence Lessig famously wrote in Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace -- that was right in 1999, and it's right in 2005. The US no more has control over the Internet than China does, or as we as users do, or as Microsoft or Google do. The misplaced emphasis on ICANN-as-lightening-rod ensures that the more important issues of Internet governance are glossed over or never engaged in full."
John Palfrey's blog had this reaction to the Times article on the challenge to U.S. domination of the internet:
"But the notion that the United States has 'effective control of the Internet,' as reported here and elsewhere misses is badly misleading. (The NYT/IHT quote lead reads in full: 'The United States and Europe clashed here Thursday in one of their sharpest public disagreements in months, after European Union negotiators proposed stripping the Americans of their effective control of the Internet.') The US does not have 'effective control of the Internet' via its partial authority over the DNS (which, I repeat, ought to be fixed). The Internet is controlled by the interplay of an incredibly complex series of laws, code, markets, and norms, as Lawrence Lessig famously wrote in Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace -- that was right in 1999, and it's right in 2005. The US no more has control over the Internet than China does, or as we as users do, or as Microsoft or Google do. The misplaced emphasis on ICANN-as-lightening-rod ensures that the more important issues of Internet governance are glossed over or never engaged in full."
