Obama: The Internet President
by
LilTank Thibedeau AKA Ricky Davis
Technology influences the way we communicate, socialize, receive news, and is an integral part of modern life. During his campaign Barack Obama utilized the Internet and its entire technological prowess. You have seen his speeches on YouTube and Facebook, tweets on Twitter. The President and his administration are strong believers that technology is an invaluable tool in improving the state of the U.S.A., its citizens, and the global community at large. The goals of the administration are to:
- Ensure the full and free exchange of information among Americans through an open Internet and diverse media outlets.
- Create a transparent and connected democracy
- Encourage the deployment of a modern communications infrastructure
- Employ technology and innovation to solve our nation’s most pressing problems, including reducing the costs of health care, encouraging the development of new clean energy sources and improving public safety
- Improve America’s competitiveness
His first step was to send out a memo to the heads of the executive departments to gather their thoughts on how to enable the government to be transparent, participatory and collaborative (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Transparency_and_Open_Government/). This started the open dialogue on Facebook and Twitter to be a major part of listening to what people had to say through technological means.
President Obama also created the Chief Technology Officer position in his administration which is currently held by Vivek Kundra and his Deputy Technology Officer is Beth Novak. Mr. Kundra’s first high level initiative is to make all the data that the government collects available to anyone. The administration did this by creating data.gov, a warehouse of all the raw data that the government agencies collect. It includes data from the IRS, the FBI and the Office of Management and Budget. You can find the data yourself on what the government is spending, etc. Beth Novak is a champion of new technology. She was responsible for setting up the government blogs and is also taking time out of her busy schedule to come into Second Life and talk about her role in the administration. It is this innovative use of technology to ensure that collaboration between the citizens of the US and its government that is at the heart of Obama’s technology and Internet policies.
On Feb. 17, 2009 congress approved the recovery and reinvestment act (recovery act) which included the broadband initiative. The initiative sets aside 4.7 billion dollars to create an infrastructure in unserved and under-served areas, to enhance broadband capacity at public computer centers, and to encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. What it means for virtual worlds and Second Life is that more people will have the processing speed to access the virtual worlds. The FCC is currently working in coordination with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to perform the FCC’s role under the Recovery Act. Specifically, in conjunction with the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program established by the Act, the FCC has been tasked with creating a National Broadband Plan by February 17, 2010. The Recovery Act states that the National Broadband Plan shall seek to ensure all people of the United States have access to broadband capability and shall establish benchmarks for meeting that goal.
In order to create the plan, town hall meetings have been held and will continue to be (a list of future and past recordings can be found here http://www.broadband.gov/workshops.html). All of the meetings are broadcast online so that everyone can participate. Global Kids and MacArthur Foundation broadcast the meetings on education in Second Life. His speech in Ghana, Africa was shown in Second Life and Metaplace (both virtual worlds).
The President and his administration are committed to bringing the power of technology and the Internet (broadband) to every American. It is a tall order but will ensure America stays current with technology including virtual worlds.
