At the suggestion of my associate, Dr. Curtiss Priest, who has been 
forwarding to me many insightful messages from members of this lis
about the development of the NII and community networks,  I'd like to 
share with you the following draft of a piece I've written about the 
crucial role community networks can play in solving the "equity of 
access" problem.  I share this prior to its print publication in th
hope that some of you may give me some feedback.

Thanks, Ken Komoski  (email: komoski@BNLCL6.BNL.GOV)
   ______________________________________________________
   Bypassing the Poor and Minorities on the Data Highway: Let's BET?
                       Pre-publication DRAFT
                                9/12/94
                            by  Ken Komoski
   _______________________________________________________

Recently the NAACP, other civil rights and consumer groups, plus members 
of Congress have charging the builders of the so called informatio
highway with "electronic red-lining,"--  bypassing poor neighborhoods 
and minority populations, while wiring white, wealthier communities. But 
don't highways always bypass neighborhoods, or sometimes divide them
Maybe it's time to change metaphors.  Right now, "toll road" or 
"cyberspace theme park"seem more apt. What's currently being built is the 
21st Century's electronic marketplace. And it's burgeoning with businesse
bent on collecting  fees from those willing to sign up for cyberspace 
travel.  But there's no free launch; especially for the poor.

Currently, those capable of launching themselves are among the nation's 
31 million homes that already own at least one computer; the top third
economically and technologically, of our nation's 93 million households.   
And every day families from the middle third of American households are 
adding to the size of this new marketplace.  Nonetheless, it's a 
marketplace that may forever bypass millions of poor, and marginal middle 
class families for whom owning a computer, learning how to use it, and 
paying online fees seem impossible.

These bottom 15-20 million families are those Al Gore has in mind whe
he warns of an America of "information haves and have-nots." And it's 
their kids who are most in need the "free education lane" proposed by 
Senator Hollings.  These are the kids in whose schools the computer-
student access ratio is apt to be 50-to-1, despite a national average of 
14-to-1.  But the even  more dramatic computer-to-learner access ratio 
can be found in "have" households, here the computer-to-kid ratio is
increasingly, one-to-one.  In addition, many of these computer kids spend 
ten-to-twenty hours a week intently interacting with their computer, and 
networks of computer-empowered peers -- locally, nationally, and 
internationally; hours once spent watching TV, or playing Nintendo.

In contrast, their poorer peers may get an hour or two a week of computer 
time at school, while at home, their TV watching is often above the 
national average of 20-plus hours a week.  There's a major social polic
question lurking in these numbers:  how do we sustain and strengthen 
education as an equitably-accessible public good,  using a powerful and 
innovative new delivery system, when the new industry building that 
system is in the business of selling information and learning as 
marketable goods?

Clearly, the businesses building this new industry don't see themselves 
in the public-good business. Whether they flourish or fail depends on 
market demand from paying customers. Even flourishing businesses don't 
enter the public-good marketplace unless an excess profits affords them 
the luxury of establishing socially-concerned foundations.  However, 
even well-established  foundations have yet to move beyond funding 
conferences on the issue of equitable electronic access at which charges 
of "electronic redlining" get raised, prompting counter-charges by 
industry of anti-business bias.

Into this charged atmosphere comes news that across the country, in 
traditionally middle class communities like Queens County, New York, 
median incomes of Black and other minority families are surpassing 
those of whites. If, in Queens and elsewhere, such upwardly-mobil
minorities are, in fact, being bypassed by the toll road, then electronic 
redlining will be proved.  If on the other hand, the toll road is found 
to be bypassing poor and struggling middle- class families who lack the 
money, technology, and know-how to use it, will that be red-lining or 
economic reality?  If so, is this a reality that's likely to change?  
Possibly, if the traffic on the toll road proves so profitable that its 
builders agree to create Senator Hollings' proposed toll-free education 
lane. But that proposal is only for schools.

Unfortunately, most school boards and administrators do not yet see 
at-home electronic access to learning for students as essential to what 
they are calling "systemic reform." Yet, ironically, the advocates of 
such reform emphasize the need for more home-school-community connections
The good news is that in a few pioneering communities, schools are 
becoming integral parts of locally-built  electronic networks that are 
connecting them with homes, social services, community centers, 
libraries, museums, local government and businesses.  These community 
networks are building local opportunities for lifelong learning for 
families that are truly systemic, along with easy-access on-ramps to 
the toll road and its hoped-for free lane
But even if such a free lane -- plus the local networks to connect to 
it -- were widely available, poorer households would still need 
computers, modems, and know-how to access it.  As long as this need 
remains unmet, we are actively creating a nation of information and 
learning haves and have-nots;  a permanent information underclass
lacking what's needed to make the human and electronic connection 
between learning, earning, and personal and family development.  But
how could it be otherwise?  The cost of home computers, modems, and 
training for an estimated 15-20 million low-income households woul
come to more than America spent sending men to the moon
Given current fiscal stringencies, there seems little chance of the 
nation's lowest-income families being able to acquire what's needed to 
become full participants in a future of better learning and earning via 
information technology.  The chance of this happening may seem slim, 
even impossible.  But the odds can be improve greatly, if  businesses 
are willing to support a unique community-based initiative.

