the Armchair of El Diablo

Broadband wins the country cook-off for Labour

Stilgherrian writes in today’s crikey.com.au newsletter…

What the NBN will deliver to Windsor’s mob 

“You do it once, you do it right and you do it with fibre,” independent MP Tony Windsor said of broadband yesterday. From his New England vantage point, the differences between Labor’s National Broadband Network (NBN) and the Coalition’s late entry are stark.

Instead of the glossy hand-waving of the government’s TV adverts, here’s a few examples of how ubiquitous metropolitan-equivalent broadband could transform regional Australia.

Office jobs are no longer limited to the Big Smoke, or even the nearest regional centre. Or even an office. You no longer have to herd people into the same room so they can collaborate. And while the workplace certainly has a social aspect, always-on high-bandwidth video links can provide co-workers with much the same level of ambient intimacy as if they were in adjacent cubicles.

Internet service provider iiNet has discovered that call centre staff are happier and more productive working from home. It saves them building a call centre, and they can hire people who only want to work three hours a day.

Same for education. Students needn’t abandon their family and friends. University tutorials can take place via video conference. Indeed, tutors needn’t be based at the university. They can work from wherever there’s a data link. As can the lecturers. As can administrative staff.

If your vision of regional Australia can’t move beyond farming, then consider the online livestock auctions already starting to happen. Farmers upload high-def video of their stock, bidders participate from their offices, and transport is only called in once the final destination is known. Saves fuel, saves carbon, saves stress on the livestock. Better meat, cheaper. Even Bob Katter’s bananas can be sold more efficiently.

And yes, there’s e-health. Consulting with a specialist from your local GP’s office rather than travelling to a city hospital is the canonical example. But it also means nurses can stay in touch with outpatients without having to bring them into a hospital, and without burning the road miles. Consulting with a psychiatrist can be done from home.

Indeed, with emerging low-cost medical sensors, people need only stay in hospitals when actual physical assistance is required. Again, the herd-everyone-together need is reduced. The very concept of ‘hospital’ will be transformed.

Cities are all about sharing resources and collaborating in factories and offices on a massive scale. Ubiquitous broadband and more flexible transport systems reduce the need for this urbanisation. Could the regional decline be reversed? That’s what Windsor is seeing.

Of course these benefits — plus the ones we haven’t thought of yet — would come from any kind of broadband. Except…

The NBN is rolling out now, with published coverage maps, and Labor just promised to fast-track rural Australia. The Coalition’s plan is still just a plan.

The NBN makes gigabit fibre available to 93% of the population, no ifs or buts. Not everyone will need or even want the full capacity, just as not everyone buys today’s top broadband plans either, but it’s there if it’s wanted. The Coalition’s plan leaves it up to the market. Regional Australia knows what that means.

The NBN’s fibre is much closer to an equal two-way data path. You can send that high-def video just as easily as receiving it. You’re a participant, not merely a passive viewer. The Coalition’s plan to bring just ADSL2+ to the regions, or wireless, just can’t deliver the same kinds of uplink speeds. No matter how often they repeat their mantra of “wireless is getting faster”, the physics can’t be avoided. Fibre already is faster. Both ways. And always will be.

But most importantly, the NBN provides regional towns with exactly the same broadband connections as the capital cities, at the same price. For a rural Australia that’s sick of enduring second-class infrastructure, they finally get to catch up. And Windsor knows if you want to win a race, and you’re starting from behind, you need to sprint faster than everyone else.

For Tony Windsor, that means an advertising production company could just as easily operate from Uralla rather than Ultimo, the architect could be in Tenterfield not Toorak — and with much lower real estate prices.

Stilgherrian in today’s crikey.com.au newsletter

8 September 2010

• Tags
• Aus
• elections
• NBN

Lame expectations in “The Twitter Election”

So we’ve now firmly established that this is NOT the ‘Twitter election’. Gotcha.

But what were we actually expecting?

That it would be a new Obama-era of campaigning, as political leaders engaged the masses through Twitter? Why the hell would they?

The Twitterati are an opinionated bunch, and as such, are likely to already have entrenched views. No point preaching to the chorus or the mob.

More importantly – as location tweeting is still only a US feature – you can’t tell which tweeters are from the all-important marginal electorates.

So you wouldn’t use it as either a targeted medium, or - with its fairly limited reach of 7.1% - as a broadcast medium either.

I just can’t see the advantage to the pollies engaging in more than a token Twitter effort. But here’s the real reason for the lack of Twitter zing…

Why ‘Twitter elections’ get their name

As I’ve written about before, so-called ‘Twitter elections’ haven’t been about using Twitter for polite debate.

‘Twitter elections’ have always been about mobilisation.

Twitter’s most dramatic effect is when its used on a tactical level. Organising flashmobs, communicating rumours and rapidly changing news, circumventing censors – this is where Twitter’s role is in sharp relief to the political process.

This was the case in Moldova, in Iran, and even in the US – where their system of political donations is built on large scale drives for public funding. And because of that distinct impact of a single channel, they were fairly described as ‘Twitter elections’. 

There’s little need for mobilisation in Australian politics. Our election is not between parties with distinctly polarised ideas. We lack the desperation that requires hitting the streets.

So, we need to chill the Twitter disappointment a bit, and revise our expectations to fit our context. Based on how well QandA trends on Twitter every Monday night, we’re seeing a young and growing audience passionately discussing political ideas every week.

If that’s not a pretty good effect on an election, I don’t know what is.

9 August 2010

• Tags
• Aus
• elections