Weaving Community with Community Fibre: Community Informatics and the Broadband Revolution

Unexpectedly, the widespread availability of very very high speed (Broadband) bandwidth into communities and within large centres has become not only a long-term possibility but an immediate reality. Optical fibre connections and trunk lines provide data speed and flow-through capacity at levels unimaginable only a few years ago. Widespread, and even universal distribution (in Canada for example) of Broadband connectivity is being widely discussed. This paper examines the range of community applications and the implications of the implementation of community based Broadband applications. What is Broadband? "Broadband is a term that describes what are referred to in the (US) Telecommunications Act of 1996 as "advanced services", that is data transmission rates significantly higher than those that can be sent through ordinary, high quality voice circuits (i.e. 56KB). The Federal Communication Commission's definition of Broadband is: "The capability of supporting...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2002
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: Michael Gurstein
• Keywords: Biometrics, Broadband, Community Based Broadband, Fibre Optics, HICSS 2002