crossing the digital divide

The digital divide study provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation was interesting and it left me wondering how much has been done since it was released in 2004 to address the disparity. I was first off surprised that the definition was at one time simply whether one had ever had access to the Internet or used a computer because I had understood it to mean regular access to either one of those two things. What didn’t surprise me was that the divide was along financial and racial lines as often times those factors sadly enough are what keep many citizens from taking part in other aspects of our world.
As I read this though, I wondered about the wisdom of giving federal dollars to programs to encourage computer and Internet use among the poor partially because, having worked in a public library before I often saw many who used by those who appeared to be in need to play online poker or do various other tasks which had no apparent connection to finding jobs or services by which to improve their lives. I understand that people need to have a release once in awhile from the grind of life. I’m guilty myself of spending time killing terrorists and other ‘bad guys’ on my computer when I should be doing other things however, when it’s on someone else’s dime that kind of gets many people’s hackles up and maybe somewhat justifiably.
Now, after having this somewhat hard-hearted look at things I thought that it’s wrong to deny those who need the access at places like libraries just because of the proverbial bad apples. I never liked being punished as a young student for the stupidity of others. I had to remind myself that there are many who simply need a hand-up to get themselves and their loved ones to the parity they seek to find(though, realistically it may not happen to the extent they seek or deserve).
I looked up on our EBSCO database to see what was available in the news recently on the topic of the digital divide and found an interesting article from the Arizona Daily Star out of Tucson, from April 19th of this year about how the local school district was jumping on board to serve as a point of access for wireless service. This was tied into a program where students could earn laptops with good grades, attendance, and the like. As one of the students in this article pointed out the library wasn’t always open and this combined effort made doing homework more easily accomplishable. Making it even easier, many local restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores were also making efforts to provide wireless access as a means of returning good will to the local community. I don’t know but I imagine other communities are doing similar efforts and that sounds great. If you would like to read this article, here’s the link-Partnership giving students Wi-Fi access . It said this is the permanent link so, hopefully I did this right and you’ll be able to see it. Anyhow, I think programs like this would assuage even the most hard-hearted critics of government spending efforts and provide favorable returns to communities all over.