Across the Great Divide

Conventional thinking calls for communities nationwide to have access to computers. But for these activists, computer access is the least of their worries. They want to harness digital technology to create social change. Sure, they say, putting computers in schools, in libraries, and in community centers -- where low-income people can get their hands on them -- is important. But a plugged-in computer is only useful when it becomes a tool for disadvantaged people to change their own lives -- and, in the process, to use that power to make change in their communities.

Conventional thinking calls for Internet access to connect disadvantaged people to the Web -- to give them a ticket to the whole world. But these activists see technology as a tool for local expression, local learning, and local empowerment. Sure, they say, being able to search the world for information is fascinating. But what can really make a difference is taking useful information about the world their people live in and using it to change that world for the better.

And, conventional wisdom says, closing the digital divide is the way to give each American a chance to sit at the table of opportunity created by the Information Revolution. There's nothing wrong with that, say these activists. But, they insist, let's look beyond the individual -- let's use the power of this technology to build our own communities, and then to build networks of communities; let's link inner-city kids with senior citizens and urban artists with urban activists. Let's close the digital divide in a way that not only boosts the prospects of the individual, but that also brings us all closer together, community by community.

"Technology is not inherently good or bad. It's just a thing -- a tool," says Bart Decrem, founder of Plugged In, a community technology center in East Palo Alto, California, and one of the first activists in this grassroots movement. "It's up to us to put technology to good use. If left alone, technology will reinforce the existing disparities of opportunity in this country. A lot of people are saying that technology can level the playing field, that it can create opportunity. That doesn't just happen by itself. It takes a lot of hard work. Our job is to realize that change for our community."

Plugged In, East Palo Alto, California

"We need to demonstrate that technology can be a leveler. If we do the job right, we'll prove that technology can be a positive force in society.

If the digital divide has a ground zero, Greater Palo Alto is it -- just off the exit for University Avenue on US 101, 35 miles south of San Francisco.

Take University Avenue west, and you're in Palo Alto proper, surrounded by the lush bounty of Silicon Valley. Multimillion-dollar Tudor- and plantation-style homes, adorned with manicured lawns, lead the way down sunlit suburban streets to the doors of Stanford University.

But take University Avenue east, and you're in another world: East Palo Alto is a community of 27,000 residents, the majority of whom are black or Hispanic. And, as recently as 1992, it was the per-capita murder capital of the United States.

That's a shocking image: two communities next-door to each other and yet worlds apart. But look more closely at East Palo Alto, and you'll see something else -- the digital divide's new frontier. On this two-block stretch of University Avenue -- an old-fashioned street where cars still park head in -- is a liquor store, a car wash, a wig shop, several nail salons, a drug-rehab center, and a video store. There's also a busy little storefront operation that has a sandwich board out in front on the sidewalk that lists the store's services.

Bus passes -- $18 to $38 a month
Phone cards -- $10
Faxes -- 50 cents a page
Photocopies -- 7 cents a page
Computers and Internet -- $1 a day

The street sign is an old-fashioned calling card for a very contemporary storefront business: Plugged In, a community technology-access center that is closing the gap between technological haves and have-nots -- one bus pass at a time. "All these services provide an entry point for our community," says Bart Decrem, 31, a graduate of Stanford University's law school who, in 1992, started Plugged In. "The copier, the fax, and the phone are the most immediate interactions most people in this community have with technology. Computers are often disconnected from their lives. We try to expose them to other technologies in a nonthreatening way. So, if somebody comes in to send a fax, we can say, 'Hey, do you need to write a résumé?' And we can show them how to use a computer. Then we can say, 'Have you thought about using the Internet to look for a job?' And we can show them how to do that. The point is to make this technology available in our community so that people can do what they want with it."