Inequity In The Technopolis: Race, Class, Gender, And The Digital Divide In Austin Project Muse Upcc Books

Over the past few decades, Austin, Texas, has made a concerted effort to develop into a “technopolis,” becoming home to companies such as Dell and numerous start-ups in the 1990s. It has been a model for other cities across the nation that wish to become high-tech centers while still retaining the livability to attract residents. Nevertheless, this expansion and boom left poorer residents behind, many of them African American or Latino, despite local and federal efforts to increase lower-income and minority access to technology. This book was born of a ten-year longitudinal study of the digital divide in Austin—a study that gradually evolved into a broader inquiry into Austin’s history as a segregated city, its turn toward becoming a technopolis, what the city and various groups did to address the digital divide, and how the most disadvantaged groups and individuals were affected by those programs. The editors examine the impact of national and statewide digital inclusion programs created in the 1990s, as well as what happened when those programs were gradually cut back by conservative administrations after 2000. They also examine how the city of Austin persisted in its own efforts for digital inclusion by working with its public libraries and a number of local nonprofits, and the positive impact those programs had. * Acknowledgments* Chapter 1. Digital Inequity in the Austin Technopolis: An Introduction By Joseph Straubhaar, Zeynep Tufekci, Jeremiah Spence, and Viviana Rojas* Chapter 2. Structuring Race in the Cultural Geography of Austin By Jeremiah Spence, Joseph Straubhaar, Alexander Cho, and Dean Graber* Chapter 3. A History of High Tech and the Technopolis in Austin By Lisa Hartenberger, Zeynep Tufekci, and Stuart Davis* Chapter 4. Past and Future Divides: Social Mobility, Inequality, and the Digital Divide in Austin during the Tech Boom By Zeynep Tufekci* Chapter 5. The Digital Divide: The National Debate and Federal- and State-Level Programs By Ed Lenert, Miyase Christensen, Zeynep Tufekci, and Karen Gustafson* Chapter 6. Crossing the Digital Divide: Local Initiatives in Austin By Carolyn Cunningham, Holly Custard, Joseph Straubhaar, Jeremiah Spence, Dean Graber, and Bethany Letalien* Chapter 7. Structuring Access: The Role of Austin Public Access Centers in Digital Inclusion By Roberta Lentz, Joseph Straubhaar, Laura Dixon, Dean Graber, Jeremiah Spence, Bethany Letalien, and Antonio LaPastina* Chapter 8. Bridging the Broadband Gap or Recreating Digital Inequalities? The Social Shaping of Public Wi-Fi in Austin By Martha Fuentes-Bautista and Nobuya Inagaki* Chapter 9. Communities, Cultural Capital, and Digital Inclusion: Ten Years of Tracking Techno-Dispositions and Techno-Capital By Viviana Rojas, Joseph Straubhaar, Jeremiah Spence, Debasmita Roychowdhury, Ozlem Okur, Juan Pinon, and Martha Fuentes-Bautista* Chapter 10. Conclusion By Joseph Straubhaar* Contributors* Index Over the past few decades, Austin, Texas, has made a concerted effort to develop into a "technopolis," becoming home to companies such as Dell and numerous start-ups in the 1990s. It has been a model for other cities across the nation that wish to become high-tech centres while still retaining the liveability to attract residents. Nevertheless, this expansion and boom left poorer residents behind, many of them African American or Latino, despite local and federal efforts to increase lower-income and minority access to technology. This book was born of a ten-year longitudinal study of the digital divide in Austin--a study that gradually evolved into a broader inquiry into Austin's history as a segregated city, its turn toward becoming a technopolis, what the city and various groups did to address the digital divide, and how the most disadvantaged groups and individuals were affected by those programs. The editors examine the impact of national and statewide digital inclusion programs created in the 1990s, as well as what happened when those programs were gradually cut back by conservative administrations after 2000. They also examine how the city of Austin persisted in its own efforts for digital inclusion by working with its public libraries and a number of local nonprofits, and the positive impact those programs had Digital Inequity In The Austin Technopolis: An Introduction / Joseph Straubhaar ... [et Al.] -- Structuring Race In The Cultural Geography Of Austin / Jeremiah Spence ... [et Al.] -- A History Of High Tech And The Technopolis In Austin / Lisa Hartenberger, Zeynep Tufekci, And Stuart Davis -- Past And Future Divides: Social Mobility, Inequality, And The Digital Divide In Austin During The Tech Boom / Zeynep Tufekci -- The Digital Divide: The National Debate And Federal- And State-level Programs / Ed Lenert ... [et Al.] -- Crossing The Digital Divide: Local Initiatives In Austin / Carolyn Cunningham ... [et Al.] -- Structuring Access: The Role Of Austin Public Access Centers In Digital Inclusion / Roberta Lentz ... [et Al.] -- Bridging The Broadband Gap Or Recreating Digital Inequalities? The Social Shaping Of Public Wi-fi In Austin / Martha Fuentes-bautista And Nobuya Inagaki -- Communities, Cultural Capital, And Digital Inclusion: Ten Years Of Tracking Techno-dispositions And Techno-capital / Viviana Rojas ... [et Al.]. Edited By Joseph Straubhaar ... [et Al.]. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 1. Digital Inequity in the Austin Technopolis: An Introduction 14 2. Structuring Race in the Cultural Geography of Austin 46 3. A History of High Tech and the Technopolis in Austin 76 4. Past and Future Divides: Social Mobility, Inequality, and the Digital Divide in Austin during the Tech Boom 98 5. The Digital Divide: The National Debate and Federal- and State-Level Programs 122 6. Crossing the Digital Divide: Local Initiatives in Austin 148 7. Structuring Access: The Role of Austin Public Access Centers in Digital Inclusion 178 8. Bridging the Broadband Gap or Recreating Digital Inequalities? The Social Shaping of Public Wi-Fi in Austin 206 9. Communities, Cultural Capital, and Digital Inclusion: Ten Years of Tracking Techno-Dispositions and Techno-Capital 236 10. Conclusion 278 Contributors 292 index 296 A ten-year longitudinal study of the impact of national, state, and local programs that address issues of digital divide and digital inclusion in Austin, Texas.