Opening Keynote by Andrew McLaughlin
Vice-Pres at Tumblr and former Vice-CTO in Obama’s administration
Tech Policy, why it matters to the work we do, why it’s so important for us.
1992- $5,000,000 for a Terabyte, 2011 – $89
Loudcloud in 2000 – 150,000 a month, AWS in 2011 – 1500 a month
End to End principle – any point on the network can reach any other point
Kickstarter – more support for arts than National Arts Foundation this year (disruptive tech)
Most disruptive text he mentions require/rely on crowdsourcing of some sort
Charts showing Egypt’s ability to shut down communications/internet/mobile phone networks – governments can artifically concentrate the distributed networks of the Internet for surveillance and control
Compared problems in Gov (couldn’t install Skype on WH computer during Haiti earthquake, had to bring in laptop against regulation) with similar issues in public sector libraries – locking up tech inhibits action.
Hot spots in policy for librarians:
Connectivity – broadband, spectrum, municipal wifi
Open Internet – net neutrality, wireless, competition (or the lack thereof), SOPA/PIPA
Copyright & the Regulation of Creativity – copyright office modernization, open access to research papers, orphan works
