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The Media Democratization Project of EconomicDemocracy.org
is outlined in the Strategy and Vision piece:
Electronic Activism Revisited: The Revolution will be Webcast
"From Strategic Vision to a 10-Point Tactical Plan"
A followup to The Revolution Will Be Webcast

Other Resources:

Sample letter of the ones being sent to alternative media organizations.
Drop me a note at econdemocracy[at-sign] g m a i l . c o m to learn more or to get involved.

FAMAS -- a proposal for a network of cooperating alternative media
organizations. By Z magazine's Michael Albert (www.zmag.org)

  • ThePeopleMovement has Forums and CHAT too.
  • Email to the EconomicDemocracy.org announcement list: Kima and related Technologies
    "YOU can make a difference"


  • Kima is one modest step towards technology facilitating Webcast article's vision
  • The FreeNet project TV stations, the Pew Research Center said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8542430.stm March 1, 2010 **************************************** -->
  • Some 63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home, according to the Pew Internet Project.,a 15% increase from a year earlier..june 2009(BBC) -- among families w/under $29k/yr, now 35%, rural, now 46%, African Americans, now 46%
  • 38 percent of U.S. consumers are watching TV shows online, 36 percent use their cell phones as entertainment devices and 45 percent are creating online content like Web sites, music, videos and blogs ..About 62 percent of "millennials" (consumers 13-to-24-years-old) are using their cell phones as entertainment devices, up from 46 percent ..About 20 percent of consumers said they are viewing video content on their cell phones daily or almost daily...(12/28/2007)(Reuters) (original study is here)
  • Wi-fi sharing plan launched in UK The firm's three million broadband customers will be able to share their wi-fi with others in the Fon community.

    BT's scheme with Spanish firm Fon will boost the 500,000-strong community of users around the world and add to the existing 190,000 Fon hotspots...the plan was to create "the people's network of wi-fi, that could one day cover every street in Britain"...Joining the BT Fon scheme is free of charge and community members will also have free access to existing BT hotspots in its Openzone network...(look into) (07 oct)

  • cell phones as (p2p) nodes TerraNet technology works using handsets adapted to work as peers that can route data or calls for other phones in the network. The handsets also serve as nodes between other handsets, extending the reach of the entire system. Each handset has an effective range of about one kilometre. This collaborative routing of calls means there is no cost to talk between handsets. ...One of the biggest things against us is that the big operators and technology providers are really pushing against us, saying this technology doesn't work and it doesn't have a business model," he said. "This is fine - just join us in Lund and see how the technology works, and ask our customers how our business model works." (07 sep)
  • One laptop per Child machine: creating your own local wireless intranet to connec to internet*****************
  • Mobile TV standards, selling of specrum, etc, in Europe this is as opposed to using internet-to-mobile plus video-over-internet.
  • Internet penetration rates 07 june article
  • Nearly half of US homes now have a broadband connection..Some 15% of Americans said that the internet was the place they got most of their news during the mid-term election campaign, up from 7% for the last mid-term election... 07 jan
  • This week BT looks set to connect the 10 millionth customer to its broadband network in the UK(07 jan)
  • Three-quarters of UK online households will connect to the web via broadband by December 2006, analysts predict. OCT 2006 (06 oct) BBC: "But what impact is it actually making on lives? Has it, as predicted by some, transformed the way we use the web, and by association our lives, or is it simply a means of doing what people have always done online but faster." [COMMENT: false question, sine doing things faster IS trnasforming "the way" we use the intenet, doing "new" things like video isnt' necessary to transform; and conversly, ther eARE transformative things that are not all about high bandwidth/business/video/profits/etc/etc.........] The speeds that are available in the UK are lagging a long, long way behind other European counties," he said. In the UK the fastest speed currently on offer is 24Mbps (megabits per second) although typically the fastest people will get is about 8Mbps. French surfers are enjoying around 24Mbps as standard. E-mail remains the most widely used application with surfing for information and shopping being the most widespread internet activities
  • "If I look at the internet in five years from now there are going to be very, very, very more internet users in Asia than Europe or America. "There will be more Chinese web pages than English pages. ..The internet was increasingly being shaped by companies and organisations at the "edges" and not by government, public sector bodies and regulators, he said.06 oct ("There's a point at which the Chinese will say 'We have to have domain names in Chinese characters' and they will set up an independent system.")She said: "If Balkanisation refers to islands of connectivity that have no inter-connectivity between them then clearly that is a bad thing and limits the choice and reach for consumers. "But if it refers to differentiation and different levels of protection, of functionality and speed, and relates to choice, then that is a positive thing." not if "speed" means you have to choose between a slooooooooooooow DemocracyNow connection (even though their servers are sufficient) versus a fast cnn one. ..Earlier this year a US Senate committee approved a bill which lets internet service provides provide some customers with preferential services such as bandwidth and speed. "Net neutrality" campaigners attacked the plan, saying there should be equal access for all web users.
