Education & Distance Learning Enthusiasts- Claiming the Digital World

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Claiming the Digital World - Brief Article

Essence - July 1, 2000

There's a growing gap between people with access to the Internet and those without it. This gap is now known as the digital divide. As chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that regulates the telephone, broadcast, wireless and other telecommunications industries, I am concerned that not enough of us are integrating the tools of advanced technology into our everyday lives.

The digital divide is about more than owning cell phones or pagers; it's about learning a new vocabulary-like dot-coms (Internet companies), E-commerce (electronic business), distance learning (taking classes over the Internet) and broadband (high-speed Internet access). Those who don't understand these concepts or have no stake in their development will be digital have-nots, with limited access to knowledge and economic leverage.

If people of color get stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide, our communities risk being cut off from key information. They won't, for example, use the World Wide Web to shop for the lowest interest rate on a home mortgage, pursue college scholarships or supplement a critical job search by way of Web channels.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that African-Americans and Hispanics are about 40 percent less likely to own a computer and have Internet access at home than White Americans. In fact, White Americans are more likely to have Internet access at home than Blacks or Hispanics from any location. And less than 20 percent of single women heading urban households have Internet access at home.

Thanks to the vision of Vice-President Al Gore, the federal government is investing almost $4 billion in the E-rate program to help ensure access for all by wiring public schools and libraries to the Internet. But closing the digital divide will require more than hardware connections; it will also require a shift in the way our communities think about technology. We must develop an almost religious fervor about integrating technology into every aspect of daily life. And we must encourage thousands of one-on-one interactions between the technologically savvy and those who have yet to log on.

In the twenty-first century, women of color can do for their communities what "portals" do for the Internet. Just as portals link people to E-mail, shopping, chat rooms and just about everything else on the Web, Black women--powerful community leaders, influential mothers and caretakers, teachers and preachers--can funnel technology into our communities, serving it up like a slice of sweet-potato pie on Sunday afternoon.

African-American women must seize more opportunities to get acquainted with advanced technologies and use these tools in ways that make the most sense to them. Enroll in a computer class at a local community college or community center. Learn to surf the "Women" channel on NetNoir.com, an on-line network for African-Americans, or sign up for Heads-up, Anita Brown's E-mail bulletin, part of Blackgeeks.com, a Web site that gives African-Americans news about information technologies. Go to www.sl.universalservice.org to learn more about how your schools and libraries can receive E-rate funds. Publishing a church newsletter on-line could also help make computer technology as familiar as turning on the TV or the radio.

To ensure that our communities are not simply consumers in the New Economy but also across-the-board participants, more Black women need to pursue hightech degrees and careers and also invest in the technology sector. Start a high-tech business, explore ways to use technology in your existing workplace or launch a training program to teach young people about computers and other advanced technologies. With each new challenge we conquer, we come closer to claiming our share of an expanding digital future.

William E. Kennard is the first African-American chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

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