Acts of Faith In Love & Life » Internet Access

FCC Public Hearings Today

Faith — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:14:00 +0000

For those of us concerned about the quality of content on radio and television and about redlining of poorer neighborhoods and whether there’s equal access for all, the Federal Communications Commission is holding meetings that are open to the public starting at 10am EST today in DC. If you’re in the vicinity perhaps you could stop by. Some of the segments will cover diversity ownership of media as well as possible implementation of a national broadband service. That would be welcome but what would really be great is for the companies that asked for and received hundreds of millions in reduced fees from the government would complete their service upgrades so our high speed internet is actually fast. Compared to Asian countries we pay more for half the speed of their providers.

Does Anybody Have Time to Read Blogs on Sundays?

Faith — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Well I already know the answer to that – yes. I mean I read them everyday but you know I spend a lot of time on the internets. Eventually I’m gonna have to uh…disengage a bit more. For now though I have a little too much free time on my hands. Of course time isn’t really free. Our clocks are ticking away until they…stop. We just have no idea when that will be. When you’re young didn’t you think you’d live forever? Or at least I remember when I was eight years old and thought sixteen was really old and it would take me forever to get to that age. Now that’s it been an equal amount of time since I then I’d like to be able to slow down the passage of time. Every year seems to go by faster and faster now.

I’ve noticed the traffic on my blog slows on weekends presumably because all of you are out living your lives – which is a great thing by the way. I have things I need to do, want to do and don’t want to do. I’m a notorious procrastinator. So I must admit reading is a nice distraction or tool of postponement. It’s all in how you look at things I suppose.

Ok I just realized though I should be more aware of my time but I should also not bash myself. I could’ve married to first guy who paid attention to me and plunked out a few kids. I’d be busy but would I be happy? Now there’s another conundrum for ya. Right now I can get up when I want, sleep when I want, eat whatever I want and I don’t have to answer to anybody (human at least). There’s that whole spiritual aspect I’m avoiding right now…..

I mean here I am trying to come up with topics to keep my online play cousins entertained and challenged. It’s also a good rant forum and I can finally get some things off my chest. So really this is a win-win scenario for all of us. I’m also practicing one of the few avenues of discipline I’ve been consistent at. I made a declaration to write something every day and four months later I’m still at it. I’m relieved to know I can be consistent and I hope providing a variety of quality content.

Now it’s time to expand this to other areas of my life that I’ve long since abandoned out of fear, mediocrity, frustration, confusion or just not having a vision. What do you want to conquer that you’ve let lapse? How are you spending not just your Sundays but every day to make it work for you?

h/t Muslim Bushido

Black Female Bloggers And Allies – Let’s Get to Know Each Other Better

Faith — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:49:00 +0000

I have quite a few posts bubbling to the surface that I want to write about but I must prioritize my schedule this week. I am very excited that my recent engagements with other bloggers of color has encouraged a renewal of my mind. It’s really good to know that if you’re open you can still learn something of value well into one’s adulthood. We all come to the blogosphere for different reasons and have diverse goals in mind, but I’d like to know if we’re doing enough to reach out to each other. Or if everyone even wants to.

It’s just some of us find ways we can relate to people online that may not exist in our offline lives. We can hear, disagree with yet still ultimately learn from getting different perspectives. Are people being themselves online or pretending to be something they aren’t? Do we need to have our viewpoints affirmed by others to make them valid? Is our level of engagement enough that we are being supportive of each other? We may think of the internet as this vast sea of people worldwide but I think it can be a much smaller world with niche markets. We can engage as much or as little as we want. If we want to reach more people we have to be proactive and focused about how we do that.

There’s this need – or want – for those of us who engage online to seek out things of interest and wanting certain comforts. I think we may have three good years left before the corporatists, working in concert with the government take over and our access is controlled and limited. In the United States our service providers are redlining certain communities in the first place and our connection speeds are one tenth of what you will find in Asia and a higher price. Just like with cell phones. When I lived in London in 2003 I took note of how incoming calls were free because they were paid for by fees from landline phones and the monthly service charges were around $30 when ours were double that. They were also using SMS regularly. I think that’s why microblogging platforms like Twitter actually have a larger customer base over there.

So if there are those that still have lofty goals of “changing the world” and “raising consciousness” or even “making money” we really do need to connect with as many individuals or smaller blogs to work with each other. A rising tide carries along more boats! So I am visiting more blogs, looking at some of larger blog networks and listening to podcasts in an effort to meet more people. What tools are you using and who do you recommend I should be engaging with? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments, email or DM me on Twitter.