Please tell Matthew that the article is talking about issues related to copyright instead of broadband, thus the term 'New'. The percentages were prefaces with 'nearing', which may be an implicit exaggeration but isn't inaccurate either. The Middle East is nearing peace. It has been for centuries.
I sort of expected librarians to understand the points related to copyright issues instead of worried about approximated figures. Those figures, if you read the article, are actually an entry introduction into the larger issue - basically stating that the NEXT problem is going to be what was apparently ignored in the article. Permission to forward my message is implicit, though I retain all copyrights and forbid the librarians to distribute this message to their libraries. Just kidding. K.G. Schneider wrote: >Forwarded with Matthew's permission. Several librarians questioned the >"data" in the message, "The New Digital Divide." > >Karen G. Schneider >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >-----Original Message----- >From: Dig_Ref [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matthew R. >Marsteller >Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 9:38 AM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: [DIG_REF] The New Digital Divide > >Like Sherrie, I'm a bit skeptical as well. I just looked up the data in >the most recent "A Nation Online: Entering the Broadband Age" and it would >seem that we have reason to have misgivings. Figure 1 on page four of this >document (produced by the National Telecommunications and Information >Administration, U.S. Dept. of Commerce) indicates an overall figure for >computers in households to be 61.8 percent. But wait! It gets worse! >Those with Internet connections are at 54.6 percent and those with >Broadband Internet access are at 19.9 percent. > >The figures for the poor are also still very bad in this report. So, in my >view the old Digital Divide is alive and well - and it really doesn't help >when influential people get the facts wrong! > >One thing that came to mind ... how many people known to have computers in >the home are counting the Commodore-64 or Vic-20 on the top shelf of their >now grown-up and moved-out kid's bedroom! > >To see the report that I referred to, go to: > ><http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/anol/NationOnlineBroadband04.pdf> > >And I would still like our legislators to spend one day of the year like >the poorest of their citizens ... trying to get all of their computing >needs for the day satisfied with their half-hour allotment at their local >public library. Grrrr... > >Matt > >--On Sunday, June 19, 2005 12:37 PM -0700 Sherrie Prentice ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >>I would be intersted to know where you got your percentages. Could you >>cite your sources please. >> >>Sherrie Prentice >> >>Michael Hart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>THE NEW DIGITAL DIVIDE >> >>Have you noticed the new Digital Divide yet? >> >>With the U.S. and a dozen other countries nearing the >>90% saturation level of households with computers and >>80% with the high speed connections, the olde Digital >>Divide has become outdated and outmoded, and is being >>replaced by the New Digital Divide. . .plain elitism. >> >>It used to be the elitism of who had computer access, >>but now that nearly every household has a computer it >>is a different story, and access has to be curtailed, >>and in new ways. >> >>As Thomas L. Friedman has noted, the old elitisms are >>now being threatened by the level playing field of an >>Earth that has been newly flattened by the Internet-- >>and thus the elite are fighting back. >> >>The New York Times has just announced Internet sites, >>all free since their inception, are now going to cost >>everyone $50 per year. . .which I am sure will reduce >>their traffic back to the elite top 10%, as 90% would >>go elsewhere for free information. >> >>Other free services that have had millions of dollars >>worth of media coverage are turning out not to be any >>kind of Flat Earth playing field leveler. >> >>The Google Print Library project that was covered all >>over the media six months ago as the library that all >>the world could used via "universal accessibility" is >>now turning its readers over first to bookstores, and >>then to libraries as it becomes more and more plainly >>obvious that Google's library is not really a library >>but merely a catalog for bookstores and libraries for >>those who already have easy access to them. >> >> >>Here is the history of the Digital Divide: >> >>30 years ago only the very rich and powerful, and the >>professional elite of the computer operators had some >>computer access in 1975. >> >>[The only reason _I_ had computer access back then is >>that my brother's best friend and my best friend were >>mainframe operators on the major Internet relay point >>when the Internet got out of the laboratories in 1971 >>and first reached across the continental U.S.] >> >> >>20 years ago we were already in the second generation >>of "personal" computers, with the advent of IBM ATs & >>Apple Macintoshes, but these were still too expensive >>for the mainstream in 1985, and most people had still >>never heard of the Internet. >> >>[The only reason _I_ had any computers was because of >>the "trickle down" economic system. I could not have >>afforded one, but my friends had bough them earliest, >>and then I got their cast-offs as they upgraded. The >>final step was when I built my first IBM-XT from lots >>of mostly garage sale parts.] >> >> >>10 years ago we were in the middle of all the Dot Com >>explosion, and headed straight up