We have heard much about the technologies that are going to drive the future of education and I think you will all agree with me that it is exciting and of benefit to the children of Queensland. However, the one thing that is a problem for some schools is the cost of being connected to the Internet.
We have decided to give some time tonight to a speaker who has an alternative that will provide affordable Internet access. This man has flown out from the United States to speak to us, so obviously he sees us as an important audience.
Will you please welcome, David Stevens.
Thank you Paul, and good evening ladies and gentlemen. Actually for me it is good morning. I just called the States and said good morning to my kids and here we all are sitting down to supper. Since my body hasn’t even had time to work out what time it is and my brain has no idea whether its morning or night, I think I will just act something like a local and say G’day.
As Paul said, I have come over here to talk to you about a way of connecting to the internet and thus, the rest of the world for much less than you are probably paying right now, or about to pay if you aren’t yet connected. I also want to talk to you about year 2000 compliance, as this is a major headache, not only for schools, but also for any organisation or individual with a computer or any item of equipment with embedded date technology.
But first, let me tell you a bit about who I am and who I represent before I get down to the nitty gritty. My name is David Stevens. I live just outside of San Jose in Southern California. I am sure most of you have heard of the area referred to as Silicon Valley. I am the President of a start-up company called coNnEcT.net. That’s little c, little o, Capital N, little n, capital E. little c, capital T.net. We thought it looked good at the time, but spelling it out has become a proverbial pain in the butt. At least it’s easy to say and to remember, coNnEcT.net.
From humble beginnings around 2 years ago coNnEcT.net has grown considerably in a market that had been mostly ignored. I had the germ of an idea while at a school meeting where the parents and staff were grumbling about the cost of Internet access. I thought long and hard about it and eventually came up with a new paradigm that has become successful, if not controversial.
In the United States, our business model not only took the industry by surprise, but also shook the corporate and educational Internet markets profoundly, causing an outcry amongst the traditionalists. But we succeeded, and it was partially due to one of the greatest truisms ever uttered…There is no such thing as bad publicity. If you can just get people to say your name, eventually they will remember it, even if they don’t recall where or in what context they have heard it.
As you are all no doubt finding as the principals of elementary schools here in Australia, change is happening faster than you can keep up with it. Faster than the school administration can cope with it. Faster than policy can deal with it. And most certainly, faster than funding can cover it.
Yet, it is in this context that we all know that it is vital that we offer all the young children that we have access to, the latest and best opportunities available. In the 1990’s and into the next century, that is, obviously, going to include using the Internet.
I don’t know how the debate is running her down-under…I just love that term, down-under. I keep thinking I am going to fall off the bottom of the world or something. Anyway, I don’t know how the debate is running her down-under, but in the United States, there are many Luddites who argue that this technology, The Internet, is a smoke screen to obscure educators’ loss of skills. They argue that the drop in literacy and numeracy abilities is because of these technologies eating away at young minds, preventing them from getting the foundation in education that existed in the past. That, of course, is absurd. It is akin to saying that we should still be using a slate or a quill and a bottle of ink. The technology is there; therefore we should embrace it as a tool with which we can enhance the experience of young minds while still keeping focussed on our charter, to produce educated children who will be a positive contribution to their society.
This is my first time "down-under". When I decided to come to Australia, I didn’t know a lot about your country. I knew that you spoke English…kind of. I knew about some of your weird and wonderful animals, I had heard of cricket – not that I know anything about the rules - and of course I know about Greg Norman and Pat Rafter, but that’s about it. I had no idea about time zones, currency, where Brisbane was, or anything like that.
So, I gave my children a project to research Brisbane and Australia for me. Not only did my kids come up with all the information I needed, but some that I didn’t need. So, who is this person Pauline Hanson and are you all like her? I don’t think so, because we found out about your culture, your history, your environment. There was virtually nothing I else I needed to know. My six-year-old even reminded me to look the other way when crossing the street. But the best thing I discovered was that in Australia you don’t have to tip!
These kids found out more than I would ever hope to find in a library, embassy, bookstore or anywhere, apart from actually visiting Australia. When it comes to a school project on anything from Exploring Mars, to Ancient Egypt to Volcanoes or the Civil War, these kids become instant experts with a huge depth of information and understanding.
Now, for me, someone who attended elementary school in the early 60’s, where the most popular kid in school at assignment time was the one with the complete set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, having instant and unlimited access to that kind of information is mind-blowing. There is almost nothing that these kids can’t find out about by spending 30 minutes or so at the keyboard. That’s the scary part of the Internet, but I don’t want to dwell on that today.
But having access to such a wealth of information is a dilemma for educators. How does a teacher grade my kids, compared to a kid from a home where they don’t have such access or if the kids just don’t have the computer skills? Obviously it would be grossly unfair for one kid to get a better grade simply because they have access to better resources. On the other hand these kids need to be rewarded for their technological and research skills.
This is why I applaud the move to have all elementary schools in Queensland connect to the Internet. This will undoubtedly level the playing field for these children, however, just like in real life, where some children will excel over others, some children, will leap away using this new tool.
