Participate in Shaping Canada's Digital Economy

Over a week ago Canada's federal government, led by Industry Ministry, released their Digital Economy Consultation to surprisingly little fanfare or resulting news coverage. Citizens have the next 52 days to offer their own ideas and/or vote on other ideas. Despite the opportunity to help guide our country's digital future, few Canadians are participating. The top items have no more than 55 votes.

Michael Geist's article Who's going to lead our digital strategy? provides more information and some of the key issues at stake. As well, read Hailey Eisen article for Backbone that covered the historical context leading to this effort.

I'm not sure why this isn't getting more coverage or participation. Is it cynicism? I am concerned that the government has not revealed how citizen contributions will be used. There is no word on any sort of binding nature of contributions (unlike the e-petition process in the U.K.) or how contributions are evaluated or even if they are heard at all Granted, some initial contributions are not all high calibre - some are repetitive, some are impractical, and some are beyond the scope of government. But I did read some good ideas and I'm sure there will be more to come.

I've jotted down below a few issues that I think are important to help improve our digital economy. Please disagree or let me know of others.

Ideas to Foster Canada's Digital Economy

• help lower pricing for broadband Internet and mobile wireless access
• improve access for remote, rural, and aboriginal areas
• enforce net neutrality
• aid the deployment of IPv6
• help encourage Canadian companies to stay in Canada (as they inevitably seem to sell to American companies who immediately or gradually shut down Canadian operations)
• foster innovation from unconventional sources - too many programs and events are directed at typical CEO types, despite that a lot, if not most, of the innovation in digital
• media has not come from these types
• mandate accessibility for disabled users
• consider Canadian content restrictions online (see my online CanCon post)
• funding for new content creation
• continue to support CBC.ca - a digital media innovator
• invest and help set-up post-secondary education in this area (i.e. no strong graduate Internet or mobile programs in Canada)
• free e-learning on development and design topics (e.g. accessibility an example of how hard to do)
• make this area a government department to ensure its continued importance and prominence

Although this focus is on Canada's economy, rather than government, I do think that Canada could spur innovation by modelling innovative use of e-government. The US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and others are increasingly offering more forms of open, accessible, and participatory government through online means. Canada is falling behind. Showing Canadians and the world that we can be leaders in e-government would showcase and provide a roadmap for our digital future.

The project itself isn't a stellar example. The core functionality all works well, that is the ability to add an idea, comment, vote ideas up or down, and sort by most popular or recent. There is a lot of repetition that I'd like to see filtered out (acknowledging the technical and policy difficulties that would raise). There is the requisite video introduction by a government official but that's the extent of multimedia. A Twitter account and hashtag has been set-up (although both seem barely used), but that is the extent of social media integration or even promotion. I see zero signs of support for participating via mobile devices. A smartphone app would open up participation and be a great example of how participating in our digital future will look like.

Another problem is that there are not a lot of organizations in Canada that I'm aware of that are trumpeting these issues. OpenMedia is gearing up to lead the charge for net neutrality. From my past web accessibility research, I feel safe is saying no organization in Canada is effectively leading the charge for this issue.

I'm considering helping get an Internet Society chapter for Ontario going to make a formal submission. The government is also holding private consultations with the private sector and academia. So unless there are organizations representing the types of issues I raise above that I haven't heard of, if citizens don't participate to raise these issues and their profile, then who will?

CBC.ca most popular items last year - a telling look at Canadians

CBC.ca, Canada’s predominant online news source, has published the most clicked-on and most emailed stories of 2007.

While our news surfing isn't a national disgrace, our emailing habits may be.

Most clicked-on
The top 25 most clicked-on stories are mostly legitimate news stories and not a single item about Paris Hilton or her ilk. I’m proud to say of my fellow Canadians that of the 25 top items, only two were not legitimate news stories. One of them, which was the second most popular article, was Vancouver patient oozes green blood which I must confess I remember clicking-on when it originally came out in June. But how can you not click-on something of such World Weekly News caliber appearing in staid CBC?

There was only one story had an entertainment focus, the Chris Benoit murder/suicide, but this is hardly coverage of Britney Spears latest driving incident (though Canadian Keifer Sutherland’s drunk driving conviction and continued commercials for Ford didn’t crack the top 25 either.)

While the top story, hitting positions 1, 7, and 16 was the Virginia Tech slayings (#16 being coverage of a Canadian victim), the story most fixated on is the rising loonie. Guess Canadians were either excited to gloat at the Americans or looking forward to cross border shopping (BTW, there has never been a better time to shop at American websites – we’ve got some great deals!).

Also, of the 25 articles all except for two (which were about Virginia Tech) had a prominent Canadian angle. I’m not sure if CBC.ca visitors are largely looking for Canadian news or if items with a more local bent capture more interest.

Most emailed
I will make no attempt at any lofty explanations of the top ten most emailed stories on CBC.ca.

Only one was a legitimate news item. Clearly, people only email friends of the most offbeat, bizarre nature.

Back to my World Weekly News theory – everyone loves these freakish stories, and all the more so when CBC reports them.

