NYT op-ed: full equality requires digital equality

The New York Times published a powerful op-ed by Anthony Marx, president of the New York Public Library. He details the experiences of those in New York on the wrong side of the digital divide, explaining where libraries are working to close the gap and urging more to be done:

All summer, kids have been hanging out in front of the Morris Park Library in the Bronx, before opening hours and after closing. They bring their computers to pick up the Wi-Fi signal that is leaking out of the building, because they can’t afford internet access at home. They’re there during the school year, too, even during the winter — it’s the only way they can complete their online math homework.

[…]

No child can have equal access to education, nor any worker equal access to a job, without access to the internet and the digital training to use it skillfully. Our federal, state and local policies must recognize there can be no full equality without digital equality.

Read the full piece here.

Link:

Too Poor to Afford the Internet (New York Times, Aug. 12, 2016)