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The
Digital Divide Research and Community Development Project
Current Reports
Relevant Resources
A good deal of attention has focused recently on the "digital divide"
between those who do and do not have access to computers and the
Internet. Several national studies have demonstrated significant
differences in access between Americans urban and rural, rich and
poor, ethnic minorities and majority.
As physical access to the Internet begins to become available in
a limited way in Latino and African-American communities, like East
Austin, it is becoming clear that the digital divide consists of
more than just access to the hardware and computer software of PCs
and the Internet. Significant differences also seem to exist in
how different communities see the usefulness of these new technologies
for them. There are gaps not only in physical access but in background,
knowledge, and people's prior or preparatory histories with technology.
Austin represents a best case scenario in many ways: a dynamic
information economy, a local awareness of the need for educating
people for that economy, strong universities and public schools,
high levels of computer and Internet access in most homes, a history
of community activism on creating public access, and state institutions
like the Texas Infrastructure Fund that have helped seed projects.
Why then, as a recent U.S. News and World Report article pointed
out, is there still a significant digital divide in Austin along
ethnic, income and neighborhood lines?
Our project's work focuses on what lies behind the issues of
access to computers and the Internet:
• What
are the structural economic and social reasons why many people don't
have access? Are those conditions changing? What efforts are required?
We are looking at historical inequities in job offerings and training,
in education within Austin schools, and in income and the affordability
of these media. We are working with schools like Johnston High School
and community groups like Austin Free-Net to see what can be done
to improve access.
• Who
has the educational, cultural and social capital or knowledge to
use Internet and computer access once it becomes available? What
is required to help people learn and acquire that capital? Our research,
both at Johnston High and in use of public access at Austin libraries,
shows us that many people need help in getting the skills, background
and perspective required to make computers useful in their lives.
Groups like Austin Free-Net and Telecommunity Partners are providing
resources but need help from volunteers and donors of both equipment
and time to help train people.
• How
are computers and the Internet presented in the media and societal
discourse to those who are currently not involved with them? Does
an ad slogan like "1-800-BE A GEEK" help tell a sixteen year-old
Latino guy that the Internet is also for him? If not, how do we
get that message across? We have found that, particularly among
minority community teenagers, many people do not see computers and
Internet presented in the media as things that people like them
use.
• Is the current policy
strategy of focusing on public access rather than universal home
access to computers and the Internet viable? What encourages poor
or minority community members to go to libraries or community technology
centers to use these media? What keeps them away? Should policy
focus instead on trying to get computers and the Internet into all
homes, like our existing policies for telephones?
1999-2000 Research Activities, focused on Austin and the larger
case of Texas
Dimensions of the digital divide in Texas
We are conducting surveys for state and city government to map out
the dimensions of the digital divide in Texas and in Austin, to
compare with national studies by NTIA and others. We focus particularly
on ethnic and urban/rural divides, as well as age, gender and income.
The social, economic and geographic structures behind the digital
divide
We are looking at the development of workforce demands for information
economies, how those relate to school systems, and how disadvantaged
population groups are made aware of where jobs are and what their
requirements are. We are also looking at national, state and local
policy on universal service, public access to the Internet, and
the geography of where information access exists relative to disadvantaged
communities.
Social discourse about the digital divide, who is pulled in and
who is not
We are examining the coverage or discourse about who is using
and who ought to be using computers and the Internet. Initial studies
of radio stations and television/cable channels profound ethnic
differences in who is targeted by ads about the Internet and ads
with URLs, for example. We are also looking at the local community
discourses about new technology in Austin to examine parallels to
media presentations.
The meaning and use of information technology in the lives of disadvantaged
communities
We are interviewing public access users as well as a broader
sample of ninth graders and their parents to examine how people
make sense of what they hear from media and local institutions about
computers and the Internet. We are also using these interviews to
dig more deeply to see where people get the cultural capital they
employ as they decide whether and how to make use of these technologies
in their lives. We try to discern how family trajectories, life
experiences and social structures help form that cultural capital.
This research will culminate in several policy reports and the publication
of a book about the case of Austin, Texas.
Proposed 2000-2002 Research Activities
Comparison of the cases of Austin and Texas with other U.S. cases
Studies of immigrant communities in the US and their relationships
to information technologies.
For more information contact Joe
Straubhaar, College of Communication, The University of Texas
at Austin. The Digital Divide project Web site is coming soon!
Current Reports
The first report in the project is an
examination of the role of public libraries and community technology
centers in providing pulic Internet access to minority communities
in East Austin.
Beyond
Access: Cultural Capital and the Roots of the Digital Divide (PDF)
Relevant links and resources
We hope you find these related Internet sites useful.
• In
December 1999, TIPI assisted the Texas
Public Utility Commission with a worksession dealing with the
availability of advanced services in rural and high cost areas.
Particpants included TIPI's Joe Straubhaar, Sharon Strover, and
Lon Berquist. View
the speaker slide presentations for more information.
• KLRU-TV,
Austin, TX: Navigating the Digital Divide
•
National
Telecommunications and Information and Administration's Digital
Divide Web site.
• The
Children's Partnership -- Online Content for Low-Income and Underdeserved
American: The Digital Divide's New Frontier
• The
Benton Foundation's Digital Divide Network
• Vanderbilt
University -- Bridging the Digital Divide: The Impact of Race on
Computer Access and Internet Use
• PBS',
Digital Divide Television Series
• Hispanic
Connect
•
Austin
Free-Net
•
East
Austin Community Network
• The
Community Technology Centers' Network
•
Austin
Community Access Center
•
TeleCommunity
Resoruce Center
•
Metropolitan
Austin Interactive Network
• US
News & World Report article examines the Digital Divide in Austin
By William J. Holstein, 2/21/00
•
U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development. Neighborhood Networks
Send us your links!
(please write "links to TIPI site" on Subject)
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