the middle of giant >>multi-billion dollar "S curves." Why no one of those >>thousands of pundits out there ever mentioned that if >>you reach 1/2 of the population with a product, those >>remaining will never present a market that can double >>again at any rate, much less at the previous. . .that >>I don't know. I mentioned "S curves" to most friends >>of mine, but still they lost billions. Computers are >>commonplace in 1995, but scams and spams are on their >>way to gum up the works, not to mention that markets, >>such as they are, simply cannot continue on the paths >>they previously have, once reaching 50% market share, >>it just isn't possible. >> >>[The only reason Project Gutenberg and I were visible >>was again due to my friends who got me access through >>various departments of my local university. This was >>all unofficial above the department level, but was OK >>with the department heads.] >> >> >>Today the average computer costs under $500 while the >>average hardback book costs around $70 [Bowkers], and >>this means that nearly everyone who wants one can get >>a computer, and that's not even counting used ones. >> >>Buying an armload of average hardbacks costs you more >>today than buying a computer. . .and that says a LOT! >> >>These computers could easily hold every book you ever >>even heard of on a single DVD, and blank DVDs are now >>under a dollar. >> >> >>What we have is a system that COULD deliver a million >>books to anyone with computer access, BUT REFUSES!!! >> >> >>At first I thought Google's huge press release on the >>14th of December meant that this was finally about to >>happen, but since then I have become more and more of >>a recipient of various pieces of information, both of >>direct Google statements and from interviewers who do >>mugh higher level conversations with Google than I am >>able to manage, and all this information adds up to a >>pretty inescapable conclusion that some 10-15 million >>books mentioned by so much of our media are NOT going >>to even out the Digital Divide, but reinforce it. >> >>I studied half a dozen media coverages December 14th: >> >>BBC World News >>CBS Evening News >>NBC Nightly News >>ABC World News Tonight >>PBS News Hour >>NPR Various Reports >> >>and the representatives of all Google Print Libraries >>seemed to be librarians, not booksellers, and what it >>seemed to be that they were saying was that Google is >>going to build a world-class library that everyone is >>going to have access to, free of charge. >> >>This would have certainly been a brick in the wall of >>Thomas L. Friedman's Flat Earth level playing field! >> >>But now I am even more concerned that it will be just >>the opposite, yet another brick for the elite to walk >>even higher on, and thus to make the playing field be >>even less level. >> >> >>I have been conversing with people on these topics in >>earnest for 34 years now, since I put the first etext >>online for free download back in 1971, and it appears >>that the world at large is happier to provide elitist >>access to information than to have informed masses. >> >>I wish and hope and pray that this will eventually be >>reversed, both in my own view and in reality. >> >> >>Of course, in the end, the question is always: >> >>"Is The Glass Half Full, Or Is It Half Empty?" >> >> >>With well over 100,000 freely downloadable eBooks out >>there for all a 50 year reading program would require >>2,000 books per year to be gone through, so even if a >>reader were selective to the point of reading only 1% >>of those books, that would be 20 books per year and I >>am sure there will be thousands more free eBooks from >>a variety of sources every single year, at least from >>now until the public domain is destroyed by copyright >>to the point at which copyrights are so long that NOT >>A SINGLE COPYRIGHT ISSUED IN OUR LIFETIMES CAN EXPIRE >>BEFORE THE END OF OUR LIFE EXPECTANCY. >> >>[Which, by the way, is the way it already is. . . .] >> >>--- >>To sign off from DIG_REF, send a >>message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>with the command SIGNOFF DIG_REF. >> >>__________________________________________________ >>Do You Yahoo!? >>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around >>http://mail.yahoo.com >> >>--- >>To sign off from DIG_REF, send a >>message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>with the command SIGNOFF DIG_REF. >> >> >> > > > >Matthew R. Marsteller >Physics and Math Librarian >Senior Librarian >Engineering and Science Library >4400 Wean Hall >Carnegie Mellon University >Pittsburgh, PA 15213 > >Phone: 412-268-7212 >E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >AOL IM Screen name: physmathlibr >Yahoo! Messenger Screen name: physmathlibr >http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~matthewm/mrmwork.html >STS Government Information Committee: >"Top 100" Science/Technology Government Information Links >http://tinyurl.com/23hvm >(http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/acrlsections/sciencete >ch/stscommittees/stsgovernment.htm) > >--- >To sign off from DIG_REF, send a >message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >with the command SIGNOFF DIG_REF. > > >_______________________________________________ >DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list >[email protected] >http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide >To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE >in the body of the message. > > > -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: Panama City, Panama [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran "Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
