Now the ALP has released its much-anticipated National Broadband Network policy, it gives voters a chance to see how the Coalition and the Opposition’s plans compare.
Only 55 percent of people living in rural areas have access to the speeds that currently qualify as broadband, while 94 percent of the urban population does.
Many praise the internet as a democratizing force. But with online spaces replacing physical public squares as places for debate, what do we risk losing?
Government agencies are turning to social media as a new way to engage with their constituencies. Practitioners in the trenches are excited about the possibilities – while some academics are less so.
We now have access to an Internet containing a vast store of information much bigger than any individual brain can carry - and that’s not always a good thing.
Internet providers increasingly allow services to subsidize the cost of delivering their content to users. That may seem like a win for consumers, but game theory suggests otherwise.
Many Australians already browse the web or send emails and messages to friends while watching television. Now Netflix wants to do what others have failed to do: combine both experiences in one app.
The debate about the right to be forgotten might be characterised as a showdown: privacy and compassion versus information and freedom. But its solution need not be that simplistic.
The Democrats’ policy platforms address the fundamental issue of Internet haves and have-nots in the U.S. But research suggests just hooking people up to broadband won’t solve the problem.
How fast is the NBN in its current form? Is it really that much faster than ADSL? And, crucially, how long will it take to download an episode of Parks and Recreation? You’ll find the answers here.
Mapping Web usage shows a new picture of the Internet, one without its core in the West, but rather a mosaic of online regional cultures that mirror offline regional cultural identities.
Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Deputy Dean Research at Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, The University of Melbourne