In a message dated 12/3/05 10:54:25 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> Digital Divide became the more common term > > when interest in the problem went beyond educators and attracted the > > attention of the business community.. At that point, it seemed to me, > > the emphasis went from providing access to technology to providing > > connectivity. > One of the things we learned while working on the NIIAC, was not to claim ownership of ideas, terms and initiatives. It is said that the best ideas in Washington are often discarded based on partisanship, so we learned to float an idea, a term , and a project without contribution of who first used it. Al Gore liked to talk about how his father helped to create the links that created the infrastructure for the highway system that became the interstate and the series of highways that criss cross the US. He also talked about the differences in transportation as a divide. But remember it was the time of the biggest divide between Republicans and Democrats to the point where the government was shut down and our work had to be sponsored by a private person. Newt Gingrich was knocking on the door. Actually he espoused a lot of the initiatives we proposed, but in his own way. I have seen a lot of people claim the honor of proposing the resources that are those that connect schools to the information highway. Only a few of us know who proposed those initiatives as well. The point was that we wanted the ideas to come to fruition. I laugh when I see various people get awards and accolades for things that they never initiated , but it is part of the process , to float an idea and to let others carry the ball in Washington so as not to get it mired in partisanship. Bonnie Bracey Sutton [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
