J. Palmer

Ever have something you want to say, but can’t figure out a way to say it?
I’ve been sitting here, trying to figure out how to express my thoughts on something being discussed on friendfeed.
Words. Keep. Escaping. Me.
Oh, well. Guess I’ll just wing it, and post whatever I come up with.
If you follow Scoble, (heck, if you even know who Scoble is you likely know what I’m getting to, and don’t need any background on it. which, come to think of it, might be the entire point of this post…) you’ve heard about his trip to DC, his son talking to the FCC Commissioner, and his “technology agenda”. (and if you don’t know who or what I’m talking about, you might be a friend of mine, or just in the hundreds of thousands in the US who aren’t a member of the “bleeding edge” or whatever-in-the-hell it’s called.)
Long story short, Scoble wrote three little points which he feels need to be addressed by the US:

1. a Chief Science/Technology officer in White House cabinet
2. an iPhone-level device for every kid
3. a museum for science and technology

These three points help show that Robert Scoble may be nuts.
First, I need to crack a stupid joke that’s been bugging me ever since I read those words… Chief Science / Technology officer?
“Kirk to Spock, report to the bridge immediately!”
…sorry, but now that it’s out of the way, I can move on.
I do think that someone overlooking science and technology would be a neat idea, but isn’t that already taken care of in other departments? CDC, FDA, Surgeon General, and a few others cover medical science. EPA for ecological stuffs. FCC for electronics and communications.
I don’t know. Maybe he’s thinking more along the lines of having somebody for computer technology. Hmm… a cabinet of computer geeks… cabinet full of computer geeks… wait, shouldn’t that be a locker full of computer geeks? And what would this locker do exactly? Help enforce open standards? Neah, enforcing open standards would be eerily similar to dictating open standards, which would lead to a closed-like standard. Hmm… interoperability? No, can’t be that. That sort of stuff is being handled elsewhere on a global level, with organizations like IEEE, ICANN, and so on.
Sorry, Robert. I don’t see your vision here. Perhaps a better idea would be to create an organization of geeks with enough power to have a voice in speaking with the agencies we have in place. It might be a good idea to give them some good attorneys, too; so that they can also help out the little guy, if he ever gets caught in some sort of legal trouble relating to computers. Hey, I have an idea for a name for it, too! Let’s call it the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Hey, even better, we can have organizations for all walks of life–for people with geeky interests elsewhere. Say, maybe we can have a group of geeks interested in communications. We can call that group something like, hmmm… i dunno…. how does the Amateur Radio Relay League sound? Neah, that’d never fly. I don’t think the FCC would ever listen to anything like that…
Oh, well. Point one was a good idea, but I don’t think it’ll fly.
So, on to… what was it? Oh, yeah… iPhones.
I’m sorry, iPhone-level devices. So, I guess that means iPhone-like. So, that’d be inclusive of Blackberrys and any other “smart-phone”, right? Okay, so let’s give our kids iPhones and Blackberrys. Um, but why? I hope not for the phone part of it… phones=$$$
…and, Robert, not many people have $$$.
I live in the quiet little town of Cynthiana. I say town, because even though she may be a Kentucky Certified City, she’s way too small to call a city. I guess, if I have to paint a picture of her size to anyone out there living in larger cities, she’d be about the size of a suburb. Sixteen to seventeen percent of our city is below the poverty line (which was just over $21k in ’07). Our median incomes are $20k-30k (women taking the lower end, and families–assumedly with more than one income–near the higher end). We don’t have a lot of money ’round these parts. Oh, and it gets a bit worse outside of town, where the majority of our children live.
So, with that in mind, I would have to say that the phone part of the iPhone-like device would be useless, as many would be unable to afford it. (not to mention that the majority of the area doesn’t have wireless coverage reliable enough for voice or data.) Kinda nixes that idea. But, you might still be on to something. Give the kids PDAs with WiFi, or even an iPod Touch. That works.
No. It doesn’t. Not that many have Internet access, and the majority of those that do have dial-up. While I’d love to show this in numbers, I can’t–at least not for Harrison County (where Cynthiana is located). I can provide a link to a survey conducted in 2007 which is representative of Kentucky as a whole. One pie-chart in the survey results shows that 35% do not have Internet access, 21% having dial-up, and the remaining 44% having broadband access. Later in the survey, a color coded map displays Harrison County being among the counties with “significantly lower than average” numbers in broadband access. It might be safe to assume that a WiFi enabled device might not go over so well with the kiddies, unless it was strictly used for school, where they would actually be able to use it.
Interestingly enough, however, Harrison County is toying with something close to your vision. (Less the WiFi and multimedia joys of an iPhone.) Harrison County has been playing with Palms.
So, Robert, while I think you’re nuts for uttering “iPhone”, I believe that your heart might be in the right place.
Personally, I would rather see a project hit our schools that would be similar to the OLPC. I believe that an XO or similar laptop computer would be much better for a child/student, and the agency supplying them. Here’s a thought: can you stick an XO in your back pocket, forget about it, and sit on it? or put it in your shirt pocket or holster/case on your hip and drop it in a toilet? (Not to mention, if you really want to aid the development of a child’s mind in computer technology, I would think you’d be more interested in giving kids a computer, rather than a computer device. More–at least for now–can be done with an actual computer.)
Finally (yes, finally; I’m growing tired of this topic, and need to report to the kitchen–time to fix dinner), a Science and Technology Museum? Um… Smithsonian, anyone? Not to mention there are other museums on more specific topics. Like aeronautics and military science? How about trying Wright-Patt (or–you guessed it–Smithsonian!). Space-flight? Try the US Space & Rocket Center (wait, they’re–*gasp*–Smithsonian affiliated!).
Or were you thinking something more along the lines of the DigiBarn? or the Computer History Museum? (and, doesn’t the <sarcastic voice>Smithsonian</sarcastic voice> have a part of ENIAC? and Deep Blue? and……)
SO…
…um, Robert, I liked your ideas, but, um… yeah… they were kinda off.