Tuesday 31 May 2011

Stupid Labor government to spend $63m "how to use internet" propaganda

Today we learn that this digital-dumb Labor Government will throw $63 million to teach us
how to use the internet or the "national broadband network" as they like to call it.

  • [This will help Australians] to work, get an education and receive healthcare from home are aimed at making the country one of the world's leading digital economies by 2020.

    Federal broadband minister Stephen Conroy outlined at a major technology conference in Sydney his vision for the kind of country Australia could be in nine years time on the back of the roll-out of the $36 billion NBN.

    ....Senator Conroy said Australians had once watched the film Minority Report and thought they would never see many of the advanced technologies portrayed in the 2002 US whodunit science fiction film.

    "It's already here," he said. "
    This is coming faster than we think and the job is for all of us to work with the community, work with industry, community groups, not for profits ... and to begin what is a massive job of education."
They will pour $23.8 million over three years to set up `digital hubs' in each of the first 40 installed communities.

"The hubs will help the residents gain the skills needed to best use the NBN," Conry says. They will also spend $12.4m for small businesses and non-profits around the first communities that are connected "to best use the network."

$5.5m will go to regional areas access healthcare through "telehealth" services. I hope this is not another dodgy FuelWatch website.

WTF? We all have been using the net for close on 20 years, and now a government want to tell us how to use the net? Excellent use of taxpayer dosh, eh?

4 comments:

Syd Walker said...

Call me extravagant, but I won;t lose sleep if the Gov spends $63 m to set up 'digital hubs'. It's pin money in Canberra these days. Wouldn't buy 1/10th of a Collins Class submarine submarine that we don't need but we'll get anyway with full bi-partisan support. At least Conroy's hubs are unlikely to kill anyone.

One thing I would like to communicate to the ALP, however.

If it brings the stupid proposal for mandatory internet censorship to the next election, it will lose. I'll do my little bit to make that happen, but this claim has little to do with one or two activists.

I use Twitter. Every now and again I tweet something that hits a chord and I get a few re-tweets. Very occasionally I might get more than ten.

A few days ago I tweeted the following:

"RT if you're angry Conroy is STILL pushing Internet censorship. NO NET CENSORSHIP! http://bit.ly/kYQO3T "

That got 74 retweets.

I understand that the ALP is probably pushing its proposal to censor the internet because plutocrats behind the scenes have told Conroy, Rudd & Gillard to do it. But this is such a loser for Labor that Julia Gillard had better bottle up to the string-pullers and tell them where to get off.

Take Conroy's filter to the next Federal election, Ms Gillard, and you lose. Simple as that.

Please consider - and please take this crapulous, anti-freespeech policy off the agenda for good!

Anonymous said...

I believe either Cairns Blog or SBS got it wrong. Nowhere in the media release can I see anything about teaching people how to use the internet. What I can see is:
“$21.7 million in funding for a four year NBN Enabled Education and Skills Services Program, to support the development of online and interactive education and training projects.
"The NBN will support the delivery of online learning through the video and web-conferencing platforms needed for 21st century education, training and skills development," Senator Conroy said ...
"We will look at innovative education and training projects, which have the potential to deliver high quality, accessible and sustainable online tools to Australian schools, TAFEs, universities, workplaces and homes", said the Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills, Senator Chris Evans.
"The program will focus on projects which help Australians to study, learn and develop skills no matter where they live or work around Australia."
Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, said the NBN will create great opportunities for Australian students to collaborate and for parents to access education resources to help their children learn.
Program funding will target those communities to first benefit from the NBN, which will impact education and skills development in regional and remote areas.”
Mike, if you see yourself as a citizen journalist, perhaps you might like to get in touch with the Federal Government’s media contact people to clarify any concerns you have before you put fingers to keyboard.
Senator Conroy media contact: Lyall Johnson 0408 258 457
Senator Evans media contact: Rhys Davies 0411 138 572
Minister Garrett media contact: Kate Pasterfield 0437 965 071
DEEWR Media: media@deewr.gov.au
Non-media queries: 1300 363 079

pmusumeci said...

FYI a note from the AusInnovate conference being held in conjunction with CeBIT in Sydney this week:

Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 18:19:37 +1000
From: George Bray
Subject: [LINK] AusInnovate NBN Conference Trip Note
To: Link

There's been grumbling about how poor the *human* communications have been for the NBN. The question "What does the NBN mean for me?" has never been answered. Grumble no more, today DBCDE have a modern new site that educates and engages.

"The government's aim is that, by 2020, Australia will be among the world's leading digital economies based on key indicators such as broadband penetration and usage rankings."

Greetings from the CeBIT AusInnovate conference in Sydney. This morning Minister Conroy delivered a presentation launching a new education campaign for the NBN. The video he showed was a portion of a
larger collection explaining the NBN in different scenarios. Their choice to deliver it as video from the website as well as 2 x DVD's should work because many of the concepts covered are quite complex, best consumed in a sit-down learning position.

.Differentiation between current and new technology
.It's the Apps
.Ubiquity - Every home, school, business gets at a minimum a fast and reliable service
.Working together as an online group regardless of location
.Education
.Health
.SME

There are many documentary-style interviews speaking to people about how things will be different with the NBN. There are futuristic simulations in some of the material showing multi-partingvideoconferencing. Some guys are all at their own homes able to practice their music. It tells the story without mentioning much of any technology issues. This portrayal of real people interacting in new ways is what the NBN discussion has required.

The human communication problem the department faced was quite large. However, today is probably the starting point where there's much better understanding among Australians about the NBN and it's potential for significant national impact.

NBN Gov AU
http://www.nbn.gov.au/
http://www.nbn.gov.au/media-centre/videos/

George Bray

nomooremike said...

This is pretty typical of Moore, one sided and one-eyed, especially where Labor is concerned, now he can add "Cannot read properly" to his portfolio.

There's a big difference between reporting news and re-interpreting it.