John Linton
I have been invited as a 'knowledgeable panelist' to participate in a communications industry media seminar on the Gold Coast this coming Sunday. I doubt that I was invited for any other reason than the people running the event think that my views are usually diametrically opposed to the 'mainstream' pap dished out by the various 'industry luminaries' and other 'spokespeople' who take it upon themselves to portray the industry in some sort of fashion or other.The list of the other 'panelists' supplied to me is:
Scott Ludlum - Greens Senator
Ian Birks - AIIA
John Foreman - Competive Carriers Coalition
As you can see - not a selection of people that I have anything in common with (and I understand that is a base requirement of any 'panel') though a group of individuals that appear to have a lot in common with each other. (as far as I'm aware - Foreman is simply a lobbyist for two multinationals who has been trying to persuade Ludlum to support foreign interests over Australian interests over the last few months) I am not totally stupid and realise that invitations such as this (and I receive around one a month and almost always decline) are not an acknowledgment of my in depth industry knowledge nor even my understanding of the basic directions of the industry of which I have been a part since time immemorial but like most people with a relatively balanced view of life I seldom do anything that doesn't produce a positive result for my own, mainly Exetel's, interests.
The topics of the questions provided, and I have no basis for knowing whether they are a complete set or even the actual questions that will be asked of the various 'panelists' - seem particularly pedestrian to me - all relate to the 'progress' made in providing communications services to Australian users since 51% of the electorate installed Krudd and the other associated uneducated rabble in the Canberra bunker or more general questions relating to how the current rabble have used IT/Comms as an end user. Questions relating to the NBN2, mandated filtering and the direction of communications can all be answered in short sentences of a very few words or require the understanding of a very large amount of detailed research which such a 'panel format' cannot possibly provide.
However, being a responsible person and having accepted an invitation to contribute some 15 minutes (at the most as I doubt my views will be sought other than to 'liven things up' if the dreariness and pomposity becomes overwhelming) of my views on these subjects I did some preparation last night on what I could meaningfully say - I struggled to come up with anything. I mean - what can anyone say about the Conroy/Krudd filter? That it was a quid pro quo to the religious crazy in the Senate for his support on emissions trading and that apart from being impossible to achieve it's a very poor concept in any sort of democracy? Alternatively, and despite the huge volume of 'positivity' from the media in relation to Krudd's political cover up known as the NBN2, what can be said about that stupidity other than if you believe in it you are certifiably insane?
So I was 'challenged' to actually understand what I could usefully say on the two issues that I have some detailed knowledge about....on the other nominated topics I have no knowledge or opinion. 'Speaking' about something is very different to writing about it - when speaking you can't include third party source url's to support what you are saying. However I took those two topics and jotted down what I believed to be their motivations, progress to date and likelihood of achievement over some 40 minutes of relatively rigorous thought and, try as I might, I just couldn't get past the fact that they are stupid political stunts one of which has no merit and the other has the potential to set Australian communications back by decades if not to destroy Australia's infrastructure.
As the 'audience' includes some 50 journalists from the communications media I am assuming that the majority of the 'panel discussion' will be questions from the floor to the various panelists which is of interest to me in getting a better understanding of how much Australian journalists know about the subjects they write about and how the different print media approaches their writing about communications. The balance of the attendees are described as "70 senior IT managers and IT professionals" and, again, it will be interesting to gauge their level of understanding of key issues concerning the 'NBN2'.
Maybe it will be just the waste of a Sunday.