On the first day of South by Southwest Interactive, those pushing the envelope online among the African-American community took the stage for a panel titled “Black Blogging Rockstars.” The panel featured Maurice Cherry of the Black Weblog Awards, Gina McCauley of Blogging While Brown, Deanna Sutton of Clutch Magazine, and J. Smith of the blog JBrotherLove.
Panelists tackled questions ranging from defining what makes a blogging rockstar, to what trends they see in the blogging space, to advice for once you hit the big time.
Here are the top takeaways (applicable to bloggers no matter what your race):
Success is about quality, not quantity. “Everybody is a blogging rock star, as far as I’m concerned … to your audience, you’re a God, to all 25 of them.” – Gina McCauley
We watched every blog become a political blog during the 2008 election. This demonstrates the power of bloggers to influence any discussion.
Don’t devalue your audience. It should be based on influence, not web traffic.
Be realistic with yourself if you’re in it for fun or money. “I’m a big advocate of personal blogging. Sometimes you just want to talk to other people.” – J. Smith
Producing content does bring you access to capital. It’s okay to ask for ads and sponsorship.
Network with influencers in your community. Make sure you have a seat at the table with your counterparts from other communities.
Many bloggers start for fun, but once you get attention, then you need to take it seriously.
South by Southwest Interactive (SxSWi) has evolved over the years into a massive must-attend for people in the technology and media sectors, totaling 12,000 registrants. In fact, this year, registration for the Interactive part of the festival (there is also Film and Music) is up 40%! We look forward to bringing the action directly to you via our Twitter, blogging, photos, and video coverage. Just some of the activities include panels, parties, the 13th Annual Web Awards, and the trade show and exhibition. And of course, there are the people, all of whom are embracing the broadband network in unique and innovative ways.
The integration of technology into K-12 education is a top priority for both the FCC and the Department of Education, and the challenges and objectives of both correlate nicely. Representatives from both agencies joined spokespeople from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) this week to discuss the important steps their agencies, and other stakeholders, are taking to facilitate a 21st century education system that fully embraces all of the opportunities that a broadband connection can offer.
Susan Gendron, the President of CCSSO and the Maine Commissioner of Education began with her state’s new motto for education: “A personal digital device, at the point of learning, as defined by the learner.” Gendron sees tremendous benefits in students being increasingly connected and shared that even when the budget was cut in her state, Maine still continued funding technology.
Doug Levin, the Executive Director of SETDA, seeks to address the following questions through his work:
1) What are the ways we can address longstanding goals for education through technology?
2) Due to large societal shifts in technology, how are expectations for education changing?
He sees large-scale trends and opportunities changing the education landscape. He believes that rising student expectations, the need for new learning models and processes, and the potential to improve teacher and administrator effectiveness can all be addressed through technology. “None of this is possible without the technology infrastructure and policies that enable them.”
Karen Cator, the Director of Education Technology at the U.S. Department of Education talked about how she is going to utilize technology to make sure the U.S. is the highest nation per capita in college grads by 2020. She recited the following ways technology will achieve a 21st century model of learning. Also, watch our video below for more on her agency’s efforts including the site www.ed.gov/technology.
1) Learning (tech changing how people learn)
2) Assessments (real time identification of what is working)
3) Teaching (help teachers be as effective as possible – connect them to data and experts)
4) Infrastructure (every student needs broadband at school, at home, in their community)
5) Productivity (cost effective methods to meet education goals)
Finally, Steve Midgely, the Education Director for the FCC, discussed his agency’s approach to better integrating technology in education. To do that, he gave attendees a sneak peak at some of the education related recommendations that we can expect to see in the National Broadband Plan next week. Here are some of those:
Streamlined the application process (simple application for small institution won’t have the same process as big project)
Inspired by the power of broadband and rising trend towards government transparency, the FCC and Knight Foundation just announced the Apps for Inclusion contest this morning at the Digital Inclusion Summit.
