IP: WEB OFFERS FEW RICHES FOR POOR

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Although low-income and immigrant groups in America are
increasingly gaining access to the Internet, little online
content is geared to their needs, according to a report released
yesterday by the nonprofit Children's Partnership.  At least 50
million Americans are underserved by the Internet because it
lacks information about jobs, housing, and education for these
groups.  Out of 1,000 Web sites, the study found only 6 percent
containing information that people living at or below the poverty
line said would interest them.  Low-income Americans expressed an
interest in local information about jobs and housing as well as
multilingual content.  Although 32 million Americans speak
primarily a language other than English, about 87 percent of Web
pages are in English.  In addition, most online content is in
text and graphics rather than sound and video, which are easier
to understand although they require more bandwidth.  The sites
that provide accessible and practical information for low-income
and non-English-speaking users belong mostly to community
organizations, schools, and businesses rather than to the
government, the study shows. (Los Angeles Times, 16 March 2000)