So how can coNnEcT.net help you, as principals, make this a reality for your students? By offering the cheapest Internet access possible. You see, my understanding is that you are each going to have to find the funding for Internet access from general school revenue, is that accurate?
We all know that times are tough. One can hardly expect the Government to pay for it all and as usual, schools need to be innovative and explore areas that will support them in providing the best facilities for the students while not being a strain on general funds or parents yet again.
If Australia is anything like the United States, it usually falls back on the PTA, the Parent Teacher’s Association. I assume you have a similar setup here, where interested parents get together to support their local school.
CoNnEcT.net works hard to take some of the burden off the PTA and allow them to raise funds for special education needs, sporting facilities or whatever. We provide your school, and in some cases your community with affordable Internet access in return for access to the users.
The setup is deceptively simple. I understand that you are currently being connected from your Apple or Wintel computers via either modems or ISDN lines to the backbone that then connects you to the world.
While this is an acceptable method, due to the limited bandwidth offered by these methods, it is now somewhat obsolete. The latest greatest, state-of-the-art connection method is using fibre optics. Without going into too much technical detail, where a phone or ISDN line can carry limited amount of information at a limited speed, the capacity of fibre optics is virtually unlimited. Huge capacity, phenomenal speeds, fast download times. What more could you want? Well, you could want it really cheaply.
But cheap Internet access isn’t worth diddlysquat if your computers don’t work simply because of today’s date. Coming up in just over 14 months is the year 2000 and what has become known as the millenium bug. Firstly, lets clear up a couple of misconceptions. It is not a millenium bug. It is a centennial bug. It is not being caused be the change from 1999 to 2000, it is because we are changing from year 99 to year 00. If computer had been invented 100 years ago, we would have had a similar problem changing from 1899 to 1900. However, the name millenium bug has stuck and it is as good as name as any as long as you understand what the problem is…out of curiosity, how many people do not understand the problem? Don’t be embarrassed by this, imagine you are in school and you are asking yourselves this question, you would want honesty in the answers.
EXPLAIN Y2K IF NEEDED.
People want to know how it is going to affect them. Well, I was thinking as I was landing at Brisbane airport, that on a plane is one place I will definitely not be at midnight on December 31st, 1999. Possible scenario…and this is only a possibility, but it demonstrates just how little we know about the extent of the problem.
The clock ticks over, everyone whistles, cheers and kisses the person nearest to them, welcome to the year 2000. If the plane manages to keep flying it will head toward the next navigational beacon, if it is still operating. The pilot will then radio for landing instructions from air traffic control, assuming that the ground radar is working properly, if at all. If they manage to contact air traffic control and manage to get the OK to land you will land safely, assuming that all the other planes in the area are doing OK as well. Then when you leave the plane, if the automatic doors open, you will clear customs, if their computers are working and pick up your luggage if the carousels still operate. Then through another set of automatic doors, that by this time has been wedged open and over to the stairs, because the elevators are out.
Your car, by some miracle starts, though there are others nearby that won’t, but the car-park attendant can’t process your ticket because the gates won’t open. You feel a bit safer stopped there while they try to unbolt the gate because you can see chaos on the main road since all the traffic lights have gone out. Although your car works, the radio doesn’t so you can’t hear what’s happening. As you get nearer your house you notice that the whole area is in darkness because the local sub-station has lost the plot. At least you had some candles in the drawer, except they were stolen with everything else when the burglar alarm switched itself off.
Now, I don’t want to be alarmist. My guess is that very few, if any of these things will actually happen because the relevant authorities have spent a small fortune ensuring their systems are year 2000 compliant. No doubt you have been doing the same with your computer systems at school right? If not, ConNEcT.net can help you with this as well, but the problem is that we are so snowed under with contracts it doesn’t look like we will be able to get to Australia until April 2000.
Let me come back to that later though. I am still talking about the Internet and how we can keep your access costs down.
If you have been following Internet technology at all you will know that the industry lurches from one big thing to the next big thing. Each new big thing is newer and bigger than the last new big thing that was newer and bigger than previous big thing that was…I think you get the idea.
A couple of years ago the new big thing was push technology. If you compare the Internet to TV it is easy to explain push technology. The Internet is basically pull technology. I could bring Bill and Monica into the conversation when discussing pull technology, but I will try not to lower the tone of the evening.
With the Internet, the user has to go and get something. Whether it is information, entertainment, or whatever they are after, they either have to type in the address or click on the link to go somewhere and actually have something happen. What the person sees can vary depending on what site they have come from, whether they have been there before, certain preferences they have set, any filtering software, what they click on, what time of day it is, where in the world they are. Hence the term, "interactive". Depending on the skill of the author of a web site, the experience can be very personal.
On the other hand, TV is push technology. On top of a mountain there is an antenna. It sends out a signal that is the same for everyone. The signal is pushed out to everyone. All you can do is either tune to that signal or tune to another, or preferably turn the darn thing off. You can’t influence what it is you receive. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is cost effective given the scale of people receiving the signal, but it is far from individual and personalised.
