Study Analyzes Efforts To Bring Technology to Distressed Areas
By Ronald Roach

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

A Penn State researcher says the lack of community-based programs and resources to equip and sustain underserved populations with significant information technology skills can override the effect of basic efforts to bring information technology to distressed communities.

According to Dr. Lynette Kvasny's study, "The Challenges of Redressing the Digital Divide: A Tale of Two Cities," basic information technology literacy conveys only a marginal impact on the ability of underserved groups to take advantage of the economic opportunities commonly associated with IT expertise. Among her findings are that most disadvantaged social groups generally are exposed to technology training for the shortest length of time and face difficulties in sustaining their use of technology beyond the initial classroom training. The result: IT program participants receive limited benefits from their new technology skills and sometimes end up frustrated or turned off by technology.

"We make assumptions that technology is a great enabler, and that if we bring technology to historically underrepresented groups, we will improve people's life chances and their ability to participate in society. The technology needs to be integrated into people's lives to be sustainable, so we need to put it where people go for social networking — in barber shops, laundromats, churches and community spaces in housing projects. Otherwise, we've invested millions of dollars in initiatives that end up folding," says Kvasny, an assistant professor in the school of information sciences and technology at Penn State University.

Kvasny's conclusions come from her research of two Georgia cities that implemented technology initiatives to address the digital divide. The study examined programs implemented in Atlanta and LaGrange, Ga.