Open Data on Net Neutrality
Yesterday the FCC released the public comments on Net Neutrality: http://www.fcc.gov/files/ecfs/14-28/ecfs-files.htm The FCC has asked the public to help make "visualizations" to help find the substantive comments and surface key themes: http://www.fcc.gov/blog/fcc-makes-open-internet-comments-more-accessible-pub... Quoting the FCC: "We recognize that not everyone may have the requisite technical skills to build visualizations and analyze raw XML data. (Members of the public will, of course, still have the option of reviewing and searching the record via ECFS). However, we’re hoping that those who do have the technical know-how will develop and share these tools for the public to use." Texifter has tools to allow anyone not versed in raw XML extraction to search and code this data, among other things, then export the results as a CSV file, including the relevant metadata. We have loaded the data and started a project using DiscoverText, which was built specifically for crowd-source public comment review by US federal agencies. We invite you to join our collaborative, web-based effort to find substantive comments and visualize what the public said about Net Neutrality. You can work directly with me and others to crowd source the review of the non-duplicate comments, or you can conduct your own parallel project with the same data. To get involved, sign up for the free trial DiscoverText account and note in the comment box that you want to work with the FCC data. https://app.discovertext.com/Home/SignupContactTrial You might be interested in these preliminary stats based on what we downloaded yesterday: + 446,667 items posted to the FCC web site + 300,172 items after de-duplication + The largest group of exact duplicates is 105,320 identical items that say: "Net neutrality is the First Amendment of the Internet, the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) treat all data equally. As an Internet user, net neutrality is vitally important to me. The FCC should use its Title II authority to protect it. Most Americans have only one choice for truly high speed Internet: their local cable company. This is a political failure, and it is an embarrassment. America deserves competition and choice. Without net neutrality, a bad situation gets even worse. These ISPs will now be able to manipulate our Internet experience by speeding up some services and slowing down others. That kills choice, diversity, and quality. It also causes tremendous economic harm. If ISPs can speed up favored services and slow others, new businesses will no longer be able to rely on a level playing field. When ISPs can slow your site and destroy your business at will, how can any startup attract investors? My friends, family, and I use the Internet for conversation and fun, but also for work and business. When you let ISPs mess with our Internet experience, you are attacking our social lives, our entertainment, and our economic well being. We won'tstand for it. ISPs are opposing Title II so that they can destroy the FCC's net neutrality rules in court. This is the same trick they pulled last time. Please, let's not be fooled again. Title II is the strong, legally sound way to enforce net neutrality. Use it." -- Dr. Stuart W. Shulman http://people.umass.edu/stu Founder and CEO, Texifter http://texifter.com LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartwshulman Twitter https://twitter.com/StuartWShulman
Hi Stu, Thanks for the quick work on this. I'm spreading it through my social networks as we speak. I pulled the link from your blog post to expedite the process. For others that are interested...the link is here: http://blog.texifter.com/index.php/2014/08/06/open-data-on-net-neutrality-he... Please share this far and wide. Great analysis. Thanks again. -Ian _________________________ W. Ian O'Byrne, Ph.D. wiobyrne.com University of New Haven Department of Education *"Feet on the Ground and Eyes to the Sky"* 300 Boston Post Road West Haven, CT 06516 (203) 479-4272 On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 9:00 AM, Shulman, Stu <stu@texifter.com> wrote:
Yesterday the FCC released the public comments on Net Neutrality:
http://www.fcc.gov/files/ecfs/14-28/ecfs-files.htm
The FCC has asked the public to help make "visualizations" to help find the substantive comments and surface key themes:
http://www.fcc.gov/blog/fcc-makes-open-internet-comments-more-accessible-pub...
Quoting the FCC:
"We recognize that not everyone may have the requisite technical skills to build visualizations and analyze raw XML data. (Members of the public will, of course, still have the option of reviewing and searching the record via ECFS). However, we’re hoping that those who do have the technical know-how will develop and share these tools for the public to use."
Texifter has tools to allow anyone not versed in raw XML extraction to search and code this data, among other things, then export the results as a CSV file, including the relevant metadata. We have loaded the data and started a project using DiscoverText, which was built specifically for crowd-source public comment review by US federal agencies. We invite you to join our collaborative, web-based effort to find substantive comments and visualize what the public said about Net Neutrality. You can work directly with me and others to crowd source the review of the non-duplicate comments, or you can conduct your own parallel project with the same data. To get involved, sign up for the free trial DiscoverText account and note in the comment box that you want to work with the FCC data.
https://app.discovertext.com/Home/SignupContactTrial
You might be interested in these preliminary stats based on what we downloaded yesterday:
+ 446,667 items posted to the FCC web site + 300,172 items after de-duplication + The largest group of exact duplicates is 105,320 identical items that say:
"Net neutrality is the First Amendment of the Internet, the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) treat all data equally. As an Internet user, net neutrality is vitally important to me. The FCC should use its Title II authority to protect it. Most Americans have only one choice for truly high speed Internet: their local cable company. This is a political failure, and it is an embarrassment. America deserves competition and choice. Without net neutrality, a bad situation gets even worse. These ISPs will now be able to manipulate our Internet experience by speeding up some services and slowing down others. That kills choice, diversity, and quality. It also causes tremendous economic harm. If ISPs can speed up favored services and slow others, new businesses will no longer be able to rely on a level playing field. When ISPs can slow your site and destroy your business at will, how can any startup attract investors? My friends, family, and I use the Internet for conversation and fun, but also for work and business. When you let ISPs mess with our Internet experience, you are attacking our social lives, our entertainment, and our economic well being. We won'tstand for it. ISPs are opposing Title II so that they can destroy the FCC's net neutrality rules in court. This is the same trick they pulled last time. Please, let's not be fooled again. Title II is the strong, legally sound way to enforce net neutrality. Use it."