These items were so much fun I had to list them here:
1. Thomas & Friends toys recalled for lead poisoning danger
2. Moles linked with slower aging: study
3. Left-handedness gene linked to mental illness, suggests study
4. Vancouver patient oozes green blood
5. Don't poo-poo technique: Fecal transplant can cure superbug, doctors say
6. Winnipeg pizza place serves up side of porn
7. Scientists make gut-brain connection to autism
8. Catholic Church only true church, Vatican says
9. What the ...? Workplace profanity boosts morale: study
10. Diet soft drinks linked to health risks: study

I must say #5, #6 and #9 really caught my attention and made me click through, so I can't take any moral highground either. I'd like to say I read all of CBC.ca excellent political and foreign coverage. I'd like to say that. Their technology coverage is very good and I read it regularly, so it's not all green blood and pizza porn.

Cyberchondriac or healthy surfing?

The CBC, my favourite online news source, ran a story three days ago on how people obsessively look up their medical ailments on the Web. The article, while pointing out some legitimate concerns, tended to depict these people as crackpots and hypochondriacs. Indeed, the article was even called Cyberchondriacs.

The article, I believe, missed some critical points:

1. People are forced to turn to the Internet as our current medical system is so inadequate.
   For one, doctors spend scant minutes with a patient. Even our current doctor, who is less hurried than most, does not spend more than 15-20 minutes per visit at the most. There is little time for doctors to even get all the symptoms, let alone spend time educating their patients on the issue, full treatment options, and alternatives. Actually, alternatives are rarely mentioned - it is just pop a pill and call me in a few days if things don't get better. Information on the Web, and there are some great health websites that present reliable information, gives the details doctors do not provide so that patients can make informed decisions about their health. Maybe I have a trust issue, but just getting a pill and going on my merry way doesn't work for me - I need to know the issue in more depth, like should I avoid certain foods, not travel, try this natural remedy as well, etc.
   
2. The article points on those who constantly think they are sick, but there are those who don't seek medical attention either at all or in timely fashion. Getting a sense of the severity of an issue from online sources can help encourage someone to seek medical attention.
3. Second opinions - why our society think doctors are gods is beyond me. They are human and apt to make mistakes, not have time to fully look into something, or not know about all the details or latest research of certain issues. While one is often encouraged to "get a second opinion," it's not so easy to get another doctor and not practical for more minor issues. The Web can help be that second opinion. My wife has many times successfully diagnosed health ailments online that were later confirmed by the doctor. This made me trust the doctor all the more.
   

I'm not alone in looking up health info online, as CBC points out:

Well over half of online Canadians — 58 per cent — search the Internet for health information from home, up from 46 per cent five years ago, according to Statistics Canada.

I do see the problems cited by the CBC. Among the problems of researching health issues online are people relying on inaccurate websites and also those who decide to treat themselves and don't go to a doctor.

Another problem, which I experienced two months ago, is that it's easy on the Web to find worst case scenarios and horror stories. When my daughter had to be put under anesthesia for dental work, we found stories of children dying as a result of similar work. It did make me REALLY worried. But we were able to contextualize the rarity of these situations and to ask the dentist about precautions. The dentist, unlike some others, had taken extra steps (eg. hiring two extra specialists) that reassured us that he was better option than other dentists who did the procedure alone. I'd rather have known the risks and accounted for them than to not have known at all.

Without the Web, we would have been in the dark on this issue and many other vital health concerns.

CBC's Facebook effort is not that bad

With my company's relaunch almost history, I'm finally able to step out of the bubble I've been in for weeks.

I've been able to read the news again - and you'll note the Net News items on the right are now mostly new.

An item today on globeandmail.com caught my eye as it mentioned my current cyber-addiction, Facebook, and had a Canadian connection.

The article, CBC ‘wish list' experiment dogged by controversy presents a rather biased look at CBC's "The Great Canadian Wish List" project on Facebook.

Despite the hugeness of the bubble I was in, I can't believe I missed this project completely.

The Great Canadian Wish List is an attempt to encourage public discussion on items Canadians would like to see to make Canada a better country, in honour of our upcoming 140th birthday. I believe Facebook was used as there was already a sizable bunch of Canadians there (Canadians are world leaders in Facebook adoption), the technology was pretty much already in place, and to help capture a younger audience than the public broadcaster normally does.

Canadians can join groups to "Wish" for the items they care about. There are also discussions on the main group page and on the individual wish pages.

I joined tonight and its biggest shortcoming are immediately apparent: 1) this enterprise was hijacked by nut jobs with agendas 2) the generaly idiocy of many people. But it is not all bad.

Yes the top five wishes overall are:
1) Abolish abortion in Canada
2) I wish that Canada would remain pro-choice
3) For a spiritual revival in our nation
4) Restore the traditional definition of marriage
5) I wish tuition fees would be either lowered or eliminated

But then the next five are:
6) It's time for drastic measures to save our environment
7) Canada should keep abortions and gay marriage legal
8) A Canada where no one must choose between paying for rent and their medication
9) Proportional representation
10) Greener Canada

Some of these groups cheated to raise their wish and that is unfortunate. The article was quick to point out the CBC's faults for not maintaining tighter reigns. But to do so would have ruined the honesty (whether we like it or not) and uncouthness that is not only part of the fun, but the entire point.

I enjoyed voting for "Alaska should be part of Canada" as one of my wishes. But I also wished for help for the mentally ill.

The effort wasn't perfect, but then neither are people. For instance, there's a discussion on "I Hate Toronto" fueled, no doubt, by stupid, bitter trolls. But then there's also a discussion with even more posts on decriminalizing prostitution and that's not a topic conventional media or politicians are pushing for.

I applaud the CBC for trying something different and exploring innovative uses of the medium. Perhaps the other media outlets should spend less time criticizing other's online efforts and do something cool on their own.