A new report from the Department of Commerce brings good news to most Americans and serves as a wake-up call for those who believe the digital divide is the civil liberties issue of the 21st century.
The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not. Back in the heady days of the dot-com boom everything was out of proportion, including political rhetoric. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, for example, called the digital divide "classic apartheid," the NAACP's Kweisi Mfume dubbed it "technological segregation," and President Clinton urged a "national crusade."
But a new report from the Department of Commerce (DOC), "A Nation online: How Americans are expanding their use of the Internet," helps to explain why the digital divide is not a crisis that places citizens in urgent need of more government help.
More than half the population of the United States is now online, an increase of 26 million people in 13 months, and the number continues to grow. The report also shows that Internet use is continuing to increase for everyone regardless of income, education, age, race, ethnicity or gender. Even groups not historically "early adopters" are growing their online presence. For instance, the DOC report shows that 39.8 percent of blacks and 31.6 percent of Hispanics are online.
What might be the most remarkable finding of the DOC report is that "between December 1998 and September 2001, Internet use by individuals in the lowest income households (those earning less than $15,000 per year) increased at a 25 percent annual growth rate." In 2001, 25 percent of lower income people were online, and if things continue at this rate, it won't be long before virtually everyone who wants to connect can.
Further, last week, Jupiter Media Metrix reported that the age of online shoppers is moving up while the income level drops. In other words, those on the Net are starting to look a lot more like the real world population. This is a good time to re-evaluate some of the assumptions that fed the digital divide hysteria.
This is a good time to re-evaluate some of the assumptions that fed the digital divide hysteria.
Not all individuals want to use computers or get online. Everyone knows someone, rich or poor, who chooses not to have voice mail, call waiting, or even a television. Many of the Internet's so-called "have-nots" are really "want-nots."
The DOC report proves that even lower income people can get wired if they see it as a priority. And that's no surprise given all the investment that local community groups and technology companies have spent on promoting access over the last couple of years. Those who cannot get online in this environment have other problems that a computer and Internet access won't fix.
Technology is not a silver bullet that will solve all social and economic problems. This will disappoint those who believed President Clinton when he said, "Technology can be the greatest equalizing force our society or any other has ever known." If digital divide crusaders really want to solve the world's inequities, they should direct their efforts toward key issues that mattered before the advent of high technology. Promoting economic growth would be a good place to start.
Education is probably the most important issue that affects the ability to benefit from technology. Unless people can read and understand what they find on the Internet, all the computers and networks in the world won't be of much use. Taxes are another important consideration.
The real issues are the sorry state of education and the push to raise the taxes that affect lower income families most.
Government regulators continue the push to tax the Net and other things digital. If they succeed, some lower income people could lose the access they've gained when faced with paying more for online access and products.
The digital divide is not a crisis, and it is certainly not the civil liberties issue of the 21st century. The real issues are the sorry state of education and the push to raise the taxes that affect lower income families most.
Education and tax reform move a lot slower than the speed of technology. If they want to help low-income Americans, that's the gap policy-makers should seek to close.
http://news.cnet.com/2010-1071-858537.html
Friday, August 20, 2010
Ferrets key to bridging the digital divide between cities and rural areas
The animals have been used by Virgin Media for over a year to help lay cables for its broadband service, the company has disclosed.
The ferrets wear jackets fitted with a microchip which is able to analyse any breaks or damage in the underground network.
The development could help increase broadband in current Internet "dead zones", giving access to inaccessible places, and and helping bridge the 'digital divide'.
Currently most broadband technologies are limited to short distances from central switching offices so most companies focus on cities to keep costs down.
The government has set a target of universal broadband access of 2Mbps by 2012. Analysts estimate that the cost of running fibre optic cables to all parts of the country could cost anywhere between £10 billion and £25 billion. A 50p levy of every phone line in the country has been proposed to cover costs.
Currently around two million homes, one in 10 households, are without broadband.
Jon James, director of broadband for Virgin Media, said: "For hundreds of years, ferrets have helped humans in various jobs. Our decision to use them is due to their strong nesting instinct, their long, lean build and inquisitive nature, and for their ability to get down holes. We initially kept the trial low-key as we wanted to assess how well the ferrets fitted into our operations before revealing this enterprising scheme."
Ferrets have been used to run cables through hard-to-reach places in the past.
Events organisers in London used them to run television and sound cables outside Buckingham Palace for the wedding of the Prince of Wales and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
A similar system was used to lay the cables for televised coverage for the Party in the Park concert in Greenwich at the Millennium.
With their long lean build ferrets have historically been sent down holes to chase rodents and rabbits out of their burrows.
Caesar Augustus is thought to have sent ferrets to the Balearic Islands to control the rabbit plagues in 6BC.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7541455/Ferrets-key-to-bridging-the-digital-divide-between-cities-and-rural-areas.html
The ferrets wear jackets fitted with a microchip which is able to analyse any breaks or damage in the underground network.
The development could help increase broadband in current Internet "dead zones", giving access to inaccessible places, and and helping bridge the 'digital divide'.
