The technological divide is huge in the U.S., heck it's huge across the world. It is also larger than it should be in Roanoke City.
Technology can be a great equalizer, it gives everyone equal access to services, information, education, and creation. The poor kid with a computer and internet access can read the same sources for his paper online as the rich kid down the street. By that same token the dirt poor writer can make their voice heard just as easily as a huge multimedia corporation-granted it ain't easy, but it happens.
I am of the belief that government has a responsibility, along with corporations, to provide access to hardware, software, online services, and whatever else the tech titans dream up. But how could a city provide such things to its people? More specifically, how could Roanoke.
It begins with the creation of a new office, I'm still not sure if it'd be better as an elected office or an appointed office. This governmental office would be called something like The Office of Technology for Roanoke City, Va. The head of this office would oversee all things relating to technology both within and without the city government. It would be broken up into two arms, one would oversee all internal IT needs of Roanoke City's government and maintain the newly created library system's computer system. The other arm would help departments within the government provide content and services online. In addition this second branch would also spearhead community based programs, charities, organizations to advance technology, both in acquiring the technology (hard- and software) and learning how to use it, among impoverished and lower income children and adults.
The library system I outline in a previous “Roanoke's Revolution” post is critical to providing baseline service to people. It is through the library that people would have access to large computer labs complete with printers, scanners, and web based services provided by the library. Here the library ceases to just be a repository of books, instead it becomes a center for all information with access to archives online that exceed and extend it's own collection The library becomes a dynamic technological hub that gives all residents equal access to the great equalizer that is the web.
As mentioned above this office would also help the city and its departments off all forms, information, and as many services online as is humanly possible. This is good to do because it makes it available to people 24/7, helps reduce foot traffic and lines at city offices, as well as can cut down on costs for the city-ie cutting down on paper and paper forms and people to handle them.
Moreover Roanoke City must somehow make connecting to the internet easier for citizens. Already in the market downtown there exists a wifi zone, so here I suggest to make add supported free and low cost wifi available to all residents of Roanoke City. The model for this is of course the Google-Earthlink partnership that is building infrastructure to offer just such a service to citizens of San Francisco. Since Roanoke City is a smaller city with Salem and Roanoke County intruding at weird places where you can't tell which locale you are in, this wifi would have an access agent. This agent would require a login and password which would be identical to that given to residents of Roanoke City when they sign up for the free technology services at the Roanoke City (only Roanoke City) libraries. If that proves not then I'd suggest giving businesses tax incentives for creating wifi hotspots that are freely available and must be of a certain size.
Technology is now a part of life, a part that is almost as vital as water and sewer utilities. I'm not saying that a city should provide complete infrastructure for this technology, but I do believe cities, Roanoke in particular, should provide the basic infrastructure like wifi and e-government.
© 2006 A.T.L.