Foreword by Lloyd Morrisett, co-founder, Children's Television Workshop |
The Digital Divide: Facing a Crisis or Creating a Myth? The Digital Divide refers to the perceived gap between those who have access to the latest information technologies and those who do not. If we are indeed in an Information Age, then not having access to this information is an economic and social handicap. Some people consider the Digital Divide to be a national crisis, while others consider it an over-hyped nonissue. This book presents data supporting the existence of such a divide in the 1990s along racial, economic, ethnic, and education lines. But it also presents evidence that by 2000 the gaps are rapidly closing without substantive public policy initiatives and spending. Together, the contributions serve as a sourcebook on this controversial issue. _________________ Benjamin M. Compaine specializes in the study of media economics, telecommunications policy, and the social and cultural implications of changing information technologies. He is senior research affiliate, Internet & Telecoms Convergence Consortium at MIT. He has also served as executive director of the Program on Information Resources Policy (PIRP) at Harvard University, and as chief executive of Nova Systems, developing software for management information reporting in telecommunications software.
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