presented by:
	Dr. Janet Poley, ADEC
	Dr. Valorie McAlpin, North Carolina A&T State University

• Leveling the Playing Field: Government IT Interventions

• The Presenters
  Dr. Valorie McAlpin, North Carolina A&T State University Dr. Janet Poley, President ADEC

• Purpose
  • Examine government programs, policies, and funding interventions - past and present - for potential impacts on Information Technology and Distance Education "haves" and "have-nots"

• Leveling the Playing Field: key assumptions
  • Knowledge is power
  • Network literacy is a critical skill
  • As IT develops, economic and political power becomes more concentrated
  • Information inequities increase polarization

• The Haves, Have-Nots, and Choose-Nots: Who are they?
  • Haves - young, white, males with middle to upper incomes
  • Have-nots - elderly, undereducated, rural, racially/ethnically oppressed, unemployed and underemployed, physically handicapped and the imprisoned.
  • Choose-nots - technophobes, information anxiety

• Profiles of "The Least Connected" (from 1997 Census)

• The Digital Divide (US households with a computer by income and region)

• The Digital Divide (households with a computer by race and region)

• The Digital Divide (households with a computer by income and race)

• The Digital Divide (households with computers by race)

• Social Equity - Role of Government in Education
  • IT proficiency related to computer access outside of school
  • Urban students greater access than their rural counterparts

• Social Equity - Role of Government
  • Martinez study of 24,00 public school students assessed percentage of students who had access to a computer at home

• Social Equity - Role of Government
  • Information - a commodity or public resource?
  • Redistribution of resources - universal access
  • IT and participatory democracy
  • Public acceptance or redistribution policies

• Network Literacy and the GII
  • Disconnect between IT and public’s proficiency of use
  • Network literacy tied to socioeconomic status
  • GII promised universal access and competition
  • Policy issues surrounding GII

• Federal Agency Programs
  1. Department of Commerce
  2. Federal Communication Commission
  3. U.S. Department of Agriculture
  4. National Science Foundation
  5. Department of Environmental Protection

• What and How Well?
  • Human Resource Development
  • Meeting Needs of Special Audiences
  • Rural Outreach
  • Inner City Development

• Current Trends and Implications
  • Less federal money and downsizing
  • Let 1000 flowers bloom
  • Short turn around time on grants
  • Decreased funding for statistical reporting
  • Follow the money - political influence in IT
  • Constant investigations
  • Little sustainability
  • Starting over on "my watch"
  • Higher level skills requirements
  • Block grants
  • Tax status - Non-profits

• Appropriations Bills - Programs Funded
  • Universal Service - E-Rate
  • Digital Television
  • Will Carry/Must Carry
  • Community Networks - Providing Internet
  • Mergers/Acquisitions
  • Privacy
  • Security
  • Upper Income/Lower Income
  • Rural/Urban
  • Wired/Wireless

• "The civil rights challenge for the next century is to make sure that African-Americans -- and all Americans -- share in the benefits of the Information Age…We must have access to technology, employment opportunities and opportunities for ownership."
         - William Kennard, Chair of the FCC

• Falling Through the Net II: New Data on the Digital Divide
  • National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Department of Commerce
  • http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/falling.html

• Rural and Remote Americans - No Better Off