Re: [Winona] Digital Divide

[Gene Thiele]

When I participated in Team Training at my workplace I was designated a 'challenger'. Therefore, I'd like to take a step back here and ask just what is the 'digital divide' and why it must be closed.  The discussion appears to have started as a concern that not everyone has access to e-mail or the web.  When I was a kid concensus opinion was we'd be voting though our TV's by 1975.  Then the fax machine was going to replace the Post Office.  Now the average citizen is deprived if they can't shop on the Internet or get their mail without going out of the house?   It doesn't appear to me that most people use the web for anything substantial.  In fact, some would argue that there is more bad than good out there because of the unrestricted access to porn (there is a cottage industry of software venders to block various sites from your desktop), gambling (they had their own '12 step program' prior to anyone having Internet access), racism (in Germany Neo-Nazis' are using the web to reemerge from relative obscurity), chat rooms (that have led to the abduction of hundreds of unsuspecting children and adults), and credit card shopping (to some as addictive as gambling).    In the year 2000, or in the near future, why is it important that the average citizen (or student) have e-mail/Internet access?     By the way John, you may be interested in Telecosm:  How Infinite Bandwidth Will Revolutionize Our World, by George Gilder (Free Press).  I read a review by David Gelernter (professor of computer science at Yale), and he describes it as "...one of the best technology books I have ever read."   gene thiele winona, mn   ----- Original Message ----- From: John Stafford To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 4:46 PM Subject: Re: [Winona] Digital Divide We need a minor adjustment of our technology picture here. The Digital Divide is already closing due to ordinary market forces. Winonans who can afford a TV and cable or phone  today will be able to afford essential network access in the year 2002 at the very latest.   Do not assume todays 'computers' when considering the digital needs of the average citizen. The computer most people use today is NOT the Internet device of the future, and perhaps not even the near future. Internet *appliances are already available which are significantly less expensive than computers, and they will be less expensive again as economy of scale takes place and competition rises. Then later, as the marketplace finds the lowest common price, then the appliances will deliver more for the same money. This is a certain trend which has existed in the electronics industry for fifty years, and it is further accelerated today by the potential of advertising in the network medium. Again, Winonans who can afford a TV and cable or phone  today will be able to afford essential network access in the year 2002 -  which leads us to consider the truly Hard Questions of community communication. John Stafford   *e-mail appliances are available today for as little as $100 and network (web) appliances for as much as $600, which is of course, outrageous but those prices will come down, assuming competition. You can, however, get  the $600 appliance for only $100 if you sign your soul away to Microsoft's online service for three years. So, even in this very early development of the Netpliance, it is clear that the market considers a fair value to be about the sane as a small, cheap color TV.)   ================================= From: schenkat >We have been informed by Gene Pelowski regarding the issue of disposal of >old  computer equipment that the trend now is more to lease than buy >computers and there is a very strong market for used computers in the >Pacific Rim.  I'd like to refocus the conversation on the Digital Divide >issue around us better understanding the needs and interests of folks who >currently don't have internet and web access. Once we understand those >needs, perhaps we'd be in a better position to think of ways of resolving >the digital divide in Winona. What do others think?