  • The aim for Software Defined Radio (SDR) is to be able to translate and understand any kind of radio wave signal, such as 3G or wi-fi. The next stage, said Mr Kinsella, would be what is termed "cognitive radio", a technology that has the same capabilities as SDR but also searches for and exploits bandwidth that is not being used. (06 sept)
  • Operators are also starting to dismantle their walled gardens and are giving customers greater freedom to roam the net via their handset. Before now many have limited customers to a few select sites. "Operators who adopt a walled-garden approach are actually missing the point," said Stuart Jackson of Orange World. "It's not about the content that you can give to the customer, it's about the content the customer wants to access," [in other news] From next month anyone will be able to register a .mobi net address. This domain is meant solely for sites that will be navigable by phones and anyone signing up must ensure their site meets a strict set of accessibility standards (06 sep) [and] it is now possible to buy a phone that automatically sets up and sends pictures to a photo blog.[and] "With HSDPA the testing that we've undertaken on the live network we've found we can achieve up to four times the speed of 3G. (..the formidably named High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). Operators across the world are adopting the technology quickly.)[Unfortunately phones do not, yet, show when they are locked on to a strong HSDPA signal which could prove frustrating for mobile users. "HSDPA uses a technology called extended codes, and the point of that is that it gives you a lot more data, but it also means it's very vulnerable to interference,"]
  • Virgin looks to offer mobile TV..It has joined forces with BT and Microsoft to offer five digital TV channels and 350 radio channels to its UK subscribers. The deal was announced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, the mobile phone industry event of the year. '"It's not downloaded. Its real TV just like you get at home."'..Virgin is planning to use BT's Movio wholesale mobile TV product. This uses the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) network, broadcasting signals that are picked up by a microchip in the handset.
  • AOL to launch online television 05 Nov (referring to "early 2006")
  • Broadband net goes stratospheric...The latest broadband delivery system has seen researchers looking to the skies to provide super-fast internet access via airships."The launch cost of the infrastructure is likely to be one-tenth that of satellite and one airship can support a user density one thousands times that of satellite," he said. With each airship being able to support an area of 60 kilometres, there would only need to be "a handful" to offer complete coverage in the UK, he added. (05 oct)
  • Broadband overtook dial-up in May, and now makes up 50.7% of net connections. Jupiter Research predicts that by 2010, 80% of online households in Europe will have a broadband connection. That figure likely to be even higher in the UK. (05 Oct)
  • OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Sprint Nextel Corp. is becoming the latest cell phone carrier to let its customers listen to music on the devices. The nation's No. 3 wireless provider said Monday that it and ..RealNetworks Inc. are launching a streaming music service for Sprint PCS customers? called Rhapsody Radio...streaming radio stations, a freestyle rap service called "Beats -- Breaks," music news, videos and podcasts -- recorded audio files that are downloaded from the Internet -- for $6.95 per month. 20 sept 2005
  • Google begins limited test of Wi-Fi service..google..has begun a limited test of a free wireless Internet service, called Google WiFi. ..the Wi-Fi service..offers high-speed connections to the Internet over short distances.. "Google WiFi is a community outreach program to offer free wireless access in areas near our headquarters," Tyler said."At this stage in development, we're focused on collecting feedback..he project was started as part of a Google engineer's "20 percent time project." Google encourages its engineers to spend 20 percent of their work time developing independent projects. Several of Google's new products have grown out of such projects, including Google News, contextual advertising program AdSense and social-networking test project Orkut...Google, which is rapidly expanding beyond its core Internet search service, introduced an instant messaging and Web telephone calling service called Google Talk in August. 20 sept 2005
  • TV delivered into living rooms over broadband connections will completely disrupt TV as well as the internet as we know it, concludes a major report. 05 sep
  • BBC plans to put channels on net August 2005 BBC..."Proposals to make clips available on mobile phones are also being speeded up"....."A BBC spokesman said the corporation was aiming to simulcast a channel permanently but would restrict it to UK viewers only."
