SC&I Dean Advises FCC on Expanding High-Speed Internet Access to All
Federal Agency Must Report to Congress by February 2010 on Plan to Increase Information Access
 The Federal Communications Commission earlier this year developed a national broadband plan to ensure that all Americans have equal access to new technological capabilities. The regulatory agency in consulting with experts from across the spectrum of telecommunication policy to develop the plan, which is due to Congress by February 2010.
Jorge Reina Schement, Dean of the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers (pictured at right), is one of those experts. Schement, who specializes in telecommunications policy and its impact on ethnic minorities in the United States, discussed patterns of communication technology use across income and socioeconomic status levels, family structures, and ethnicity at an early October workshop "Diversity and Civil Rights Issues in Broadband Deployment and Adoption " at the FCC in Washington, D.C. High-speed broadband access is becoming increasingly integral to the American life -- for millions, political participation, civic engagement, and even family life today would be drastically different without it. That technology needs to reach a saturation point in order for all U.S. residents to have an equal chance at economic competitiveness, robust civic participation, and community life in the 21st century. Dean Schement points out that even at equivalent income levels, there are differences in telephone access among ethnic groups in the United States. "We do not have a good understanding of the causes," Schement says. As Internet access and access to high-speed broadband reaches its saturation point, there is reason to believe that there will still be a divide in use among the country's ethnic groups. Policy solutions, Schement says, should "embrace the value of diverse uses and outcomes." "In time, home Internet access will reach a saturation level, most likely below the saturation level for the telephone," Schement says. "Those left out will experience significant social, political, and economic isolation, with resultant costs to the rest of society." 
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