Because it may still seem like along shot, let's call it the BET 
Initiative (Businesses for Equity in Telecomputing ).  The "bet" is 
that American businesses, which currently own more than 150 million 
personal computers (an estimated 19 million of which are replaced and 
become recyclable each year) will donate one-out-of- four of these 
still-useful machines to community-based programs designed to help 
low-income families to learn and earn home computers and modems.  If 
American businesses are willing to take this bet, millions of families 
would be able to earn their way into the new world of learning and 
information
In a few communities where businesses are already cooperating with the 
BET Initiative used business computers are being installed in community 
centers, connected to a community-wide network. The centers offer family 
computer training  provided by local telecomputing literates.  As soon 
as a low-income family has learned how to function online with their 
computer, they have earned it.  At home, they can use it to communicate, 
to learn job skills and to access information, particularly daily job 
postings -- some of which offer the opportunity to earn regular dollars, 
and others the opportunity to earn Time Dollars, a tax-exempt, 
volunteer-based, local currency (See: New York Times OP-ED, "When time 
is Money" 1/9/93).  Once earned, Time Dollars are credited to a person's 
electronic Time Dollars account, managed by the community's telecomputing 
cooperative.  Trainers and  managers of the community's Time Dollars 
Exchange also earn Time Dollars.

Any family or person with earned Time Dollars,  can use the community's 
electronic bulletin board service (BBS) to post Time-Dollar jobs for 
services they need:  child care, elder care, assistance with shopping, 
help in building a database for a local social service agency, etc..  
Students working in community service programs can also earn Time Dollars.  
Once trained, anyone can respond to, post, negotiate and exchange 
Time-Dollars services online.  By tying together a community-managed BET 
Initiative, a Time Dollars Exchange, and the growing interest in 
community telecomputing, the problem of the nation's information-have-nots 
could be solved where it should be solved, at a local grassroot level. To 
help such grassroot problem solving to happen on a wide scale, leaders 
in business, in communities, and in local, state, and federal government 
should consider the following
   o  Businesses interested in supporting theBET Initiative  should 
      consider providing a quarter of all their used computers (and 
      modems) to local or regional BET programs.  Local and regional
      phone companies should adopt policies that provide low-income 
      families with telecomputing rates as an extension of curren
      state-mandated phone rates for the poor -- such as New York's 
      dollar-a-month "life-line" rate.  To encourage wide support for 
      local BET programs, the media should encourage all area businesse
      and computer-rich households to donate used computer equipment.

   o  Communities developing local cooperative telecomputing network
      should make a strong commitment to achieve access for all 
      community members, with special emphasis on adopting the BET 
      Initiative/Time Dollars Exchange to enable poorer householders 
      to learn-and-earn the computers and modems they'll need to 
      increase community-wide participation.

   o  State governments should consider policies to guarantee that 
      low-income families can not be "electronically red-lined."  
      States also should establish policies that enable them to 
      recycle state-owned computers into local BET Initiatives. They 
      also need to help channel a percentage of the used computers 
      they receive for the federal government local BET programs
      Most importantly, state and county legislatures should provide 
      local seed-money grants to stimulate grassroots development o
      community-based  telecomputing cooperatives.
   o  The Federal Government and its many agencies need to review 
      policies and programs with the intention of using them to 
      strengthen all of the above efforts.  In particular, the 
      Department of Education should emphasize the essential 
      relationship between community telecomputing and systemic 
      educational reform, and support that relationship with vigor. 
      The White House should be willing to provide a letter o
      commendation to every business and community that supports the 
      BET Initiative.
Finally, we all should adopt a policy of saying to those who say that 
none of these things can happen, "Let's BET?"  Here's the ante:  a 
used computer and modem that a low-income family can earn by learning 
how to use it.  If a reasonable number of America's almost 10 million 
businesses will take that BET seriously, they can help millions o
information-have-nots to take their first step toward avoiding being 
bypassed by the future.

                     *******************************************

Those who want to know more about the BET Initiative, can contact LINCT
(Learning and Information Network for Community Telecomputing).  LINCT 
is a nonprofit coalition of organizations helping to develop the BET 
Initiative in communities nationwide.

          email:  komoski@BNLCL.BNL.GOV  --- voice: 516.728.9100
          snail mail: LINCT, 103-3 Montauk Hwy., Hampton Bays NY  1194
_______________________________________________________________________________
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