Following in the footsteps of other successful application competitions, such as Apps for Democracyand the recently launched Apps for the Army, this is sure to encourage numerous developers to create innovative solutions to improve online access to government services and information. The Knight Foundation is committing $100,000 in prize money and a panel of experts will pick a winner (including a “people’s choice”).
The American Consumer Institute assembled a panel of experts this morning on Capitol Hill to discuss the potential impact of net neutrality regulations on innovation. The event coincides with the latest study from ACI, which finds net neutrality will hurt private investment and impede consumer friendly innovations.
Of course, with innovation being such an important theme that rings throughout the broadband policy and net neutrality dialogue, Dr. Larry Darby, the moderator of the panel, noted that really we have no clear definition of the term itself, from the FCC or otherwise. He suggests the broad definition of innovation as “anything new that creates value for consumers,” which seemed fitting as many of the panelists echoed that consumers need to be a top focus in discussions going forward.
Jeff Campbell, Senior Director of Technology and Trade Policy for Cisco, spoke strongly on behalf of the consumer constituency. He believes that with the broadband dialogue shifting to net neutrality, which is really an economics and market structure discussion, we have lost focus on the consumers. He shared his experiences with potential customers who are hesitant to buy video transmission tools because they are afraid regulators are going to inhibit network investment and efficiency so then the application itself won’t work. And he points out that this is only one of many “edge” applications that benefits from the ongoing investments in broadband networks.
A new voice on the panel was Matthew Hussey, Legislative Assistant to Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Hussey has an electrical engineering degree and extensive background in broadband and telecommunications. He believes that it’s important not to infringe on the fundamental rights of end users, but said that when you have voice and video, that you need to consider the deliverability of these things. “The complexities of the Internet are not rocket science, but they’re close,” he said noting that it takes significant coordination already among the private and public sector to make the Internet work.
NextGenWeb will be posting footage of the event in its entirety. And be sure to check out these interviews with some of the panelists. Economist, Dr. Hal Singer, talked about his recent op-ed that ran in The Hill and moderator Dr. Larry Darby discussed his recent study on broadband and job creation.
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was the first speaker and didn’t miss the opportunity to congratulate the Joint Center on what she described as a “thoughtful and thorough report of value.” Clyburn noted that the report accurately reflects that different communities have different needs and interests and that the study is a key piece of the puzzle as the FCC finalizes the National Broadband Plan.
The FCC’s National Broadband Director Blair Levin spoke next, acknowledging the role of USTelecom and the broadband providers as soon as he took the stage. Levin believes that although price can be a factor, people need to have the skill set to really embrace broadband for all of the purposes that broadband offers, from applying for jobs and social services online to the using the latest e-reader. The issue of making sure non-adopters understand the relevance of broadband to their everyday lives was a message that resonated loudly during another event last week that looked at a recent broadband survey conducted by former Obama campaign pollster Cornell Belcher.
Dr. Jon Gant, a Fellow with the Joint Center and lead researcher on the project, spoke next to present his findings, noting the use of a longitudinal database to analyze findings and statistically compare minorities. Overall, Dr. Gant found the following factors most influence whether minorities use broadband:
Relevance
Ease of use
Social Influence
Resources to support use
Of course, much like the recent report by FCC Consumer Research Director John Horrigan (who was also on hand to discuss both studies), Dr. Gant finds that among minorities, there is indeed a gap in adoption by education levels, a heavy dependence on public access to computers, and that some non-adopters are unaware of broadband availability.
NextGenWeb livestreamed the event and you can watch the archive here. Also, click below to watch our interview with Dr. Jon Gant and a reaction from Niambi Jarvis, a leading advocate for connecting minority women with power of technology.
Imagine watching video images of real time traffic of the locations of your choice on your TV before you leave the house for your morning commute. Imagine 3-D TV for movies, sports, and nature programming in your living room, and still 200-400 premium channels to choose from as well. Imagine interacting with that programming from your iPhone by throwing virtual tomatoes to appear on the screen or rotating photos for a home slide show. These are just a few of the technologies that I got to experience firsthand at the AT&T Innovation Center.