Currently most broadband technologies are limited to short distances from central switching offices so most companies focus on cities to keep costs down.
The government has set a target of universal broadband access of 2Mbps by 2012. Analysts estimate that the cost of running fibre optic cables to all parts of the country could cost anywhere between £10 billion and £25 billion. A 50p levy of every phone line in the country has been proposed to cover costs.
Currently around two million homes, one in 10 households, are without broadband.
Jon James, director of broadband for Virgin Media, said: "For hundreds of years, ferrets have helped humans in various jobs. Our decision to use them is due to their strong nesting instinct, their long, lean build and inquisitive nature, and for their ability to get down holes. We initially kept the trial low-key as we wanted to assess how well the ferrets fitted into our operations before revealing this enterprising scheme."
Ferrets have been used to run cables through hard-to-reach places in the past.
Events organisers in London used them to run television and sound cables outside Buckingham Palace for the wedding of the Prince of Wales and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
A similar system was used to lay the cables for televised coverage for the Party in the Park concert in Greenwich at the Millennium.
With their long lean build ferrets have historically been sent down holes to chase rodents and rabbits out of their burrows.
Caesar Augustus is thought to have sent ferrets to the Balearic Islands to control the rabbit plagues in 6BC.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7541455/Ferrets-key-to-bridging-the-digital-divide-between-cities-and-rural-areas.html
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Apple Solidifies Its Lead Among U.S. Music Accounts, As Mobile Merchants Fade
Ed Christman
Apple's iTunes store, which emerged in 2008 as the top U.S. music account for the first time, widened its lead last year over former market leader Walmart.
According to my analysis of 2009 sales and market share, the top 20 U.S. music accounts accounted for 85% of the total account base. That's down from 88% in 2008 and runs counter to an almost decade-long consolidation trend under which the top 20 accounts continued to capture an ever larger share of the total market.
That was due to declining market share among the brick-and-mortar accounts in the top 20. The top 20 merchants selling CDs and other physical formats comprised 49.3% of the account base in 2009, plunging from 57.5% in 2008.
Meanwhile, digital accounts in the top 20 made up a combined 35.5% of the total account base, up from 31.6% in 2008. That gain of nearly four percentage points came despite a decline in the combined share of mobile service providers, once touted as the recording industry's next big thing. Collectively, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, AT&T and mobile content provider Zed accounted for 4.9% of the market, down from 6.6% in 2008. That was probably due to the declining number of ringtone downloads, as well as declining ringtone prices.
But iTunes more than offset the mobile decline, growing its share of the U.S. account base to 26.7%, up from 21.4% in 2008 and more than double the 12.7% share the company had in 2007. Last year's share gain was helped by Apple's embrace of variable pricing on digital tracks. But it remains to be seen if iTunes can continue to expand its market share this year, given that year-to-date digital track sales in the United States are down almost 1% from the same period last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
No. 2 account Walmart saw its 2009 share sink to 12.5% in 2009 from 15% in the prior year, no doubt hurt by the retail giant's continued scaling back of floor space dedicated to CDs. More tellingly, Best Buy, which is also reducing the store space it devotes to music, had only 8.7% of the account base in 2009, down from its pre-Napster share of 10.7% in 2008. Broken out on its own, Napster had a 0.7% share in 2009, down from 1% in 2008.
Other accounts losing market share included Trans World, which was down nearly a percentage point to 2.9% due to a flurry of store closings, and Alliance Entertainment, whose share fell to 6.1% from 7.7% in 2008 due to business it lost through the liquidation of Circuit City.
As traditional music retailers close their doors and big-box merchants reduce shelf space for music, Amazon's piece of the account base keeps growing. The merchant's share stood at 7.1% in 2009, up from 4.9% in 2008. Its physical music sales alone accounted for a 5.8% share, up from 4.2% in 2008.
If broken out as a separate account, Amazon's MP3 store captured a 1.3% share in 2009, up from 0.8% in the prior year and good enough to have ranked as the 10th-largest account. But that's still well short of where major labels had hoped Amazon's download store would be by now, dimming earlier expectations that it will be able to significantly reduce the labels' heavy dependence on iTunes for digital sales.
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/magazine/upfront/e3i12fe2557a9382597671a522cc1cc901d
Ed Christman
Apple's iTunes store, which emerged in 2008 as the top U.S. music account for the first time, widened its lead last year over former market leader Walmart.
According to my analysis of 2009 sales and market share, the top 20 U.S. music accounts accounted for 85% of the total account base. That's down from 88% in 2008 and runs counter to an almost decade-long consolidation trend under which the top 20 accounts continued to capture an ever larger share of the total market.
That was due to declining market share among the brick-and-mortar accounts in the top 20. The top 20 merchants selling CDs and other physical formats comprised 49.3% of the account base in 2009, plunging from 57.5% in 2008.
