Jorge Reina Schement

Identifying Temporary and Permanent Gaps in Universal Service

This article examines the nature of the gap in household telephone penetration among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. By analyzing historic and current penetration levels of the radio, television, and telephone, it suggests that most information technology gaps are amalgamations of smaller socioeconomic trends and can be discerned and reduced only with careful historical analysis of both technology choices and living patterns. It proposes localized universal service strategies, since the penetration gaps are affected by a complex array of factors more particular to localities than to the country as a whole and as such must be investigated with rigor and caution if progress toward the elimination of penetration gaps is to occur.This article examines the nature of the gap in household telephone penetration among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. By analyzing historic and current penetration levels of the radio, television, and telephone, it suggests that most information technology gaps are amalgamations of smaller socioeconomic trends and can be discerned and reduced only with careful historical analysis of both technology choices and living patterns. It proposes localized universal service strategies, since the penetration gaps are affected by a complex array of factors more particular to localities than to the country as a whole and as such must be investigated with rigor and caution if progress toward the elimination of penetration gaps is to occur.

Beyond universal service: Characteristics of Americans without telephones, 1980-1993

This paper explores the characteristics of Americans who lack home telephone service by drawing on FCC and Census data covering the period 1980-1993. It focuses on groups who have experienced lower than average telephone penetration per household - the elderly, the poor, women and children, blacks and Hispanics, and rural Americans. Income was found to be the single most influential factor in predicting the presence of a telephone in the home, although strong mitigating factors were also identified. Low penetration rates were found among women single heads of households. Low rates were also found among the two minorities studied in comparison with the white majority, even when controlled for income. Finally, the elderly, once thought to suffer from isolation, were found to enjoy higher than average telephone penetration rates. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of lingering questions and proposes considerations for policies that might lead to higher levels of participation.

THE INTERNATIONAL FLOW OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS

The international flow of television programs has been a focus of many communication scholars since publication of the United Nations Declaration on Freedom of Information in 1946. An unbalanced flow of T.V. programs between nations has maintained this policy interest. Two competing intellectual paradigm emerged during the 1960s and 1970s to explain and evaluate this phenomenon: (1) the free flow of information, versus (2) American hegemony. However, each paradigm was concerned primarily with the outcomes of unbalanced flows, and so the process by which flows occurred remained unexplored. Here the authors identify cases where international television flows cannot be explained fully by either of the competing paradigms. A middle-range approach is presented with four structural conditions and two catalytic actions serving to determine flows.

SPANISH INTERNATIONAL NETWORK The Flow of Television from Mexico to the United States

The Spanish International Network (SIN) is a U.S. network that imports television programs from Mexico to the United States. It is a subsidiary of the Mexican privately owned television monopoly, Televisa. SIN totally dominates the Spanish-language television market and has become the fourth largest commercial network in the United States. This is a very unusual case in that SINs existence and success cannot be explained within the current international media flow paradigms. In this article the authors describe how entrepreneurial elements in Mexico utilized the political environment of both countries along with the most sophisticated technology available in the United States in order to create a market for Mexican TV programs. The success of their venture eliminated all U.S. competitors. As a result, the question of cultural domination is raised here in an entirely new form, one that requires a reanalysis of previous explanations.

Communities, Learning and Democracy in the Digital Age

Access to information networks constitutes the essential tool for enabling citizens to participate in the economic, political, and social life of their communities; and, as such, forms the basis for participatory democracy.

Measuring what Jefferson knew and de Tocqueville saw: Libraries as bridges across the Digital Divide