Aside from home technologies, the AT&T Innovation Center featured demonstrations of how the company is embracing Second Life, augmented reality on mobile phones, assistive technologies like voice recognition, and so much more.
As you’ll see below in my interview with Dr. David Belanger, AT&T Labs Chief Scientist and Vice President for Information, Software and Systems Research, AT&T is not only bringing broadband to consumers, but an entire array of next generation technologies. In this interview, Dr. Belanger explains how AT&T scientists work diligently to produce creative and innovative research, tools, and network technologies, which then combine to form the products that consumers enjoy.
The FCC has made clear that data will be a core component and driver of the upcoming National Broadband Plan, which is due to Congress on March 17th. To better meet their need for data, the FCC commissioned a survey to determine broadband adoption rates, the American public’s attitudes about broadband, and reasons why people may not subscribe to broadband. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski stood before a room filled with broadband policy stakeholders at the Brookings Institute yesterday to introduce FCC Consumer Research Director John Horrigan before he presented the results. The Chairman said he was “excited and proud of this development in our broadband work,” citing goals like remaining globally competitive, increasing our capacity to innovate, and embracing broadband for solving societal issues like education, healthcare, and the environment.
Horrigan started off by sharing some positive trends in adoption, including that 78% of Americans are Internet users and 65% use broadband at home, with increases among communities like Hispanics and rural-Americans. However, the 35% of those without broadband at home are the real concern, and as Genachowski said in his introduction, “there is no silver bullet to solving adoption.”
Horrigan took this survey as an opportunity to delve deeper into the non-adopter community. He had respondents list reasons for non-adoption that included general attitudes about broadband use to better understand and therefore address those issues. He also took the additional step of categorizing those people as “Digital Hopefuls,” “Near Converts,” “Digitally Distant,” and “Digitally Uncomfortable” to indicate their likelihood of conversion.
Watch the interview below with John Horrigan for more information and click here to read the results report in its entirety.
I recently had the opportunity to hear technology policy expert Timothy B. Lee on a panel discussing the best way to preserve the open and diverse Internet that we currently enjoy. Lee offered an important perspective to the dialogue, arguing that regulation is not necessary since technical countermeasures and slowed innovations are adequate deterrents to network discrimination. I caught up with Lee for an interview to get more information on his position. Stay tuned for that (working on transcription)!
In our conversation, Lee, a PhD student in computer science and an affiliate of the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University, shares what he sees as the “technical reality” that is not being reflected in today’s policy discussion. He believes in the concept of the “durable Internet,” one that he fully explores in his Cato Institute study, “The Durable Internet: Preserving Network Neutrality without Regulation.” The premise is that the Internet is fundamentally fragile and regulating during its evolution could hamper innovation, especially where there are economic and technical solutions.
NextGenWeb had the honor of sponsoring the Blogalicious meet-up that was held in Washington, DC last week at the National Council of La Raza. The event, organized by PR pro Xina Eiland, celebrated diversity among women in the blogosphere with networking, giveaways, and a panel of experts sharing their experiences with growing their voices through technology.
NextGenWeb recorded the event, which features Washington Post’s Ceci Connelly moderating a discussion with myself, Kety Esquivel of Latism, Kady Chiu of Kadidid Consulting, and Nicole McLean a breast cancer survivor blogger. Watch the full event below!
Also check out this interview with me about the importance of broadband, care of Lamar Tyler!
On the first day of South by Southwest Interactive, those pushing the envelope online among the African-American community took the stage for a panel titled “Black Blogging Rockstars.” The panel featured Maurice Cherry of the Black Weblog Awards, Gina McCauley of Blogging While Brown, Deanna Sutton of Clutch Magazine, and J. Smith of the blog JBrotherLove.
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