Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Final Review

Jaeger article

The high-speed connectivity is not evenly distributed across libraries or necessarily sufficient for increasingly bandwidth-intensive applications. Filters on public access workstations limit access to the internet. In general, patrons served by rural libraries have less access to workstations, non-filtered workstations, high-speed connectivity, and wireless internet services for patron-owned computer use. Firstly, there are considerable differences between the internet access in rural libraries and the access in other libraries. Second, access and bandwidth vary considerably on a state by state basis. Some states have much better access and bandwidth than others. Third, and perhaps most significantly, 85% of public libraries responded that there are times of the day when there are an inadequate number of workstations available for those who want to use them.
Issues:
1. The degree to which it should be, or should not be, national policy to reduce these disparities and work toward providing equal access to internet information and services
2. The "rights" of citizens to adequate access of the internet and the range of information and services the internet allows
3. The societal or financial costs associated with digitally inclusive versus digitally exclusive

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