Digital Divide (was Re: [WEB4LIB] RE: Questia: who is behind it?)

[Robert Tiess]

Dan Lester wrote:

> DB> Also, do
> DB> not add to the Digital Divide.
>
> Yawn.  The digital divide is an invention of a bunch of liberal
> whiners who don't have enough trees to hug.

Dan, now I realize you might have been on a sort of roll
here debunking post after post, but surely you don't think
every single family or child out there has the money or
sufficient local informational infrastructures in place
(e.g. wired libraries and schools) to put them all online
and in reach of the same research resources you have
access to in your institution.  Living and working in a
relatively poor community, I know the Digital Divide to
be alive and well.  For thousands of our community
members, our library is their only link to the digital world.
We service surrounding communities without libraries
as well as international patrons without sufficient local
library resources through our online reference service.
Were it not for libraries like ours providing such services,
these patrons would be left behind while other more
prosperous communities went on to enjoy the benefits of
Internet technologies.  Let us not forget some patrons
are in fact homeless.  It is unwise, borderline callous to
assume equal access exists everywhere else, and it's
simply insane to suggest the Digital Divide does not
exist.  But let's not just stop at the United States.  Let's
broaden our perspective, look to the rest of the world.
The Digital Divide's out there, affecting millions of
fatally poor people in countries where basic issues of
electricity, food, health and freedom are unresolved.
No, we are an extremely long way from the ideal of the
Information Age, in which our global community has
equitable and democratic access to quality resources
of any kind.  But, back to the U.S. for now--anyone in
doubt of the Digital Divide can click this for a quick
reality check:  http://www.digitaldivide.gov

Robert

rjtiess at warwick.net
http://rtiess.tripod.com