  • Broadband lag could hurt the U.S. (see RANKINGS by % of population w/broadband
  • MTV to launch internet 'channel' 05 apr
  • 5 millionth BT broadband customer in UK (also there are 2 million via cable modem) Jan 05 was "59% of net connections were dialup"..the (new) figures suggest that soon more than half of all net users in the UK will be on a broadband connection." (05 apr)
  • UK broadcaster Virgin Radio says it will become the first station in the world to offer radio via 3G mobiles. bbc 05 mar
  • 2005 January looking ahead into 2005
  • Half of UK's mobiles 'go online'..Figures from industry monitor, the Mobile Data Association (MDA), show the number of phones with GPRS and MMS technology has doubled since last year. GPRS lets people browse the web, access news services, mobile music and other applications like mobile chat..By the end of 2005..75% of all mobiles in the UK will be able to access the net via GPRS. (04 Dec BBC)
  • The total number of people and businesses [in the US] on broadband rose by to 32.5 million in the year ending June 2004, compared to 23.5 million in June 2003. 04 dec
  • The number of personal computers worldwide is expected to double by 2010 to 1.3 billion machines,
  • More than half of Europe's Internet surfers now have a high-speed broadband connection at home.. # of www users in Europe now above 100 million. By October of this year, 54.5 million Europeans surfed the Web via broadband, up 60 percent from 34.1 million 12 months earlier 04 dec
  • More than five million households in the UK have broadband and that 04 dec number is growing fast.
  • Wi-fi device aims to free web radio.A device which allows people to listen to internet radio without a PC has been developed by a UK company.
  • Norwegians try out TV on mobiles 04 June
  • one megabit connection for 15 British pounds per mond 04 june
  • [UK] Broadband hits four million mark Over half of UK homes have internet access and a quarter of these have broadband. (04 June) That represents around 15% of UK homes using a high speed connection, either via the phone line, cable or wireless. 04 June ("With four million connections in place and around 40,000 new ones being made each week,.." -- thus in 50 weeks, 2million more a 50% increase from 15% to 15+7.5 or 22.5%..)
  • For surfers still considering an upgrade from dial-up there was good news this week as prices fell again, almost to dial-up levels. UK internet service provider PlusNet has launched a 512Kbps broadband service for #14.99 a month. 04 may
  • Up to a million more people could soon get high-speed internet access in the UK as BT stretches the reach of the technology. 04 Apr BBC "It is also planning to trial a 2 megabit ADSL [current isservice in the autumn. This however will not work over longer distances.
  • Consumer video cameras are allowing film-makers to create award-winning films on tight budgets, reports the BBC Go Digital presenter Tracey Logan. 04 feb bbc
  • first half of 2003: U.S. brodband up 18% to 23.6m users 03 dec
  • 3 million in UK have broadband (figures include 128Kbps/150Kbps) 03 Dec
  • 70% of 48M S.Koireans have net (33.6M) and 11M have broadband (about 33%); Aim ro $1B spend to get 100Mbps core broadband in S Korea by 2010. [Top 10 most "wired" (includes % who use net and also cellphones etc) nations: Sweden/Denmark/Iceland/South Korea/Norway and Netherlands/Hong Kong, China/Finland/Canada/US]
  • 3million yahoo BB broadbanders in Japan; rates of 8,12,26Mbps 03 nov
  • 40% of intenret-connected Americans have broadband (2million new US boradband users added during Aug-Oct 03) 03 Nov bbc
  • two villages start their OWN broadband ISP company BBC 03 Sept
  • RealNetworks Mobile Player: broadcasting to wireless devices
  • now 2.3Mill UK homes w/broadband; 47M homes across globe; 80% of UK communities have broadband BT(dsl?) exhcangse 03 Sept BBC
  • Wireless Web access on the beach -- for free The organisers of the PiertoPier project see it as the hi-tech equivalent of community radio. BBC Jul 03 (piertopier.net) (w2i.org)