Meanwhile, digital accounts in the top 20 made up a combined 35.5% of the total account base, up from 31.6% in 2008. That gain of nearly four percentage points came despite a decline in the combined share of mobile service providers, once touted as the recording industry's next big thing. Collectively, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, AT&T and mobile content provider Zed accounted for 4.9% of the market, down from 6.6% in 2008. That was probably due to the declining number of ringtone downloads, as well as declining ringtone prices.
But iTunes more than offset the mobile decline, growing its share of the U.S. account base to 26.7%, up from 21.4% in 2008 and more than double the 12.7% share the company had in 2007. Last year's share gain was helped by Apple's embrace of variable pricing on digital tracks. But it remains to be seen if iTunes can continue to expand its market share this year, given that year-to-date digital track sales in the United States are down almost 1% from the same period last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
No. 2 account Walmart saw its 2009 share sink to 12.5% in 2009 from 15% in the prior year, no doubt hurt by the retail giant's continued scaling back of floor space dedicated to CDs. More tellingly, Best Buy, which is also reducing the store space it devotes to music, had only 8.7% of the account base in 2009, down from its pre-Napster share of 10.7% in 2008. Broken out on its own, Napster had a 0.7% share in 2009, down from 1% in 2008.
Other accounts losing market share included Trans World, which was down nearly a percentage point to 2.9% due to a flurry of store closings, and Alliance Entertainment, whose share fell to 6.1% from 7.7% in 2008 due to business it lost through the liquidation of Circuit City.
As traditional music retailers close their doors and big-box merchants reduce shelf space for music, Amazon's piece of the account base keeps growing. The merchant's share stood at 7.1% in 2009, up from 4.9% in 2008. Its physical music sales alone accounted for a 5.8% share, up from 4.2% in 2008.
If broken out as a separate account, Amazon's MP3 store captured a 1.3% share in 2009, up from 0.8% in the prior year and good enough to have ranked as the 10th-largest account. But that's still well short of where major labels had hoped Amazon's download store would be by now, dimming earlier expectations that it will be able to significantly reduce the labels' heavy dependence on iTunes for digital sales.
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/magazine/upfront/e3i12fe2557a9382597671a522cc1cc901d
Tiered data plans can help close digital divide
The familiar, one-size-fits-all flat monthly fee for Internet use is likely headed for the technology junk pile--and it's a good thing for most consumers.
One fee for unlimited broadband access--and the same fee for everybody signing up for a particular service--helped drive the extraordinarily rapid spread of broadband, especially as those fees declined over the last decade. But broadband has changed the Internet, particularly by enabling the spread of bandwidth-intensive video and voice applications.
New analysis shows that as Internet providers ramp up their investments to accommodate the surge in bandwidth demand, the old, one-price-for-everybody model would slow our progress toward universal adoption, especially by lower-income Americans.
The first reaction of many Internet users to this news may well be disbelief. How can it be that a pricing approach that has worked so well for so many years can suddenly become obsolete and even counterproductive? The answer is that technological advances have changed what many of us do online, which, in turn, has changed the economics.
A techno-ecosystem once dominated by e-mail and text now is increasingly characterized by high-definition video that claims up to 1,000 times as much network capacity and bandwidth as simple text. The way we currently pay for the infrastructure required to keep the network humming also will have to change.
Those who consume more bandwidth--or at least those who claim many times the bandwidth of the average Internet user--will have to pay a little more. Otherwise, the price for everyone else will increase so much that lower-income Americans will be priced out of broadband.
As with virtually every other good and service in our economy, those who consume more bandwidth--or at least those who claim many times the bandwidth of the average Internet user--will have to pay a little more. Otherwise, the price for everyone else will increase so much that lower-income Americans will be priced out of broadband.
To keep pace with the fast-growing appetite for advanced video and other data-hungry Internet services, Internet service providers expect to invest an additional $300 billion or more over the next 20 years to expand their infrastructure. The resources for this additional investment have to come from broadband users--subscribers, content providers, or both.
A new analysis by Kevin Hassett and me (PDF), supported by the Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy, has established that if these costs are recovered through the old, flat-fee pricing models that assess each household equally, prices will go so high that we will be unable to achieve universal access to broadband in the next decade.
With this flat-rate pricing approach, for example, almost one in five African Americans would still lack home broadband connectivity in 2020. A nearly comparable share of Hispanics and lower-income white Americans also would remain offline. In the face of rising bandwidth demand and the rising cost to accommodate it, the flat-fee pricing approach will perpetuate digital divides based on income, race, and ethnicity.
There is an alternative which, our analysis found, can achieve virtually universal broadband adoption by 2018. This alternative is a flexible-pricing approach that would enable ISPs to recover the bulk of their additional infrastructure investments from the providers of bandwidth-intensive content and the small share of consumers--online gamers, for example, and those who watch high-definition TV, movies, and videos online for hours every day--who claim a disproportionate amount of broadband capacity.
Two of the world's most wired societies, Korea and Norway, have adopted variations of this approach, and thereby managed to substantially expand their infrastructure commitments without raising prices for most broadband users.
