Technological Literacy and Access

While the number of people utilizing the Internet has rapidly grown over the past two years, the group of
network users remains relatively small when compared to the general population. Businesses and universities
provide their members with access to electronic networks- otherwise one must pay a monthly fee to an
on-line server, plus hourly rates. Thus most of those who have access to the information and participation
which the Internet provides are usually affluent and educated.

When the Internet was frequented by only a few computer advocates, the characteristics of its membership were rarely questioned. But now the importance placed on knowledge of electronic networks threatens to create a divide in society between the elite who understand technology, and those who remain technologically illiterate.

This dichotomy shall have enormous ramifications as our society begins to judge individuals by informational standards. Because of the costs associated with higher education and computer hardware, many marginalized groups may find themselves in an even less advantagious position than the one to which they are currently relegated.

Though the Internet claims to equalize knowledge across society, many people possess only the most basic (if any) computer skills. Indeed, observers of The Telecommunications Policy Roundtable- Northeast USA and Santa Monica's Public Electronic Network have noted that in functioning virtual communities discourse often is dominated by a core group of active users (see Klein and Rheingold, respectively). Part of this limited amount of participation surely stems from varying levels of interest by members of the virtual communities. However, both TPR-NE and PEV are geographically-based in order to draw members of a particular region together. But because public access to electronic networks and education on technology are sorely lacking, such communities can in fact work counter to democracy by creating new types of hierarchies.

This problem could reach epic proportions if the National Information Infrastructure is ever realized. Large segments of American society may be completely cut out of political discourse. The 1993 U.S. census shows that "only 15% of families with an income under $20,000 have computers at home while 74% of families with an income of $75,000 have a computer at home (Lake 2)." While a large number of schools are now going on-line, these statistics signal a possible future in which many of today's underpriveleged children shall reach maturity with little technological education.