Talking about digital divides can be a great
game of political football. While it seems desirable to have
broadband access for all, there are parts of the United States
where slow dial-up is the best possible access. This is quite
ironic considering the decline of traditional media forms where
such material is shifting online but requiring broadband for it to
be actually usable.
One of the tech innovations that has doggedly survived against
competition is radio. Radio has survived not only the introduction
of television but also the Internet. As a mass medium, it works and
provides means to get out a message that the Internet cannot easily
provide.
In producing a podcast, a conundrum arises. Are there people out
there within the United States unreachable with such a tool. Even
in the battle born state of Nevada, broadband is only really
available in urban areas. While cable access to the Internet is
possible in the Las Vegas metro it is not quite possible in
Winnemucca or Battle Mountain. In American Samoa, dial-up access is
the only game in town with connection speeds not exceeding 30 kbps
and bandwidth via the ISP even slower. Unless you had a pricey DSL
connection, the browser of choice in American Samoa was lynx.
Broadband penetration is uneven in the United States. The United
States is a first-world country militarily but we lag in other
areas from time to time. Expanding the scope of the podcast program
is something that requires me to consider that.
To secure a one-hour time slot each week for a full year on
shortwave broadcast station WBCQ
costs only USD$900. WBCQ's
signal blankets the eastern seaboard and hits the Caribbean. With a
USD$40 shortwave radio, one could access such a broadcast with
relative ease. Compared to other distribution costs possible let
alone technological access barriers, this is pretty cheap.
An interesting experiment would be in trying to expand the scope of
LISTen: The LISNews.org
Podcast via shortwave. In some respects, that would greatly
increase reach. For the cost of two individual ALA memberships, the
expansion of this professional development could happen. Time slots
are scarce, though, so waiting six months may mean that this would
be a non-starter. The strange thing there is, this is a
cost-effective buy with green implications to it indirectly.
Professional development and growth material could be distribute
farther at a cheaper rate.
The question is whether anyone would have the audacity to
financially back such an experiment...
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