Moreover, President Obama's goal of achieving universal broadband adoption, which such flexible pricing can promote, is quickly becoming an essential factor in advancing economic opportunity. Increasingly, job openings are posted only online, and the ability to work productively in offices and factories dense with Internet and information technologies, is virtually a necessity for those intent on improving their economic position.
Beyond that, access to information on educational opportunities, political activities, health care, and even many government services increasingly depends on broadband access. As the Federal Communications Commission prepares its recommendations for meeting the president's goal, it is critical that it recognizes that future broadband access, especially for many minority and lower-income households, may well depend on the ability of ISPs to flexibly price access.
The process of change has already started. Several broadband providers recently initiated trials of usage-based pricing in selected areas, to help accelerate broadband adoption in a way that can finance the infrastructure build-out required to avoid online congestion.
Apart from all of these social and economic concerns, it also makes no sense to preserve a flat-fee pricing system that effectively forces the vast majority of Internet users to subsidize a small minority of high-bandwidth consumers and content providers. The burden on policymakers is not to mandate an end to flat-fee pricing but simply to preserve the ability of ISPs to adopt new pricing approaches that can maximize consumer benefits.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20008763-94.html
One fee for unlimited broadband access--and the same fee for everybody signing up for a particular service--helped drive the extraordinarily rapid spread of broadband, especially as those fees declined over the last decade. But broadband has changed the Internet, particularly by enabling the spread of bandwidth-intensive video and voice applications.
New analysis shows that as Internet providers ramp up their investments to accommodate the surge in bandwidth demand, the old, one-price-for-everybody model would slow our progress toward universal adoption, especially by lower-income Americans.
The first reaction of many Internet users to this news may well be disbelief. How can it be that a pricing approach that has worked so well for so many years can suddenly become obsolete and even counterproductive? The answer is that technological advances have changed what many of us do online, which, in turn, has changed the economics.
A techno-ecosystem once dominated by e-mail and text now is increasingly characterized by high-definition video that claims up to 1,000 times as much network capacity and bandwidth as simple text. The way we currently pay for the infrastructure required to keep the network humming also will have to change.
Those who consume more bandwidth--or at least those who claim many times the bandwidth of the average Internet user--will have to pay a little more. Otherwise, the price for everyone else will increase so much that lower-income Americans will be priced out of broadband.
As with virtually every other good and service in our economy, those who consume more bandwidth--or at least those who claim many times the bandwidth of the average Internet user--will have to pay a little more. Otherwise, the price for everyone else will increase so much that lower-income Americans will be priced out of broadband.
To keep pace with the fast-growing appetite for advanced video and other data-hungry Internet services, Internet service providers expect to invest an additional $300 billion or more over the next 20 years to expand their infrastructure. The resources for this additional investment have to come from broadband users--subscribers, content providers, or both.
A new analysis by Kevin Hassett and me (PDF), supported by the Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy, has established that if these costs are recovered through the old, flat-fee pricing models that assess each household equally, prices will go so high that we will be unable to achieve universal access to broadband in the next decade.
With this flat-rate pricing approach, for example, almost one in five African Americans would still lack home broadband connectivity in 2020. A nearly comparable share of Hispanics and lower-income white Americans also would remain offline. In the face of rising bandwidth demand and the rising cost to accommodate it, the flat-fee pricing approach will perpetuate digital divides based on income, race, and ethnicity.
There is an alternative which, our analysis found, can achieve virtually universal broadband adoption by 2018. This alternative is a flexible-pricing approach that would enable ISPs to recover the bulk of their additional infrastructure investments from the providers of bandwidth-intensive content and the small share of consumers--online gamers, for example, and those who watch high-definition TV, movies, and videos online for hours every day--who claim a disproportionate amount of broadband capacity.
Two of the world's most wired societies, Korea and Norway, have adopted variations of this approach, and thereby managed to substantially expand their infrastructure commitments without raising prices for most broadband users.
Moreover, President Obama's goal of achieving universal broadband adoption, which such flexible pricing can promote, is quickly becoming an essential factor in advancing economic opportunity. Increasingly, job openings are posted only online, and the ability to work productively in offices and factories dense with Internet and information technologies, is virtually a necessity for those intent on improving their economic position.
Beyond that, access to information on educational opportunities, political activities, health care, and even many government services increasingly depends on broadband access. As the Federal Communications Commission prepares its recommendations for meeting the president's goal, it is critical that it recognizes that future broadband access, especially for many minority and lower-income households, may well depend on the ability of ISPs to flexibly price access.
The process of change has already started. Several broadband providers recently initiated trials of usage-based pricing in selected areas, to help accelerate broadband adoption in a way that can finance the infrastructure build-out required to avoid online congestion.
