By RYAN PETERS
It's been referred to as the "Great Firewall of China" and a bit of a show-stopper for Google in terms of China's government approval process for "appropriate" content. Beyond the obvious cultural challenges of international business dealings, these are interesting times in Asia.
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates last Monday said the Internet needs to thrive in China as an engine of free speech and described official online censorship by Beijing as "very limited."
Have today's cyber walls replaced the once-dividing concrete ones?
As Mr. Kai-fu Lee, Google China's ex-president, has clearly stated, "People are actually quite free to talk about the subject," referring to democracy and human rights in China. "I don't think they care that much. I think people would say: 'Hey, U.S. democracy, that's a good form of government. Chinese government, good and stable, that's a good form of government. Whatever -- as long as I get to go to my favorite Web site, see my friends, live happily,'" according to a 2006 report in the New York Times.
Could a progressive K-12 censorship schedule have an upside for China's youth? Let's look at what can be done. Road maps help create a sensible blue print toward leveraging censorship. Mr. Google Eric Schmidt needs to work hard and create a comfortable solution that complements China's future wishes.
It's important to look at both sides of this case. Searching the Internet can be liberating when striving to discover a greater meaning or simply checking to see if a friend is full of bull. It's also true that our society's "grown-up" content can be damaging to youthful minds. Overexposure to pornography and such is not productive and should be monitored.
How should Google react to foreign censorship push back by China?
First, Google is being forced to "think outside of the box" and find creative ways to innovate their "search" solutions to genuinely complement the Chinese culture. This Internet censorship situation has potential to be a fun partnership, if together they gather the right team to understand and jointly paint China's artistic vision for Internet search.
A bottom-up development plan, for starters, could potentially create milestones to motivate Chinese students' thirst for knowledge. It could be rolled out in a way to reinforce students' academic success. Annually rewarding students with richer access to fuller content will enhance their capabilities for creative learning while boosting self-confidence. Google working with China needs to design a student metric to promote scalable Internet latitude to produce academic intellect. China's content transparency milestones would be awarded to students who "make the grade."
Design-wise, the K-12 welcome screens could specifically target each grade level. The custom search screens could be implemented across the board. Cool "student search" home pages could welcome China's students with identifiable inspirational figures, like animated cartoons, etc., that are of cultural Chinese importance. My choice for first-graders across China would be a logo like a big cartoon Panda Bear to replace a boring Google home page.
How would all this come together? Back-end search setting can be adjusted to correspond with student grade levels to allow general content privileges. At a student level report card success could allow for specific search capabilities to complement or support a student's academic success. Additional separate merits could be added for peers-helping-peers to improve academic marks for those who may fall behind in a challenging course. This metric approach can be visually motivating to student success through the user-interface by displaying a student's Panda styling Karate belts, colors, merit badges, etc. -- for example, Yang style Tai Chi levels.
Imagine a first-grader on Saturday morning securely logging on his computer greeted by an animated, bouncing Panda Bear wearing five Karate black belts with four prized merit badges stuck to him. The motivational milestones are endless.
The China K-12 time line would provide exciting progression to China's education system and learning curve. A "Cyber School Bus" approach could open many doors and closely monitor a student's level of academic success at an individual level. Frame this concept as the next generation of "no student left behind."
Ryan Peters is a freelance infrastructure technology columnist who can be contacted at rpeters@intellebyte.com
