Bridging the Divide

There is no doubting the digital divide and what it meant in a disaster such as happened in New Orleans. But despite their lack of digital communication, I believe that even the poorest members of New Orleans society had/have TVs and radios.

But look at this story about a radio station called KAMP that some organizers are trying to set up in the Astrodome. It's continually blocked. I'm sure the bureaucrats blocking think they have some "good" and "rational" reasons for doing so, but the net result is a lack of information.

Yes, I know that the Astrodome has loud speakers, and any truly necessary information can reach the people, but when you have a population it's important that they also have a regular and reliable source of information. This was one, easy way to do so, by using a technology everyone in the Dome understands and is familiar with using. If you handed everyone laptop computers and told them they can get information on a Web site, would the entire audience know what to do with it? Probably not.

But a radio, that's something they can all relate to. Give out the radios, give out headphones, let the station broadcast. People need to know.