Apart from all of these social and economic concerns, it also makes no sense to preserve a flat-fee pricing system that effectively forces the vast majority of Internet users to subsidize a small minority of high-bandwidth consumers and content providers. The burden on policymakers is not to mandate an end to flat-fee pricing but simply to preserve the ability of ISPs to adopt new pricing approaches that can maximize consumer benefits.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20008763-94.html
The Digital Divide: Where We Are
The digital divide is most commonly defined as the gap between those individuals and communities that have, and do not have, access to the information technologies that are transforming our lives. In February 2002, the U.S. Department of Commerce released "A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet," the latest study on computer and Internet use in America. Formerly a national benchmark for measuring disparities in access, the implied message of this latest release is that the digital divide is no longer a major concern. Many organizations feel differently, and as the debate intensifies, we are asking after ten years of national leadership to address the issue, "Where are we?"
"A Nation Online" pointed to U.S. Census data showing that 143 million Americans, or about 54 percent of the population, are using the Internet. It also reported that the rate of growth of Internet use in the United States is currently 2 million new Internet users per month, with Internet use continuing to increase across income, education, age, race, ethnicity, and gender lines.
This is all good news, and a testament, in part, to the effectiveness of several federally funded programs such as the E-Rate, or telecommunications discounts to schools and libraries, the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and the Community Technology Centers Program (CTC). The CTC program provides matching grants that leverage state, local, and other resources to create and improve technology access and training facilities. The TOP program provides matching grants for projects that use technology in innovative ways to solve social problems and improve community access to modern telecommunications.
The Debate
Progress has been made, but a deeper look at the numbers in "A Nation Online" reveals that considerable work remains to bridge the digital divide. With 54 percent of Americans online, the current Administration sees "A Nation Online" as proof that a targeted national commitment to bridging the divide is no longer necessary. Along with a 17 percent decrease in educational technology funding from FY 2001, the TOP and CTC programs have been slated for termination in 2003. The rationale is that Americans are gaining access to computers at an acceptable pace and as a result the role of government can be curtailed.
Sonia Arrison, director of the Center for Technology Studies at the Pacific-Research Institute, is one of several conservative commentators who has argued recently that "the digital divide is not a crisis that places citizens in urgent need of more government help." Echoing past comments of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell that what we have is a "Mercedes divide," Arrison also argues "many of the Internet's so called 'have-nots' are really 'want-nots.'"
On the opposite end of the debate, numerous organizations have rallied in support of continued federal funding for the CTC and TOP programs by launching the Digital Empowerment advocacy campaign. They note that almost half of Americans do not have Internet access at home and only 25 percent of America's poorest households are online compared with approximately 80 percent of homes earning over $75,000. Only around 30 percent of youth in the lowest household income category use computers at home compared to over 90 percent of youth in the highest income category.
Even more striking is the fact that this gap has expanded in recent years. Similar disparities can be found among populations with limited formal education. Hispanics (31.8 percent) and African Americans (39.8 percent) lag behind whites (59.9 percent) in Internet access at home, suggesting serious ethnic and racial divides.
The Civil Rights Forum, Consumers Union, and the Consumer Federation of America released a report in May 2002 called "Does the Digital Divide Still Exist? Bush Administration Shrugs, But Evidence Says 'Yes.'" The report concludes that the true measure of the digital divide is in assessing home Internet access. It also states that an inability to access the enhanced content available via broadband is creating a second-generation divide.
In response to arguments that the Internet is unnecessary or something of a luxury, Mark Lloyd, Executive Director of the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy, said, "Being disconnected in the Information Age is not like being deprived of a Mercedes or some other luxury. Being disconnected means being disconnected from the economy and democratic debate."
Reaping the Rewards of National Investment
A new policy brief from the Benton Foundation, publisher of the Digital Divide Network, explores the likely impact of the federal budget cuts and how ending targeted efforts to bring technology to underserved communities could dampen economic and community development.
The brief focuses on how national programs such as the CTC and TOP have helped to wire schools and libraries and bring technology training into underserved communities. Objective research on the CTC program from SRI International, one of the nation's premier education technology research groups, shows technology being used in disadvantaged communities is improving pre-school, after-school, and adult learning. A recent report on telecommunications access in rural America shows that TOP has been instrumental in enabling rural communities to enhance local economies, better manage natural resources, and improve access to education and health services. Like the CTC program, its funding peaked in 2001 and elimination is in the works for 2003.
Continuing to Overcome the Digital Divide
Nobody believes that technology will be a quick-fix solution to poverty, but ensuring that underserved individuals and communities can access education and tools to improve the quality of their lives certainly appears to be a critical piece of the answer. The appropriations process will go on until September, when the 2003 budget will be finalized. Until that time, the debate will continue with one side saying "the invisible hand" of the free market is taking care of the problem and another pressing to save federal investments they feel are critical to connecting all Americans.
Norris Dickard is a senior associate at the Benton Foundation. His work focuses on public policies related to universal service, educational technology, and bridging the digital divide. Diana Schneider formerly served as the Assistant Director of Outreach at The George Lucas Educational Foundation. She currently works with the Benton Foundation Communication Policy program on projects related to educational technology and bridging the digital divide.
http://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-where-we-are-today
"A Nation Online" pointed to U.S. Census data showing that 143 million Americans, or about 54 percent of the population, are using the Internet. It also reported that the rate of growth of Internet use in the United States is currently 2 million new Internet users per month, with Internet use continuing to increase across income, education, age, race, ethnicity, and gender lines.
