I know I know, this question is counter-intuitive while the US and other countries (such UK and Singapore) deploy or plan to deploy more broadband access as a means to close the digital divide, boost competitiveness, re-ignite the economy, and so forth. It does make sense, at times of recession (or worse) to spend in building more infrastructure that will be pivotal to economic growth and citizen well-being. Building roads, highways, bridges, electrical grids has created the backbone for modern economies to thrive.
After all, we’ve already seen a first wave, when over a decade ago several cities and other local authorities started digging to place optic fiber. And a second wave, with interest for public wi-fi. Now we are in a third phase, not so different from the previous two, and – in some cases – even difficult to separate from those. The difference is that there is new sense of urgency, and there are greater expectations that these investments can help the economy relatively soon.
There is one important difference though. Earlier government efforts brought many people on line, but these – in many cases – will boost the bandwidth for people who already are connected, besides reaching out to rural areas and other under-served communities. This audience is very different from audience in the late nineties. Many people already gather in communities, create online friendships and alliances, exchange ideas, create services, establish positions, which pose interesting challenges to both businesses and governments. What will happen when real-time crowdsourcing will be applicable to a much greater number of problems? How will consumer behaviors change when people will be able to experience immersive massively multimedia online games providing a quasi real-life experience? How will government processes, applications and infrastructure manage a many fold increase in traffic from people and communities who mash up whatever is mashable?
In the first wave of broadband investments the criticism was about the content: are governments investing in producing (or facilitating the production of) content that people will find compelling enough to use the infrastructure?
This time, the question is about behaviors: are governments investing to understand how the changes in social behaviors caused by the instantaneous access to information and knowledge will contribute to sustainable economic growth? And what role – if any – should they take in this?