-- Dr. Stuart W. Shulman http://people.umass.edu/stu
Founder and CEO, Texifter http://texifter.com
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartwshulman
Twitter https://twitter.com/StuartWShulman _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Thanks Stu for sharing. Very nice. Made me think back to the media ownership proceedings, too, where we saw a similar surge of comments from the lay public and FCC reactions. (Not to mention Sherry Arnstein's work on "participating in participation.") One of the (diss') interviews I conducted with an FCC staffer back then seems relevant to the net neutrality proceedings: " [T]he whole point for us is to try and say, okay, we have, you know, sixty thousand pieces of paper here, fifty-eight thousand of them basically say, 'We’re against this because we don’t like this consolidation, and we want more diversity. We don’t like people to buy up everything in our market.' But they aren’t usually very deep or analytical or, you know, substantiated by evidence, documentary or otherwise. They’re usually expressions of opinion. And, you know, we take account of those. We say... there are a whole lot of people who don’t like this. And we would basically have people look at them to decide that that’s, in fact, what they were. Then summarize what they were...there were forty-eight thousand sixty whatever comments that essentially made the following two points. And, you know, so it was really a very short summary that you ended up with." Seeta Peña Gangadharan On 8/6/14 9:44 AM, Ian O'Byrne wrote:
Hi Stu,
Thanks for the quick work on this. I'm spreading it through my social networks as we speak. I pulled the link from your blog post to expedite the process. For others that are interested...the link is here:
http://blog.texifter.com/index.php/2014/08/06/open-data-on-net-neutrality-he...
Please share this far and wide. Great analysis. Thanks again. -Ian
_________________________ W. Ian O'Byrne, Ph.D. wiobyrne.com
University of New Haven Department of Education *"Feet on the Ground and Eyes to the Sky"* 300 Boston Post Road West Haven, CT 06516 (203) 479-4272
On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 9:00 AM, Shulman, Stu <stu@texifter.com> wrote:
Yesterday the FCC released the public comments on Net Neutrality:
http://www.fcc.gov/files/ecfs/14-28/ecfs-files.htm
The FCC has asked the public to help make "visualizations" to help find the substantive comments and surface key themes:
http://www.fcc.gov/blog/fcc-makes-open-internet-comments-more-accessible-pub...
Quoting the FCC:
"We recognize that not everyone may have the requisite technical skills to build visualizations and analyze raw XML data. (Members of the public will, of course, still have the option of reviewing and searching the record via ECFS). However, we’re hoping that those who do have the technical know-how will develop and share these tools for the public to use."
Texifter has tools to allow anyone not versed in raw XML extraction to search and code this data, among other things, then export the results as a CSV file, including the relevant metadata. We have loaded the data and started a project using DiscoverText, which was built specifically for crowd-source public comment review by US federal agencies. We invite you to join our collaborative, web-based effort to find substantive comments and visualize what the public said about Net Neutrality. You can work directly with me and others to crowd source the review of the non-duplicate comments, or you can conduct your own parallel project with the same data. To get involved, sign up for the free trial DiscoverText account and note in the comment box that you want to work with the FCC data.
https://app.discovertext.com/Home/SignupContactTrial
You might be interested in these preliminary stats based on what we downloaded yesterday:
+ 446,667 items posted to the FCC web site + 300,172 items after de-duplication + The largest group of exact duplicates is 105,320 identical items that say:
"Net neutrality is the First Amendment of the Internet, the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) treat all data equally. As an Internet user, net neutrality is vitally important to me. The FCC should use its Title II authority to protect it. Most Americans have only one choice for truly high speed Internet: their local cable company. This is a political failure, and it is an embarrassment. America deserves competition and choice. Without net neutrality, a bad situation gets even worse. These ISPs will now be able to manipulate our Internet experience by speeding up some services and slowing down others. That kills choice, diversity, and quality. It also causes tremendous economic harm. If ISPs can speed up favored services and slow others, new businesses will no longer be able to rely on a level playing field. When ISPs can slow your site and destroy your business at will, how can any startup attract investors? My friends, family, and I use the Internet for conversation and fun, but also for work and business. When you let ISPs mess with our Internet experience, you are attacking our social lives, our entertainment, and our economic well being. We won'tstand for it. ISPs are opposing Title II so that they can destroy the FCC's net neutrality rules in court. This is the same trick they pulled last time. Please, let's not be fooled again. Title II is the strong, legally sound way to enforce net neutrality. Use it."
-- Dr. Stuart W. Shulman http://people.umass.edu/stu
Founder and CEO, Texifter http://texifter.com
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartwshulman
Twitter https://twitter.com/StuartWShulman _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
participants (3)
-
Ian O'Byrne -
Seeta Peña Gangadharan -
Shulman, Stu