The Broadband Today Alliance is a cooperative of local government councils enabling Australia’s digital economy. The Alliance is introduced by Michael Whereat from the Sunshine Coast Council. This 8-minute video shows how the community is working with the limitations of existing broadband and looking forward to the NBN.

As the roll out of Australia’s high-speed broadband network edges closer, facts are increasingly competing with fiction as to what the final product will actually deliver.

Peter Ferris is the man responsible for the design and planning of the fibre, terrestrial radio and satellites for the National Broadband Network (NBN). Ferris will shed some light on current plans that aim to connect 93 per cent of all Australian premises with broadband services with speeds up to 100 Mb/s, and all other premises in Australia with next generation wireless and satellite technologies that will deliver speeds up to 12 Mb/s.

In his talk, Ferris debunks many of the persistent myths associated with the NBN project.

Peter Coroneos, from the Internet Industry Association, discusses the telephone, television and internet industries in the context of Australia’s upcoming national broadband network.

Recorded November 2010 in Canberra (37 mins)

The Broadband Show is compiled from interviews, conferences and on-location video with experts all around Australia. We only use short excerpts for the show episodes, so these long versions are presented in their entirety.

Connecting Communities is a groundbreaking review of the community benefits and innovation enabled by broadband in the UK and the policy implications for Australia. Commissioned by Huawei Australia but independently researched and compiled by Dr Tim Williams, Connecting Communities is based on a wealth of case-studies, interviews and analysis combined with a sharp personal insight.

The report offers compelling real life evidence of the impact of broadband – on public services, democratic activity, and on communities themselves. Its conclusion that ‘broadband is too important to be left to geeks and engineers’ and that the objective should be to build not just a network but a ‘networked society’ will provoke debate. The author also hopes to promote and inspire engagement and discourse between Australian businesses, industry groups, Government and, of course, communities themselves.

Connecting Communities Report

Broadband Today Alliance - A number of Councils have formed and Alliance to collaborate and sharing knowledge on the NBN, Broadband and the Digital Economy since the announcement of the NBN.  As at August 2011 the membership had grown to 105 local governments and 35 affiliate organisaitons have been proactively identifying ways to ensure that their communities benefit from both the roll out of the NBN infrastructure, but equally the opportunity for their businesses and residents to access new markets and compete internationally in a way not previously possible.

The main event will be their Brisbane meeting. I’ll get the opportunity to get some footage of how a multi-party conference works between all the sites across Australia, as well as interviews with people working at the coalface.

CC-NC License

DVD explaining the national broadband network

“The government’s aim is that, by 2020, Australia will be among the world’s leading digital economies based on key indicators such as broadband penetration and usage rankings.” — Senator Conroy

Greetings from the CeBIT AusInnovate conference in Sydney. This morning the minister for Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, delivered a presentation launching the National Digital Economy Strategy and a new education campaign for the NBN. The video he showed was a portion of a larger collection explaining the NBN in different scenarios. Their choice to deliver it as video from the website as well as 2 x DVD’s should work because many of the concepts covered are quite complex, best consumed in a sit-down learning position.

Differentiation between current and new technology
It’s the Apps
Ubiquity – Every home, school, business gets at a minimum a fast and reliable service
Working together as an online group regardless of location
Education
Health
SME
(etc)

There are many documentary-style interviews speaking to people about how things will be different with the NBN. There are futuristic simulations in some of the material showing multi-party videoconferencing. The guys are all at their own homes able to practice their music. It tells the story without mentioning much of any technology issues. This portrayal of real people interacting in new ways is what the NBN discussion has required.

The human communication problem the department faced was quite large. However, today is probably the starting point where there’s much better understanding among Australians about the NBN and it’s potential for significant national impact.

NBN Gov AU
http://www.nbn.gov.au/
http://www.nbn.gov.au/media-centre/videos/

CSIRO high-definition videoconferencing at CeBiT 2011

Source: YouTube
Copyright: ABC 2011

You may have seen earlier videos from NBN Co, using a space-age vision of farmers on your doorstep.  This latest one is a bit more down-to-earth and explains many of the issues on what the NBN project will achieve and what opportunities open up when you can use it.

Source: NBN Co YouTube Channel

Here’s the final animation for the introduction. I’m really pleased with it.