Reducing The Digital Divide

America has always been marked by class divisions: wealth, education, race/ethnicity, and gender. While the trend in American culture has been, and continues to be toward increased openness and egress for all, traditional class divisions remain prominent and the emergence of a new class -- a technocracy -- threatens to re-balkanize the nation.

The distinction between techno-haves and techno-have-nots is popularly characterized as 'the Digital Divide'. Its recent growth, fueled by the political intersection of deregulation, globalization, and democracy, suggests the prospects for a further marginalization of the American underclass is significant and a parallel destabilization of the economy. The resulting techno-ghettos on the wrong side of the Divide represent much more problematic conditions for our society.

The Divide is distinguishable by the difference in access to hardware, software, and media -- specifically, personal computers and the Internet. Given the U.S. economy's de-industrialization, millions of individuals are more in need of having the skills and resources compatible with processing content in a service-based economy where information is a commodity. Individual socio-economic mobility is predicated upon one's ability to access and manipulate content according to his self-interests.

To provide some context, approximately 220 million of 300 million Americans -- a notch over 70% -- currently have residential Internet service. However, only 83 million residential Internet subscribers have residential high-speed ('broadband') service, commonly defined here in the U.S. as a downstream transfer rate greater than, or equal to 768kbps. The gap between residential broadband subscribers and everyone else represents the Divide. Given the rapid evolution of Web 2.0, i.e.; digital audio & video, large file transfers, high-resolution graphics, etc., the Divide also represents a new type of socio-economic isolation for those who high-speed Internet service is unavailable, unaffordable, or both.

Ignition Cyber Club is one solution to bridge the Divide. Unlike conventional Wi-Fi 'hotspots' that require users to bring their own laptop or netbook PCs to access a common Internet access point, Ignition is a full-service facility featuring up to 70 PC and game console workstations sharing a high-speed Internet connection, plus Wi-Fi access (for laptop/netbook owners), in a comfortable, friendly environment for use with school, business, or recreation. Visitors may surf the Web, use 'productivity' software (word processors, spreadsheets, etc.), play digital audio & video, chat, blog, play games, and more free of the time and content restrictions commonly in place at public libraries.

Ignition's customers actually share an Internet access point, software, and hardware, thus saving money over the cost of buying a PC and/or game console, then subscribing to broadband service with a cable, telephone, satellite, or 3G wireless Internet provider. With the deployment of service centers like Ignition, a valuable resource will be within the reach of more Americans.