The Internet has tried to emulate push technology in several different ways. If you subscribe to a service known as Pointcast, your computer’s screen saver will become a news bulletin, updating in real time while you are connected to the Internet. If you use, dare I say it, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, you can subscribe to what is known as active channels. Everything from Disney to CNN to National Geographic can be received by your computer without your intervention. It is pushed to your desktop.
Now the thing about push technology is that instead of becoming the next big thing, it simply became the next thing. Not big at all. It has had limited success and is constantly being reinvented. It seems that push technology in this form is not what people are after from their Internet experience.
We at CoNnEcT.net believe this is only true because people have an expectation of what to expect from their Internet service. We believe that young minds can be trained to enjoy push technology at an early age and thus grow up with an expectation that this is what they can expect from the Internet. With this in mind we are currently negotiating with the Queensland Education Department and both private and public schools on an individual basis.
Give us access to your students and we will provide you with access to the Internet. We will give you unlimited fiber-optic Internet access for two hundred and fifty US dollars a year, that’s about $325 for you. Nothing more to pay. We will provide the infrastructure, we will provide the network tools, we will provide everything except the hardware for just $250 per school per year, nothing more to pay.
Now as you can see this is an incredible offer that is bound to cause more than a few ripples in the industry and that is the way it should be. An industry that stands still becomes stagnant. A stagnant industry goes rotten real quick. We plan to shake the educational Internet industry to its roots.
Now, I can hear you all thinking. There must be a catch. How can it be so cheap?
Of course, there are conditions, but they aren’t too extreme. We will provide the service on the condition that each individual child is provided with their own email address that would be something like johndoe@schoolname.qld.edu (oh, you have .au on the end, right?). Yes, each individual child will have their own email account that will be connected directly to the coNnEcT.net mail server.
What we provide in return is information on which they can make informed purchasing decisions. We will forward to them, on a regular basis, information about products and services that are directly related to their needs and tailored specifically for their demographic.
Students will be sent subscription offers, software, competitions and all sorts of free goodies like screen savers and desktop themes. These will be provided by sponsors who sign up with coNnEcT.net to provide this information.
As you can imagine, potential sponsors are extremely interested in what they can see will be the next big thing for them, and we certainly believe it will be. Corporations will be able to target not only demographics, but individual children based on their responses to surveys and competition entry forms.
I'm here, to start the ball rolling in the Asia-Pacific region and float the idea of how you and your school can slash the costs of Internet access. The connectivity underlying the mediocrity enshrined wherewith over-accommodating intermediary management impinges externally as to where fundamental objectivity is concerned. Altruism, while overtly and admirably welcomed in locations surrounding traditionally structured functionality often discriminates blatantly regarding the undermining intensity of unequivocally displaced occurrences in commonplace rectification while distinguishing technologically realistic recognition. Are you still with me?
OK, so let’s get back to the sponsors. And just who are these sponsors? Well, certain government agencies have expressed interest. Government can see that getting road safety messages out to individual children is of immense benefit. Stranger Danger can be targeted to children at a particular school because of an incident that has occurred in the area. What about information from the Government about the advantage of various policies or why their parents should vote the Government back in at the next election? There will also be weather reports, holiday information, and exam results. You name it, a child will receive an email about it.
The school can email children with bus information, an individual child can be reprimanded by email, a general notice can be sent out reminding children about sports days or an outbreak of head lice or whatever.
Similarly, organisations can send information to students based on their individual profiles. If a child is a vegetarian then they would be excluded from the nutritional information and promotional give-aways sent out to all the other children by McDonalds. Imagine how excited a child will feel when they get a birthday greeting via email from Ronald McDonald?
If a child has an Apple Computer at home - and which child wouldn’t want that – they could be targeted specifically with Mac software and not have to wade through the items about Windows machines, since it would not be sent to them. Speaking of Windows, do you know the definition of Windows 98? It is a 32-bit fix of a 16 bit upgrade of an 8-bit patch of 4-bit software from a 2-bit company without one bit of competition….except Apple, of course.
As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless and we plan to explore, and if you like, exploit all of these possibilities so that our children and your children can have full access to the internet not limited by the financial circumstances of their Government, individual school or family.
Direct marketing of this nature can avoid some of the pitfalls of selling. I must tell you a story about one salesman I know stateside. He was indulging in a little, lets call it, "horizontal folk dancing" with one of his clients...am I going too fast for anyone? Suddenly and unexpectedly her husband pulled into the driveway. Since it would have been a little hard to convince him that they were discussing his new product while they were naked, he decided to attempt a rapid exit. Cut off, he grabbed all his clothes and dived into the cupboard. Just as he thought he had gotten away with it, guess what happened. His mobile phone started ringing. Now this guy was a good salesman, because when the husband flung the cupboard door open, he handed him the phone and said "Its for you". It didn't work.
The point is whether this technology is going to be used to its full capacity in a financially appropriate manner or not.
You, as principals have the choice and the moral responsibility. You can either encourage your students’ parents sell cookies door to door to raise money for Internet access or you can coNnEcT.net.
So, lets see a show of hands…how many people are going to sign up with coNnEcT.net? None? (or whatever)…
Typical…I’ve had a terrible day. For a start I have had to put on this fake American accent and try to fool all of you…