EMFA: T2E3 - Hispanic Computer/Internet Use - Wilhelm

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Theme: Universal Internet - Essay 3
Author: Anthony Wilhelm, Tomas Rivera Policy Institute
E-mail: Anthony.Wilhelm@cgu.edu

Hispanic Computer Ownership and Internet Use

I have just completed a Hispanic Computer Ownership and Internet Use
study for the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI), a public policy
"think tank" located in Claremont, California, which sheds light on
several key issues related to universal access to e-mail and the
Internet. The survey, conducted in late February 1998, comprises a
random, representative sample of Hispanic households nationwide. An
analysis of the data reveals soaring computer ownership and online
subscribership rates among Hispanic households:

    >Hispanic computer ownership now stands at 30%, a 130% increase over
     the 1994 census figures (13%).  This compares with 43% 
     among the general population, an increase of 65% since 
     1994;

    >Online subscribership, moreover, is at about 15 percent of
     households, a figure that was virtually nil in 1994;

    >75% of Hispanics who are online prefer to access the 
     Internet in English while 75% of those who are not 
     connected to online services would prefer Spanish as 
     their language of choice;

    >34% of Hispanic households have never used a computer before;

    >A plurality of respondents (38%) prefer to go the library to access
     the Internet outside of the home.

While it is clear that Hispanics lag behind society as a whole in home
computer and Internet access, this study shows that the technology gap
is no longer widening.  Indeed, I would suggest that we need to revise
our manichean distinction between information/technology "haves" and
"have nots" if we are to make advanced teletechnologies more widely
available.  Let me give an example.  The recently released Vanderbilt
study on Internet and Race suggests that, relative to the Internet, the
glass is half empty for Blacks.  The authors see the "digital divide"
widening and that race is pivotal in explaining this phenomenon.  My
research relative to the Hispanic population reveals the glass as being
half full. That is to say, although computer/Internet access lags among
Hispanic households, the rate of growth is now comparable between
Hispanic middle- and upper-class households and their non-Hispanic White
cohorts.  Indeed, the "digital divide," as far as my research shows, is
no longer widening. I would venture to guess that these results would
not be dissimilar for Blacks; however, the Vanderbilt researchers
emphasized enduring inequalities rather than the dynamic changes
occurring in access to advanced teletechnologies over the past couple of
years.

Of course, a disproportionate number of Hispanics and Blacks are poor
and lack resources and skills to be full participants in all 
aspects of contemporary life, including developing facility in 
mastering advanced teletechnologies.  Public policy initiatives 
must be extended to address these resource deficits, including 
literacy development, information-seeking skills, and 
comprehensive "digital literacy" which goes well beyond
the hour or two a week our children spend in computer labs. If we see
"have nots" as lacking (comparatively) antecedent resources and 
skills, then it becomes painfully obvious why educational 
attainment is the best predictor of who is online. This
understanding of the problem takes us beyond familiar nostrums, such as
putting computers and Internet connections in every classroom, 
and reorients decision makers toward mitigating literacy, 
skills, and knowledge deficits.

With electrification at the dawning of the twentieth century, society
witnessed a concomitant "high school movement," led by 
progressives, to ensure that its benefits would be distributed 
equally throughout society.  At this moment in time, a similar
movement is required to lift college attendance and graduation rates.
With Hispanic dropout rates near 70 percent in some communities,
universal access to e-mail and the Internet remain allusive goals.
Highlighting the need for universal access to teletechnologies, such as
the Internet, while ignoring the fact that fully one-third of Hispanic
adults have NEVER used a computer, mistakes the cause for the effect.
Proponents of this noble goal must wrestle with massive human capital
deficits in US society.  Until these challenges are met directly, the
problem of information/technology "have nots" will remain misdiagnosed.

>For more information on TRPI's research agenda in the area of
increasing Hispanic access to advanced teletechnologies, visit our Web
Page at http://www.cgs.edu/inst/trc.html .

>For more information on the resource model of teletechnology access
which I outline in this brief essay, see my article in the current issue
of Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 25, No. 4, 1997 (519-534).

--
Anthony Wilhelm, Ph.D.
Director of Information Technology Research
Tomas Rivera Policy Institute
Phone: (909) 607-4580, Fax: (909) 621-8898




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