15 August 2011

Known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns             

Donald Rumsfeld, former United States Secretary of State for Defence,  was perhaps not best known for his mastery of English syntax, nor was he universally loved for his policies on war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he did perhaps provide a glimpse of genius in his description of the difficulties of dealing with complex issues.   He said, if you remember –

“There are known knowns;  these are things we know we know.

There are also known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.”

These words somehow floated into the Clarion’s consciousness when grappling with the issue of whether trying to achieve fast broadband for Scothern is worth the effort.

 

Known knowns:  We know that our broadband is slow when downloading large files, or even when using BBC iPlayer and the like.  Uploading data (e.g. saving photographs to “The Cloud” or putting something onto Youtube) sometimes means leaving it running all night if we want it to work.  Sending or receiving a big file via email can be a bit dodgy, whilst downloading a film can take several hours on a bad night.  However, the Clarion is not convinced that these issues are enough of a problem for most people to make it worth the effort involved in going for fast broadband.

Known unknowns: We know that there are new services coming online which might not work well for us here in Scothern until we get fast broadband.   There are several such services, one of them being “YouView”, a known unknown. 

What’s that you say, YouView is an unknown unknown to you?  Well it won’t be this time next year.  The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Chanel 5 are all ganging together to provide a new form of television access and it is on target to be available early next year.  It’s still in the technical phase and  much of the proposed output is speculative, but it certainly involves a combination of Freeview and broadband which will enable your on-screen programme guide to go backwards in time as well as forwards – that is you will be able to watch past programmes as if they were being transmitted right now. We know this is scheduled to happen early next year, and we are pretty sure there will be a huge take-up of the service, but we don’t know exactly what it will entail, nor what the effect will be on the internet.  For sure it won’t make it go any faster!   Will Scothern residents want it?  Well that’s another unknown, but the Clarion thinks we will.  

And we know it will be more than just TV as we now experience it – all sorts of people are being invited to join in with these giants of broadcasting to provide a massive range of services through the TV set.   We know they are going to provide stuff but we don’t yet know exactly what it is. However if you imagine your TV as a huge iPhone (there will definitely be apps) you might not be far wrong.   And you can bet it will work a lot better with fast broadband.

The Clarion thinks residents will be very pleased that we are a fast broadband village if we manage to achieve it by the time this sort of service is commonplace – i.e this time next year.

Unknown unknowns: Er………

Disappointingly Scothern Parish Council has no idea what the unknown unknowns are, but they think they might know a man who could perhaps prepare us for them.   The Council hopes to organise a big village meeting one evening in October when we will have a presentation from a company called NextGenus on how we might take the next step into the future.   NextGenus is a Community Interest Company that could work with us to provide broadband to the village which would be as fast as anywhere in the country, and would also be future-proofed in an effort to deal with the unknown unknowns.    This is very tentative at the moment, but as soon as we hear more The Clarion will let you know what is happening.   

Temporary road closure:  Scothern/Langworth

Please note that the Highways Authority says it will be necessary to impose a temporary restriction to all vehicular traffic on the road(s) detailed below..

REASON FOR CLOSURE:  Carriageway widening

LOCATION: 

Langworth Road/Scothern Lane

(Works in vicinity of Level Crossing)

PERIOD OF CLOSURE:  Monday 12/9/2011 to Friday 16/9/2011

ALTERNATIVE ROUTE: 

Main Street

&

Sudbrooke Road

(Scothern),

Scothern Lane

(Sudbrooke), A158 (Sudbrooke/Langworth) & Vice Versa

If you have any queries please contact the Highways Division on 01522 782070.

Off the Wall Art

We are still in the process of shaping a possible festival coinciding with the Queens Jubilee in early June next year.   One idea is a showing of “Off the Wall Art”;  not quite as whacky as it sounds, it would involve an art exhibition comprised solely of pictures which Scothern residents have hanging on their walls.    We would have to sort out questions of security and insurance, but an exhibition like this could give a fascinating and unique insight into an unseen world of art.   Without any commitment at all – are there any Clarion readers who would be prepared to  let us take a peak at their art?  Doesn’t have to be priceless – much more interesting if it has a little story attached to it.  A visit to a special place, a memory of something or someone, a local scene – you get the picture.  If no-one offers then of course we cannot do the show – please email the Clarion if you might be up for this.