This article kind of goes hand in hand with the Rockford library article, in my eyes at least. While I could go off on a tangent on how this relates to disenfranchising minority and low income voters and the creation of the low-information voters, I'll try to just stick to a narrower definition of the subject matter. This is also timely for me as a parent, as our school district is getting reading to vote on whether or not to upgrade our school's internet and computers. Some of the school's computers are as much as 12 years old, and none of the schools have a wireless network. At home, my daughter has access to a netbook, mobile devices, a Mac PowerBook, an iMac and other devices... but we know families in town who don't have so much as one computer and don't have internet access.
The city's library weekday hours are VERY limited and there are no Sunday hours.. At the same time, our elementary school is the third largest in the state due to the number of communities it serves. Couple that with the lack of internet service to the rural areas surrounding town and the smaller communities in the area, and you have a perfect example of the problems and challenges the article speaks to. I find it hard to believe that there is an active movement in this state and elsewhere to refuse funds and cancel projects related to rural broadband. And yet it is very real. And very sad.
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