The SSCR issued its preliminary field report after a week-long visit to New Mexico in November. They found that fewer than half of New Mexico households have Internet service, creating a “digital divide” between those who have access and those who do not.
“This is urgent, these are real bread and butter issues,” says Andrea Quijada, executive director of the New Mexico Media Literacy Project (NMMLP). “As all information gets moved online, people's very real lives depend on the Internet, from public assistance, to immigration status, to health, to education, to people's right to live with self-determination.”
Quijada and her staff arranged for members of the SSRC to visit high schools, libraries, colleges and community-based organizations throughout New Mexico. They are calling for people to speak out about this issue.
They also conducted several focus groups and interviews, concluding that this gap is not being met by the current infrastructure and that the commercial infrastructure for home delivery appears to offer insufficient quality of service while many locations don't have any service at all.
Libraries Play Critical Role
“If it were not for libraries, there would be a great many people who wouldn't have access to computers,” says Phillip Kimball, Branch Manager of the South Valley Library. “And they wouldn't be able to transact the business that they need to just to carry out the basic functions of their daily lives.”
Kimball noted that though the South Valley Library has only 10 computers, it provided nearly 2,000 computer sessions in December 2009 alone.
“Patrons use the computers for job applications, for contacting Workplace Solutions, for unemployment insurance, for a great many reasons.” Kimball says.
Importance of the Internet for Student and Teachers
John Grace teaches new media at the Digital Arts and Technology Academy charter school in Albuquerque and he says reliable Internet access is critical for both teachers and students.
“It's essential for us to be able to both post and download content at high speed on a regular basis,” Grace says. He notes that with 300 students trying to access the Internet at the same time, there are often problems when access is slow or is bogged down completely.
“If we are relying on being able to show a clip and the Internet is running slow on a particular day, it makes it difficult to show that clip,” he explains. “If we are relying on the Internet for the students to be able to do research and they're all on at the same time, it makes it really tough for them to be able to do the research in the time period of the class.”
Grace recently assigned his students to do research about new media and learned some interesting facts from his students.
“I was astounded to find out that our Internet in the U.S. is one of the slowest in the world,” he said. “And it is not as pervasive as in some third world countries.”
The Research Council and the FCC
The SSRC gave the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), a memo summarizing their findings and recommendations. The FCC is currently in the process of writing policies regarding Internet access, including the principle of net neutrality, the idea that users, not Internet service providers (ISP) should be in control.
The FCC did propose rules to ensure that the Internet is free from blocking, censorship and discrimination, but powerful telecommunications companies and several members of Congress, are opposing these new regulations.
This is why is is vital that the public make their concerns known, says Quijada, who has been meeting with legislators along with Elisa Pintor, NMMLP Project Coordinator.
“We believe that media should connect people technologically, culturally, and politically,” says Quijada. “And media literacy education is a vehicle for social justice, to build communities, build power.”
Pintor says it is not possible to have comprehensive immigration reform without universal broadband.
“If you are an immigrant, from anywhere, the only way you can maintain your status is online,” pinto says. “You cannot pick up a phone and call somebody or go to an office and talk to somebody. It's solely online.”
Quijada says they want universal broadband, which means that the Internet would be made available in all areas not just the ones the internet service providers would consider profitable.
“We need universal broadband and network neutrality.” Quijada says. “We need our government to support that because we can't rely on corporations to make that happen for us.”
Gloria Williams - Freelance journalist and activist Gloria Williams is convinced that using alternative media and the Internet are the best ways to meet the ...
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