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| Yes | 64% | 230 votes | Total: 362 votes | |
| No | 36% | 132 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesThe Internet is a great benefit for people who want information. Some folks who like to dig a little deeper, whether looking for jobs, accessing library databases, or connecting live with others around the world, get stuck in the slow lane, though, using dial-up modems to catch a little peek of what's out there. Isn't that good enough?
In a word, no. Day by day, the complexity of the materials you want to access via the Web increases. This means larger file sizes, which may be wholly impractical for download. It also means multimedia audiovisual access, which modem users must pass up in most cases. For the occasional individual to be limited to low-speed access is marginally acceptable, since that may be something they have decided to do. If low-income communities are unable as groups to bring broadband access into their homes, there may be bigger problems.
Information Can Be Power
For most people using computers and Internet access to run their daily lives, news, weather, and other information access have transformed them. They can find out things that will affect them tonight or tomorrow before most of the people on the street know about them. They can get tickets to community events right at home. They can decide whether to ride a motorcycle or drive a car today, based on up-to-the-minute weather sites with radar pictures.
Someone living in a low-income neighborhood may use a computer modem to access some of this information, but how many can make it a daily habit, given that the speeds of access are usually torture while you're waiting? National news broadcasts frequently include invitations to "view the rest of this story online" at their Web site. This is a wonderful option, but for modem users text-based extras are their only choices.
Making it worth the while of cable companies to bring high-speed Internet access to low-income households will give more people access to both multimedia sites and large computer files. Downloads that might have taken hours can then be finished in minutes. This capability would give information access a whole new meaning, and getting better information faster can lead to more confidence in social interactions. Whether it's You Tube, MySpace, or CNN, better access can lead to greater participation and even, for the kids in the family, better grades.
Why Low-Income Neighborhoods May Be Left Out
Cable companies and others with information access to sell want to make a profit. There's nothing wrong with that desire, so long as it leaves the possibility that new neighborhoods can convince the company to take a business risk. Whether it's the fear of low profits, vandalism, or theft of services, providers of content are ready on the other end of that deal to supply everything from television signals to broadband Internet access.
People who have been poor for some time frequently feel invisible, and that feeling may approach reality unless someone representing the neighborhood decides to speak out. It may be true that in some cases only money talks, but low funding can be combined with community action in number to bring this information benefit to the community. Despite their socio-economic woes, groups can speak in a voice few individuals can muster.
Broadband in the Future
Internet access was at one time a luxury for those with time to spare and some knowledge of the inner workings of computer equipment. We are quickly coming to a time when less technical knowledge and more capable machines will allow nearly everyone to perform a wide range of common social functions from anywhere an Internet access point can be found. This is the wave of the future, and we're already standing in the shallows.
As more functions of municipalities and other service organizations move online, broadband access must also expand to cover more of our people. We won't force anyone to sign on, but the time will soon be here, if it's not already, when not to do so will make life difficult to manage. The "haves" and the "have-nots" must join forces so that no one is left out of the continuing information revolution.
Low-incom e communities have as great a stake in the future as anyone else. Should we not ensure that they are able to share all the necessary tools for facing that future?
Learn more about this author, Jon Dainty Sr..
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No
The topic of this debate opens up a rather large and wriggling can of worms without even realising it.
I live in what is officially designated a "Low Income Community". In the block where I live there are around 30 flats (apartments to those across the water). Within these apartments live families all of which contain at least two fit and active adults; however out of them all, I am the only person who works for a living. In recent years the workforce has been boosted with an influx of Eastern Europeans, who for the most part secure jobs almost immediately and work hard to send money back home to their families. So it is not a lack of work that stops the immediate indigenous people from being "poor" it is simply a matter of choice.
All of these people live on welfare, with most claiming illnesses that do not exist as this boosts the amount of money received; and prevents anyone annoying them to actually find work. This is fact whether the blind "do-gooders" accept it or not. I have no doubt that in other countries the economic and development situation is completely different and that desperate poverty is a fact of life. In developed countries however; I believe that the situation will be much the same as in my immediate surroundings.
Now to the matter of broadband.
In what way does a broadband internet connection or even the possession of a computer itself alleviate poverty and hardship? Some years ago, some bright-spark had the idea that all poor families required a computer; therefore they announced that within six months, a brand new up to spec PC would be delivered free of charge to all the households within a specific geographical area designated as poor. Immediately Ebay, newspaper ads and ads in shop windows were filled with offers of cheap PC's which would be available for pick up within six months! I suppose that was one way of alleviating poverty any way!
Around two years ago more money was pumped into our community under the banner "Digital Inclusion". What this effectively meant, was that all of the community centres were given several PC's with broadband internet connection and a big new community website was developed full of useful information about finances and health etc for the local people. Within a year, no-one from the general public had ever used the website and the forums were full of discussions from those who work in social projects within the community. I was asked to find out why.
I talked to literally thousands of people in the streets and also to those who run the community centres where the shiny new PC's were located. The results were that the majority of people questioned both old and young said that they had no interest in the internet or computers at all. A large number expressed that they never read books of any description. Out of those who did use the internet, a small number either used it for school or college work; however the majority used it to play games or download illegal software and/or movies. When asked about the new community website, those who used the internet said it was crap with generally no elaborations being able to be extracted. The community centres also expressed that their computers were primarily used by kids playing games and therefore the majority eventually dropped the broadband internet connection to save money.
This particular "low income" community that I live in, already has more than its fair share of free and underused educational facilities and it appears that what is required is for a lot of the inhabitants to be shaken up, with the "poor" being re-educated about the world of employment, self-sufficiency and advancement and far less of the "lets help the poor" attitude of those from comfortable backgrounds who know nothing about the situation other than what they were told by well-heeled university lecturers.
The supplying of "Broadband Internet" in particular to poor communities is a completely hair-brained idea and will make no difference to the individual lives of people living there whatsoever. For communities like mine a basic internet connection available at public libraries and community centres is all that is required for anyone wishing to make use of it. For those communities that are "poor" in the true sense of the word then I believe food, water, shelter and tools would be far more in demand.
Learn more about this author, Robert Anderson.
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