Interesting article.  What surprised me was the statement that experts are
surprised about the digital devide.  NOT ONE WORD IN THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
about something which is ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED for computer access.  What is
that?  LITERACY!!!

You can't get involved in shopping services, mailing lists, discussions
and the like on the computer if your reading skills are poor or
non-existant.   And it is a fact that literacy is worse among the poor in
this country.

Steve

On Mon, 27 Sep 1999, Kelly Pierce wrote:

The New York Times

September 22, 1999

What Price Will Be Paid by Those Not on the Net?

By PAM BELLUCK

     The latest Federal survey of who is using the Internet presented
     some sobering results. The "digital divide" is widening, the
     Commerce Department said in July, and the gap is on its way to
     becoming a "racial ravine."

Photo Credit:
                                     Thomas Dallal for The New York Times

Photo caption:
       Preschoolers practice their mouse skills at the Essex County Child
                                            Development Center in Newark.
     _________________________________________________________________

     While more Americans of all demographic groups are going online,
     black and Hispanic families are less than half as likely as white
     families to have access to the Internet from home, work or school.
     And even at the lowest income levels, the gap is great -- a child
     in a low-income white family is three times as likely to have
     Internet access as a child in a low-income black family and four
     times as likely as than a child in a low-income Hispanic family.

     It is clear that people without Internet skills are increasingly
     likely to be less competitive in school and in the workplace. But
     what about as consumers? Are they missing out on shopping
     opportunities and information? Are they likely to end up the
     captive customers of unwired retailers who will do what some
     inner-city grocery stores do now -- offer limited quality and
     selection at high prices?

     The answer is still up in the air. But there is cause for concern,
     experts say.

     "It's pretty easy to imagine that in a fairly short period of time,
     say within 10 years, to be a member of society and not be online
     will be a little bit like living in Los Angeles and not having a
     car," said Paul Saffo, a computer industry consultant at the
     Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, Calif.

     "Their choices will be restricted, and they're going to pay a
     little more for things and they'll have fewer options," he said.
     "And it's not going to be one of these things where you see the
     digital homeless on the street, or sleeping on the steps of City
     Hall. It's going to be an invisible problem. The people who are
     digitally dispossessed may not even appreciate that they are
     dispossessed."

     For now, most experts agree, those excluded from E-commerce are not
     losing out on many price-cutting bonanzas. Best sellers may be 50
     percent off at Amazon.com, but other books are not sold at such
     deep discounts there.

     Still, there are deals to be had, and not only through online
     auction houses. Some airlines offer discounts if customers buy
     tickets on their Web sites. And Mark Cooper, the research director
     for the Consumer Federation of America, said that long-distance
     telephone companies had been offering significant savings -- 7
     cents a minute for customers who pay with credit cards on line,
     compared with 19 cents a minute for the average customer billed on
     paper.

     Analysts also predict that in a few years, so many companies will
     be selling online that prices will become more competitive. But at
     the moment, the biggest plus for the online consumer is information
     and convenience.

     "Car sales are a good example," said Ann Winblad, a venture
     capitalist with Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.

     "People are going to car dealers armed with information to
     negotiate," she said. "They can ask for information on many sites
     on the Internet. Even if they are not buying on the Internet, they
     know what they should be paying. They know what things cost."

     Those shopping for compact disks can hear the music online, read a
     review of an album, have a Web site like CDNow tell them what other
     artists they might enjoy and then walk into Tower Records and make
     an informed purchase.

     "It's very different from a store clerk -- they don't know you,"
     Ms. Winblad said.

     Researchers who study the digital divide say they are puzzled by
     its persistence, especially after substantial computer price cuts
     and give-aways in recent years.

     James McQuivey, a senior analyst with Forrester Research, a
     technology research firm, said that because of affordable prices,
     the third of the population that earns less than $25,000 a year is
     expected to account for 11 percent of online retail spending by
     2003, up from 6 percent now. But he said that would still pale in
     comparison to the group's off-line buying, which makes up 25
     percent of retail spending. And, in general, he said, these
     consumers buy smaller impulse items, like compact disks.

Photo credit:
                                     Jeffrey A. Salter/The New York Times

Photo caption:
      B. Keith Fulton heads the technology program for the National Urban
                                                                   League
     _________________________________________________________________

     Donna L. Hoffman, a professor of management at Vanderbilt
     University in Nashville, said she was troubled that, according to
     her research and that of others, whites consistently have more
     Internet access compared with black people with comparable
     education and incomes.

     "There's something going on here," Professor Hoffman said.
     "Personal computer prices have dropped dramatically. And
     African-Americans' adoption of satellite technology and cable is
     dramatic. We think there are social and cultural factors that are
     influencing certain segments of society so they don't feel that
     they are interested in adopting PC's."

     Professor Hoffman said that one theory was that there is not enough
     that interests minority consumers on the Internet, something that
     may begin to change with the introduction this fall of www.bet.com,
     a Web site geared to African-Americans, which will include a store
     selling urban apparel, music and collectible items.

     But other Web sites focusing on black consumers say they have found
     it hard to draw shoppers. B. Keith Fulton, the director for
     technology programs and policy at the National Urban League, says
     the problem is complex, essentially a new frontier for civil
     rights.

     "There are two schools of thought," Fulton said. "One is that for
     African-Americans, our historical experience with automation has
     been one of disengagement and disenfranchisement. From the
     automation of plantations to industrialization in the North,
     whenever automation has come it's been to the disadvantage of
     African-Americans, so there is a lot of distrust there. Phones,
     cable TV, these are proven technologies."

     He said the "second school of thought says that for
     African-American kids, teachers aren't as well trained, schools
     don't have as many computers; kids aren't bringing the demand home
     for parents to get this device."

     With more transactions taking place on line, what will this mean to
     people who still shop in traditional stores?

     Some experts, like Professor Hoffman, think that off-line stores
     will be under pressure to improve services, if not prices -- both
     because of competition with online retailers and because of demands
     from Internet-educated shoppers. Retailers will have online
     divisions that they can use to augment their real-store services
     by, say, providing more information about items through a computer
     that customers can use in the store.

     But Cooper of the Consumer Federation is less optimistic.

     "Some think tank said this is not a case of haves and have-nots,
     but have-nows versus have-laters," he said. "The real problem is
     that the have-laters never catch up. You're going to be paying more
     for a long time if you don't get online."


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+----------------------------+
|  Steve Zielinski  (N8UJS)  |
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