🚀 go-pugleaf

This is a copy of an article I wrote for American Visions Magazine.  A
reduced version also appeared in Focus, the publication of the Joint Center
for Political and Economic Studies.  I suggest you contact Costis Toregas,
president of Public Technology, Inc.  PTI is a not-for-profit corporation
which services the National Association of Counties, the National Association
of Cities (not the exact title), the National Forum for Black Public
Administrators and other local government trade associations.  PTI has
projects focused on the information super highway.  PTI is located in
Washington, D.C.  The phone number is:  202-626-2400.

The Information Highway, Will African Americans Be Left Sitting At  <-!>
The Back of the Bus?<-!>
By Rick Blake, a Washington-based policy analyst
Possibly as soon as three to five years from now,  the family television,
CD-Rom, stereo set, telephone, computer and fax machines, will all be
integrated entry points to a fiber optic world of more entertainment and
information than has ever before been available.  Welcome to the "information
super highway,"  a "seamless, high speed network carrying voice and video
services to everyone," as Lotus Development Corporation founder Mitchell
Kapor has said.  The "information and communication infrastructu re of the
future, based on fiber optics, will provide the principal conduits for global
entertainment, commerce, information, and communication in the next century,"
 Kapor said.   This system will affect virtually all households in America,
though the timi ng of service delivery, the cost and the types of services
offered to economically disadvantaged areas are issues now being contested by
the companies building the system, local governments and public interest
media advocates.
The  information super highway, or the National Information Infrastructure
(NII), as the Clinton Administration dubbed it in September, 1993, is the
next century's battle ground for the clash of the corporations. including,
AT&T, the Regional Bell Operating Companies, the nation's largest cable
companies, the computer industry and newer technologies like Direct Broadcast
Satellites (DBS) are all girding themselves in preparation of what looks to
be an historic corporate battle for market share on the informat ion highway.

Can African Americans Afford A Ticket to Ride the Information Highway?<-!>
Will any of this make any difference to African Americans, many of whom
struggle with life's more basic problems of food, housing, health care,
shelter and employment? What will happen to many rural communities, who
experience dramatically higher levels of  poverty and other social ills?
 Will our communities continue to exhibit disproportionately lower rates of
access to  technology, including even plain old telephone service, where
 African American homes without telephone service (largely due to the inabili
ty to afford the service) may be two to five times the national average.
 Other questions include:  How will minority businesses be involved in what
proposes to be a massive reorganization of virtually all of life's
activities.    While much of the current  analysis of both the Clinton
Administration and those corporations involved in the development of NII are
focused on the marketplace, relatively few public policy analysts, or civil
rights activists, are involved in thinking about the impact of this massive
reorganization on our society and on those who are now poor and less
educated.
Public interest organizations have worked with members of the Congressional
Black Caucus and other legislators to impact current communication reform
efforts.  The Energy and Commerce Committee voted two amendments to the
Markey-Fields bill, HR 3636, sponso red by Chicago Congresswoman Cardiss
Collins, out of committee.  The amendments require common carriers (the
distributors of information) to submit annual plans to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) for increasing minority and women-owned
business  procurement and for the FCC in conjunction with the National
Telecommunication Information Agency to initiate a rulemaking to analyze "for
the purpose of lowering market entry barriers for small business and
minority-owned business concerns that are seeking to provide
telecommunication services and "My primary concern is that we make sure that
those individuals, institutions and business entities that are on the fringe
or are traditionally the last to benefit from major technological changes are
not left behind," said Congresswoman Collins.  "  "Afric an Americans,
minorities, women, small business and nonprofit entities must not be left
standing on the access road while the big dogs tool dogs the communications
super highway," Congresswoman Collins said.
Those companies building the superhighway want to basically be left alone to
compete.  "There is no longer any legitimate interest served by pervasive
economic regulation of the competitive parts of the (telecommunications)
industry," said Martina L. Bradfo rd, vice president for Federal Affairs for
AT&T.  "Government appears to be trying to reach the monopoly aspects of this
industry and to create an environment in which the market forces of
competition can expand customer options," Bradford said at a three-c ity
videoconference sponsored by AT&T and targeted toward the African American
business community.  "The government needs to reaffirm and expand the
nation's commitment to pro-competitive policies and to provide a fair
opportunity for true competition," Bra dford said.
But will corporate competition alone be able to deliver needed services to
traditionally underserved communities?  Some media analysts do not believe
so.  "The industry says to policy makers and the public, 'Technology can
answer all of your questions.  Jus t sit back and wait, we don't need any
public interest policies or legislation because technology and the market has
all the answers.'" Chester believes that history may be about to repeat
itself unless political pressure is brought to beat.  "We have a ver y small
window of opportunity to cut a deal in the public interest," Chester said.
  "We need a system that is not totally under the control of private
corporations," Chester said.  "That is why we have been urging the Clinton
Administration and Congress to say that 20 percent  of the capacity of new
system should be reserved for noncommercial, public use."
"We will be asking the Clinton Administration to develop rules to insure that
local communities have some say over what these networks will do and how they
will be designed.  Right now there are no rules that will allow community
groups to participate in he arings, or in any other way, in the design of
these systems," Chester said.
