ntia

9:35 pm on May 31, 2011 · education (20), ntia (34), USG (40)

N.T.I.A. launches Digital Literacy Initiative #btop #education @NTIAgov

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Digital Literacy dot gov

Digital Literacy dot gov On May 13 2011 The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched DigitalLiteracy.gov. The site’s goal, in partnership with nine Federal agencies, is to function as an online hub for librarians, educators, and other digital literacy practitioners to share content and best practices. Additional content is expected from recipients of Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants who are developing and implementing digital literacy training programs in their communities.

The site contains web 2.0 features that will support evolutionary improvement of its content.

* NTIA press release

1:30 am on December 3, 2010 · ICANN (193), newgtlds (19), ntia (34)

NTIA calls ICANN on the carpet over new gTLD process #icann #newgtlds #ntia

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NTIA

NTIALess than a year after ICANN gained its “independence” by signing an Affirmation of Commitments with the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Now, on Dec 2 2010, ICANN has received a sharply critical letter from NTIA head Larry Strickling, suggesting it has not backed up its promises.

The main issue bothering Strickling appears to be the imminent finalization, after 4 years of painstaking gestation, of the new generic Top Level Domain process. He cites half-baked economic analysis of the effects, and a lack of justification, particularly with regard to the decision of the Board to swing from a policy of absolutely no vertical integration between registries and registrars (Mar 2010) to laissez-faire (Nov 2010). In the NTIA’s opinion ICANN is not honoring its commitment to ‘fact-based policy development’, and to ‘provide a thorough and reasoned explanation of decisions taken’.

It can safely be said, on the latter point, that the NTIA are not alone in this assessment, if the efforts of its own Accountability & Transparency Review Team are to believed.

While internationally many probably share the NTIA’s concerns this may well, coming on the heels of the COICA effort, and recent DNS redirecting by the US in the name of  IP protection, be seen as a reminder of American influence, providing fuel for those governments that would like to see control of the domain system passed to the United Nations via the ITU.

It’s sure to be a hot topic at next week’s ICANN Meeting in Cartagena. It seems probable that ICANN will be forced to take the safe course, and yet again delay the gTLD process.

1:41 pm on November 9, 2010 · access (43), broadband (121), NBP (17), ntia (34), USG (40)

NTIA Digital Nation II – minorities lagging in adoption #broadband #digitaldivide

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Broadband USA

Broadband USAThe NTIA has issued Digital Nation II – a follow up to February’s Digital Nation report. Amongst the findings:

* the percentage of households that connect to the Internet using broadband grew to 63.5 percent in 2009 from 9.2 percent in 2001

* 65.9 percent of urban households subscribed to broadband in 2009, compared with 51 percent of rural households.

* 94.1 percent of households with income exceeding $100,000 subscribed to broadband in 2009, compared with 35.8 percent of households with income of less than $25,000.

* 84.5 percent of households with at least one college degree subscribed to broadband last year, compared with 28.8 percent of households without a high school degree.

* 77.3 percent of Asian-American households and 68 percent of non-Hispanic white households subscribed to broadband last year, compared with 49.4 percent of African-American households and 47.9 percent of Hispanic households.

* 38 percent of Americans who don’t have broadband at home say they don’t subscribe because they don’t need it, while 26 percent say it’s too expensive and only 4 percent say it’s not available where they live.

Notably, the analysis discovered a gap of 10 percentage points in broadband use between whites and blacks and a gap of 14 percentage points between whites and Hispanics even after controlling for socio-economic factors.

Although the data do not provide an explanation for these numbers, Rebecca Blank, under secretary for Economic Affairs, believes it could reflect limited exposure to the Internet among certain racial groups.

“Internet usage relies on networks,” she said. “If the people around you don’t use the Internet, you will be less likely to use the Internet, too.

Lawrence Strickling, head of the NTIA, stressed that one key challenge for policymakers lies in convincing Americans who are not online of the benefits of broadband.

* NTIA press release

[Source: AP]

6:08 am on December 3, 2009 · btop (9), ntia (34)

BTOP Grants coming soon

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Separately, Strickling said that the NTIA would be unveiling the winners of the first round of the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus grants in the next couple of weeks.

Members of Congress and some applicants for the funds have criticized the NTIA and the Department of Agriculture for not releasing the funds fast enough.

But Strickling said Tuesday that the department has been working hard to make sure that the projects that do get funded are going to use the money efficiently, and that they are going to be sustainable in the long run — meaning that they’ll still be in operation in five years.

The commercial sector, for its part, is littered with failed telecommunications projects, particularly in the area of wireless broadband.

“It’s important that these people have a business case, and that revenues that they’re generating will exceed operations costs,” Strickling said.

via BroadbandBreakfast.com.