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By Kim Stanley

Broadband needs can be met through deliberate partnerships. Cox is proud of our investments in Roanoke and remains committed to its bright future.

In a Feb. 10 editorial (“A promising start on better broadband”), the newspaper credits a local task force of business and government leaders for spurring the region into action to meet its needs for accessible, affordable, high-quality Internet service.

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 Stanley is market vice president of Cox Communications Virginia — Roanoke Market.

Some of the most valuable assets now exist online behind passwords that heirs might not know.

When people die, some of the most valuable things they leave behind are memories and records of their lives and dreams. In this digital age, those are easily lost. Both chambers of the General Assembly therefore have passed a law to make it easier for parents to access virtual records of deceased minors.

The Washington Post over the weekend told the tragic story of a Nottoway County teen who committed suicide in 2011. His parents want to know what drove him to that end, but they have been denied access to his Facebook page and other social media that might include precious clues.

Continue reading this editorial.

By Karen Rheuban

For many Virginians, broadband connections facilitate e-commerce, web searches, video streaming, social media updates, online and video chat in addition to many other daily activities. While all of these uses are important applications, there is a growing class of Internet users for whom a high-speed Internet connection is not just useful; it is lifesaving.

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Rheuban is board chairwoman of the Virginia Telehealth Network, a member of the Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council and past president of the American Telemedicine Association.

The George Mason University Center for Climate Chance  Communication recently released a study on the impact of abusive online comments on public understanding of science. The study didn’t look at the public debate on climate change. Instead, it focussed on the issue of nanotechnology and the potential risks to health and the environment associated with the use of engineered materials.

All of the participants read the same article about that issue, but different comments were used. Some were given “civil” comments that avoided name-calling. Others were given the article along with negative comments in which readers called each other idiots, etc.

An article by Mother Jones on the study reports:

The researchers were trying to find out what effect exposure to such rudeness had on public perceptions of nanotech risks. They found that it wasn’t a good one. Rather, it polarized the audience: Those who already thought nanorisks were low tended to become more sure of themselves when exposed to name-calling, while those who thought nanorisks are high were more likely to move in their own favored direction. In other words, it appeared that pushing people’s emotional buttons, through derogatory comments, made them double down on their preexisting beliefs.

The article goes on to talk about this finding in the context of the psychological theory of motivated reasoning. In other words, emotional reactions are faster than intellectual ones. Although both reactions may be present, the emotional reaction to what someone reads may influence how he or she thinks about the topic. Reading insults may cause a reader to become defensive about their preexisting beliefs.

The polarizing effects of online comments on nanotechnology are likely to be far less so than those in the debate over climate change.

As our readers know, we moderate this blog to keep the comments more or less civil. We do allow criticism of an individual’s reasoning. We discourage posts that mock an individual’s intellectual capacity. We sometimes allow not-so-nice comments to get through, perhaps more so when we are trying to moderate from our smart phones at the Y or Kroger.

I’m interested in your thoughts about this topic. Do you think moderation, as imperfect as your humble moderators may be, helps the discussions on the RoundTable? If not, what would you suggest? That doesn’t mean we’re going to stop moderating, by the way, but I am interested in feedback. Thanks!

The Roanoke Valley is falling behind its neighbors in access to high-quality Internet service, but a regional authority can help it catch up.

The Roanoke Valley doesn’t want its theme song to be the screech and static of a dial-up computer connection.

Most residents have moved beyond that antiquated technology, but even so we’re fast becoming a community reliant on obsolete infrastructure. We just don’t have that annoying racket to warn us that we’re falling behind.

A group of business and government leaders deserve credit for galvanizing the region into action before it’s too late.

Continue reading this editorial.

The public has a right to see public records generated in social media.

Blacksburg officials tweet as @blacksburg_gov. Roanoke County Public Schools share information on Facebook. They and every other government body that uses social media create public records along the way.

The Library of Virginia recently released a fact sheet on social media records that every state and local government and agency should read. So should Virginians interested in keeping tabs on what government is up to.

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A wireless network in Southwest Virginia depends on a fiber optic backbone, a lesson for Roanoke.

Word the other weekend that phase one of a project to bring faster wireless communications to Virginia’s coal counties is complete — wonderful news that the Roanoke Valley can only envy.

Valley government and business leaders should sit up and take notice. The progress in far Southwest is a measure to keep in mind next month, when a regional task force is expected to report on how to bring Greater Roanoke’s fiber optics telecommunications network — patchwork, really — up to speed.

Continue reading this editorial.

Civilian and law enforcement uses raise many complicated issues.

Technology developed for the military often finds civilian use eventually. Radar, jet engines, even the Internet all developed with defense in mind. Now there are unmanned drones.

The non-military versions of drones differ from the military variety. They do not carry missiles, for example. Nevertheless, from highly specialized law enforcement models to homemade civilian ones with smartphones mounted on them, small, remote-controlled aircraft are taking to the skies.

That has Virginia lawmakers wading into the murky intersection of public safety, personal privacy and individual liberty.

Continue reading this editorial.

The departing head of the EPA attended to science more than politics. The president, his second term secure, should follow suit in replacing her.

Lisa Jackson will leave her job as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency having done a lot to protect the environment and public health. But not as much as she set out to do or as much as President Obama pledged to do at the start of his first term — particularly, to address climate change.

The faltering economy and political push-back prompted a change of course by the president, who reined in his EPA chief as he headed into a bitterly fought re-election campaign. And he abandoned early on an ambitious legislative attempt to limit industrial greenhouse gas emissions after a House cap-and-trade bill went down in ignominious defeat in the Senate.

Even a Zuckerberg can’t figure out Facebook’s privacy settings.

Anyone who spends much time in the wilds of online social media will encounter an embarrassing situation eventually. A comment made on a political blog finds its way back to your boss. Your mother stumbles upon a secret meant only for friends. Or a family photo accidentally goes viral after a slip-up with privacy settings.

It is no fun. Your precious memory wanders farther than you ever wanted, and there is no getting it back. The Internet will remember, and so will friends, family and colleagues. Your gut sinks.

Continue reading this editorial.