These days employers, teachers, and advertisers act as if everyone uses the Internet. But nearly a thrid of Americans still never go online, including three-quarters of senior citizens. What consequences does this divide have for our society?
Jack talks with Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet & American Life Project and Kavita Singh, Executive Director, Community Technology Centers' Network.
Jack,
I enjoyed being on the show, and I learned how difficult it can be to sit alone in a room, looking at acoustical insulation, with a mike in your face and headphones on your head, and try to t a l k.
There was that time when you said you saw Terry nodding her head, and I wanted to scream, yeah, I'm nodding too.
OK, obviously I'm more comfortable typing than talking, so I'll try to wrap this up briefly: 1] Thanks for doing such a great job as moderator
2] I learned a lot from the listeners who called in, especially the woman who said she was working in Corporate Amerika and didn't like the nastiness, backstabbing [her words]. It made me think, what's the goal? Do we expect women to be more like men when they get those top positions? I hope not -- what I'd hope is that putting women into those positions will make the corporations better by reducing the level of testosterone-induced competitiveness and letting the business leaders focus more on the business and less on their personal advancement.
3] Do I think that this can happen? YES -- or I wouldn't waste my time and effort.
Posted by: Nat Ehrlich | October 28, 2005 at 12:27 PM
This was a pretty good show, but did not get into the nuts and bolts of *access* to internet. ***Many*** of us do not have even a dial-up ISP and urban poor, including seniors, mostly can't afford an $80-per-month cable package that would include high-speed internet access. Someone should do a study of web-access related to income levels and whether or not one is in an academic milieu. City of Detroit can't provide working modern computers to its student body at school, much less take-homes. If someone from academia came to live in my domicile in the manner I am accustomed to, they would feel blind and muzzled. It is all too easy for the folks who were on the show to forget that a huge number of us have no access at all--not by choice or non-com preference. This is why Philadelphia's effort will be so crucial for its residents, if the setup ever gets outta Downtown and if they enable computer access by all the people. For many of us, the $500 computer is not 'cheap' and even $20/mo. is not a bearable expense. The folks at MichiganRadio should daily be reminded that most of its listeners are *not* at U. of M. and that a substantial number of listeners do not have internet access.
Posted by: Judy Kay | November 03, 2005 at 05:12 AM