July 2014

Map shows possible TV white-space coverage zones for 16,500+ libraries

An interactive online map from the Gigabit Libraries Network (GLN) shows prospective TV white space (TVWS) coverage zones for the more than 16,500 US public libraries, which the GLN is using to make a pitch for including such facilities in upcoming rural broadband experiments authorized by the Federal Communications Commission.

It shows how each facility could be used as a TVWS base station hub, providing expanded wireless broadband coverage areas to "satellite" library Wi-Fi hotspots up to 10 miles away, which would be supported via wireless backhaul using TVWS equipment. Using this design, those patrons who rely on public libraries to provide broadband access would no longer be required to be inside or beside the facilities to get service.

GLN hopes its interactive map will "support planning by anyone from the FCC to commercial providers to individual libraries exploring ways to incorporate TVWS capabilities into their overall connectivity strategies," said Don Means, GLN project director. "Libraries, schools and other anchor institutions deploying TVWS seem to offer a perfect fit with the FCC's upcoming rural broadband trials program," he added.

America’s Shifting Statehouse Press

Within America’s 50 state capitol buildings, 1,592 journalists inform the public about the actions and issues of state government. Of those statehouse reporters, nearly half (741) are assigned there full time.

While that averages out to 15 full-time reporters per state, the actual number varies widely -- from a high of 53 in Texas to just two in South Dakota. The remaining 851 statehouse reporters cover the beat less than full time. Newspaper reporters constitute the largest segment of both the total statehouse news corps (38%) and the full-time group (43%).

But the data indicate that their full-time numbers have fallen considerably in recent years, raising concerns about the depth and quality of news coverage about state government. As newspapers have withdrawn reporters from statehouses, others have attempted to fill the gap. For-profit and nonprofit digital news organizations, ideological outlets and high-priced publications aimed at insiders have popped up all over the country, often staffed by veteran reporters with experience covering state government. These nontraditional outlets employ 126 full-time statehouse reporters (17% of all full-time reporters). But that does not make up for the 164 newspaper statehouse jobs lost since 2003.

Calling 911 from your cell phone in DC? Good luck getting first-responders to find you.

Over a six-month period in 2013, Washington (DC) data show, calls to 911 were easily narrowed down to a general geographic area covered by a single cell tower. But a startling proportion of those calls lacked the latitude-longitude data required by federal regulations for pinpointing people in distress.

The more specific data was missing for as many as 90 percent of such calls over a six-month period in 2013, according to data from the DC government that was provided to the FCC and obtained by the Washington Post. Of the 385,341 wireless calls to 911 made during that time, technological systems were able to provide accurate location data for only 39,805.

Dispatchers in some cases may have been able to get an address from the caller. But in other cases -- for instance, where the caller was unable to speak due to danger or injury -- dispatchers would have had little to go on aside from a search area the size of a few city blocks.

Other data the DC government provided to the Federal Communications Commission -- covering a three-month period in the summer of 2014 and breaking the calls down by wireless carrier -- showed that some carriers did a better job than others at providing the latitude-longitude data. But rates of compliance were still no better than a coin toss, according to the research.

Big data bigwigs cash in

Many of the biggest players tasked with protecting the country after Sept 11 have a new mission, and one that pays: securing all of the data the corporate world collects on its customers.

Ex-Cabinet chiefs Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff count Fortune 500 companies among their clients anxious to secure computer systems and avoid the fate of Target, the victim of an epic data breach last fall.

Former Capitol Hill lawmakers and senior staff central to the last decade’s battles over privacy and security have traded their top-secret government clearances for lucrative jobs as consultants and lobbyists. Retired Gen Keith Alexander, the former National Security Agency director tarred by Edward Snowden’s leaks, launched his own firm this spring, just weeks after leaving government.

Lobbying on cybersecurity, privacy and other data issues has skyrocketed over the past decade, with a more recent hiring spree driven by the Snowden scandal and major security breaches at some of the country’s largest companies. Dozens of boutique firms and established K Street players are entering the red-hot market and touting their top recruits from the executive and legislative branches.

Tech leaders unpack 'big data' label

Imaging Advantage CEO Naseer Hashim explained that educating the public on what “big data” actually means could help solve America’s hesitation toward the subject.

“I think one of the problems is that most people don’t actually know what big data is or what it means, so I think it’s become more of a popular catch-all phrase to refer to data analytics or data mining,” Hashim said. “I think one thing that’s very important is we don’t get caught up in the jargon where people don’t understand what it is, but really to explain the essence of what the objective is, which is to be able to aggregate large amounts of data in order to bring specific solutions to people.”

Burfield added that startups, in particular, are important to understand when learning about big data, as they are beginning to play a larger role in collection and analytics than local governments.

“What we see more of than startups making a bunch of money off of government data is the exact opposite,” Burfield said. “The startups are starting to generate so much data about the cities than the cities themselves have that where we’re seeing the interesting returns is the cities buying the data so that they can actually figure out what’s happening in their city.” In the future, Burfield expects this to change and for the focus to shift to the public sector.

