By Howard Baldwin, Contributing Columnist

Late in September, the International Telecommunications Union, the United Nations agency responsible for information and communication technologies (ICT), wrapped up its 11th Global Symposium for Regulators in Armenia City, Colombia. The meeting is a periodic forum designed to help national regulatory authorities exchange information about deploying broadband technology within their own countries and internationally.

The topics discussed among the more than 500 participants went beyond broadband services, however, touching upon other regulatory issues such as mobile payments and e-waste. Many of the presenters’ conclusions correlate to the conclusions reached in other Connected Life Exchange posts — that is, that for international broadband deployment to succeed, there needs to be a concerted effort on multiple fronts, including governments, service providers, vendors, and local business leaders.

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Tags: broadband, digital economy, ICT, ITU, open access, outcomes, policy, regulation

Higher education IT leaders from around the world will be converging in Philadelphia on October 18 -- 21, for EDUCAUSE 2011. One look at the conference program is all that it takes to conclude that “EDUCAUSE 2011 is the best thinking in higher education IT.”

With such a robust program this year, deciding which sessions to attend is harder than ever. Make sure to take in these sessions that showcase the use of video and collaboration technologies to transform teaching and learning and expand education opportunities:

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Tags: #EDU11, edtech, education, educause, higher education, ICT, IT, learning

The Economist held its annual conference on Human Potential last week in NYC. It could just as well have been named: ‘Job Acquisition vs. Job Skills: the Great Mis-match of our Generation,’ echoing the title of their special report by Matthew Bishop. For two days, panelists and speakers discussed this dilemma: “The abundance of jobs and the shortage of skilled workers.” Yes, I did say, abundance of jobs. Education took center stage of this conundrum many times, only to be quickly ignored because of the complexity of the solution. Like the Medusa with her head of many snakes, each education challenge begets a new challenge, which, in turn, becomes so intertwined that we run from it, screaming for relief. Read More »

Tags: economic empowerment, education, ICT, jobs, stem

Hello and welcome to the first of what I hope will be many blogs I’ll get to write on behalf of Cisco.  This is my opportunity to explain a little about the Cisco Legacy and Building A Brilliant Future (BABF).

As we passed the major milestone of One Year To Go, the focus from the key London 2012 stakeholders has been concentrated on preparing for the Games --  and rightly so.  However, the Cisco team are equally proud of our Legacy programme, Building A Brilliant Future, and the work we are doing to take the project forward.

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Tags: cisco networking academy, education, ICT, London Olympics, math, networking academy, science, stem, technology

By Howard Baldwin, Contributing Columnist

Municipalities around the world have been targeting broadband deployment, with varying degrees of success, as noted in our recent editorial, Intelligent Communities: A Smart Choice? The biggest U.S. city of all, New York, has committed extensive resources to make its broadband deployment a huge economic success, focusing on some traditional areas — government information, business support — and also some non-traditional areas.

Much of the program, dubbed NYC Digital, mirrors what many municipalities have already done. It includes deploying broadband access throughout the five boroughs to improve digital capabilities for industry, citizens, educational institutions, and city government itself. It also includes the traditional feature of giving citizens electronic access to government services — for example, permits, public records, and street cleaning schedules.

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Tags: AT&T, broadband, government, ICT, New York City, Smart+Connected Communities, wi-fi