Brief introductions:

Coralee: Director of "Virtually Wired", a CTC in Boston providing open access, serving the homeless community. Had good success in main-streaming the clients, not just learning computers, but improving self-esteem and job-readiness. Center closed 8/31 due to lack of funding and public support.

Seth: Twenty years at HP; served as representative on CPSR Technology Committee. Involved in wiring schools project at Smart Valley Inc., and CommerceNet. Now left HP and working as independent consultant spreading the SmartSchools idea to other communities.

Laura: An independent consultant focusing on Internet strategies and organizational development, based in Menlo Park, CA. Clients have included SRI International (Menlo Park), the Education Development Center (Newton, MA), the Morino Institute (Reston, VA), Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN), and HandsNet (San Jose, CA), as well as other leading institutions that study, develop and promote the use of network technologies.

Madeline: Formerly in the Social Services, now director of ASAP (Access to Software for All People), an economic development and opportunity agency for teens, adults and senior citizens. Sees technology as a tool to help low-income diverse communities, and jobs as a means to improve health.

Ben: Formerly a 6th grade teacher. Now technology director for two alternative public schools in East Palo Alto, the Edison Project schools. Developing a home technology program for parents.

Panelist Presentations

Seth: Reviews some key data from "Falling through the Net" [ http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/ ]. The good news is that there is a 94-98% increase in home computers across the board, and the same increase in Internet access. See charts at [ http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/charts.html ] In the wealthy sector, all racial/ethnic groups have computers in the home to an equal extent. Across all income groups, telephone penetration varies by race, with white at 96% and black/Hispanic at 86-89%. In the low-income group, only 15% have computers, and there are differences according to location (rural, urban, inner city) and race (white vs black or Hispanic). The Digital Divide is demonstrated in the gap between white and black/Hispanic widening over time from 1994 to 1997 from 15% to 22% (home computers) and from 13% to 20% (Internet access).

A number of factors serve to decrease the likelihood of computer/Internet, such as not having graduated from high school, being a single parent. When black/Hispanic groups are asked about the barriers to owning computers, the answers are: cost (17%), not useful (30%), safety for children (6%), lack of skills and trust.

The solution is community access through libraries, schools, churches, community based organizations, classes, mentors, outreach, incentives - all with dignity. Please volunteer to help your community [ http://www.compumentor.org ]

Laura: Experience at national program director for NTIA at the Department of Commerce in Washington DC since the early 90s, and specifically as a TIIAP funder from 1994-96, with the goal of jump-starting public support for technology. Left TIIAP to be an independent consultant with CTCNet [ http://www.ctcnet.org ] for two years. Also served on the board of the Association for Community Networking. It is important to have accurate information on the Digital Divide, look at the May 1999 paper analyzing 18 months of data by Hoffman and Novak (URL). How do we know these programs are making a difference? Look at the Casey Foundation survey of CTCs (URL). Note the story of the Puente Learning Center in Los Angeles - an after-school program for primarily black and Hispanic students. Ask the clients, "why computers?" - the answer is, to get a job, participate fully in society, to learn at one's own pace. Two reports have provided answers to this question: (1) 2 yr report on TIIAP (94-95) [ http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/tiiap/evaluation/99EvaluationReport/eval_report_page.html ] - demonstrated the need to listen and respect the opinions of CTC clients; (2) NSF study of the users of CTCs, mainly low-income, less educated and single parents. The reasons for using a CTC were both personal and work-related - that it is affordable, accessible, welcoming (with respect to language, staff, materials, community).

Madeline: Talk about solutions and successes. ASAP [ http://www.asaponline.org/ ] was founded by an entrepreneur and has continued with that approach, so it has no funding from grants, 50% of the revenue is generated by ASAP businesses. ASAP partners with educational institutions, such as the Berkeley Education Academy, Berkeley Adult School, local community colleges. Young people are referred to ASAP by their teachers for a job in an ASAP business (web development and data management), entering with a 4-month internship. Most of the young people are low-achievers. Although they all start at the minimum wage, there are many incentives (financial and otherwise) to motivate them. Seniors and adults who participate in ASAP have a greater need to learn to use computers (from their experience in trying to get jobs), and they reinforce for the teenagers the need for technology skills. ASAP has been involved in community access in Berkeley, but has found it hard to sustain because community centers are unclear on the function of a computer lab at their centers; often the equipment is old/obsolete; lack of curriculum; inadequate staffing. There is a need to hire and train staff to manage and run community access centers.

