Brown's speech yesterday

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[It was yesterday when I wrote this]

Am reading the transcript of Building Britain's Digital Future speech as Gordon Brown was delivering it at such a speed that I think some of the nuances require a re-read.

I want Britain to be the world leader in the digital economy which will create over a quarter of a million skilled jobs by 2020;

Evidence and research from other countries indicate that just putting FTTH in nationwide* could easily create that number of skilled jobs, and bring with it the associated rise in tax to the Treasury etc. Therefore, why wait till 2020? Why not start the process today?

Underpinning the digital transformation that we are likely to see over the coming decade is the creation of the next generation of the web - what is called the semantic web, or the web of linked data.

Actually, underpinning the transformation will be the appropriate infrastructure. Whilst we all know that Tim Berners-Lee has been advising Brown extensively recently, this is a bit cart before the horse. Again. Yes, open data is hugely important and there have already been steps taken in this direction. Tim's recent presentation showed off some of the great uses to which people have already put open government data.

But without the infrastructure to access and share this data, as well as the need for everyone to become digitally literate and not drown in the information overload we are already seeing, these fantastic opportunities become slightly meaningless for your everyday consumer.

First to digitalise - to make Britain the leading superfast broadband digital power creating 100 per cent access to every home;

Ah yes, the headline everyone jumped to write. BUT, and this is a very big BUT, neither of the main parties, nor the telcos themselves, know how to do this where 'superfast' is a term which makes 100% sense when looking at the levels of connectivity other nations offer today, or plan to within that same timeframe. As a cynic, "100 per cent [sic] access" could mean that 100% of homes have access to the level of access that is available to many in the UK today, which is only debatably eligible to be called "broadband". ....And then, Ofcom today defined "superfast" as meaning 24Mbps. No mention of symmetrical. Even setting the bar that low, I would suggest, leaves us out in the cold.

The problem is that Andorra, for instance, is on track to beat that ambition THIS YEAR with 100Mbps symmetrical to everyone. There are many other nations who are also more than likely to do so long before Britain can. Even if everyone in the country who was currently doing nothing set to with the right equipment, mapping on the fly, etc etc, we'd be hard pushed to beat other nations to that goal. So, pinch of salt, flung over shoulder.

Third to economise - in the Pre-Budget Report we set out our determination to find £11 billion of savings by driving up operational efficiency, much of it enabled by the increased transparency and reduced costs made available by new technology.

One could argue that these savings could be substantially INCREASED by deploying the infrastructure first which would allow every citizen to interact with government services NOW, not in 2012, 15, 17 or 20. (Whilst no figures are given in this article about the savings made by a Maryland Council, one can immediately see the benefits if councils interact with their constituencies in this way).

The other day I heard how one of Britain’s leading musicians, who spends most of his time abroad, reads his young son a bedtime story from thousands of miles away using Skype. And millions of us can now spend more time with our families because technology allows people to work easily from home.

For many, it is not possible to use Skype (I still cannot make a call to my clients in Canada without using my landline), nor to 'easily work from home'. Listen to Ted's audio clip here for evidence of the problems still faced in so-called broadband Britain for those who want to work from home.

However, Skype was first sold to Ebay in 2005, and is um sort of old hat as an app.

The next stage will be radical expansion and enhancement of two-way communication between service providers and homes that new superfast broadband is beginning to make possible.

As long as we hold clearly in our heads that 2Mbps asymmetrical cannot make that happen.... up the bar if this is the vision you have, GB.

Britain is uniquely equipped to lead the digital age.

Because we have no concrete plan to do so?

This country has always been at its best when it has led the world in its pursuit of creativity and innovation and in the promotion of fairness and liberty. And in so many ways these issues have come together in the extraordinary development of the world wide web.

Allow me to paraphrase: "This country has always been at its best when...our backs are against the wall, like now." I could add to that: Necessity is the mother of invention.

Next para: The UK can hardly hold its head up and say we are developing the most fantabulous web apps nor using even the Web, let alone bandwidth to irs full potential. Actually, I think, without a doubt, that honour has to go to the eastern Bloc and Russia, Korea and China from whence many ideas and workable apps have come. Our digital literacy is astoundingly low, however high our take up of "broadband" has been.

And then we go into people who haven't accessed the Net.