This is all good news, and a testament, in part, to the effectiveness of several federally funded programs such as the E-Rate, or telecommunications discounts to schools and libraries, the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and the Community Technology Centers Program (CTC). The CTC program provides matching grants that leverage state, local, and other resources to create and improve technology access and training facilities. The TOP program provides matching grants for projects that use technology in innovative ways to solve social problems and improve community access to modern telecommunications.
The Debate
Progress has been made, but a deeper look at the numbers in "A Nation Online" reveals that considerable work remains to bridge the digital divide. With 54 percent of Americans online, the current Administration sees "A Nation Online" as proof that a targeted national commitment to bridging the divide is no longer necessary. Along with a 17 percent decrease in educational technology funding from FY 2001, the TOP and CTC programs have been slated for termination in 2003. The rationale is that Americans are gaining access to computers at an acceptable pace and as a result the role of government can be curtailed.
Sonia Arrison, director of the Center for Technology Studies at the Pacific-Research Institute, is one of several conservative commentators who has argued recently that "the digital divide is not a crisis that places citizens in urgent need of more government help." Echoing past comments of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell that what we have is a "Mercedes divide," Arrison also argues "many of the Internet's so called 'have-nots' are really 'want-nots.'"
On the opposite end of the debate, numerous organizations have rallied in support of continued federal funding for the CTC and TOP programs by launching the Digital Empowerment advocacy campaign. They note that almost half of Americans do not have Internet access at home and only 25 percent of America's poorest households are online compared with approximately 80 percent of homes earning over $75,000. Only around 30 percent of youth in the lowest household income category use computers at home compared to over 90 percent of youth in the highest income category.
Even more striking is the fact that this gap has expanded in recent years. Similar disparities can be found among populations with limited formal education. Hispanics (31.8 percent) and African Americans (39.8 percent) lag behind whites (59.9 percent) in Internet access at home, suggesting serious ethnic and racial divides.
The Civil Rights Forum, Consumers Union, and the Consumer Federation of America released a report in May 2002 called "Does the Digital Divide Still Exist? Bush Administration Shrugs, But Evidence Says 'Yes.'" The report concludes that the true measure of the digital divide is in assessing home Internet access. It also states that an inability to access the enhanced content available via broadband is creating a second-generation divide.
In response to arguments that the Internet is unnecessary or something of a luxury, Mark Lloyd, Executive Director of the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy, said, "Being disconnected in the Information Age is not like being deprived of a Mercedes or some other luxury. Being disconnected means being disconnected from the economy and democratic debate."
Reaping the Rewards of National Investment
A new policy brief from the Benton Foundation, publisher of the Digital Divide Network, explores the likely impact of the federal budget cuts and how ending targeted efforts to bring technology to underserved communities could dampen economic and community development.
The brief focuses on how national programs such as the CTC and TOP have helped to wire schools and libraries and bring technology training into underserved communities. Objective research on the CTC program from SRI International, one of the nation's premier education technology research groups, shows technology being used in disadvantaged communities is improving pre-school, after-school, and adult learning. A recent report on telecommunications access in rural America shows that TOP has been instrumental in enabling rural communities to enhance local economies, better manage natural resources, and improve access to education and health services. Like the CTC program, its funding peaked in 2001 and elimination is in the works for 2003.
Continuing to Overcome the Digital Divide
Nobody believes that technology will be a quick-fix solution to poverty, but ensuring that underserved individuals and communities can access education and tools to improve the quality of their lives certainly appears to be a critical piece of the answer. The appropriations process will go on until September, when the 2003 budget will be finalized. Until that time, the debate will continue with one side saying "the invisible hand" of the free market is taking care of the problem and another pressing to save federal investments they feel are critical to connecting all Americans.
Norris Dickard is a senior associate at the Benton Foundation. His work focuses on public policies related to universal service, educational technology, and bridging the digital divide. Diana Schneider formerly served as the Assistant Director of Outreach at The George Lucas Educational Foundation. She currently works with the Benton Foundation Communication Policy program on projects related to educational technology and bridging the digital divide.
http://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-where-we-are-today
Tackling the "digital divide" ...if we can find out what it is...
Current approaches to tackling the divide
New forms of enterprise, new types of skills, new sources of wealth and new forms of social interaction - these are among the benefits of the "Information Society". Businesses and governments alike promote the new technologies for the benefits they will bring.
But, if these developments are seen as being beneficial, then the lack of them is seen as a cause for concern. Many people, mostly those already poor or socially disadvantaged in some other way, cannot or do not have access to the new technologies and the opportunities they bring. These people - "socially excluded", in the current jargon - stand on the wrong side of the "digital divide".
Action to tackle the divide
Governments across the western world are beginning to take action to try to bridge the perceived divide. Apart from a sackload of strategy documents, practical measures are being taken in some places to increase access to computers and the Internet.
