Journalists, authors, scientists and politicians have written volumes about a coming revolution in the form of a massive system linking homes, businesses and schools to a wealth of information frequently referred to as the "Information Superhighway." No one yet knows exactly how big it will be, how it will be connected, who will do the connecting, what will be connected, what information will be supplied and, most importantly, who will pay for it all. The former industry-based economy of the United States has evolved into one based on information. A gap has already formed between the information "Haves" and "Have-nots" that threatens to widen in the coming years. Put another way, "It's critically important that we not become a society of the information rich and information poor" (Tynan 1994, 137).
Those fortunate enough to have access to personal computers and the knowledge to use them are able to tap into an endless variety of often expensive electronic databases and services that are out of reach to many others. Testifying before a congressional subcommittee on science last year, Charles R. McClure, a professor at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, outlined what it takes to gain admittance to this highway:
"Universal access to the information superhighway implies equal and reasonable opportunity for the individual to be connected to the Internet. But to be "connected to the Information Superhighway," the individual must, minimally:
The highway will have serious impacts on society, "But the data highway may have its most profound impact on people who don't yet have an Internet address stamped on their business cards. How it will affect these non-PC users will hinge on which direction the highway takes" (Tynan 1994, 137).
Certain patterns have already emerged to indicate which groups of people are typically denied access to computers for a variety of reasons. These patterns are not unlike those that have plagued certain demographic groups for decades. Minorities, women, low-income households and people with little education are facing obstacles to this new world of information.
Visions of the Information Superhighway have the nation's citizens using personal computers, interactive television sets or hand-held devices for everything from receiving news tailored specifically to personal interests to ordering out for pizza. A paradigm for this highway already exists in form of the Internet, a massive network of government, university, and commercially-owned computers that spans the globe. The Internet evolved more than 20 years ago, from a smaller network built to ensure nation-wide communication in the event of war. Today, it is a popular means of computer-mediated communication and source of information for a growing number of Americans (Krol 1994, 13). More recently, the World Wide Web (WWW or the Web) was developed as a flexible tool for navigating the Internet (Krol 1994, 287). Today, with its capacity for text, graphics, sound and even video, it is one of the most popular aspects of the Internet. A recent survey of Web users produced statistics that exposed a lack of diversity on the Internet that points to the trend for on-line communication in general. Those statistics "suggest that the typical user is a 30-year old educated male from North America who works with computers" (Pitkow and Recker 1994).
Access to a computer is a major step toward being a part of the information society, but it is only the half-way point. Another hurdle involves using the computer, a feat which many people, particularly those who are used to and enjoy getting information from good old-fashioned print, find daunting. Despite the fact that software has evolved over the years to the point where much of it employs graphical interfaces and "windows" that are easy to manipulate and navigate with a "mouse," using a computer still requires a certain amount of savvy that can be difficult to master.
Using the Internet illustrates this difficulty. It was originally used by a technological elite of scientists and engineers. Communicating with each other required a knowledge of arcane commands that were learned through a kind of mentor system, trial and error, or plain tenacity. Today, some of that early mystery remains and discourages the computer illiterate who simply want to connect to this vast new world of information.