For Americans without access, public libraries function as access intensifiers. At present, because 95% of public libraries maintain an Internet connection, functional access extends to nearly every American without household Internet connectivity. Moreover, 60% of library users also go online. Clearly, without public libraries, a large segment of the American population would find themselves increasingly isolated from the public discourses of this Information Age democracy. Jefferson and de Tocqueville witnessed democracy in the making. Jefferson’s future lawyers and de Tocqueville’s backwoods families grasped for connectivity, capability, and content in order to achieve democratic participation. Yet in the present Information Age democracy, gaps in access continue to pose a critical challenge. Toward that end, libraries already function as vital institutions for providing access that is all but universal. ____________________ Jorge Schement is Co-Director of the Institute for Information Policy and Professor of Telecommunications and Information Policy, Pennsylvania State University jrs18@psu.edu. http://www.psu.edu/dept/comm/faculty/profile/schement.shtml 119 LIBRARIES AS BRIDGES SCHEMENT IT&SOCIETY, Vol. 1, Issue 4, Spring 2003 http://www.ITandSociety.org Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital. – Thomas Jefferson (1821) There is hardly a pioneers hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin. – Alexis de Tocqueville (1844) In today’s Information Age, the promise of democracy hinges on access. A democratic society where information constitutes a major working asset, and where citizenship finds expression through media, depends on citizens’ access to communication channels and their skill with information technologies. Indeed, what Jefferson understood and de Tocqueville documented was this fundamental exercise of democracy in action. When citizens enjoy access, they and society benefit meaningfully, but when some lag behind, all of society suffers. In the 1990s, the gap between those with access and those without entered public discourse and came to be known as the digital divide, a term apparently coined in a 1996 speech by former Markle Foundation president Lloyd Morrisett. Broad perspectives on digital divide issues are reviewed on the Digital Divide Network (www.digitaldividenetwork.org) and by the Benton Foundation (1998). This brief essay reviews the principal themes that underpin that discourse, while emphasizing the crucial role of the public library in bridging these gaps. THE SOCIETAL VALUES OF UNIVERSAL ACCESS Society’s belief in universal access to the national information infrastructure (NII) or Internet is the primary policy tool for enabling citizens to participate in those economic, political, and social activities fundamental to a free and good society. Universal access provides three levels of value for citizens. First and foremost, democracy requires an informed and involved citizenry; yet this is possible only if a democracy’s citizens have access to information about their government and the opportunity to participate in political discourse. For those citizens unable to purchase the means of access, libraries offer access, as they have historically, to citizens seeking to prepare themselves for the discourses of democratic participation. Secondly, in America’s information economy, information networks distribute economic goods and services; consequently, the economic benefits of an interconnected NII accrue to the individuals on that network; as places of 120 LIBRARIES AS BRIDGES SCHEMENT IT&SOCIETY, Vol. 1, Issue 4, Spring 2003 http://www.ITandSociety.org connectivity, public libraries enhance the value of the economic networks in which they participate. Thirdly, access to communication services available from the NII offers benefits in a broad, cultural sense. The indispensable role of libraries is perhaps most easily understood along this dimension; nearly every American has experienced the joy of finding a special book, tape, record, or website at the public library. If the nation wants to encourage the sense of shared values and mutual responsibility that comes from political, economic, and social interaction, then maximum access to the information infrastructure, and to public libraries, becomes a necessity. The provision of access does not by itself guarantee participation. The other side of the equation requires an understanding of the tools an individual must acquire to gain full access to the national network; that basket of tools encompasses connectivity, capability, and content. 1. Of course, the first step toward access requires connecting to the network, often assumed to occur at the home. Connectivity, however, is not so simple, because the cost of information technologies—ranging from the telephone connections to Internet-ready PCs—remains beyond the means of many households. With approximately seven million American households lacking telephone service, and an average of 2.5 persons per household, that leaves 17.5 million individuals unconnected to the most basic telecommunications technology. Furthermore, even if a household earns enough disposable income to purchase Internet connectivity, geography may still impose a barrier. Significant tracts of rural America lack the infrastructure necessary for Internet access, and residents must pay long-distance charges to connect or receive access inferior to that enjoyed by their city cousins. In such conditions, public libraries offering connectivity fulfill a critical need. Jefferson’s assessment of the value of books recognizes their potency as technologies of connectivity to that global network known in his time as the “Republick of Letters,” a popular 18th century description of the intellectual community spanning Europe and the Colonies. drawn from Bayle (18xx) 2. Beyond connectivity, the utility of any technology derives directly from the skill of the user. In the information age, this capability consists of traditional literacy, technological literacy, and informational literacy. 3. Yet ultimately, the outcomes of access depend on the content available to the individual user. Indeed, the very abundance of information available today poses a paradox—with so much information, it has now become more difficult to find the answers to specific questions. Moreover, superabundance does not provide all with equal access. 121 LIBRARIES AS BRIDGES SCHEMENT IT&SOCIETY, Vol. 1, Issue 4, Spring 2003 http://www.ITandSociety.org De Tocqueville documented capability and content in America’s humble log cabins. Today as then, connectivity, capability, and content vary considerably from household to household and from community to community. For many, the public library provides the venue where they can avail themselves of the intellectual and technological resources embedded in the Internet’s potential. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND GAPS IN ACCESS While some households achieve access to the network through spectacular configurations of technology, a bewildering population mosaic depicts those beyond the vista of the super connected. In varying circumstances, each of the following minorities experiences obstacles to access: Blacks, Hispanics, poor households headed by women or young couples, elderly households, Native American Indians on reservations, inner city residents of all ethnicities, and, rural whites, to name a few (Perl 1983; Hausman, Tardiff and Belinfante, A.1993; Schement 1994; Schement 1998; Schement, Belinfante and Povich, L. 1997; Mueller and Schement 1996; Schement 1995; Williams and Hadden 1991; Williams and Hadden 1992). Those without access experience the severe penalties of isolation—being unable to secure employment, being cut off from emergency services, losing touch with one’s family, or being disconnected from the public discourses of the day. The repercussions of such isolation extend beyond the individual to the community and, ultimately, to the nation. That said, not all gaps are the same. Gaps created by the diffusion of goods (such as radios, televisions, VCRs, and video games) tend to close rapidly within the intended markets. Equally consistently, gaps created by the diffusion of services (such as telephone, broadband, and Internet) tend to level off below 100% (e.g., telephone, 93%; broadband, 80%; Internet 50% or less), and, while the diffusion curve may inch upward after leveling off, the length of time overall may be quite long (e.g., telephone: 0-93% in 110 years). Any public concern about gaps created by the Digital Divide should take these types of gap s into consideration. For most of those Americans on the disconnected side of the “gap,” libraries offer the only bridge. However, the very isolation of these groups and individuals makes it hard to identify them within the larger population. Here, then, the challenge for libraries comes in knowing whom to serve and what needs to meet. POLICY DISCOURSE AND THE CHALLENGE OF OBSERVATION Since de Tocqueville’s time, such documentation is far more likely to rely far more on quantifiable measures of deprivation. Even as early as 100 years ago, Lord Kelvin (189x) laid out the persuasiveness of quantifiable reports: 122 LIBRARIES AS BRIDGES SCHEMENT IT&SOCIETY, Vol. 1, Issue 4, Spring 2003 http://www.ITandSociety.org When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science. Today,

The information society in California: Social factors influencing its emergence

The authors identify three elements which will influence Californias future. First, demographic shifts in the states population have altered Californias ethnic and cultural foundations. Second, the state educational system does not seem prepared to train larger numbers for information work, especially members of its growing ethnic population. Third, almost half the states workforce is now employed in information-oriented work, whether in the industrial, service, or agricultural sectors. The authors demonstrate that the interaction of these elements has profound implications for Californias development.