One approach is that of Arizona in the US. Here the TOPAZ project (Telecommunications Open Partnerships of Arizona) is aimed at providing broadband access rural communities. Over the next 5 years Arizona expects to spend $100 million supporting local public agencies in purchasing broadband telecoms services, via a statewide carrier service.
Arizona state has contracted with 9 leading telecoms providers to develop the service. In this way the network is being "pushed" out to the communities. The "pull" factor comes from the state encouraging, and financially supporting, local authorities, tribal governments, health and education providers and the not-for-profit sector to aggregate demand. In this way the business case is made for continued roll-out of the service.
A similar principle of building the business case by aggregating demand is being tested in Scotland. In many areas the biggest users of telecommunications come from the public sector. Government agencies are being given more leeway than they are in England to work with the telecoms operators in bringing broadband into areas that would take forever for the market to reach.
Wired Communities
In England, a series of pilot projects are being developed by the DFEE (Department for Education and Employment). Some £10 million has been awarded to 7 communities seen to be potentially on the wrong side of the digital divide. These are a mix of urban and rural areas:
Kensington, Liverpool, one of England's most disadvantaged inner city communities. Over 400 households are being wired up, with a total of 2,000 PCs to be installed
The Carpenters Estate, Newham, East London: an inner city housing estate. All 750 households and the local primary school will be wired up;
Framlingham, Suffolk: a rural area, centred on a market town, involving the more deprived areas that exist alongside pockets of affluence. 1,500 homes and the local school will be wired up;
BeaconNet, East Manchester: an inner city housing estate where all 4,500 homes will be wired up along with local schools;
Whitebirk Estate, Blackburn: an area in a town with inner city features. Over 2,500 homes will be wired up and five local schools will benefit;
Alston, Cumbria: a rural area in which 1,200 homes across three small towns and isolated farms will be wired up. The project will involve two primary schools and a secondary school;
Brampton upon Dearne, S Yorkshire: a former coalfield community. All 1,500 households in the community will be wired up and all 265 children at the local primary school will be provided with laptops.
Across these pilot areas, the government will test a range of technologies, including broadband and narrowband access, satellite communications and digital television. Community-based portals will be developed, an a specially developed website will encourage people to use ICT to look for learning and employment opportunities and to support community activity.
Schoolchildren in the selected communities will be provided with laptops for use in schools and at home.
Other initiatives
Similar projects to the "Wired Up Communities" are also being developed in Nottingham and in Hull, where the local councils are able to take advantage of good levels of existing cable and telecoms infrastructure to set about connecting thousands of council-owned homes to the Internet and/or interactive TV.
Will all this technology make a difference?
Advocates of using new technologies to overcome social exclusion will always say that technology and connectivity are not in themselves the answer. But they do provide some routes in to opportunities - for both personal and community development.
The UK government certainly believes that deprived neighbourhoods will benefit from being wired up. A report from last year from the government's Policy Action Team 15 highlighted the anticipated benefits:
acquiring knowledge and developing skills
developing confidence and self-esteem which reinforce family and community cohesion
pursuing leisure interests and opportunities
publishing and broadcasting their opinions and ideas and relating that experience to that of others globally
supporting and developing small businesses
being empowered to campaign and participate in the democratic process.
The Wired Communities, approach, however, does not prejudge the answers. Rather it wishes to "assess how individual access to the Internet can transform opportunities for people living in the most disadvantaged communities by developing new ways of accessing learning, work and leisure services."
The lessons learned will then inform priorities for wiring up communities in the future.
http://www.flexibility.co.uk/issues/debates/divide.htm
New forms of enterprise, new types of skills, new sources of wealth and new forms of social interaction - these are among the benefits of the "Information Society". Businesses and governments alike promote the new technologies for the benefits they will bring.
But, if these developments are seen as being beneficial, then the lack of them is seen as a cause for concern. Many people, mostly those already poor or socially disadvantaged in some other way, cannot or do not have access to the new technologies and the opportunities they bring. These people - "socially excluded", in the current jargon - stand on the wrong side of the "digital divide".
Action to tackle the divide
Governments across the western world are beginning to take action to try to bridge the perceived divide. Apart from a sackload of strategy documents, practical measures are being taken in some places to increase access to computers and the Internet.
One approach is that of Arizona in the US. Here the TOPAZ project (Telecommunications Open Partnerships of Arizona) is aimed at providing broadband access rural communities. Over the next 5 years Arizona expects to spend $100 million supporting local public agencies in purchasing broadband telecoms services, via a statewide carrier service.
Arizona state has contracted with 9 leading telecoms providers to develop the service. In this way the network is being "pushed" out to the communities. The "pull" factor comes from the state encouraging, and financially supporting, local authorities, tribal governments, health and education providers and the not-for-profit sector to aggregate demand. In this way the business case is made for continued roll-out of the service.
A similar principle of building the business case by aggregating demand is being tested in Scotland. In many areas the biggest users of telecommunications come from the public sector. Government agencies are being given more leeway than they are in England to work with the telecoms operators in bringing broadband into areas that would take forever for the market to reach.
