Think about the last few times you used the Internet. Did you look for a Movie, down-load a song, check out a company or buy a personal item? You went to Internet for convenience and to save time, perhaps even save money.

Regardless of your individual reason, the fact is you solved a problem and Internet helped you with that solution. Two processes were at work. First, someone perceived the problem, solved it and published the solution. Second, this enabled you to find the solution and use the information.

This sounds very simplistic and unimportant. But there's more to it.

Lets say that the time you saved checking out a company was five minutes. If this time savings happens every other day you'd roughly multiply 180 days times 5 minutes and arrive at an annual time savings of about 15 hours per year. Take that 15 hours times the 185.9 million users in the USA and you'd see a savings of years by the over-all population.

Fact: Internet use is a significant factor in how fast problems are solved, and how quickly the solution becomes available to users.

Fact: The USA is falling farther and farther behind in these fundamental technologies.

And where is our Federal Government, the FCC, and other regulatory bodies? Busy running for office.

Our leaders don't get it! The Internet isn't some invention by a few nerds, it is the fabric and utility of the future. Most importantly THE USA IS VERY FAR BEHIND THE LEADERS.

What can you do? Encourage everyone you can to become web-savvy and participate. What can the government do? How about tax incentives for R & D and for the build-out of Internet in all forms?

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Denmark Deemed Most "E-Ready"

By Robyn Greenspan | April 27, 2004

Sweden lost its Web-savviest crown to Denmark, as the annual "e-readiness ranking" of 64 countries relegated the former leader to third place. Awarded the second place title in 2003, Denmark climbed up a notch when measured by the nearly 100 quantitative and qualitative criteria that IBM and the intelligence unit of The Economist established for the survey.

The report identified an apparent e-readiness trend in Scandinavia, as the region claimed four of the top five spots. The business, residential and government environments in the region have proved to be more adept at using the Internet than other earlier adopters, such as the U.S., Australia, and Canada. Scandinavians have successfully used the Internet to enhance business transactions, and incorporated the medium into their daily routines, while the government has driven development.

According to the Computer Industry Almanac Inc., Denmark is among the leading countries in computer and Internet penetration, with expectations that the Internet user population will grow from 3.72 million in 2004 to 4.28 million in 2007. The Computer Industry Almanac Inc. estimates that, as of 2004, there are 682 surfers per 1,000 Denmark residents, compared to 649 in Australia; 641 in Canada; 611 in Japan; 570 in the UK; and 628 in the U.S.

Other noticeable trends on the e-readiness rankings:
• Singapore made the greatest jump up the list, going from #12 in 2003 to #7 in 2004. The study attributes the country's broadband rollout and strong government-industry cooperation for the rise.
• The UK, the U.S., and the Netherlands, locked in a three-way tie in 2003, all landed unique positions in 2004, with the UK faring the best. The UK climbed from third to second, while the U.S. dropped from third to sixth, and the Netherlands went from third to eighth.
• Hong Kong and Canada tied for #10 in 2003, with Hong Kong climbing one notch in 2004, and Canada dropping one notch.
• Four countries were added to the rankings since 2003: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia. Despite the additions, the bottom-ranked countries in 2003 — Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan — still ranked in the last place positions in 2004.

IBM and the intelligence unit of The Economist defined e-readiness by measurement in six distinct categories: connectivity and technology infrastructure; business environment; consumer and business adoption; social and cultural environment; legal and policy environment; and supporting e-services.

Views from Lisa Wellman & Terry Wellman

by Terry Wellman

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