Most government policy "seems to assume that with the Internet, all you need to do is connect people up," said Eszter Hargittai, an assistant professor of communication studies at Northwestern University. "There has to be an emphasis on skill."
Broadband brings advantages in addition to all the new entertainment applications, Ramsey argues. His long-term vision is to use the Internet to revolutionize a social and educational services, such as homework assistance and helping find jobs, insurance and health care, much of which would require faster connections for video and interactivity.
Taah Cox, 9, works at the computer as her mother, Maya Cox, and grandmother, Theodora Cox, look on. Theodora Cox helped her granddaughter embrace computers and the Internet.
(Barbara L. Johnston For The Washington Post)
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"Maybe he social worker's job changes a little bit," he said. "Maybe they become an information broker . . . on child care, housing and other services. We want people to be online, not in line."
With its goal of bringing high-speed access and training to the more than 10 million people who live in government-subsidized low-income housing, and the program's reliance on the private sector, the effort has attracted powerful backers in Washington from both parties.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) are honorary co-chairmen. Commerce Undersecretary Phillip J. Bond has urged state governors to require affordable-housing building contracts to include high-speed Internet services.
The program brings together builders, landlords, telecommunications companies, computer makers and social service agencies. It is operating in cities including Chicago, Miami, San Jose and Portland, Ore., targeting specifically the roughly 200,000 new low-income housing units built every year, which makes installing the networks significantly cheaper.
The system is a win for Internet providers, who get some fees from where they would otherwise probably have had none. Builders see broadband as adding value to their real estate and reducing tenant turnover. Companies donate the networking equipment and computers, and some landlords include the broadband fee in the rent.
Local nonprofit partners tailor the program to the needs of the their communities and help manage the networks.
By the end of this year, One Economy estimates that 5,000 households will be connected, and the group is negotiating with Verizon Corp. for a major expansion of the project.
Under the Philadelphia program, the Cox family -- three generations of women sharing a rowhouse -- gets high-speed Internet access for $10 a month. It has changed their world.