Information Week's Joel Dreyfuss does not believe the disparity in access to
technology and information is solely split along racial lines.  "The
underserved both Black and white, are traditionally left out of any kind of
economic development," Dreyfuss sai d.  "You have to remember that these
technology companies are ardent free marketers," Dreyfuss said.
Public interest groups like the Center for Media Education, the United Church
of Christ's Office of Communications, People for the American Way and others,
have also entered the battle for a piece of the information super highway.
 These groups and almost 9 0 others, have come together to form the
Telecommunications Policy Roundtable (TPR), a consortium concerned with
noncommercial uses of the proposed network.  "Our government has the
responsibility as public trustee to ensure that new communications technolo
gies serve the democratic and social needs of our country."  TPR and its
allied groups have been very active in putting into current legislation,
language related to minority ownership, anti-discrimination provisions and
language related to the removal of c ompetitive barriers facing minority and
small businesses.  This is particularly important considering the high
visibility of the three major bills now in Congress.
Many in the public sector are afraid that the Administration may be selling
off the public interest too quickly.  "What we are putting in place is this
country's electronic nervous system.  It will pretty much determine who has a
voice, who is empowered, wh o can speak to whom, under what terms and
conditions, who is included and who is left out," says Nolan Bowie, associate
professor of communications, Temple University and former executive director
of Citizens Communications,  a public interest law firm that challenged
broadcast licenses in the late 1970s.  Bowie, the husband of Lani Guinier,
former Clinton appointee to the Civil Rights division of the Justice
Department, believes,  "The information highway may well be a toll road
because it will be private pr operty"  where  "you can charge whatever the
market will bear."
"That is what bothers me about the Clinton Administrations position as
articulated by Al Gore," Bowie said.  "While they say they would like the
information highway to serve everyone, they are not willing to pay for it
outright.  What they are doing is keep ing their fingers crossed and standing
on the sidelines hoping," Bowie said.
There are efforts already underway to use the technology.  The Howard
University School of Social Work, with funding from the Public Health
Service, and in cooperation with the Baylor College of Medicine and Macro
International, a consulting group, has deve loped a community services
workstation, which is a computer-driven network with a video interface,
through which off-site and experienced counselors assist at-risk families and
their children, with a wide range of problems that individual human service
orga nizations "are simply ill-equipped to address alone." Since services are
fragmented and uncoordinated, it is necessary to have high technology tools
available for social service providers so they can communicate and
collaborate with one another," said Jim C raigen, associate professor at the
Howard School of Social Work and one of the coordinators of the project.
 "Currently (human service providers) are basically in competition," Craigen
said.  "What we have been working on is to create the atmosphere and the
climate at the Federal level, at the state level and at the county and local
levels, where (human service providers) can make the best use of scarce
resources and provide the quality of service that people need."   Craigen
believes that the information hig hway can "add significantly to the
effectiveness of human service delivery."
The Landscape of the National Information Infrastructure<-!>
Some say the new technologies may be the equivalent to another gold rush.
 John Sculley, the president of Apple Computer Inc., estimated in a recent
article in Congressional Quarterly that an integrated network could help
create a $3.5 trillion market.  The size of this potential market, or more
correctly markets, has America's largest companies lining up to pay enormous
entry fees in anticipation of large profits.
<:#2556,9360>The corporate players in this huge information sweepstakes
include AT&T, the Regional Bell Operating companies, cable companies, smaller
telephone long distance and local telephone providers, computer hardware and
software companies and producers of printed , graphic and video information.
 SIMBA/Communications Trends an industry newservice estimates that the
electronic marketplace already generates $35 billion in with well over $50
billion possible by the year 2000.
>While potential profts are large, the needed upfront investments are almost
as great, with the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) reportedly set to
invest more than $40 billion to build broadband, according to a new study
released by SIMBA/Communicati ons Trends.  The study also says that these
companies will not see a return on their investment until after the year
2000.  Meanwhile, RBOCs and others are looking for partners to share these
burdens at a dizzying pace, including US West, the first Baby Bel l to commit
to building an interactive, multimedia network in 14 Western and Midwestern
states.
The Administration, which initially made rumblings about building the system
itself, has now reduced its role to essentially that of corporate traffic
cop, working towards, as the Vice President has said, the "advancement of
competition," getting rid of 'su ffocating regulation" and the loosening
"unfettered monopolies," particularly in the telephone industry.  They have
proposed to spend about $2 billion over five years to help health
professionals, educators,  business people and others, use the NII effectiv
ely.  In addition, about $1 billion is proposed for hooking up public
facilities like libraries and schools.  This is a modest sum considering the
completion of the network may cost from $100 to $400 billion.
