For many, the debate over the digital divide evokes images of kids in urban areas who lack computer access and training.
But the rural poor need assistance, too. And a new program hopes to help families in Appalachia connect to the Internet, and teach them technology skills.
Starting this fall, the project Home Access to the Internet and Learning will provide a free computer to take home and free Internet access to students who live in eight counties of eastern Kentucky. The project is designed to assist 300 families in Appalachia over the next three years.
"We have an obligation here to spread the wealth," said Ray Zavada, who conceived the project. "We're trying to give them the tools to be economically viable in the future."
Zavada is president of Innovative Productivity Inc., a nonprofit organization in Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky that recycles old computers, then uses them to teach classes in computer maintenance and basic technology skills.
For the first year, HAIL will work with local middle school science students and their families in Clay and Jackson counties, two of the poorest areas in the United States. Annual household income averages $13,000, and the percentage of adults with high school diplomas hovers at 38 percent. Half the children live in poverty.
As part of the project, each family will receive basic computer skills training. In addition, adults will be eligible to take classes through the Kentucky Virtual High School and Kentucky Commonwealth Virtual University, two partners in the project. After training, the family will contribute to a "virtual" community project called the Kentucky Outdoors Program.
The KOP program enables families to create Internet content reflecting their surroundings and their day-to-day lives. With help from the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources, families will record videos, shoot photographs, or create drawings of subjects related to the wildlife and natural resources of the area. For example, a family may identify and photograph indigenous wildflowers, or share hunting traditions.
After the information has been gathered, the families will use scanners, editing tools, and add text to create articles to build a KOP multimedia encyclopedia.
"Being outdoors is a way of life here," said John Dalton, superintendent of the Wayne County Public Schools. "Let them (do) something that they're comfortable with and expand on that."
The district, with 2,700 students, will be a HAIL participant during the second year.
"Any opportunity we get to expand the opportunities for our kids and their parents, we'll take it," Dalton said.
HAIL hopes to receive $500,000 in funding from the Department of Commerce's Technologies Opportunities Program, and already has commitments for $500,000 in matching donations local businesses and community organizations.
But one educator argues that while the program has good intentions, it is missing a crucial ingredient.
"They could have set it up so the actual people decide what the project is, as opposed to defining what the project developers think is authentic," said Elliot Soloway, a professor of education and computer science at the University of Michigan. "That's what's lacking: community decision making."
"What if they don't like the outdoors?" Soloway asked.
In addition, he said that project designers need to produce a simpler model so there is the potential to adapt it to other communities.
"It doesn't get at the root," Soloway said.
Nevertheless, project leaders feel confident that this is a step in the right direction.
"If we can find something that's interesting and entertaining (to them), we can teach them technology in that context," said Robert Clark, one of the project leaders and CEO of Clark Publishing. "You first have to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy in order for these Kentuckians to have a chance to succeed."
