US netizens: white, wealthy and full of it - shock!

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/01/us_doc_internet_survey/print.html>

The Register


 Biting the hand that feeds IT


US netizens: white, wealthy and full of it - shock!
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco (andrew.orlowski at theregister.co.uk)
Published Wednesday 1st December 2004 00:34 GMT

"The Internet is becoming more and more widespread and will increasingly
represent a scientific random sample of the population," claims
(http://joi.ito.com/archives/2004/11/21/poor_librarian_immerses_self_in_irony.html#c018560)
ICANN's newest board member, Joi Ito. Quite what scientific experiments he
will wish to perform, once the desired sample size has been reached,
remains a mystery. But like many people who spend too long in front of
their computers, he's talking about a Platonic ideal rather than the real
world.

A survey by the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and
Information Administration shows that the internet has entrenched the
divide between rich and poor, and the races. Statistics reveal an internet
that's overwhelmingly white, wealthy and urban. And the net's best days may
even be behind it. The pace of internet adoption has tapered off to a
trickle, with a substantial part of the population not interested in the
internet at any price.

 (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/01/rainbow_nation.jpg)
Diversity in action: blogdom's Rainbow Nation

Only 13.9 per cent of black households and 12.6 per cent of Hispanic
households have an internet connection - and less than a quarter of rural
households. The spurt of internet adoption that coincided with the Napster
boom - which took penetration over the fifty per cent mark - is now a
distant memory. Although 13.1 per cent of the US came online in the year to
September 2001, only seven per cent have been added in the subsequent two
years. The lack of availability is cited by less than ten per cent of
non-wired households. Almost half, or 44.1 per cent, aren't interested at
all. 38.9 per cent say it doesn't represent value for money. The boredom is
apparent elsewhere in the survey: amazingly, 17.7pc of households have
dial-up, but don't use it. Having arrived on the Information Superhighway,
they've pulled over into the layby for a snooze.

Clearly rural areas can benefit greatly from an information service of some
kind. But it's becoming less apparent that the internet in its current
shape is the way to deliver such services. Braving this toxic wasteland of
spam, viruses and trolls requires a major investment for a low income
household, and it isn't clear that the payback is worth it. (Berating them
for "Not Getting It
" is no longer an option, and illustrates why Professor
Fisher's work
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/01/free_legal_downloads/) on a
digital pool for music is so important: it would give everyone a good
reason for having a computer connection).

We may even be approaching the problem from the wrong direction.

For a decade governments have tried to cajole the real world into jumping
into cyberspace, with grants and promotions to adopt internet adoption.
Perhaps what was needed instead was a drive to persuade techno utopian
bloggers to join the real world. With a compassionate approach - involving
patience, counseling and therapy - there's no reason they can't be fully
integrated back into society. At which point we may begin to get computer
networks that are really useful to all of us, and not just a technocratic
elite.
-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'