The Domestic Divide:
The consequences for American society of this digital divide are expected to be severe. The Internet may provide equal opportunity and open communication, but only for those with access. The United States was founded upon equity, yet our foundation and commonly held beliefs may be at risk if a significant segment of our society is being denied equal access to the Internet. Not only is this a social dilemma, but an economic one as well as we rely heavily on technology skills to keep American firms competitive.
In just about every country, a certain percentage of people have the best information technology that society has to offer. These people have the most powerful computers, the best telephone service and fastest Internet service, as well as a wealth of content and training relevant to their lives. There is another group of people. They are the people who for one reason or another lack access to the newest or best computers, the most reliable telephone service or the fastest or most convenient Internet services. The difference between the “haves” and “have nots” is what has been called the "Digital Divide." 1/
According to the Commerce Department’s “Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital Digital Inclusion” (October 2000), more than half of all households have computers and that more than half of all Americans will be using the Internet by the middle of 2001. As the United States government continues to seek answers, a digital divide remains and has expanded slightly in some cases. Even while Internet access and computer ownership are rising rapidly for almost all groups, not everyone was so well off to begin with. For example, the Commerce Department’s most recent data show that large gaps remain for Blacks and Hispanics when measured against the national average Internet penetration rate (Blacks 23.5% penetration rate, Hispanics 23.6%, compared to 41.5% nationally)
Minorities, low-income persons, the less educated and children of single-parent households, particularly when they reside in rural areas or central cities, are among the groups that lack access to information resources. 1/ When Web surfing is measured based on annual US household income, $25,000 and below group comprise the fastest growing, but still the smallest segment of users. Technological innovations typically induce large initial profit margins, and then historically decrease in price. However, increases in Internet access have not yet correlated with the most important aspect of decreasing the digital divide, which is a decrease in cost. A strong correlation does exist between household income and Internet access.
According to the Falling Through the Net II report,
“Although Internet penetration is significantly lower in low-income households, these households are installing Internet links faster than more affluent families. Only 12.7% of households with income of less than $15,000 use the internet, but that’s up 79% from 1998. Even larger gains were reported for households earning $15,000 to $24,999 and $25,000 to $34,999 – 93% and 78% respectively. By comparison, Internet use in households earning more than $75,000 grew 29%.” 1/
Such increases in the $25,000 and under income group are attributed, according to Ann Rickert of Media Metrix, to a decline in computer prices and increased web access in academic and business environments. Ultimately, the digital divide is a result of, and strongly correlates to the social and economic differences that exist.
According to Thomas Novak, Associate Professor of Management and Co-Director of e-Lab, while 63 percent of all classrooms were connected to the Internet in 1999, in areas with high concentrations of poverty, only 39 percent of instructional rooms were connected. At the same time, in areas with lower concentrations of poverty up to 74 percent of instructional rooms are connected. Similarly, a 1998 study of Internet use among college freshman found that nearly 83 percent of all new college students report using the Internet for schoolwork and almost two-thirds use email to communicate. Yet, closer examination suggests a disturbing disparity in access. While 80 percent of private college freshman use email regularly, for example, only 41 percent of students attending black public colleges do. 2/
A possible solution to the digital divide might be found in large corporations, who are hooked on buying increasingly fast PC’s to run the newest and most developed software. So they are nowadays forced each year to retire more than 30 million 3-year-old PCs on which these old software releases are no longer supported. 3/ As a result there is evidence here of an emerging used computer market. Coupling this with corporations and their social responsibility, a lot can be done to bridge this divide.
The market for used cars is six times larger than that for new cars. 3/ Today there is a consumer led market for everyone that wants to buy a car, whether it be rich or poor, rural or urban. This is proven in the modest profit margins in the auto dealership industry. Nevertheless, the auto industry is a well-developed industry comparable to the computer industry in regards to profit margins and numbers of key players involved.
In America we pride ourselves on the basis of freedom, economic opportunity, and overall equity. Therefore it is in everyone’s best interest to curb this digital divide. If an automobile, a roof over your head, and a job are all things relatively attainable in American society, a computer with Internet access should never be asking too much.
For example, IBM officials have responded by arranging special low-margin pricing that has made it possible for the city of Oakland to purchase 25 new IBM PC’s for a computer learning center at Acorn, five IBM Netfinity 5000 servers to run a community network, and 296 IBM NetVista thin clients, enough for every apartment at Acorn. “IBM has made community efforts in the past, but this is the first for-profit model,” Bill Warren, director of Education Solutions… explains. “A lot of times, when corporations get involved in the community, it’s philanthropic, which lasts only for a short period of time. [With the Acorn project] we are in it for the long haul, so we can create just enough profit to make our stockholders happy.” 4/ In the future philanthropic, market forces, and government forces must converge as philanthropy is the plays the key current role.
Microsoft, the software giant, last year announced it will donate $100 million in cash and software over 5 years to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to build 3,000 centers where kids can use PCs. Sun Microsystems gives $1 million annually in computers and software to low-income schools in California, Colorado, and Massachussetts. Oracle, a database firm, has donated Internet appliances, network equipment and printers to 2,500 classrooms over the past 3 years. 2/
What previously was curbing the digital divide is now decreasing as the economic slowdown has reduced giving by some companies. Along with reduced giving, government funding is also in danger of being cut. For the fiscal year starting October 1st, the Commerce Department is proposing cutting the Technology Opportunities Program to $15 million from $42.5 million. 2/ In part, this is a program that is aimed at providing more Internet access to minorities.
Unfortunately the economic slowdown and government budget cuts are not only confined to small companies and the Commerce Department. However, this is giving America time to re-evaluate our circumstances. We now understand that philanthropy is down and profits have been marginalized. The government is now going to need to play a larger role in bridging this digital divide, but they cannot be expected to go at it alone. As one of the few countries in the world that possesses the financial, technological, and social capabilities to combat the digital divide, it will soon become a matter of implementation using the government and the tech industry in a two-pronged attack.
In what may be the most ambitious project to narrow the “digital divide,” the city of Houston launched a program in August of 2001 offering free e-mail and use of personal computer software to its 3 million area residents. The service will start in three low-income areas, then spread through the city. 5/ This concept of marketing to the inner city and then outwards is the same marketing strategies many domestic companies use today.
The main reason that the inner-city is mentioned more often than rural areas in terms of the digital divide is for logistical reasons. Creating and maintaining the necessary infrastructure for getting computer and internet access to rural communities requires enormous amounts of capital investment. Therefore from a financial as well as logistical standpoint, wiring our inner cities first could provide the necessary investment requirements and experience to then go out and wire rural areas.
While today it is quite admirable of everyone involved to procure computers and internet access for everyone, the current digital divide debate, we must also be looking into the future. A computer and internet use can very easily parallel the telegraph and our subsequent phone usage rate today. However, we must also note that the possibilities for a computer in comparison to a conventional phone are limitless.
As pioneers of the democratic world and overall free market economy, America will be closely looked upon in our response to solving the current digital divide. In the future countries will look to model their domestic policies in response to our current handling of the digital divide. But for better or worse, as Americans we will likely be seeking answers to a newer kind of digital divide, one with greater software and technological requirements, and could involve software affordability as well as broadband access rates necessary for these new software and hardware requirements. Only 10.7% of households have broadband today. 1/