Spot the telco blame??? Nowhere in sight. Spot the blame for Labour policy to allow the competitive market to dictate where we are today?

We can allow unbridled market forces to provide a solution on its own terms and according to its own timetable as others would do.

Yep, that is what we have been doing for a decade and more. Where has it got us??

The result would be superfast broadband coverage determined not even by need or social justice, or by the national interest but by profitability alone. This would open a lasting, pervasive and damaging new digital divide.

Ah, so you recognise that using market forces has failed. Is that because the Conservatives are now proposing to go that route, again? Because you have seen sense? Because you are going to try something different and radical? Because you aren't quite sure what you are going to do next and this sounds good?

By this point in the speech, my ears are bleeding, my eyes are also bloodshot, and my brain is mentally packing my house up to leave the country.

I don't think I need to continue. Any of the good readers here can. Or you can post what you would do for broadband UK if you were PM.

I think the speech highlights the complexity of the issue that this country faces, the numerous toes it steps on, and the need to think big and think holistically.

Bringing 4 Ministers to the meeting didn't exactly simplify this so that the majority of people in the country could understand. In fact, all it did was highlight my palaver the week before last trying to find that raw data - 5 agencies. NO!

If you want to win votes, and support, and encourage action, then you need to simplify and talk concrete solutions to construction problems. And this country needs, more than anything, to start building and stop waffling all around the houses. Especially by people who don't 'get' what normal people do on the Internet, and really, really want to do.


* Far better links are available but I am fitting this in round a book deadline. Would appreciate hard predictions, stats, evidence etc for UK if anyone has any....

Read the original blog post on http://5tth.blogspot.com

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UK leads the digital world - believe nothing today

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Read more! Today, Gordon Brown is going to flog the dead horse which is Britain's leadership of the digital race. Much as I would like to support any party, quango, organisation, telco or anything else about Britain's pole position in the digital economy, we are so far behind that travelling abroad is now embarrassing.

En route to the FTTH Council conference, Lisbon, in transit, I nearly left the airport for a fag. Luckily, the nice Customs officer pointed me to the smoking room which had free wifi. He seemed a tad (x pi add a zero) perplexed that I thought I would have to even leave the airport for such normalities. We had a chat about the UK. I slunk away at the reality of this once great country as other people's honest perceptions in 2010 sunk in.

The smoking thing was one part; the "You don't have wifi everywhere?" was entirely separate.

Once again, today, a news item has landed that leaves me wondering what I am doing fighting this battle here in the UK.

FTTH 1Gbps hits Jaipur . C'mon, let's think this through. I've been all over India. I know how colonial we are about it. I know we think and treat India and its people as a 'developing nation'. So, when Gordon Brown's fab announcements about a webpage for every citizen etc hit the news today, ask yourself two things:

A) How the bloody hell are half the country going to access them with corroded copper and no working internet?
B) Why are most of the countries in the world announcing 1Gbps connections (or at the very least 100Mbps) and we can just about scrape "up to 2Mbps by 2012" as a Universal Service Commitment (not even a legal obligation?)

So, Mr Brown, (and your Tory counterparts) are we really leading the digital economy??? Or are we now so far behind that only the most ignorant who can't actually work out that a mouse should not be used with your toes are left believing you? Your aspirations today will only be real if you have actually taken on board and can counter what is today happening in Jaipur, Latvia, at the top of Everest etc etc etc.

Digital industries that have been in existence in this country for near as dammit 15 years (yes, amazingly,that long and more) are now ready to leave these shores unless you up your game. FAST.

Just because the Labour Digital Strategy was created by a man, who for today will remain nameless, who admitted to me inside No 10 that what he knew about technology you could write on a postage stamp, does not mean that you have to adhere yourself to it.

It is time to work out what this country needs. By my calculations, if you are going for a jolly to the Palace on the 25th to go to the country on the 6th/7th, you'd better get a bloody shift on and start talking to the businesses and citizens of this country like adults and stop assuming we are all morons.


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Thinking beyond just the Internet - telehealth

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Read more! Most of the time, when we hear about next generation access, we hear about faster downloads - particularly in relation to watching films (see Ofcom's history and vision of broadband published today). But that is not what next generation is about....