Wired Communities
In England, a series of pilot projects are being developed by the DFEE (Department for Education and Employment). Some £10 million has been awarded to 7 communities seen to be potentially on the wrong side of the digital divide. These are a mix of urban and rural areas:
Kensington, Liverpool, one of England's most disadvantaged inner city communities. Over 400 households are being wired up, with a total of 2,000 PCs to be installed
The Carpenters Estate, Newham, East London: an inner city housing estate. All 750 households and the local primary school will be wired up;
Framlingham, Suffolk: a rural area, centred on a market town, involving the more deprived areas that exist alongside pockets of affluence. 1,500 homes and the local school will be wired up;
BeaconNet, East Manchester: an inner city housing estate where all 4,500 homes will be wired up along with local schools;
Whitebirk Estate, Blackburn: an area in a town with inner city features. Over 2,500 homes will be wired up and five local schools will benefit;
Alston, Cumbria: a rural area in which 1,200 homes across three small towns and isolated farms will be wired up. The project will involve two primary schools and a secondary school;
Brampton upon Dearne, S Yorkshire: a former coalfield community. All 1,500 households in the community will be wired up and all 265 children at the local primary school will be provided with laptops.
Across these pilot areas, the government will test a range of technologies, including broadband and narrowband access, satellite communications and digital television. Community-based portals will be developed, an a specially developed website will encourage people to use ICT to look for learning and employment opportunities and to support community activity.
Schoolchildren in the selected communities will be provided with laptops for use in schools and at home.
Other initiatives
Similar projects to the "Wired Up Communities" are also being developed in Nottingham and in Hull, where the local councils are able to take advantage of good levels of existing cable and telecoms infrastructure to set about connecting thousands of council-owned homes to the Internet and/or interactive TV.
Will all this technology make a difference?
Advocates of using new technologies to overcome social exclusion will always say that technology and connectivity are not in themselves the answer. But they do provide some routes in to opportunities - for both personal and community development.
The UK government certainly believes that deprived neighbourhoods will benefit from being wired up. A report from last year from the government's Policy Action Team 15 highlighted the anticipated benefits:
acquiring knowledge and developing skills
developing confidence and self-esteem which reinforce family and community cohesion
pursuing leisure interests and opportunities
publishing and broadcasting their opinions and ideas and relating that experience to that of others globally
supporting and developing small businesses
being empowered to campaign and participate in the democratic process.
The Wired Communities, approach, however, does not prejudge the answers. Rather it wishes to "assess how individual access to the Internet can transform opportunities for people living in the most disadvantaged communities by developing new ways of accessing learning, work and leisure services."
The lessons learned will then inform priorities for wiring up communities in the future.
http://www.flexibility.co.uk/issues/debates/divide.htm
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Reduction in digital divide between Wales and rest of the UK
It has been reported that in the space of just twelve months there has been a significant reduction in the digital divide between Wales and the rest of the UK.
In the past the digital divide between Wales and the UK when it came to the take up and accessibility of broadband has been quite significant, sparking concerns over inadequate broadband facilities and access in many parts of Wales. However, according to a recent report the digital divide has dropped significantly in just twelve months, falling from ten percent to just seven.
Research carried out by the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has shown that the gap between Wales and the UK is closing in fast, and its report also showed that Wales now has the highest proportion of households using mobile broadband services in the whole of the UK.
However, despite these encouraging numbers and figures officials from Ofcom have said that there is still a long way to go and many challenges that needed to be overcome. The level of broadband take up in Wales now stands at sixty four percent, and in the UK at seventy one percent, reflecting a drop of more than three percent in total in the past twelve months.
The report also showed that the level of broadband take up in rural parts of Wales was higher than in urban parts, with rural take up standing at sixty nine percent and urban take up at sixty two percent. This is despite the fact that rural areas often struggle to get access and availability when it comes to broadband services
http://www.broadband-expert.co.uk/blog/broadband-news/reduction-in-digital-divide-between-wales-and-rest-of-the-uk/779532
In the past the digital divide between Wales and the UK when it came to the take up and accessibility of broadband has been quite significant, sparking concerns over inadequate broadband facilities and access in many parts of Wales. However, according to a recent report the digital divide has dropped significantly in just twelve months, falling from ten percent to just seven.
Research carried out by the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has shown that the gap between Wales and the UK is closing in fast, and its report also showed that Wales now has the highest proportion of households using mobile broadband services in the whole of the UK.
However, despite these encouraging numbers and figures officials from Ofcom have said that there is still a long way to go and many challenges that needed to be overcome. The level of broadband take up in Wales now stands at sixty four percent, and in the UK at seventy one percent, reflecting a drop of more than three percent in total in the past twelve months.
The report also showed that the level of broadband take up in rural parts of Wales was higher than in urban parts, with rural take up standing at sixty nine percent and urban take up at sixty two percent. This is despite the fact that rural areas often struggle to get access and availability when it comes to broadband services
http://www.broadband-expert.co.uk/blog/broadband-news/reduction-in-digital-divide-between-wales-and-rest-of-the-uk/779532
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