[LINK] An Android Dematerialising Parliament

Richard Chirgwin rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au
Sat Feb 21 07:19:42 AEDT 2009


Tom,

I think the Android suggestion needs to be tempered with an
understanding of:

- the degree to which the technical model depends on trusting third
parties; and
- the terms of service.

The idea has merit - certainly it could reduce the need to power up the
laptops inside parliament, but how do you ensure that the usage is
exclusive rather than additive? For eg: did Senator Lundy shut down the
laptop, or leave it powered up in her office?

RC
Tom Worthington wrote:
> Yesterday Senator Lundy talked about her experience trying a 
> Blackberry smartphone as part of a trial for members of the 
> Australian Parliament 
> <http://tomw.net.au/moodle/course/view.php?id=12&topic=7>. She 
> commented that this worked better than earlier phones issued but 
> still had limitations. I suggested they look at the new Google 
> Android phones, such as the HTC Magic 
> <http://www.htc.com/www/press.aspx?id=85048>.
>
> The Senator mentioned that with a workable smartphone she has much 
> less need to turn on her laptop. Also that for one recent 
> parliamentary committee meeting several members chose to telecommute 
> from their electorate office, rather than go to the expense of flying 
> to Canberra (also reducing carbon emissions).
>
> One possibility is to run the same Android software on the laptop and 
> the phone. Apart from the convenience of the user being able to use 
> the same interface and applications, it would allow for very low 
> power, low cost netbook and nettop computers to be used (under $300) 
> <http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2009/01/google_android_running_on_eee_pc_701_tutorial.html>.
>
> This would be an interesting form of what the SMART 2020report from 
> the  Climate Group refers to as "Dematerialisation" 
> <http://tomw.net.au/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=258>. Several of 
> the speakers at the symposium yesterday referred to this report, 
> including myself <http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/green_ict_elearning/>.
>
> The audio and slides of the symposium should be on the web later 
> today <http://tomw.net.au/moodle/course/view.php?id=12>.
>
> ps: The notes from my Green ICT course also worked fine on the 
> Senator's phone, allowing for universities to be "demateralised" as well. ;-)
>
>
>
> Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
> Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
> PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
> Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian National University  
>
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