Preface: the Genesis of Economic TeleDevelopment
By David H. Deans
The formation of the Economic
TeleDevelopment Forum (ETF) in 1998 was the direct result of my
empirical research regarding the fundamental role of transportation
infrastructure evolution within the context of enhancing -- and, in
some cases, driving -- community economic development. This
enlightenment ultimately led me to envision the inherent socioeconomic
value of telecommunication media from a totally different perspective.
Today, many share this view, and collectively we seek out and aggregate
the growing body of associated knowledge on this topic.
Specifically, this forum provides a portal to discover useful
insights about the paramount function of telecommunications (telecom)
infrastructure as an enabling medium of evolving "smart cities and
communities." And, to portend and explain the new idioms that represent
the proliferation of innovative business practices that shape and
ultimately define the global networked economy.
I coined the term Economic TeleDevelopment to provide an identity to this phenomenon.
The following introduction text defines the
basic parameters of Economic TeleDevelopment in non-technical
descriptions. This material is not intended to be all encompassing, but
rather a starting point for those wishing to gain or refresh their
comprehension of the propelling forces that are already changing the
very inner workings of our increasingly globalized society and economy.
It should be noted that the environment
described herein is indicative of the United States marketplace, but
could be easily applied to other parts of the world as pending telecom
deregulation ultimately recasts the social, political and economic
order within other developing nations. | 