IS204

Assigment 2: Internet Use

due Tuesday, Oct 1

 

You are a public library manager needing to justify to the city council your budget for public Internet access. A memer of the council has said, "As people have more access from home and work, and all the kids have access at school, we don't need to subsidize their Internet use." Other council members seem to think she has a point.

Using as many of the NTIA reports as you can (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/index.html and http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/index.html to demonstrate trends, put together a brief report for the council (city councilmembers have short attention spans, but their staff will comb thruogh your report for inconsistencies, lack of clarity, or spurious arguments). In your report, demonstrate the role of public library internet access and how it has changed over time. Who benefits? How does it affect overall internet access?

It is possible that you will convince yourself that the councilmember is right, that the library need not continue to provide access -- in which case you'll need to use this report to justify your decision to the library board that is strongly supportive of public access to the internet at the public library. But if you agree that the library shoulod continue to provide public access, this report is your argument to the city council to do so.

For the sake of simplicity, assume that public access is entirely separate from staff access, and that only funds from your own budget are relevant. Forget about things like state or federal subsidies, the Gates Foundation, and the like that help pay for public library internet access.

 

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