Text: How Internet Access Benefits Children

(Commerce's NTIA issues new report about on-line education) (1020)

U.S. Secretary of Commerce William Daley released a new report Oct. 5 demonstrating how innovative Internet-based education programs are helping children broaden their minds and better their communities.

The report describes 11 different educational projects conducted around the country. They all received funding from the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP), demonstrating "how access to the Internet creates opportunities to tap the creativity of children, to nurture their artistic talents and to create bonds between generations," according to Larry Irving, assistant secretary for communications and information. Irving heads the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce Department office overseeing the TIIAP.

"This report illustrates how programs such as TIIAP and policies that extend such opportunities to those most in need are small investments that will yield large dividends for the future of America's children," Secretary Daley said in releasing the report at a school in Washington, D.C. "It shows how networking tools are offering children opportunities to form an array of rewarding relationships and helping to make their communities better places to live."

"How Access Benefits Children" describes a variety of programs in different parts of the United States. In Vermont, sophisticated software programs and Internet dialogues are helping children compose music. California students are using computers to create a cutting-edge, multi-media exhibition of participatory art. A wide-scale E-mail campaign is building stronger bonds between youngsters and senior citizens in rural Nebraska. In one Texas county, students use an array of Internet and computer resources to initiate community projects in diverse areas such as traffic safety, environmental awareness and consumer information.

The full text of the report can be found at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/kids100599pr.htm.

Following is the text of the introduction and conclusion from the NTIA report:

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How Access Benefits Children:

Connecting Our Kids to the World of Information

The Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program U.S. Department of Commerce

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

October 5, 1999

Introduction:

Like most technological innovations, the Internet has spawned high hopes, but it has given rise to deep fears as well. Will the era of wide-open, instant communications enrich our lives, or will it overwhelm us? Will it create new opportunities for us to learn and grow, or will it leave us confused and lost amidst a cacophony of voices? Will it strengthen our communities, or will it leave us in disarray and subject to those who prey on the vulnerable and the isolated? These questions are especially pressing when it comes to children. Some believe the Internet offers our kids unparalleled new opportunities to learn, to discover a world beyond themselves, and to form rewarding new relation-ships. But others fear that it tears down customary safeguards of family, community and trusted institutions, leaving children open to the influence of countless Pied Pipers. Which vision will define our future? This report contains 11 stories about people who are working hard to ensure that technology enhances the lives of children. In their view, computers can, indeed, uplift our kids. With their help, young Americans are finding new ways to express themselves, forming relationships that have become increasingly difficult to find in today's fast-paced world, giving something back to their communities, and preparing for the future. On top of all that, the people described in this report are committed to ensuring that the new opportunities unleashed by technology are available to all of our children, regardless of their economic status or station in life. Their efforts demonstrate that there is nothing inevitable about the digital divide. All of the projects discussed here have received funds from the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP). But these efforts do not originate in Washington. Rather, they arise from local communities throughout the country, and they demonstrate Americans' continuing belief in individual opportunity and expression, their faith in family, and their commitment to community. As long as we ensure that technology serves these values, there is good reason to believe that it will, indeed, bring our children a bright future.

Conclusion

During the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's 1998 "Networks for People Conference," Michael Schrage, research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, proposed a standard for evaluating new networking technologies. Ultimately these new tools should be judged, he said, not by the quantity of information they hold or the speed with which they transmit it, but by whether they improve the quality of human relationships. As Schrage put it, "The most important product of the network is the networker. The real impact of these technologies is not about information, it's about the quality of relationships." This report has applied Schrage's test to technology and children, exploring how networking tools are offering kids opportunities to form an array of meaningful and rewarding relationships. It has described how grade school kids and senior citizens are learning from each other in Nebraska, and how high school students are sharing ideas with adult mentors in New England. It has told about young children in Texas who are making their communities better places to live, and about teenagers in Mississippi who are extending a helping hand to hospital patients. It has explored how children from Vermont to California are learning new ways to express themselves through music and other arts, and how kids from North Dakota to Massachusetts are learning to collaborate and communicate. Finally, it has discussed how dedicated people from coast-to-coast are striving to ensure that the opportunities of the new Information Society become available to the disadvantaged. Together, the people described in this report make a compelling case that emerging information technologies can change children's lives for the better. But while technology is central to their vision, it is not the most important element. What most distinguishes these projects are the people who imagined them and who are now making them a reality. It is their belief in the dignity of individuals, their faith in families, and their commitment to communities that enable us to view our children's technological future with high hopes.

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