"Our current information industries -- cable, local telephone, long distance
telephone, file, computers, and others -- seem headed for a Big Crunch/Big
Bang,' said Vice President Al Gore, in a presentation this year to the
Academy of Television Arts and Sci ences.  "There may not be cable companies
or phone companies or computer companies, as such.  Everyone will be in the
bit business.  The functions provided will define the marketplace.  There
will be information conduits, information providers, information  appliances
and information consumers," the Vice President said
But no one really knows what will really work and what will not, even as
companies rush to spend billions for the development of NII.  "People assume
there is money to be made in the information highway," says Joel Dreyfuss,
Editor-In-Chief of Information W eek and former editor of PC Week, two of the
nation's most widely respected technology publications.  "The problem is that
nobody is sure what the public is going to buy," said Dreyfuss, the only
African American in charge of a major information publication .  "There are
alot of unanswered questions about the economics of the information highway
and nobody as yet has the answers.  There are, however, plenty of people
taking guesses," said Dreyfuss.
<:#4260,9360>The super highway will change both our culture and literally,
our national landscape forever.  Some of these changes will make life better.
 For instance, the new technology has the potential to bring world-class
education into the homes of every person in  this country.  It also has the
potential to change our very notion of the word "school" and the duties of
teachers.  In same cases, in may be both more cost effective and help
learning to progress at a more rapid pace, if some children go to "virtual
school s" in  which learners congregate, not in a physical space, but at an
appointed time with remote teachers, not even in the same state.  Indeed,
"virtual classrooms" might include students not even in the same state, who
chose to work together because of comm on interests.
The tying together of technology into the network of all networks could also
greatly enhance the lives of young mothers, those afflicted with substance
abuse, persons with AIDS and other life threatening diseases, those persons
with special mental and physi cal challenges and other families and
individuals who need help from our health and social services delivery
system.
The new technology may also  stimulate numerous micro and "virtual"
businesses, new concepts in themselves, to develop a cornucopia of products
that will help stimulate our nation's economy and help reduce the foreign
trade deficit.  (A virtual business is  one in which the "employees" are not
in any one physical location and communicate only through computers, or in
the future, by other advanced communications technology, as well.)
But there will be a down side.  Since at least the 1980s, the nation's
workforce has become increasingly a part of what will become the information
infrastructure.  What will happen to workers who cannot be retrained?  What
will happen to those not now prep ared, or preparing for the information age?
 Congressman Edward J. Markey, chairman of the Energy and Commerce
Telecommunications and Finance subcommittee and co-author of one of the 103rd
Congress' major communications acts, HR 3636, calls this "informatio n
apartheid."
"We're going to wind up in a world where the only high technology that a
10-year old boy in Southeast has access to is a handgun," said the
Congressman in an interview with the Washington Post.  I
The information super highway will have a direct impact on local government,
too.  City administrators have been holding meetings on the NII, where they
began to understand the importance of the technology to their cities, towns
and counties and that they " knew nothing about it," said Costis Toregas,
president of Public Technology, Inc. a nonprofit organization that works in
partnership with local governments to help them understand and taken
advantage of new technologies.   PTI will launch a $400,000 NII awa reness
campaign that will bridge the gap between the importance of the issue and the
level of understanding at the local government level, Toregas said.  The
company has asked the National league of Cities and the National Association
of Counties to take th e lead in an education campaign with elected officials
and will work with the International City County Management Association in
researching NII and its impact on local governments.  The objective is to
develop a practical plan for local governments for us ing the NII.
While the upside for local governments is not clear, "I can project pretty
aggressively the negative side of the super highway," Toregas said.  "Local
franchise fees, may evaporate; taxes may go away, including sales tax
revenues which might plummet if peop le take to buying off the television
screen and business tax revenues, which may fall because we haven't figured
out how to tax "virtual companies."  "If revenues drop significantly for
already hard pressed local governments,  who picks up that slack?" Tore gas
asked.
"The NII debate has been pitched around the consumer.  In my vision of the
NII, we have to start talking about the citizen, " Toregas said.  "The reason
that we come together in communities, the reasons that we  gather in shared
geographic and political spa ce ,  the reasons that we pay taxes, go to work,
is to have a society and a community of interest.  That begins to fragment if
we revert to couch potatoes with Master Cards that continually order up
whatever they want in some kind of electronic wonderland,"  Toregas said.
The prediction business is a risky venture.  However, it is clear that the
present technological revolution is already having a serious impact on
African Americans.  We are disproportionate affected by the loss of lower
level jobs and the expansion of techn ologically-related jobs that require
more education.  Our communities are already among the last to get service
and most of our businesses do not have the capital investment requirements,
to shape the system as it is being built.  Those of us who are well-e
ducated, have computers and are prepared for this technology and the
explosion of information that it represents, will have access to a wealth of
information that can enhance our lives, depending upon how we use it.  Those
of us who have had less advantages and opportunities, who are presently
floundering from one social service agency to another, may be able to take
fuller advantage of available human services due to new technological
applications, but we will be even more heavily burdened by a lack of educa
tion, less capital assets and a culture which places responsibility on the
victim for their condition.  Perhaps it is not too soon to coin the terms
"virtual poverty" and "virtual unemployment."  The private sector certainly
has a right to make a profit on  their huge investments, but in this
potentially vast reshaping of our society, the Clinton Administration ought
to work together with both local governments and public policy advocates, to
insure that a portion of this system is reserved for those who may n ever be
able to afford to ride in the front the bus.