  • 17% of net-using households have a broadband in UK (BBC 03 Jul) (and "The net is now being used in 47% of British households")
  • The power over ethernet system made it much cheaper to set up data networks supporting wi-fi access points, remote webcams and even notebook computers because it removes the need to put in place separate power cables. BBC 03 Jul
  • BLAST from Bell Labs could increase wireless over 3G networks about 10-fold to 19.2Mbps
  • "It has been confirmed that wi-fi is at least five times faster and 10 times cheaper than 3G," said Pierre Danon, head of BT Retail." here May 03
  • Broadband Balloons Take Off (wireless: "Just 18 base stations would provide total UK coverage, from densely populated towns to the remotest cottage in the Scottish Highlands.") May 03 SUMMARY: on Znet post
  • http://www.x-broadband.co.uk/
  • 46M americans have broadband at home or work (Dec 02); nearly 1/3 of home HAVING inet connection, have broadband or 16% of USA, a 50% increase over last year. By 2008, 48% of EU, 46% of US households having broadband (May 2003); Also UK broadband (counting 128Kbps) went from 1M to 2M in 7 months (May 03)
  • BT will sell for 400britishPounds, equip for you to be able to be a provider of wireless broadband (MAy 03 BBC); Juniper sells for $800 previously $2000 (May 03); 300foot range "hot-spot". (3G is 144Kbps max and usually 50Kbsp? 70Kbps?; Wi-Fi is "5x speed" so 250Kbps-350Kpbs?); meanwhile, Wireless helps cuts net costs. Soon you will be able to share the cost of your fast net link with neighbors, using wireless technology "What we are doing is turning the customer into the internet service provider," this service "could prove a boon to people living just beyond the range of broadband being piped through their local telephone exchange. With the help of a neighbour inside the broadband catchment zone who installs a wi-fi access point, people who would otherwise be denied fast net access might be able to get it" (May 03)
  • PHILLIPS STREAMIUM INTERNET TUNER PLAYER feb 2003 (philips describes it and GlobalTuner coming too)
  • Wireless Broadband spreads its wings and intel puts faith inwireless bbc jan 03
  • Internet Radio Stereo-Tuner exists, about $300 but see review by A Peter Allan; we need a noncorporate non-centralized free software version and the long list of problem he lists should disappear.
  • BT aims to have 90% of UK have broadband by 2005; UK Govt: 100% of schools/doctor's office by 2006 with broadband BBC Dec 02
  • 40mbps wireless net access in rural Eden cheap, fast, more reliable...and LOCAL control (BBC Dec 02)
  • (mobile net use on the rise) bbc dec 02
  • Watch TV on your Pocket PC Nov 02. Pre-recorded. With wireless broadband improvements, by 2005, why not 24/7 radio and TV stations by grassroots groups, democratizing the media?
  • 60% of South Koreans have broadband and y 2006 the government wants to provide 20 megabits to every home in Korea.
  • Faster than DSL/cable: UK urged to plan for fiber-optic future BBC Oct 02
  • Why the poor need technology
  • (Mobile) Phones to Join File-Sharing Revolution BBC. NOTE: this also relates to the dream of a (wireless-based), de-centralized, free (no cost), free (no central control) internet that is truly run and owned by the public. That idea is much bigger and is different than "mobile phones sharing files" but mobile-file-sharing is an example of a small but real step in that direction.
  • 5% to 14% broadband in UK in last 12 months Sep 02. Germany 45%, Sweden 43% Netherlands 41% Spain 25% France 22%, Italy 20%
  • Home Digital Movies set for expansion BBC Jul 02
  • Worldwide Broadband: 30M in 2001, 46Million by end of 2002 BBC Jul 02
  • Computer on wheels for rural indian villages BBC Jul 02
  • Wales 100M pound public investment ("subsidy") for broadband BBC Jul 02
  • Digital divide very real (but shinking) in US (BBC Jul 02)
  • ULTRA-WIDE-BAND
  • Study: Net users turn to searching over surfing (BBC Jul 02) More independent, less passive culture?
