Bridging the Digital Divide
Ten years after the technology gap between the haves and have nots has been identified,
there’s still work to be done. Here’s how tech and telecommunications leaders and committed
organizations are working to level the playing field.
VEER IMAGES
In July 1995, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration published
“Falling Through the Net,” a
look at digital disparities among
diverse populations. While America was looking forward to a future
built on an information-technology
economy, the survey found that
women and people of color had
disproportionately less access to
computers, telecommunications
services and the Internet than the
more educated and affluent.
Dubbed the “digital divide,” re-
searchers discovered that whites
were more likely to have Internet
access from home than blacks or
Latinos had from any location.
Urban households with incomes
of more than $75,000 and higher
were 20 times more likely to have
connectivity than rural households
at the lowest income levels, and
more than nine times as likely to
have a computer at home.
“Falling Through the Net” led to
billions of dollars of public and private investment to wire underserved schools and libraries. Tech-
nology clubhouses and school lap-top programs were created to
level the playing field for needy
students. Meanwhile, the telecommunications industry extended wireless coverage to rural
areas and funded programs to put
cell phones in the hands of the
homeless, so they could remain
connected to family and potential
employers. The industry also discovered that there was a powerful—and profitable—market for telecommunications in multicultural
communities, such as Korean Amer-
