EXPERTS LOOK FOR WAYS TO SPEED NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO PUBLIC
Panel of consumer advocates and industry representatives Fri. blamed everything from regulatory impediments to lack of trained workers for slow progress in bringing long-promised technological improvements to public. Speaking at “policy summit” sponsored by Alliance for Public Technology, Mike Nelson, dir. of Internet technology at IBM, said he didn’t realize how much regulatory uncertainty could impede technology until he entered private sector. USTA Vp Larry Clinton recommended govt. establish national broadband policy to encourage development of high-speed data transmission. PathNet Gen. Counsel Mary McDermott, who was in audience, said lack of trained technicians to develop and manufacture new products was growing problem for technology companies.
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Nelson, ex-White House and FCC, said regulatory uncertainty could discourage investment and deter rollout of new products. “We need to rethink some things in a really serious way.” Nelson said “the Internet revolution is less than 3% complete” because Internet isn’t even close to being as ubiquitous as electricity or water in consumers’ lives. With electricity, “we just assume it’s there” and that’s way it will be with Internet, he said. We talk now about connecting to Internet, he said, but we don’t talk about connecting to electrical grid. Someday Internet will be fully integrated into our lives, Nelson said.
Representatives of disability community urged industry to include them more at planning stage: “If you involve us from the beginning, then you'll understand our needs and won’t have to make assumptions,” said Claude Stout, exec. dir. of Telecommunications for Deaf. He said disabled persons still faced problems in accessing new technologies. For example, he said, it’s been difficult to add sign language to streaming video because of technical conflicts. He urged industry to “make sure your Web design considers people who can’t hear or see,” for example “when developing Web pages make sure anything auditory has captioning.”
Jonathan Linkous, exec. dir. of American Telemedicine Assn., said LATA regulations impeded telemedicine projects because they required medical groups to use multiple carriers to transmit their broadband programming, adding “cost and complications.” Clinton said: “What strikes me is we don’t have a national broadband policy so we try to fit discrete needs into a puzzle rather than looking at the whole problem going forward.”
“It’s a bit humbling for lawyers to realize that the people most critical are the operations people, those who understand the technology, and I see an incredible shortage of those people,” McDermott said. “High schools, community colleges should be training people now,” said ex-FCC Chief of Staff Kathryn Brown. “I don’t think we're doing that.” That is “huge problem,” said CWA Economist Debbie Goldman. She said monopoly phone system used to have comprehensive internal training program but it’s disappearing with advent of competition. In past, people would get weeks of training on new technology, she said, but bow it’s “one day and they're thrown out there.”
One member of audience said she didn’t understand why it was so difficult to encourage development of technology that would benefit consumers: “If there’s a need, make it happen. This isn’t rocket science.” No, said Clinton, “some of it isn’t rocket science. Some of it is political science.” Govt. has “vision of bringing services to all” but industry is one that has to do it, NCTA Senior Dir. Rick Cimerman said. “Government has added the needed push” for things such as captioning, he said, but “the innovation vision” comes from businesses.