  • UK Govt report: Govt help to create broadband content (BBC Jul 02)
  • World reaches one billion PCs another bill. in next 6 yrs (BBC Jul 02)
  • Wireless Broadband "Wi Fi" BBC Jun 02
  • 4% of ALL OF EUROPE now has broadband BBC May 02
  • Kiplinger's June 2002: Percent of US population that is online: In 2000: 45%, "now", 59%
  • 20 times faster than Brodband is coming..is here meanwhile only 3% of UK ius on broadband, 50% have some internet connection.
  • Superfast Broadband from Telewest (Apr 02) Also, current total is 280Kusers(cable);190Kusers(DSL) in UK also direct access broadband via BT.
  • Do-it-yourself broadband arrives in UK, fast rise in broadband expected and speak to you computer? (BBC Apr 02)
  • iPOD hacks: intimations of future portability for internet radio? (BBC, Apr 02)
  • Debate on royalties etc in webcasting (virtual radio stations) Salom.com
  • BroadBand WITHOUTH ISPs?? a plan from BT (Apr 02)
  • UK broadband useage doubles in one month BBC Mar 02
  • What is the Net was Free as Air? BBC Mar 02
  • "We'll have people downloading films or music in their cars" BBC Mar 02
  • Future: Cheaper Flat screens (BBC Mar 02)
  • MAjor cuts in Broadband costs in UK (Feb 02)
  • InternetMosaic Continues To Grow (BBC Feb 02)
  • UK: BT Plans Cheaper Broadband (BBC Feb 02)
  • More than Half of US is online (BBC Feb 02)
  • Government-sponsored broadband suggested for UK (BBC Feb 02)
  • "CoolTown by HP (Feb 02) looks towards "anywhere" internet
  • In Belgium, ADSL costs around #23 per month and 40% of homes now have high-speed connections. In UK 1% have ADSL
  • London's sewers are to be used to provide high-speed internet to businesses in the capital. Feb 02
  • "Futuristic" devices like the Poma keep coming out, pulling our attentions in many directions. Our job should be to keep our eyes on the prize and to focus our attention on trying to think up how our Goals can be reached by a combination of existing technologies, emerging technologies, or modifications/combinations thereof. [Analogy from science research of "reversing direction"]. Likewise, instead of having our Starting-point be the technolgies, we should go the reverse way: have our starting-poitn be our goals (democratizing the media; democratizing the economic system, etc) and to "work backwards" from these goals, to try to find ways of using the increasingly powerful existing/emerging technolgies as tools towards attaining those critical goals.
  • 1 in 8 French have Broadband (BBC Jan 02) A 500% increase in one year
  • UK Broadband 'to Triple in 2002' while also Do It Yourself Broadband set to hit UK (Dec 01)
  • Electricity free wind-up energy for mobile phones Nov 01
  • "Simputer" for third world... (BBC, Sep 01) (and earlier article, and Simputer.org)
  • Satellite Radio launches in US Sept 01
  • Whereas fixed-line net users enjoy a huge amount of freedom - there is no restriction on which websites are viewed - the mobile service providers want to corral their users into network neighbourhoods that are carefully controlled. (but the public will demand freedom and will win eventually... -HB)
  • Digital Radio sets to shrink From over 300 British Pounds to under 100; smaller too (Jul 01)
  • Internet Usein UK surges from 6 mill. to 10 mill. (May 00 to May 01)
  • Building Broadband Britain launched (July 01)
  • E-paper moves a step nearer
  • By 2005 75% of [UK's] population will have access to the net in one form or another
  • Four Giants Domnate the Web (Jun 01, BBC)
  • The end of free music? BBC discussion forum: readers' comments
  • Ogg Vorbis, named for a character in Terry Pratchett's novel "Small Gods," is an open music code that's expected to emerge as a cost-effective alternative to the increasingly expensive MP3 (Jun 01)
  • Park Bench goes Online (and what on earth is wrong with free phonecalls?)
  • The Asia-Pacific region is set to overtake the United States as the world's largest internet market in two years
  • China has now overtaken the United States to become the country with the largest number of mobile phone users (BBC, Aug 01)
  • Norwegian Village to become world's first fully-connected wireless broadband community. (BBC, Aug 01)
  • Coiner of the term "hypertext" on alternatives to WWW
  • By late 2003: new chips for 3G cellphones
  • POGO device BBC, OCT 01 (see also company page)