*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** Does anyone know that details on the pending "Center for Digital Democracy" in Washington, DC? It is mentioned in the article below. I assume it comes out of Jeff Chester's work with <http://www.cme.org/access/index_acc.html>. I have run into the theme that we need to reserve or create some dedicated part of the Internet for "public space" a number of times over the last decade (not necessarily a theme of the Center). I sense some sort of carry over from the notion of scare spectrum from the broadcasting world. The real challenge for those who want to make public interest/civic content available is the development of sustainable content production systems connected fundamentally to distributed access mechanisms (syndication). As we have learned in Minnesota, what makes our web site and e-mail forums "public" is that the public uses them - although nothing near the traffic on local media sites. We started in 1994 and have an established local brand - very difficult to do now. So while I agree that we don't want blockages of public content between different Internet providers, my sense is that competitive commercial content is at risk first and non-commercial content is the one thing that doesn't seem to cross anyone's realistic business plans. In fact, it seems that many commercial sites seek useful, accurate, and up-to-date public information they can integrate into their web sites (i.e. snow emergency warnings, traffic information, etc.). The "winning" online public interest efforts will be those who figure out how to get their content in front of the most eye balls contained within or linked to in a profile way by established media/portal brands. The average Internet user seems increasingly skeptical of alternative sources of information. While a small percentage will travel off their traditional online paths for political information, to expect that if we build a reserved "public space" that it will actually be used is a giant leap of faith. Even with Minnesota E-Democracy <http://e-democracy.org> I see no real growth in online citizen participation without large scale partnerships with both major government and media web sites. If I had a magic wand and could help make the Digital Promise fund come into place (mentioned in the article below) I'd focus those resources on the creation of new mediating online entities that focus on public interest content and directory development , aggregation and broad syndication of that content (i.e. why don't the local librarians across the US band together to build a http://dmoz.org -like distributed online communities directory). The advantage of this model is that people will actually starting using more important public interest content. However, such disintermediation will challenge or at least require delicate navigating of existing non-profit and governmental information control and funding relationships. In the end, I think the future of "public space" on the Internet lies with those role up their sleeves and build it based on what the Internet "is" and not so much in the regulatory realm or based on some desire for it to suddenly become what "it ought to be." Although, I must say, like public broadcasting, in my opinion the public interest work "of" the Internet will not be sustained without government funding over the long-term. Comments? [EMAIL PROTECTED] Steven Clift Democracies Online Newswire Forwarded: [Clipped Intro Note] If you have received this from me, Gary Chapman ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), you are subscribed to the listserv that sends out copies of my column in The Los Angeles Times and other published articles. If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE from this listserv, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], leave the subject line blank, and put "Unsubscribe Chapman" in the first line of the message. If you received this message from a source other than me and would like to subscribe to the listserv, the instructions for subscribing are at the end of the message. ------------------------------------------ DIGITAL NATION Thursday, May 3, 2001 Paying for Net Foils "Public Space" Idea By Gary Chapman Copyright 2001, The Los Angeles Times, All Rights Reserved There has been talk about preserving "public space" on the Internet since consumers began to discover the Web and e-mail six to seven years ago. But new developments in online business are creating a heightened sense of urgency because many Web-based companies are starting to explore "pay-per-view" or subscription-based fees to maximize the value of their intellectual property. Plus, the deployment of more high-speed broadband networks is accompanied by trends in online content that would replace the diverse, expansive and largely free Web with fee-based services and programming that will look more like commercial TV. So there is a campaign underway to keep some online information free and accessible, to ensure what Jeff Chester calls "a digital commons." Next week he will launch an organization called the Center for Digital Democracy in Washington, D.C., that will fight for open access on telecommunications networks, especially digital cable and digital television broadcast. A number of national leaders are increasingly concerned that public interest, educational, cultural and civic content on the Internet might be shoved aside, or overwhelmed, by the digital and interactive equivalent of "Survivor II" or the Home Shopping Network. The challenge is not only how to keep networks open to diverse and free information but also how to fund interactive digital information that serves noncommercial purposes. One of the most ambitious and novel ideas has come from two television and public policy veterans, Lawrence K. Grossman and Newton H. Minow. Grossman was the president of both NBC and the Public Broadcasting Service, and Minow is a former chairman of PBS, the Federal Communications Commission and the Rand Corp. On April 5, they announced a proposal for a new Digital Opportunity Investment Trust, a public agency modeled on the National Science Foundation and funded with $10 billion from the anticipated public auctions of telecommunications frequency spectrum to digital wireless companies. (More information is available at http://www.digitalpromise.org.) This fund would support the development of digital information and services for educational, cultural, artistic and civic activities, Grossman said. Online material is increasingly expensive to create and will get even more expensive as we move to broadband networks that can support video and high-quality audio as well as interactivity. "The federal government has invested billions in wiring schools through its E-rate program," Grossman said. "We think it's time to turn our attention to content, which is equally important." A similar rationale was behind a dramatic decision by officials at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who announced last month that the university will offer nearly all its Web-based courses for free. This decision threw other universities--many of which were looking to distance education as a new source of revenue--into an entirely different position. Scientists concerned about the availability of scientific research, especially to researchers in poor countries such as Russia and India, recently announced a campaign to boycott any online scientific journals that charge a fee for accessing published research more than 6 months old. The campaign launched by the Public Library of Science (http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org) has started a heated debate in the scientific community over who should pay for research publications. There's a question, however, about whether the Bush administration will hear these ideas and act. The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael K. Powell, has publicly admitted that he doesn't understand the concept of the "public interest" when it's applied to telecommunications. That's a bad sign. Bush's advisors seem likely to let the market dictate how the Internet will evolve, and too many people in the high-tech industry have tunnel vision focused on future fortunes in digital services. We'll need more public activism and understanding about the importance of a "digital commons." The quality of our cultural legacy is at stake. Gary Chapman is director of the 21st Century Project at the University of Texas at Austin. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------ To subscribe to a listserv that forwards copies of Gary Chapman's published articles, including his column "Digital Nation" in The Los Angeles Times, send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Leave the subject line blank. In the first line of the message, put: Subscribe Chapman [First name] [Last name] Leave out the brackets, just put your name after Chapman. Send this message. You'll get a confirmation message back confirming your subscription. This message will contain some boilerplate text, generated by the listserv software, about passwords, which you should IGNORE. Passwords will not be used or required for this listserv. Mail volume on this listserv is low; expect to get something two or three times a month. The list will be used only for forwarding published versions of Gary Chapman's articles, or else pointers to URLs for online versions of his articles -- nothing else will be sent to the list. To unsubscribe from the listserv, follow the same instructions above, except substitute the word "Unsubscribe" for "Subscribe." Please feel free to pass along copies of the forwarded articles, but please retain the relevant copyright information. Also feel free to pass along these instructions for subscribing to the listserv, to anyone who might be interested in such material. Questions should be directed to Gary Chapman at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------- End of forwarded message ------- ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. 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