[11174] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: Clifford Lynch, Scientific American (March)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Tue Apr 1 20:13:22 1997
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 1997 14:46:27 -0600 (CST)
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
2 Messages; 100 Lines
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From: kgs@bluehighways.com (Karen G. Schneider)
Subject: Re: Clifford Lynch, Scientific American (March)
For a very revealing look at one side of the issue of "haves" and
"have-nots," see the 1996 National Survey of Public Libraries and the
Internet <http://www.nclis.gov>. Note particularly that size of the
region, geopolitical area and other factors significantly impact
connectivity of the libraries.
There are many types of have-nots among us. Rural areas have difficulty
with connectivity, but so do very poor urban areas. In the bombed-out
regions of inner cities, you do not have ready access to the Internet, and
equipment limitations may mean service, when it is available, is only
available through character-based accounts.
Limiting technology won't work. I have heard proponents of Internet 2
worry that the next generation of Internet service may lock out
information. But in America, what locks out information is class and race.
There will always be a next level which some folks can access and others
can't. This is a slippery slope that political reform, not technological
change, must address.
The Internet is a remarkable phenomonon, the hallmark of our generation.
But the Internet ultimately can't break down the very significant barriers
that separate the "haves" and "have-nots." We have to do that ourselves,
by recognizing and addressing issues of money and class in our society.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen G. Schneider * kgs@bluehighways.com * schneider.karen@epamail.epa.gov
Author, The Internet Access Cookbook (e-mail Neal-Schuman@icm.com)
Director, US EPA Region 2 Library Contractor, Garcia Consulting
Cybrarian * Columnist, American Libraries
Visit our library at http://www.epa.gov/Region2/library/
These opinions strictly mine!
*-----
From: jahb@Lehigh.EDU (Jennifer Heise)
Pardon me while I ride my personal hobby horse. I hope I don't offend anyone,
because this isn't a personal flame or anything; it just is a very apt analogy
to me.
>"Except *possibly* for a few rural areas, I propose that there are FEW
>"information have nots" ... except those who are "information WANT nots."
>(Unless you are also equally concerned about the social gap between the
>"drivers" and the "drive nots" -- about which we rarely see much
>hand-ringing.) Why?
Because while most of us have been without information when we needed it, very
few people have really thought about being without a car.
>I like this thought provoking analogy Jim. But because there are
>alternatives to personal car ownership such as public transportation,
>rentals, taxis... I don't think it holds any water.
Actually, it does hold water. Unfortunately.
The alternatives to owning a car in this country are pitifully inadequate. If
you do not own a car in the country, your life is infinitely more
complicated. A simple 10 to 15 minute trip to the doctor will involve up to
four hours of travel and infinite planning. In most places that are not major
metro areas, the amount of time it will take to get a taxi to arrive is equal
to the amount of time it would take to walk there-- plus 10 minutes. Public
transport outside of metro areas is sparce: a bus may run to where you want to
go every two or three hours, between 7 am and 6 pm. In many areas, there is
no public transport after 6 pm. This situation makes it difficult for the
drive-not to get jobs, go shopping at decent groceries, visit doctors and
counselors, etc. Because of this situation, poor people live in indentured
servitude to their automobiles, dropping as much as a third of their incomes
on trying to keep their cars running.
Now, it would be very easy to imagine this same kind of situation obtaining
in for information have-nots. Because it does now. In many areas, not only
do people not have the money to drop on a computer capable of supporting
Windows 3.1, enough memory to run Netscape, and internet access, etc. but no
such access is available. (For instance, very recently there were no ISPs
within a local call of Northern Delaware.) Of course, it doesn't matter
whether they can get access at the library. They can't get to the library,
because the library hours have been cut down to regular 'business hours',
those hours during which they must work for their living, and the library is
in the nearest metro area.
But we have cars, so we don't care about the problems of the drive-nots. And
we have internet access at work, so we don't see that there's a problem of
information have-nots.
Maybe I'm right off track. But I know what it is like to be a drive-not, and
I've found out how frustrating it is to be trying to help a friend who is a
net-not!
Jennifer Heise, Net: jahb@lehigh.edu \
Senior Specialist, Web Management, LUIR Phone:(610)758-3072 / /
Lehigh University, 8A E. Packer Avenue, Bethlehem PA 18015 \
My opinions are my own. No one else would HAVE them anyway.
"My employers pay me money to put up with them. What makes you think I'll put
up with you for free?" L. Starker
