To Col David Hughes, Iowa
p2pnet news view | WiFi:- Education in the 21st century requires a computer, the ability for students to present their work in the form of multimedia reports and presentations that can be experienced as live interactive tv talk shows or live interactive radio talk shows. Of course, the more familiar multimedia presentations in the form of photo galleries, audio podcasts, video podcasts, text, data, and graphics are included.
Education in the 21st century means learning how to use a myriad of technology tools, becoming proficient in how to be trained and to be able to self-train or discover new technology tools as they become available.
As students learn how to use the tools, they learn about the topic and the technology at the same time. A good example is the word processor. Each time a student prepares a report on a word processor, the student is exposed to new features that improve the production and the presentation of the assignment. This learning experience is what prepares students for life after school, ie, work!
Wireless mesh networks represent the infrastructure of the 21st century. There are too many variations on the theme to list, but the point is, high speed broadband means being able to transmit and receive live interactive videoconferencing capability to everyone.
The schools need to be able to handle this level of communications within their classrooms, and to be as comfortable with the technology as they now are with pencil and paper and books.
Free Speech and Point-to-Point Sharing Converge
Wireless mesh networks provide an infrastructure for communicating in schools. Where computers were set up in computer labs within schools, the ability to communicate was severely restricted. By moving the computer lab into the classroom, communication is enhanced. When an entire area within a school is connected by wireless infrastructure, the communication between students and teachers becomes ideal. A child in the cafeteria can send an email with a question to her teacher when she thinks of it, and later, she can get an answer, even if she has gone home, and it is 6PM when she gets that answer.
Free Speech is a doctrine that represents the very foundation of our democratic society. Expression of our right to Free Speech means we can use other forms of expression aside from speaking. The computer is the tool I’m thinking of, a device such as the cell phone, or a wireless router used to direct that expression. The tools of technology give us the ability to engage in Free Speech. If we don’t have access to those tools, we cannot say we have retained our right to Free Speech.
I’ve sent a message (copied below) to Iowans for a Better Future >>>>>>
Colonel David Hughes said, and I quote:
” . . . [O]ne of the things that made the US DIFFERENT from Europe in education was that EVERYONE in the US is entitled to a FREE K-12 education – universal – no matter where they live, no matter who they are, no matter what their parent(s) make. It is crystal clear to me that EVERY K-12 kid has to, if they are to be educated for the next century, have access to the internet at school and when they do homework at home. Period. “
“And the only real obstacle to that is the cost of ‘connectivity’ between the school and the kid’s home.”
Charles City sits in north-central Iowa. The population is something less than 8,000. The local high school has a termination on the Iowa Communications Network (ICN). There is no last mile solution that connects the kids from their homes to the network, to do their homework. They cannot collaborate with other students on their projects that might be waiting for them to connect to at school. Charles City has a token technology mindset. Does the rest of Iowa have a token technology mindset?
In and around South Africa, there are communities participating in the One Laptop Per Child project. Each child has a $100 laptop that can “see” any other laptop up to 2 kilometers away. They can connect in the classroom, and they can connect from their homes, and they can collaborate with each other to study and learn. When the satellite passes over, and they have connection to the Internet, they can gather in the classroom, or under a tree, and engage in videoconferences and distance learning sessions with other classrooms around the world.
The kids in Charles City cannot.
Well, sure, with a lot of effort, and a lot of klutziness. Token 21st century education is NOT 21st century education. The kids cannot take home a piece of paper to share with their parents what they’re working on. They need that connection, need to be able to connect from their homes, and show their parents what they’re working on.
Meraki.net makes a little box that can be plugged into a wall socket and it automagically lights up the home in a wireless cloud. It costs a one-time fee of $50. If an OC-3 line is run to the center of town, Internet connection for the community can run as low as $3 per house per month. The broadband speeds on this 45Mbps line would enable a community wireless mesh network to be created and a last mile solution that is affordable and effective could be provided. If at that point, vendors wanted to bid to provide something better, then so-be-it. The point is, today is when we should use the above-described template to provide every community in Iowa with an affordable and effective last mile solution for our kids.
There are variations on this theme. The local hospital could contact Meraki.net, and purchase one $50 unit. They could then use the order number which identifies that wireless mesh network that has just one node, and have all those who wanted to join their new telemedicine network, go up to Meraki.net and purchase their own unit under the order number of the hospital. Or, the hospital could purchase units in bulk, resell them at a profit, and create a telemedicine “branded” network for providing the community with “virtual house calls”. Actually, businesses, or churches, or nonprofit organizations, or any groups could also offer “branded” networks for blanketing their community. You won’t know about this topic by listening to the telcos and cablecos and telecommunications players. The last thing they want the public to know, is the true cost of going into the 21st century education for our kids, and the community cost for wireless infrastructure. And, when communities try to implement wireless infrastructure at affordable prices, they’re taken to court. And that will continue.
A secondary issue comes up, soon, real soon. If a community has wireless mesh network coverage, and broadband speed capabilities of 1Mbps to 54Mbps, that community now has a vested interest in public access television and radio, that was not there, before. In April of this year, the state passed a law that takes control of communities’ franchise contracts. Each community with 50,000 population or less is entitled to two analog public access tv channels. Cities with more than 50,000 population are entitled to more channels. On February 9, 2009, those analog channels will be cutover to digital channels. For each analog channel, there are as many as eight digital channels possible. On February 10, 2009, every community in Iowa will be able to broadcast literally tens of thousands of public access tv and radio shows on Iowa’s public access network. Because they are digital files, they can also, simultaneously be broadcast as Internet TV channels, marketed to a worldwide audience. The economic impact from this level of creation and innovation is measured in millions, tens of millions of dollars in the form of new revenue generation sources to the communities, the counties, and the state.
Now, we know that traditional public access studios for analog channels are expensive. On the other hand, digital public access channels consist of but little more than a cheap desktop computer. A cheap desktop computer loaded with freely available audio and video software from Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, will enable anyone to create high quality public access tv and radio shows. Some channels will be used to produce typical tv shows, but many channels will begin to explore live interactive tv talk shows, live interactive radio talk show formats. These shows will be recorded, uploaded to global repositories like the Internet Archive or the ibiblio.org project at the University of North Carolina, and without charge. In other words, the costs are negligible for all communities in Iowa to compete with the largest broadcast networks at every level.
Iowa relies on the folks at Iowans for a Better Future to guide them in where they’re going. I hope each Board Member takes a couple minutes to read this message, and to discuss how the ideas presented here can be applied across the state to benefit all Iowans. February 9, 2009, is a matter of months away. Other states are moving rapidly to be ready.
Are we?
Tom Poe – p2pnet
[Tom Poe is a VA pensioner, living in Iowa, USA. He says he likes the idea of replenishing our public domain, and at the same time, buying directly from Independent Artists. tompoe @ fngi dot net]
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