For the first time in my life, I want to move to New York City--just to vote for Andrew Rasiej. He's running for public advocate on a platform of wireless (Wi-Fi) and cellphone Internet access from every home, business and school in the city. Thomas Friedman, in today's NY Times, quotes him as saying: "we can't trust the telecom companies to make sure that everyone is connected because new technologies, like free Internet telephony, threaten their business models." But it gets better. He is advocating for "civic photo-blogging - having people use their cellphones to take pictures of potholes or crime, and then, using Google maps, e-mailing the pictures and precise locations to City Hall." This guy understands the concept of e-democracy, separate and apart from digital government. On his blog Rasiej says: "Every day, thousands of civic-minded individuals and organizations in hundreds of neighborhoods selflessly work to clean up our parks, improve our schools, care for neighbors, and strengthen our communities. Yet, too often, our voices and concerns are not heard and our collective power is never felt, because city government is stuck in an old paradigm: elect one person and supposedly they will solve our problems."
It's interesting that so many of our local candidates are emphasizing their willingness to "listen" and "collaborate." Do they think their predecessors were unwilling? Maybe the challenge of being a public official is changing and we need to rethink the role (beyond just paying them a full time salary). Andrew Raseij says: "The public official or candidate will no longer just be the one who talks to the many or tries to listen to the many. Rather, he or she will be a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many - creating networks of public advocates to identify and solve problems and get behind politicians who get it." To accomplish that, we need better municipal infrastructure that 1) provides town-wide connectivity, 2) ensures all citizens have easy, 24-hour access to a computer hooked up to the network, and 3) ensures that all citizens have the skills and knowledge needed to take advantage of the network. We need technology access to be as much a part of town infrastructure as access to telephones or drinking water. Right now, Laurin Easthom in Chapel Hill is the only candidate addressing this issue. Will others join in? Anyone from Carrboro interested?
1 comment:
Very much so. We have a technology plan which largely centers around updating the Town's internal use of IT, with the addition of expanding our public wireless access. Diana has been a leader in this effort, but I'm very interested in learning more about how we may leverage the public realm to break the time-warner hegemony in the provision of access to IT to the public. Bring it on.
Cheers,
Alex
Post a Comment