Weblog on the Internet and public policy, journalism, virtual community, and more from David Brake, a Canadian academic, consultant and journalist

Archive forDecember 11th, 2002 | back to home

11 December 2002
Filed under:Broadband infrastructure at11:28 am

According to a BBC report from comScore Media Matrix, US broadband users account for up to half of all web pages viewed even though they represent 32% of total users. I think that the survey must have been talking entirely in US terms, but it is still an interesting result.

As broadband finally begins to diffuse itself around some developed countries, the “class divide” between power users and occaisional users is beginning to become more pronounced. Will this mean that websites begin to produce more broadband-only content that excludes people from developing countries and others who can’t afford broadband?watch 4gb mp31208 fall mp3 apartactivex ocx mp3 id3mp3 270 70here ringtone cant this adults8100 pin credit 939 952razr my ringtones accesski mp3 aaj raat Map

Academics and educators point out the obvious – broadband by itself won’t do much if anything to improve schools and hospitals – it depends what you do with it. Or that is where this BBC story begins – it quickly gets distracted by more prosaic issues of training and difficulties in arranging timetables around broadband education…

In reality the big question mark in my view is still more fundamental – broadband may be able to deliver more educational material in theory but does the material exist? Can it be integrated in the curriculum? Do teachers understand what it does (and doesn’t do)? Does the material provide the chance for real interactive learning or just a narrow set of branches towards a pre-programmed goal?

Similarly, broadband can only help doctors if they do perceive it as a benefit and rely on it.

I am very dubious about the repetition in this piece (and presumably in the thinking of some in the policy arena) about the importance of videoconferencing. Broadband does enable limited videoconferencing but is this really something valuable or would messageboards or mailing lists and other forms of communication (still helped by broadband) be more useful?