{"id":2140,"date":"2011-10-31T19:32:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T19:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/?p=2140"},"modified":"2011-10-31T19:32:29","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T19:32:29","slug":"dpla-in-context-milestones-in-broadband-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/2011\/10\/31\/dpla-in-context-milestones-in-broadband-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"DPLA in Context: Milestones in Broadband Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Originally posted in part on <a href=\"http:\/\/digitalstewardshipnow.wordpress.com\/2011\/10\/30\/itu-announces-new-global-2015-broandband-infrastructure-targets-ict-communication-as-%E2%80%98a-human-need-and-a-right%E2%80%99\/\">David Curry&#8217;s blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on the rich substance (and theater) of the <a href=\"http:\/\/dp.la\/get-involved\/events\/oct2011plenary\/\">DPLA Plenary Meeting<\/a> on 21 October 2011, I was thinking about how both the British Library and Europeana stood forward to state their willingness to collaborate.<\/p>\n<p>That willingness underscores, for me, that as ambitious as DPLA\u2019s mission is for citizens of the US, it will unfold in a global context and will, in principle, serve people everywhere there is adequate communications infrastructure and web services.<\/p>\n<p>So taking note of the larger context of developments in open access, digitization and web infrastructure development seems useful, especially as DPLA emerges \u201ca full\u2010blown, hard\u2010driving initiative that promises to transform the world of libraries and the way that we meet the information needs of communities in America.\u201d [quoting DPLA Chair John Palfrey in the <a href=\"http:\/\/dp.la\/2011\/10\/21\/sloan-foundation-and-arcadia-fund-announce-funding-for-the-digital-public-library-of-america\/\">media release<\/a> on the US$5 million in grants from the Sloan Foundation and Arcadia Fund].&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One such development is the announcement last week by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) \u2013 the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology \u2013 of  four \u201cambitious but achievable\u201d new targets for 2015 that countries around the world should strive to meet \u201cin order to ensure their populations fully participate in tomorrow\u2019s emerging knowledge societies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ITU said that targets were endorsed at the Fourth Meeting of its Broadband Commission for Digital Development and cover broadband policy, affordability and uptake:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Making broadband policy universal:<\/strong> By 2015, all countries should have a national broadband plan or strategy or include broadband in their Universal Access \/ Service<\/li>\n<li><strong>Making broadband affordable<\/strong> By 2015, entry-level broadband services should be made affordable in developing countries through adequate regulation and market forces (for example, amount to less than 5% of average monthly income).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Connecting homes to broadband:<\/strong> By 2015, 40% of households in developing countries should have Internet access.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Getting people online:<\/strong> By 2015, Internet user penetration should reach 60% worldwide, 50% in developing countries and 15% in Least Developed Countries (LDCs).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.broadbandcommission.org\/Documents\/Broadband_Challenge.pdf\">Broadband Challenge<\/a> endorsed by the Commission recognizes communication as \u2018a human need and a right\u2019, and \u201ccalls on governments and private industry to work together to develop the innovative policy frameworks, business models and financing arrangements needed to facilitate growth in access to broadband worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The document also notes that \u201cIt is essential to review legislative and regulatory frameworks, many of which are inherited from the last century, to ensure the free and unhindered flow of information in the new virtual, hyper-connected world,\u201d and stresses the \u201cneed to stimulate content production in local languages and enhance local capacity to benefit from, and contribute to, the digital revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From my vantage, the notions of &#8220;free and unhindered&#8221; flows of information complemented by capacity to benefit from and to produce new &#8220;local&#8221; content (in local languages) resonates strongly with themes underlying DPLA!<\/p>\n<p>The Broadband Challenge report as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.broadbandcommission.org\/Documents\/Broadband_Challenge.pdf\">pdf here<\/a>.  ITU media release <a href=\"http:\/\/www.itu.int\/net\/pressoffice\/press_releases\/2011\/42.aspx\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Curry guests blogs about the United Nations&#8217; new global broadband targets for 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2444,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[923],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2444"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2140"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2144,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2140\/revisions\/2144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dplaalpha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}