A public research by De Waag - the Society for Old and New Media from Amsterdam @ Hybrid Workspace documenta X, Kassel 8 - 17 July 1997.




band. with n (ca. 1937) 1: a range within a band of wavelengths, frequencies, or energies; esp: a range of audio frequencies which is occupied by a modulated carrier wave, which is assigned to a service, or over which a device can operate 2: the data transfer rate of an electronic communications system (Webster Dictionary)


Bandwidth is the capital of the information society


bps = bits per second Kbps = 1024 * bps (kilobits per second) At the Hybrid Workspace 128 Kbps of connectivity is available. The academic network of Romania has 128Kbps of connectivity.


The Bandwidth applications are broadening the gap between the information rich and the information poor


A communications network transfers data from source to destination through a series of network nodes.

Country: Number of Nodes: Inhabitants per Node: Netherlands 270.521 57 Germany 721.847 115 Japan 734.406 170 Romania 8205 2600 India 3138 300.000 Cameroon nodes: 0



back. bone n (14c) 1: spinal column, spine 2: something that resembles a backbone: as a: a chief mountain ridge, range, or system b: the foundation or most substantial or sturdiest part of something c: the longest chain of atoms or groups of atoms in a usu. long molecule (as polymer or protein) 3: a firm and resolute character 4: spine 1c (Webster Dictionary)

Internet network backbones are owned by the large telecom operators. There is a continuous process of the concentration of power. The largest Internet connectivity provider of the world, UUNet Technologies, owns most of the infrastructure of Europe: EUnet. National EUnet-subsidiaries like EUnet Germany have been bought in the last years by UUNET. UUNET is based in Virginia, USA, 40% of its stock capital is owned by Microsoft corporation.







In the information society the social debate and social communication has increasingly shifted from the physical public space to the electronic public space; the communication space of electronic media. To have Bandwidth means to be able to access information and put your own information inside this electronic space. This new public space can only truly be called 'public' if bandwidth is distributed equally, so that every voice can make itself be heard. We demand from National, European and Global policy makers that 10% of the world's digital bandwidth will be reserved for the public sphere. (Some examples: Public Libraries, cyber cafés, community networks such as the Digital City Amsterdam, or the Internationale Stadt Berlin, community services)



PUSH Media means that the Net turns into a hybrid of the existing Internet and other computer network structures and old and new forms of broadcast for mass audiences. PUSH media exploit the potential of digital networking to create much more diversified models of content distribution. The rise of PUSH media, however, threatens to marginalise existing low-bandwidth infrastructure and low-bandwidth access (which we have called 'Flinstone speed') to essential information and communication services.
PUSH Media widen the gap between information rich and information poor even more.



To PUSH Back means: Broadcast for all. Access to information and communication should be a fundamental democratic right. In the process of accelerating technological change and revolution the diversity of democratic voices is under threat and measures are called for to maintain them. There should be continual support for the access and production infrastructure of local producers and providers of content. We demand that the European Union will emphasise and develop more decidedly the social and cultural components of existing European Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programmes.



References on the Internet:


Hybrid Workspace: http://www.documenta.de/workspace
Society for Old and New Media: http://www.waag.org
We Want Bandwidth!: http://www.waag.org/bandwidth
Webster Bandwidth definition: http://www.nethotel.dk/ephos/en/thesauru/T892.htm
Jargon Bandwidth definition: http://nmsmn.com/~cservin/jargon/b/bandwidth.html
An atlas of Cyberspaces: http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/casa/martin/atlas/atlas.html
Internet Domain Survey: http://www.nw.com/zone/WWW/top.html
Current world map of the Matrix and the Internet: http://www3.mids.org/mapsale/world/index.html
Romanian National Backbone network topology: http://www.rnc.ro/nb/nb.html
UUnet backbone network map: http://www.boardwatch.com/isp/backbone.htm
Boardwatch Magazine list of Internet Service Providers: http://www.boardwatch.com/isp/backbone.htm
Cook report on evolving Internet Infrastructure: http://www.infohiway.com/way/faster/index.html
Telecommunications Map of the World Bandwidth Conservation Society: http://www.infohiway.com/way/faster/index.html