June 2009

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Last night I attended the Town Hall Discussion on The Future of the Internet: Access, Openness and Inclusion. There was a hint from the moderator Marita Moll that Industry Canada as part of its Broadband Program might be releasing a map of Canadian broadband. There has been some interesting discussion in the US about access to broadband data at Off the Map and a podcast at All Points Blog. An E-Scan report has been done in Ontario on possibilities for the development of a Broadband Atlas for Ontarians. In all cases access to infrastructure data are highlighted as barriers, particularly as infrastructure has increasingly become privatized and splintered.

The UK Guardian has published data associated with an analysis of the employment sex gap. These data have re-affirmed my observations: technology (geomatics, computer science, IT, etc.) conferences = boys, social policy (homelessness, poverty, child abuse, etc.) conferences = girls. If we looked at the salary data associated with these professions, we would see a greater gap. If we played with more data, we could interpolate social status and political influence, and I speculate a greater gap still. Most interesting since many of our biggest challenges are social and not technical, but alas we value it less in terms of remuneration, status and power. I would tell you the Canadians story with data, but alas, these are too expensive to purchase from Statistics Canada.

The sex gap: which jobs do women and men do?

The sex gap: which jobs do women and men do?