|
|
Recommendation 4
We should take the necessary steps to ensure that every child has
access to ICT tools where it matters—at home, at school, and in
the community. Parents and young people must be well informed about the
opportunities and risks found through the Internet.
With ICT a proven conduit to opportunity for young people, we must make
it available to all children. This includes computers (or new devices
that might replace computers) and access to high-speed Internet,
including wireless connections. Our recommendation is consistent with
President Bush's national goal for "universal, affordable access for
broadband technology by the year 2007." In addition, our recommendation
includes equipping parents and teachers to encourage children’s
appropriate use of technology and use it themselves to communicate with
each other, government, doctors, etc.
- Access for All Young People: Community technology programs,
libraries, and schools have made a crucial difference in the early years
of ICT’s evolution by offering tools and training to those who are
low-income, disabled, rural, and other groups that otherwise would not
have access. They will continue to play an essential role as voices that
can represent the needs of their local communities when policies
regarding these new forms of communication are debated and implemented.
These institutions can also serve as extremely valuable test sites when
new ICT applications for children are tried out and evaluated. And they
provide the much-needed training and expertise in using ICT both for
young people and their parents.
In addition, as this report makes clear, the benefits ICT can offer
children depend on children having access on an as-needed basis at home.
Leaders in the public and private sectors ought to monitor the
availability of broadband and other indicators of quality access at
home, especially in low-income and rural communities. Deployment should
be monitored at the neighborhood level, by census tract, in order to see
where meaningful disparities must be addressed. Revenues must be
generated to ensure universal service, as public policies are developed
regarding new forms of delivering communications (like Voice Over
Internet Protocols/VoIP).
- Getting Parents Engaged: Parents are perhaps the least acknowledged
key player in providing a strong technology base for children at home.
The 62 million parents in the
U.S.
living with children under 18 represent a vastly underutilized network
of people who are well positioned to help young people get the benefits
technology can offer. Tips, information tools, and training should be
developed to educate parents on a continuing basis about what they
should expect from technology, and how they can be effective advocates
for children in this new arena.
Parent organizations as well as parent meetings in schools, child care
programs, and places of worship present valuable opportunities to help
get this important job done well. It will also be vital that leaders for
children join with organizations that have played a leadership role in
Internet safety — like the National PTA and WiredSafety — to
keep the public and government focused on needed responses to ICT risks.
While existing evidence demonstrates that the benefits outweigh the
risks, only by continuing to monitor the risks and identify new ones
early on can we develop strategies to avoid or minimize them.
|