Ben: Technology director for two Edison schools [ http://www.edisonproject.com/ ] in East Palo Alto. Sees schools as the place to bridge the digital divide, using E-rate, the state's Digital High School grants (now a program), and teacher training grants. Edison schools as a nation program started in 1990, there are now 77 schools nationwide, seven in California (San Francisco, Napa). East Palo Alto is 65% Hispanic, 25% African-American and 8% Pacific Islander. All Edison schools have a strong technology component - 3 computers per classroom, computer labs, laptops for teachers, teacher training. At Edison EPA, a Home Technology Program is starting, to provide a computer to each family from the 3rd grade up, including training for parents (one in ten have a computer at home now). Creating a "Parent University" with Sequoia Adult Education, offering a 4-6 week course. Schools are the means to bridge the digital divide, please volunteer www.compumentor.org

Discussion

Q. Is success gauged only in jobs? What are other measures of success?

A. Success is the sustainability of the program beyond the first two years, making a difference in people's lives. Success varies from center to center, some are like school, some are free-form. There is a need to educate funders about the criteria for success. While it is true that jobs are the usual measure now, there are ways these centers open new horizons beyond merely jobs. In schools success is student achievement and increase in parent/teacher communication.

Q. Aren't the jobs that people trained in CTCs get pretty awful jobs, not necessarily an improvement in the quality of life?

A. There is a need to look at the kind of job, but a job is a job is a job, and for some teenagers the job is not part of their lives, their identities. It depends on the individual's self-perception - many job skills are unrelated to technology and an increase in self-esteem may come from successfully interacting with a machine. Looking at this audience, mostly older, white with a college degree, there is a need to look at the other side of the divide - young, people of color, little education, whose aspirations for a job are unrelated to those of "knowledge workers." First raise the minimum wage and ensure benefits for all workers. Provide all workers with good equipment, reduce the chance of work-related injury (repetitive stress syndrome), and have reasonable working hours.

Q. With reference to the Athena Alliance [ http://www.athenaalliance.org ] conference "New IT - New Equity - New Economy" February 1, 2000 at the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington DC, the digital divide relates to: (1) access to technology; (2) literacy; (3) utilization of technology for other skills building. The CTC movement tried to combine all three of these, at least while the PC is fundamental unit of technology, but how will they function as the PC becomes less significant?

A. Building community. Technology will become integrated into economic development and job skills training. CTCs will continue to service the low-end of technology.

Q. The digital divide is confounded with economic issues in the US - the Internet is everywhere, and is driven by the need to sell to people who have the equipment to access the goods and services. What is the effect of market forces on the digital divide?

A. Businesses will see that the poor are marketable and so deliver the technology to low income communities. Market forces already drive the creation of free technology - email, computers, access.

Q. Why will businesses care about the digital divide? Who benefits from closing the gap?

A. Perhaps companies want to extract more money from poor communities? But still the easiest pickings are from the middle-class. If the gap goes on increasing, it will create social unrest, and that is not good for business.

Q. There is a difference between learning to use applications and learning to create a web page, the difference is creativity. How do CTCs address this difference?

A. Most of the adults at ASAP say that they need applications training to get a job, and they are not looking for jobs in multimedia web companies. We need to listen to what people want and also expose them to opportunities; not proscribe but know our community.

Q. Perhaps Network Computers are a way of distributing more computers? What are the economic factors? What about pay-per-use?

A. There has been an Oracle program in the Berkeley and Oakland public schools, and the teachers have been disappointed with them, they are limiting, and they can't use the software they want with them. There is a community in Washington DC using thin clients.

Q. There has been a "digital divide" between the morning and afternoon at this conference! A Marxist theme vs. an ode to capitalism! The Open Source movement is a different dynamic to the Comstock Lode, possibly closing the divide and making money. What about prisons as a place for job skills training, are there any models?

A. Prisons are competitors to ASAP in the data management business! One experience is that computers in shelters have been limited and humiliating.

Q. The digital divide is enhanced here [in this room] by the high degree of skill in the audience. How may these skills be effectively integrated into the programs described by the panelists?

What's inside...