Access

Access to new-media services is a multifaceted concept. Definitions of access have changed over time as newmedia services have developed. The tenets of “universal service” were grounded in U.S. telecommunications policy, and with the advent of networked information and communication technologies (ICTs), these goals are being reconceptualized.

The goal of U.S. telecommunications policy is universal service, which posits that all Americans should have access to affordable telephone service. A commonly used measure of success in achieving universal service is telephone penetration—the percentage of all U.S. households that have a telephone on the premises. In the United States, approximately 94 percent of households have telephone service. Therefore, basic telephone service has not achieved universality, since approximately 6 percent of all Americans lack such service; this represents about 5.6 million households, or 14.8 million people. One of the characteristics of those with low penetration rates is residence in either inner cities or rural areas; they tend to be the young, the transient, and visible minorities.

The universal service concept dates back to 1907, when Theodore Vail, president of AT&T, used the term in reference to his desire to interconnect the fragmented local telephone companies into a unified national system. The Communications Act of 1934 directed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make available an efficient and nationwide wire and radio network. Universal service has been achieved through application of cross-subsidies, made possible through the regulated monopoly scheme of the telephone industry. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the concept of universal service to consider such advanced services as the Internet. Public policy is thus striving to decrease the digital divide through a variety of funding mechanisms and regulatory schemes.

Access to ICTs implies an extension of the sensibility of POTS (plain old telephone service) in telephony, which is rooted in the notion that people living in outlying rural areas should get the same basic telephone service as those living in more densely populated locales. In other words, the same level of service will be offered at an equivalent cost, regardless of location. Despite this reliance on geographic markers as a component of access, the implication has been that access to voice telephony is an essential ingredient for stitching together communities and the nation; and that access to basic services such as emergency 911 and operator assistance is a vital social utility that should be available to all citizens.

Access to the networked information infrastructure involves an overlapping mixture of technical, economic, and social infrastructures. Technical factors include carriage facilities (those that store, serve, or carry information, such as telephone, cable, Internet, satellite, and wireless transmission), physical devices (such as telephone terminal equipment, modems, cable modems, personal digital assistants, and Net PCs, and Web TVs), and software tools (including browsers, e-mailers, search engines, authoring and editing tools, groupware). Also key is the content and services that people find useful, such as telephone enhancements, the Web, and email. Content and services need to be affordable, reliable, usable, diverse, secure, and privacy-enhancing.

Social aspects of the infrastructure include services and access provision—the organizations that provide network services and access to users, including employers, educational institutions, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telephone companies, community networks, and other community organizations. Literacy and social facilitation—the skills people need to take full advantage of ICTs—are crucial. Acquiring these skills is largely a social process, involving a combination of formal and informal methods within the context of supportive learning environments. The means of acquiring network skills need to be affordable, readily available, attuned to the learners' varied life situations, and sensitive to language, cultural, and gender differences. And finally, the central challenge of governance—how decisions are made concerning the [Page 4]development and operation of ICTs—is to foster a democratic system that allows all ICT stakeholders to participate equitably in policymaking.

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