I know I have been a bit lax in writing publicly about my trip to the USA, and some of the many things I have learnt on my recent travels elsewhere, but all of this blogging and campaigning lark is done in my copious free time ;o) However, it seems that sharing this info becomes more timely and not less so, so here goes.

When building a FTTH network (or FTTB/FTTP etc) it is not about giving everyone faster access to t'Interweb. Far from it. What should be at the forefront of any network builder's mind should be the interconnectivity that network will create. Between users. Whether that user is a council, an individual citizen, a business, a doctor, the fire service, a community project, the village hall, the Highways gritter, or even a bus shelter.

A ubiquitous network is the key - it must reach, and interconnect, everyone.

Gordon Brown yesterday issued a statement, which amongst other things, talked about every citizen having access to all government services online. Unfortunately, instead of trying to K.I.S.S. once again the Government are endeavouring to add layers of complexity by including an IT project as well as infrastructure - an approach that will leave many with experience of govt IT projects climbing into a hot bath to get rid of the cold chills in their spine.

Let's deal on a small scale, rather than trying to think nationally for a moment. What are the services that your average citizen wants to access? Today's post is about telehealth.

There are huge environmental and economic savings, so telehealth is a key player. However, many of those involved in telehealth see it far too often purely from their own point of view - benefits, outputs, cost-savings - and far less about the experience and convenience for their 'clients', the patients. As an internet marketer, I am constantly telling my clients to step into the shoes of their website visitors and potential customers, become customer-centric.

The National Health Service needs to look at patient need, not how much it will save the NHS. Whilst creating increasingly complex websites that allow a patient to book a GP appointment may seem ideal to those in Whitehall, from out here it doesn't solve many of the problems we face.

Let's take some examples I have seen recently.

The Mayo Clinic in Florida and Arizona advises on pretty much every type of illness and disease. However, if you don't live in either of those two States, just raising the money or being able to travel there to be diagnosed, treated, learn to manage your health etc would count you out. Ergo, it could be seen to be exclusive. But, the Mayo Clinic don't want to be exclusive. They want everyone to be able to access the incredible range of expertise they offer. So, the solution? Work with FTTH providers to link up directly into people's homes. Bedbound? No worries. Talk directly to a consultant over a secure and private video link. Live in another State? No problem, click here.

Need to manage your diabetes wherever you are? Agoraphobic? Bipolar? Managing heart disease? Whatever your health situation, an online connection can make it easy.

Why leave home if you can't, physically, mentally or emotionally? Do your consultations online. Bipolar and can't even get out of bed today? You don't need to miss your appointment and add yet more guilt to the situation. Run an audio channel to your psych. Simples. Heart problem that needs regular monitoring? Do you need to be in a specialist unit or just a gym? OK, that'll be the latter - wire up the gym to the consultant so they can see real time stats from your work out. Need physio, but snowed in? Do your physio at home, watched over by your trainer on the TV.

At the moment, we are letting people miss appointments, and hence treatments, left, right and centre, for no good reason, and often pandering to the NHS instead of the patient's needs.

I have seen so many telehealth applications in the last few months, from bed sores to paraplegia being dealt with online. It allows people to maintain their dignity, independence, treatment schedules and health. Why sit in a hospital for hours waiting for a consultant or nurse whose Strategic Health Authority is running them ragged between three hospitals? Whilst you await your appointment (a mere 80 mile trip), they are stuck in a traffic jam 35 miles away, unable to work with anyone.

There are better ways to do this.

It is all very simple. It just needs fat pipes.

This is my HD TV channel, I am exercising my limbs after the car crash, without needing an ambulance to the hospital 40+ miles away and the stress of waiting for that, nor putting my life on standby for 1-2 days a week when you, my physiotherapist, are stuck in a different hospital at the far end of the county.

Should I lean more to the left, stretch that muscle more often than I am, or can I just join in a physio session with others as part of a community? Are there people who have been doing physio for so long now that your absence, and their presence, or a little snow, means I can still join in and do some exercise and have fun? We're all at home, but we are together. Is smiling with my new found friends on this HD TV Health network for the physio patients at xyz hospital a "bad thing"? Of course not!

Oh, and whilst you were stuck in the traffic jam, we have arranged a swimming session all together next week....cancel our rescheduled appointments.


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