Discussion Questions for Chapter 5

1. How will the Internet change as we move forward? Will the Internet change?


2. How will government use the internet from now on? All ready the government is using the Internet to be more transparent when setting and managing public policy.



3. In doing this, they are still excluding a large portion of the US citizens who do not have Internet access, but there is definitely a higher number than ever before.



4. Should the government provide internet access to all people with some sort of a subsidy?




5. Should the US government attempt bring high-speed broadband internet the ‘last-mile’ to the home? Some estimates to solve the ‘last-mile’ problem are only a fraction of the latest Stimulus bill.



6. How do democracies begin to take shape across the globe? Will the Internet prove to present problems, or provide solutions to many of the problems in the world today?




7. How will other emerging technologies be changed or developed by governmental intervention? This could be answered in conjunction with many technologies that are emerging right now and the potential for others to emerge in the future.



I am not sure how the evening will go on Thursday, but maybe if we have some discussion questions ahead of time, we can get some good results. Here is a partial list of mine, so far. I want to go through all the blogs as they come in to see what other questions would come up.

I am not sure if we can do one question at a time? Multiple questions may be difficult, I just really do not know. If I were to combine all the questions from all 8 of us, there may be a lengthy list of discussion questions.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome. I am going to request access to B216 for Thursday night. It may help me to make sure things go well and I am less likely to be interrupted.

Thanks, Caleb

Chapter 5 - Summary & Discussion

Lessons from the Internet

For a brief summary of the chapter I will begin with the purpose of the Internet started, as we all know, with a government interest. The Department of Defense was the first ‘investor’ in the new technology that eventually became the Internet and the WWW as we know it today.
Today there are private businesses leading the investment into the internet. Most businesses today have a portion of their revenue dependent on Internet sales, or at least Internet advertising. When I mention advertising, it would include simply verifying or validating your business. Putting a web-site to the name of the business and making it more attractive to a growing population of business. Many people will not find a business if they are not properly set-up on the Internet.

This chapter does good job of describing the options companies have to help them navigate through potential government policies and changes that will affect their business. A company can see the 10 lessons as a springboard for developing safeguards against what may, or may not happen at the government level.

The government has been involved in the Internet all along, but their influence has been changing. It appears the influence of the government will continue to change. Emerging technologies will rely, at least in part, on the Internet. The Internet has been developed by the government and exploited by businesses. It will continue to be regulated in some form by many governments.