In yesterday’s blog post, I observed that some of the first user comments on the Digital Economy consultation website focused on digital plumbing – the supply side of broadband.
Yesterday, David Eaves wondered if we are asking the right questions. He observed:
I think we need to stop talking about a digital as the future.
This whole conversation isn’t about being a digital country. It isn’t about a future where everything is going to be digitized. That isn’t the challenge. It is already happening.
…
The dirty truth is that Canada’s digital future isn’t about digital. What is special isn’t that everything is being digitized. It’s that everything is being connected. The web isn’t interesting because you can read it on a computer screen. It is special because of hyperlinks – that information is connected to other information
His blog post is worth reading, although some of his ideas for moving forward are guilty of prejudging outcomes before providing a full review, such as his perspectives on network conditions.
But we agree that the vision for Canada’s digital future needs to be broader.
As I wrote yesterday, “Ensuring leading edge infrastructure is a necessary, but not sufficient enabler of Canada’s global leadership. … There are a range of issues to be explored.”
In scanning various media, I noticed a story about a digital consultation process. The story speaks about high priced broadband and lagging behind other countries in the roll-out of next generation services. What made this story interesting was that it was about Europe, not Canada.
The 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit will feature a number of sessions that examine these issues – including international perspectives – starting with the opening keynote address by Industry Minister Tony Clement on June 7.
Have you registered yet? Download the complete conference brochure here [pdf, 1.2MB].