Google Fiber Experiment in KCK: How will the project impact the "digital divide?"
The selection of Kansas City, Kansas as the area to build a high-speed network has been widely celebrated in this area, yet raises questions about how it will address a "digital divide" that limits residents' affordable access to the Internet. photo from the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program site depicting a training class. Several news reports by local and national media outlets reinforced the importance to the local economy and development, like the March 30, 2011 editorial in the Kansas City Star , "Believe it: This is a big deal in an era when Internet speed is key to productivity in business, medicine and education." While the Star cheers the announcement another report a day before and one by Mary Sanchez described the demise of a statewide education network that benefited 400 Kansas schools. These two merging activities show the risk to lack of planning or oversight to technology: the expansion of the digital divide for low-income an...