Sustaining Democracy in a Digital Age

In 2007, the fastest private Internet connection in the world belonged to a 75-year-old woman in Sweden. A 40-Gigabit-per-second connection streamed into the home of Sigbritt Löthberg of Karlstad, thanks to her son, Internet pioneer Peter Löthberg. Mr. Löthberg wanted to show off the capabilities of high-speed fiber connections that remain uncommon today, and his mother’s connection would allow her to download a full high-definition movie in two seconds or simultaneously access 1,500 HDTV channels. So how did Sigbritt Lötthberg use her mindblowing 40 Gigabits? 

 

To dry her laundry. It seems the equipment that generated all this speed also grew very warm in the process, which made it a handy spot for damp laundry.

 

Yesterday’s unveiling of the National Broadband Plan served as a reminder that the U.S. has a long way to go before American households have Internet access like Sigbritt Lötthberg’s. In an effort from industry to try to bridge that gap, Google announced last month that it would develop an experimental, competitively-priced fiber network at a speed of 1-Gigabit-per-second for 50,000 to 500,000 lucky people, setting off a lot of chatter about the possibilities for its location and implementation. A high-speed fiber network could have numerous uses for local communities. The robust information ecologies that the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy recommends call for plentiful information on government, health, and other issues of local import available to residents of a community. With greater Internet speeds and more prevalent, affordable access, democracy could be transformed.

 

Or could it? As Mrs. Löthberg’s experience shows, revolutionary technology does not guarantee a revolution. Estimates suggest that Google could spend between $60 million and $1.6 billion on this fiber project. For that kind of investment, the returns ought to bring solutions that fundamentally change the way information is shared and, consequently, how democracy is conducted. Google has already indicated it’s willing to work with local governments to conduct this access experiment. Their engagement strategy with these governments and the subsequent development of innovative platforms to use on this high-speed network are as important as the network architecture itself. Google’s announcement mentioned an interest in supporting bandwidth-hogging, next-generation “killer apps,” but this is not reflected in the application process. The current application forms available for interested governments or individuals to submit proposals focus on the available local conduits, infrastructure, and population demographics of the communities but do not ask how the fiber network would be put to use. 

 

The National Broadband Plan ties broadband to telemedicine, civic engagement, public safety, economic opportunity, energy, and education. The proposed Google network’s horizontal architecture could facilitate these ties: For example, direct connections could link a community media center to a local news outlet, uninterrupted by the usual centralized connection points. This is your chance to dream big, future Google guinea pigs. If one killer app could change the way you get the information that matters to you, what would it be? My dream app would be an online video forum where residents could weigh in on local issues and engage in a little citizen reporting. What’s yours?