Why Web 2.0 and Grid 2.0?
| Contributed by Internews Europe | |
| 13 April 2007 | |
The role that community media may have to play in the emerging carbon economy. What interests do media assistance professionals share with community energy activists? The answer lies perhaps in the new vision of Grid 2.0 Internews Europe, French NGO, works to harness the power of media to help people hold their governments to account and to develop tolerant, prosperous and well-informed communities able to make sense of the forces shaping their futures. Why Web 2.0 and Grid 2.0?What interests do media assistance professionals share with community energy activists? The answer lies perhaps in the new vision for a micro generation future captured by the term Grid 2.0... (http://www.internews.fr/spip.php?article225)"A thread of our conversation over a Paris lunch was how to solve the perennial power blackouts that isolated community radio stations face… Back in London that evening, the presenter of children’s TV programme, Blue Peter, hands a woman on the outskirts of Kandahar a solar powered radio. Freed up from worrying about paying for batteries, her burkha barely conceals a broad smile. What’s the theme here ? Energy supply and information ? You need the first to transmit and receive the other, right ? Yes,of course, but take a step back and you’ll see something that some far more transformative is afoot. Let’s start with information - we all know that broadcasters and newspapers in developed media markets are shedding audiences to the internet, but take a look at the internet offerings of the two big annual global gatherings - compare the websites of this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) with that its civil society polar opposite, the World Social Forum. (WSF) Through link –ups to major blogs and user generated sites such as Flickr , Davos has turned itself inside out from a gated talkfest into a public dialogue that leaves the WSF site -despite its misson to channel the energy and voice of civil society activists looking distinctly and ironically corporate. The Davos ‘conversation’ seals perhaps the fundamental shift that has occurred in the way that many of us are consuming information – more and more of its is coming from blogs, from citizen journalists and less and less of it via traditional media gatekeepers. The Davos site through its content generation model fulfils much of the promise of what has been termed Web 2.0. more here. Murdoch may have snared MySpace, a high profile web 20.0 corporate acquisition but the content is not coming from journalists employed by News International. And then there’s energy - in the US concerns about energy security driven by terrorism, the War in Iraq and rising domestic oil prices are driving the quest for energy alternatives. A combination of technology improvements and government grants are rapidly expanding lower the costs of installing household solar and wind power - according to the internet magazine, Home Power , over 180,000 Americans now live entirely off the grid. In Europe the motor has been incipient climate change. Whatever the drivers, the US and Europe are converging around microgeneration – energy generated at the community and household level - as one solution. ‘Microgen’ is one pillar of the UK’s climate change programme. Energy Minister Malcom Wicks : ‘By installing micro wind turbines , fitting solar panels and placing ground source heat pumps in our gardens, we can save money on fuel bills, help the environment and get back in touch with where our energy comes from.’ Central to the idea of microgen is that of consumers not simply generating energy at the point of use, but selling excess energy back on to the grid. The UK’s Department of Trade and Industry calculates that 30- 40% of the UK’s electricity needs by 2050 could come from microgeneration. So where is the cross-over between energy and information ? The intersection lies perhaps in the new vision for a microgeneration future captured by the term Grid 2.0. According Rebecca Willis, the author of Grid 2.0 The Next Generation the shift away from the current centralised system of electricity generation, a product of the industrial revolution will bring with it a new relationship between energy and information : ‘In Grid 2.0 information will be as valuable a commodity as energy. Distributed energy sources will be linked by peer-to –peer information technology… Smart meters will provide constant feedback on how much power is being generated and used, both at the household, community or micro-grid level.’ She sees in the dynamic architecture of participation that drives classic Web 2.0 sites such as wikipedia and eBay a model for how Grid 2.0 will work : ‘The overriding strength of Web 2.0 is that users are treated as co-developers. The distinction between consumer and producer is broken down. Users pursuing their own ‘selfish ‘ interests build collective value as an automatic by-product. We see then, similar principles governing Web 2.0 and its energy equivalent , Grid 2.0. A shift from centralised to localised. A two way flow of information , with constant feedback loops. A merging of consumption and production, or supply and demand.’ What does all this mean for the media development community working outside Europe and USA where these eco-trends are starting to gain traction? Well, the heartlands of the media support community lie in those parts of the world where energy needs are the greatest and the price of failure in environmentally sustainable energy policy will be felt the most acutely : climate change is likely the displace millions of people in Africa and parts of Asia – India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia for instance - through a combination of sea level rise, flooding and disruptions to food and water supply. Editors and journalists across a swathe of countries in the frontline of climate change and major economic growth will need help in generating informed dialogue about energy options that takes account of the shift from zero Grid to Grid 2.0 in parts of the developed world. Media outlets in these countries will also have a responsibility to provide platforms for local voices and consultations on the influx of international funds that the emerging carbon economy growing out of the Kyoto Protocol will bring. Competition between land for food crops and land for lucrative eco fuels will become intense, and the role of local media in convening debates on these conflicts will become vital. Of equal importance, however, could be the role of media assistance in facilitating the transition to Grid 2.0 at the local level. Our sector could play a key role in equipping local community level radio to become energy independent microgenerators themselves. This will not only keep them on the air and allow them to become exemplars for new energy systems – energy autonomy away from an unreliable grid or from costly generators could prove vital as the number of severe climate related disasters affect their communities. Beyond becoming amplifiers for Grid 2.0 in their communities, many of them have the potential to act as aggregators of information on local community energy use, and facilitators of the flow of information reporting back to international carbon offset investors. If we can build an SMS server to link households via their mobile phones with their community radio stations , surely we can do the same for information on household and community energy generation? Giving community level media a central service role in information management on rural energy use and emissions reductions would not only generate much needed revenue for them. It would also place them at the centre of the emerging local and global carbon economy." Further informationSee http://www.internews.fr/spip.php?article225Categories: Electrification | |