Having Broadband=Dem?

Having Broadband=Dem?

Broadband Households and Presidential Preference Parallel


Leichtman Research Group, Inc., in their updated report,
Broadband, Cable and DBS Across the US 2005, found that at
the beginning of 2005 broadband penetration of households in
the US stood at close to 29% nationwide.  Significant state-
by-state disparities in broadband penetration remain,
however.  While these disparities are largely related to
variations in household income across the states, these
differences are strikingly similar to the state-by-state
splits in the 2004 presidential election.

Eight states had broadband  penetration over 35% - all voted
for John Kerry in 2004

Eleven states had broadband penetration at or below 20% - all
voted for George Bush in 2004

Cumulative broadband penetration in states that voted for
Kerry was  33% - compared to 25% in states that voted for
Bush

My comments: hard to say what this means without getting individual data.

Does having faster connection speed=higher income+more education=dem?

Does having access to more varied info via broadband lead one to vote dem?

Does wanting more varied info lead to investing in broadband?

Or is it all just a huge coincidence?

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Mediamatic

Mediamatic

Mediamatic mediamatic mediamatic mediamatic. They host amazing new media artist projects in Amsterdam, and although it's my hometown, I've never had a chance to experience a live and direct mediamatic moment. As live and direct as anything hosted by an organization combining the root words media and -matic could be.

A favorite of mine is A Secret Service, a project by Sasker Scheerder and Olaf Matthes. You submit your secret secret password and it will be read at a time that you specify everyday. You can tune in at that time to get your password - just set your alarm!

Currently they're hosting a lot of work around flickr.com. A few different artists use the concept of flickr's metatags to play with our ideas of personal and public, and our curiosity about images and strangers' ideas - to which we have unprecedented access in this age.

Also, check out red herring's article on the founders of flicker, Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield.

Nothing like the business perspective to complement the arts perspective...

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Early Warning Systems

Early Warning Systems

Have you noticed an increase in how many newspaper articles reference blogs as sources, or at least as a flag flying above something that's going on that the traditional journalism has overlooked? How about how many personal blogs - with just a few readers - serve as repositories for personal ideas? How about finding something new out from a blog versus a magazine?

I've recently started reading blogs for a bunch of different reasons and about a bunch of different things. I'm curious to start writing one.

In a lot of different ways, we can conceive of blogs as an early warning system. Most obviously in the world of politics, in that bloggers have set the agenda for traditional journalism on more than one occassion, and now they are part of the information-gathering that lays the groundwork for what traditional newsreaders understand is THE news. I'm not interested in doing political blogging, but am in awe of how much it's changed the landscape. And I think blogging's effects on the news system is what put it on the map.

I think it's also an early warning system for ideas - take a look at what you've written, recorded, uploaded, noted and see what patterns there are emerging. This is my selfish reason for starting a blog.

And finally, I find out unexpected things from blogs all the time - support material for my own research, cool music, web, article links, and of course, more blogs. Hopefully I can serve this purpose for others too.

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