The Internet and the National Information Infrastructure

High-level protocols and user-friendly software like NCSA Mosaic are reducing less tangible barriers to public use. But great disparities remain. In fact, disparities will grow as those on the cutting edge leave the training edge farther and farther behind. Households without computers, keyboard illiterates, unaffiliated individuals, rural residents, the elderly, and small businesses are all disadvantaged in different ways and likely to remain so.

The Internet and the Poor

Simply acquiring computer skills has become insufficient in the age of the Internet. It has become important to be literate in the use of networked information, and any universal service policy must address this. This is necessary to close income gaps as well as to promote civic participation. Network literacy has been described as a critical skill for citizens in the future … The necessary knowledge includes awareness of the range and use of globally networked information resources and how to apply such resources in everyday problem solving and improving individual quality of life … The high-performance workplace will be increasingly laced with networked information systems, and workers need to learn how to use them, to solve problems and work effectively in teams.

The Internet and the Poor

With time, funding, and continued promotion of universal service goals by the Administration, the number of community-based public access network services and connected libraries could rapidly increase. However, unless a certain level of literacy skills in the use of networked information have been attained by the general population, access will be of limited benefit.

The Internet and the Poor

In the information age, access is a more complex proposition that requires support for users as well as information content … There is good evidence that policy directives through the Information Infrastructure Task Force have resulted in broad investments across a range of domestic-assistance programs. Such policy directives should be formalized into Congressional findings in legislative proposals for telecommunications reform. These findings should accent the roles of public libraries and local non-profit organizations in supporting universal service goals.

The Internet and the Poor

For job-seekers, weak ties facilitated over electronic mail can increase the potential for strong ties that can result in new working relationships. Internet-based mailing lists have significant potential for transforming weak ties of acquaintance into strong ties … Universal service policy can effectively reduce costs associated with meeting new people and maintaining relationships that can lead over time to new employment and education opportunities. Internet-based electronic mail introduces a new process efficiency in creating and maintaining novel relationships. Weak ties can be efficiently and cost-effectively maintained … This helps retain options for more serious communications leading to new strong ties in other social and work domains … Policy that encourages such broad individual user of the NII could have a social and economic leveling effect.

The Internet and the Poor

Free, public access to Internet mailing lists can create new opportunities for displaced workers and low-income children to broaden their network of personal acquaintances for employment and education prospects far outside their schools and neighborhoods. Free access to Internet-based mailing lists could become a jumping-off point for a young student, enabling him or her to not only follow the current debate on a particular research topic but actually find out about and acquaint themselves with members of particular research communities.

The Internet and the Poor

A combination of tax credits could make it possible for low-income households to better afford personal computers and access to networked information services. Accelerating depreciation schedules for personal computers used in business could rapidly create a secondary market of quality used equipment that could flow to low-income households and poverty-level microenterprises. In order for a business to qualify for an accelerated depreciation, it could be required that the equipment be provided to a school, a charity organization, or low-income individual, with the name of the recipient to be listed on the tax form.

The Internet and the Poor

It is too early to understand what Universal Service of the NII should be, and a period of experimentation within the “laboratory of the states” should be encouraged, before establishing federal baselines. Therefore, any federal framework for Universal Service should provide flexibility for states to develop their own priorities and financing mechanisms, and empower local communities to establish their own criteria, programs and services.

The Internet and the Poor

The Internet delivers social and economic value to those individuals using it effectively … It is not at all surprising that this trend parallels a 10-year trend in widening income gaps as the information economy becomes more pervasive. Universal service policy needs to address these growing inequities. A universal service policy that could encourage a leveling effect between the information haves and have-nots should be developed for the National Information Infrastructure and specifically the public Internet … It would combine market incentives and individual tax credits to increase computer ownership among low-income households, promote development of public access network services, and fund network literacy programs through adult education programs, public libraries, and schools.

The Internet and the Poor

It is likely that opportunities in the new economy will increasingly flow to those with access to the National Information Infrastructure – especially those who can strategically apply its resources, as in using electronic mail to enter labor markets. Access to networking could also encourage civic involvement. For example, a recent consumer survey suggested that voting in elections was a highly desired user of networked information services.