"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"
President-elect Barack Obama has been bombarded with wish lists and one more was thrown on the pile last week by a group of prominent Latino interest groups looking for the new administration to ease the so-called digital divide.
In a four-point plan released earlier this month, organizations such ASPIRA Association, Inc., the Latinos in Science and Technology Association (LISTA), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and the Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc. (IPR/HE), among others, called for making high-speed internet access more affordable to all minorities in general, but specifically for Hispanics.
Their statement said the Obama administration should "take the necessary steps to ensure that every American has access to high speed internet service, and provide the necessary tools to enable children across the country to consider careers in science and technology."
Yes, but it won’t be Obama who takes the necessary steps, it’ll be the Nokias, Motorolas and Research in Motions (think: Blackberry) of the world who will make that happen – and they’re already erasing the divide.
Do a bit of amateur sleuthing: go into the poorest neighborhood you dare visit and simply observe. You won’t see hoards of youngsters (or oldsters for that matter) tapping away on a Mac Book at a Starbucks but I’ll bet you a million dollars you’ll see people of all ages thumb-typing on a phone.
Yep, the cellular phone is the personal computer of the next generation.
They’re cheaper than even marginally-loaded laptops and come with high speed internet access built in. Sure, the high school kids aren’t whipping ‘em out to Google the Pythagorean theorem, but more and more the college kids are doing just that.
Even more frequently they and their non-degree seeking friends and families are opening doors of opportunity with their cell phones, following trends seen all across the globe of impoverished people empowering themselves through the power of a hand-held communication device.
In March of 2007, Pew Internet & American Life Project, along with the Pew Hispanic Center, surveyed more than 6,000 Latino adults by telephone, in both Spanish and English, to find out the reasons for Hispanic online absence. Back then, even though Latinos comprised 14 percent of the U.S. adult population, only 56 percent went online compared to 71 percent of non-Latino whites and 60 percent of non-Latino blacks. Plus there was a big drop off when it came to the Spanish-only speaking segment of U.S. population.
Those who didn’t complete high school made up just 31 percent of online Latinos, whereas 89 percent of those with a college degree went online and Internet connections in Latino homes were found to be considerably lower than their white counterparts with 79 percent of Latinos having a connection of some sort, compared with 92 percent.
At that time, the cost of broadband connections was considered a barrier (and that hasn’t changed) but what has changed is the proliferation of cell phones with texting, picture and video capacity and reasonably well-functioning internet browsers.
Today in the marketing world we’re soooo post dot-com-boom, it’s now all about getting our .mobi sites up as fast as possible so millions of consumers bored at school or work, in traffic or on the train can access our information, goods, and services quickly and easily from the keyhole-sized window of their cell-phone.
Bored Latinos are no less interested in looking through that keyhole. A November report in Multichannel News written by Laura Martinez said this about the Hispanic mobile mania: "The market is too large to ignore. According to Simmons Research, there are over 18 million Hispanic wireless subscribers, and recent data compiled by Ping Mobile shows 66% of Hispanics use text messaging on a daily basis, compared to 36% of the general market." "Mobile content is going to be huge among U.S. Hispanics," said Lee Durham, president of LSN Mobile, which this year partnered with Telemundo and Azteca América to offer users local news and weather updates on their mobile devices. While the trend has been largely driven by the big broadcast networks, it is also catching on among smaller players such as V-me, Sorpresa, MTV Tr3s, mun2 and WAPA-TV." Dosvedanya digital divide! Just as they’ve done in remote villages in India, Bottswana and New Guinea, cell phones – and those who innovate them – will democratize information for the next generation of the underserved black, brown, and plain-old-poor in America. So let’s leave Obama out of this one. He’s got more pressing issues – such as how to make himself the first Crackberry President in history – to worry about an issue that will correct itself through the power of free markets.
Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Her views and reporting do not necessarily reflect those of ISAC. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com
Esther,
As usual, you've got your literary thumb on the pulse of our times. Only I'm just barely getting used to what I have!!
Hey, so what's going on in your life. I never hear back....?
Merry Christmas,
Jack
Posted by: jack spatafor | December 11, 2008 at 02:29 PM