来源：《华盛顿邮报》
刊登日期：2021年4月25日
The Internet is no longer a luxury but a necessity, and President Biden’s infrastructure plan reflects that reality. Lawmakers generally understand that to get the whole country connected, they’ll have to make service more available as well as more affordable. But other areas that receive less notice deserve the same attention.
互联网不再是奢侈品，而是必需品，拜登总统的基础设施计划反映了这一现实。立法者们普遍理解，要想让全美联网，他们必须让服务更容易获得，也更实惠。但其他受到较少关注的方面也值得同样的关注。
The National Urban League’s Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity and Inclusion wants to ensure that everyone can fully participate in the world the Web has created — from their education as children to their employment as adults to their health all along the way. The proposal, which emphasizes how historically marginalized groups have seen inequities compounded by a disproportionate lack of access to the Web, is very full of recommendations for bringing broadband to those whose homes aren’t served or for whom service is too expensive. Yet the plan is most helpful in pointing out two additional gaps to bridge.
全国城市联盟的刘易斯·拉蒂默数字公平和包容计划希望确保每个人都能充分参与到网络创造的世界中——从儿童教育到成人就业，再到健康医疗。该提案强调了历史上被边缘化的群体所看到的不平等是如何因不成比例的网络接入不足而加剧的，其中充满了对那些没有服务或服务对他们来说太昂贵的家庭提供宽带的建议。然而，该计划最有益的地方在于指出了两个需要额外弥补的鸿沟。
The first of these is what the report’s authors call digital readiness. There is little point in paying for an Internet plan if you don’t know how to use the Internet. The same goes for understanding how to operate a computer or tablet. But as many as half of Americans remain reluctant to explore online education because they are concerned they lack the technological skill; more than one-third of older adults have missed out of video visits with medical professionals this past year for similar reasons; workers unstudied in navigating the Web can’t fill plenty of good jobs.
第一个鸿沟是报告作者所说的“数字化准备就绪”。如果你不知道如何使用互联网，投资扩大互联网接入就没有什么意义。理解如何操作电脑或平板电脑也是如此。但仍有多达一半的美国人不愿探索在线教育，因为他们担心自己缺乏技术技能；在过去的一年里，超过三分之一的老年人因为类似的原因错过了与医疗专业人员进行视频探视的机会；没有学过如何上网的人无法胜任很多好工作。
Then there’s the so-called utilization gap, jargon for the gulf between what we could be doing with the networks we already have and what we’re actually doing. Government services are poorly digitized: The report recalls governors scrambling at the beginning of the pandemic to find retired programmers who could rescue antiquated and overwhelmed benefit systems. When Florida’s unemployment site crashed, citizens put their health at risk to stand line in person for paper forms. Industry and policymakers don’t take advantage of jobs data that could help them pair some citizens with openings and train others; schools don’t take advantage of the possibility for expanded curriculums and individualized learning.
然后是所谓的利用率差距，这个术语是指我们利用现有网络做什么和我们正在做什么之间的鸿沟。政府服务的数字化程度不高：报告回忆说，大流行开始时，州长们争先寻找退休程序员，以拯救过时的、不堪重负的福利系统。当佛罗里达的失业网站崩溃时，市民们冒着健康风险亲自排队领取纸质表格。行业和政策制定者没有利用就业数据，这些数据可以帮助将一些公民与空缺职位配对，并培训其他人；学校没有利用扩大课程和个性化学习的可能性。
The Lewis Latimer Plan’s recommendations are ambitious, including a new office of digital equity, a national digital literacy program with a workforce of “digital navigators” and more. Congress ought to study whether those are the right answers — but these questions are certainly the right ones to ask. Treating broadband as infrastructure is the right approach, yet for the investment to pay off, we must build more than wires.
《刘易斯·拉蒂默计划》提出的建议雄心勃勃，包括成立一个新的数字平等办公室，一个由“数字导航员”组成的国家数字扫盲项目等等。国会应该研究这些是不是正确的答案——但这些问题肯定是应该提出的。将宽带视为基础设施是正确的做法，但要想让投资获得回报，我们必须建设的不仅仅是线路。