Wired
to the Future:
Mapping out the Information Highway
By John M. Eger, San Diego Union-Tribune, Sunday, May 8, 1994
Far too often, government acts like a blunt instrument, impeding technological progress. It gets in the way with cumbersome regulations, it duplicates efforts, it stifles or skews competition.
Conversely, while government is a big customer of communications systems, far too often it is left out of the loop at the development stage and then is forced to live with whatever is produced.
To Mayor Susan Golding's great credit, the city of San Diego is balancing those two forces. It is seeking an involved, ground-floor role in the monumental communications advances that lie ahead. But it also is prudently insisting that private firms lead the way.
Last week, the city formally asked the private sector for its ideas on potential collaborative ventures to complete, interconnect and utilize the networks of fiber optic cable and other communications systems that will make up this region's information highway infrastructure.
It's commendable for the city to reach out for ideas, rather than try to dictate the course of events. It's also shrewd.
At the heart of this partnership approach between the city and the private sector is a keen desire to make sure that the emerging communications network serves the larger public interest.
Private companies will make the major investment. Even so, they shouldn't just skim the cream off the top, going for lucrative segments of the market and neglecting others. Golding and her Advisory Committee on The City of the Future quite rightly emphasize the need for universal and affordable access to the communications grid.
The grid is already about halfway built, through existing cable TV service and other conduits. And city government does have incentives it can offer to finish the job: Beyond the leverage it offers as major user of communications services, there are miles of fiber optic cable already installed in connection with the city's Clean Water Program, rights-of-way and city-owned property.
It is uncertain how forthcoming private firms will be. Information is power, and it may be somewhat na�ve to hope that private information companies will consent to being quite so transparent and compatible as the city hopes.
And there are other tangled wires. At this point, the rules and laws are in flux. In her wish to put San Diego in the vanguard, Golding is trying to leapfrog over state and federal government. There's a danger that the ventures the city and its private partners design could quickly become obsolete.
Another risk is that those companies that get a lock on city services would end up setting de facto standards; the standards adopted here could end up being exclusive to this region. Would the city have the flexibility to react and adapt fast enough to innovations elsewhere?
And there was one group distinctly absent from the mayor's committee: average consumers. Will they want all the services that are being dreamed up?
But for the most part the prospects for the information highway are very exciting, and where it all will lead is limited only by the imagination. At a humdrum level, it could mean lightning-fast city services from your home - - permit processing, interactive agendas, quick access to building codes, automated recreational scheduling. Children working on computers at home or school could link up to the region's libraries. A health care system could give doctors, hospitals, labs and clinics the means to share information instantly.
It's definitely time to move beyond abstract thinking to tackle the practical challenges and costs. For years, this community has been thinking big and talking big about the information highway, but accomplishing little.
The city's move to act as a catalyst is an important step. It put us closer to Golding's vision that the San Diego region, with its rich information resources, will become a communications model for the world.