Publicly Shame Companies That Won’t Tell Us How Un-Diverse They Are

[Commentary] Google does it. So does Intel. But a significant number of major tech companies--including Apple, Twitter, and IBM--still haven't published information about how many women or minorities they hire. A new project from feminist coders aims to put pressure on them until they do.

The Open Diversity Data project, launched this past June by the feminist hacker space Double Union, keeps tabs on companies that do and don’t make their workforce demographics available to the public. Anyone can submit a request for ODD to add a company to the list. Once a company’s listed on the site, viewers can click to tweet thanks at the organization for being transparent, remind it to update its information, or ask that it publish employment diversity data for the first time.

Diversity data is much more difficult to come by than you might think. Organizations collect it regardless of external requests; those with more than 100 employees are required to report that information (in something called an EEO-1 form) to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission every year. But those reports stay guarded in filing systems far away from the public eye. If companies don’t make diversity data open, curious souls have to go through the arduous process of filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Labor.

The aim of ODD is two-fold: Double Union hopes that ODD will not only put pressure on companies to become more transparent, but also encourage legislators to free up EEOC reports to the public.

Almost every junior high school kid in America watches TV every day

Junior high students are having trouble turning away from the television. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control found that watching TV is a daily habit for close to all middle school age students in America.

It's not surprising that most children watch television every day, but even so, the numbers are staggering.

Researchers from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics found that in 2012, 98.5% of children between the ages of 12 and 15 said they had watched television every day for the last 30 days. The percentage of children that spent time in front of a computer every day was slightly smaller -- "just" 91%. But it's not the percentage of children that are looking at screens each day that is worrying public health advocates -- it's how much time they are spending that is the concern.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children spend no more than two hours a day watching TV and on a computer. That's because excessive screen time has been linked to children having higher blood pressure, higher serum cholesterol and being overweight or obese.

Unfortunately, most children are spending more time looking at screens than that. Looking at data from the 2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Youth Fitness Survey, the researchers found that 27% of the children surveyed were meeting the two-hour limit.

Nielsen concludes LA radio ratings probe; Univision not sanctioned

Nielsen said it has concluded an investigation into tampering of Los Angeles radio ratings, but stopped short of sanctioning Univision Communications for unethical conduct by a former station executive.

Dramatic swings in ratings in 2014 were primarily isolated to Univision's KSCA-FM (101.9) Spanish-language radio station, Nielsen said after its review of the tainted data. The measurement firm said the breaches did not substantially affect audience levels reported for other stations in the nation's largest radio market.

The probe into possible ratings manipulation was launched after KSCA morning show "El Bueno, La Mala y El Feo" leapfrogged to the No. 1 slot over big names such as KIIS-FM (102.7) morning host Ryan Seacrest. The big jump rattled radio circles because strong ratings help stations fetch more money from the nearly $1 billion spent in LA each year on radio commercials and promotions.

Nielsen found that a high-ranking Univision executive at KSCA had access to several of the devices used to collect listening data. That violated Nielsen's rules, and Univision fired its program director for the alleged misconduct; no other station employees were reprimanded.

LA radio stations were notified that Nielsen would not reissue ratings for 2013 or the first quarter of 2014. Nielsen said there "were minimal differences in the estimates for the overwhelming majority of other stations in the market" and did not discipline Univision.

AT&T Slowly Expanding “Toll-Free” Data Trial, but Still No Big-Name Customers

AT&T grabbed a lot of attention back in January when it announced plans to offer companies the option to pay for data used by their customers. Since then? Crickets.

Speculation that Amazon might be the first big-name customer for the service for the Fire phone proved to be premature. However, AT&T has been gradually adding a few smaller names to the pilot program launched earlier in 2014. So-called sponsored data is designed to work like a toll-free number did in the landline days.

In this case, the sponsor foots the bill for the consumer to use certain services without having the resulting data use count against his or her monthly limit. Seattle-area startup Syntonic Wireless is announcing that it is now a part of the AT&T effort and plans to launch a sponsored content marketplace that will allow smartphone owners to see a range of available content that won’t count against their monthly data cap.

Univision’s World Cup Pitch to Women Pays Off

Months before the World Cup, Univision unveiled its plan to reach female viewers, many of whom are devoted to the Spanish-language media giant’s daytime talk shows and telenovelas.

The primary weapon has been a series of promotional ads that overtly emphasize the multitude of manly qualities of various star footballers -- with a woman’s sultry voice-over. The strategy to link soccer and the steaminess of telenovelas appears to have worked.

Combined with other elements designed to attract female fans of Univision’s lifestyle programming, weekday World Cup viewership for women 18 to 49 has soared by 74 percent, to 646,000, from the regular programming in the month before the tournament began.

Benton

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