Citing difficulties in getting high-speed Internet access, Chicago officials said they’ve been unable to open the first of 1000 “Web centers” where free Internet access will be offered.
Officials said they fully expect to have all of them open by June 1, even though they missed their deadline to have three prototypical Web centers up and running by Nov. 1.
The Web centers, located mostly at YMCAs and community buildings, would feature four to eight computers offering Internet connections and scanners, Web-site hosting and online technology classes at no cost.
“We’re really looking at getting existing community centers that have staff connected to the Internet,” said Peggy Phelan, who works at I-Works Inc. and has been organizing the rollout of Web centers.
“If they have bad computers, we’ll get them new computers; if they have slow access, we’ll get them faster access,” she said. “If they don’t have computers, we’ll get them new everything.”
I-Works Inc., a Chicago-based Internet applications development company, has teamed with Mayor Richard Daley’s Council of Technology Advisors and the Metropolitan Planning Council to open the centers.
The goal of the initiative is to bridge the so-called digital divide between those who have Internet access and those who live where such services are not readily available. Critics say the gap prevents people in low-income neighborhoods from acquiring technology skills that would qualify them for better-paying jobs.
The first three centers were scheduled to open at the New City YMCA, 1515 N. Halsted St., near Cabrini-Green; the El Valor, a social service agency, 1924 W. 21st St. in the Pilsen neighborhood; and the Illinois Institute of Technology, 3241 S. Federal St., in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
But difficulties in procuring a digital subscriber line, or DSL, for the New City YMCA seriously slowed down the already-late opening of the Web center. And because of prior commitments and time constraints, it seems only the New City YMCA will become a Web center right away.
DSL is a new technology that can speed up regular copper phone wires to carry data at speeds 50 times faster than regular dial-up modems can. One problem with it is that many copper telephone lines have optical fiber somewhere in their connections with central telephone offices. That fiber can’t carry the electrical signals DSL needs.
Ameritech estimates that as many as half the phone customers in the Chicago area can’t get DSL right now.
On Monday, local Internet service provider InterAccess, who promised to provide a DSL line for the Near North YMCA, told Web center officials the building’s phone lines were unsuitable for DSL technology, according to Sean Lapp, chief executive officer of I-Works Inc.
“Now, we have all these shiny new machines and shiny new scanners with their mouths wide open waiting for access,” Lapp said. “We’re talking with three other vendors now to see who can provide access.”
Still, Lapp said he’s frustrated that InterAccess, who agreed three months ago to provide the service, waited until the last minute to inform them the building was incompatible with DSL.
“You as a company do not make a representation that you cannot fulfill,” he said.
InterAccess failed to return several telephone calls.
The El Valor site, which was going to receive DSL for their already-established computer lab that offers educational programs for students and adults, had ordered their own DSL before the deal was made.
“Our contact with the Web centers didn’t know we had already had plans,” said Malea De Jesus, a spokeswoman for El Valor. “I think that we’re still trying to work with them to become one of their Web centers.”
De Jesus said El Valor could benefit from the Web center’s online computer education programs and its promotion plan.
“They have an action plan for getting the word out to the community that the computers are here,” she said. “We would like to participate in that.”
The third original Web center, which was to be located temporarily at IIT in the Bronzeville neighborhood, will have to wait, said Phelan.
It was supposed to be a temporary showcase for South Side community centers that wanted to see what a Web center was all about, she said.
“With the problems at New City, we’re going to wait on it,” Phelan said.
While organizers are running into difficulties opening the centers, Lapp said the fund-raising side of the enterprise is going so well that I-Works set up a non-profit organization to handle the donations.
“We expect to raise $3 million before Christmas,” Lapp said. The non-profit, called It Works for All, has collected just under $1 million in donations and is in the beginning stages of setting up a board of directors.
Initially, there was no clear plan on financing the Web centers. One potential idea was an adopt-a-computer program that would solicit donations of money or hardware from contributors.
“Now we’ve extended it to an adopt-a-Web center,” Lapp said.
He said they also expect to announce a deal soon with Comdisco Inc., a Rosemont company that provides business technology services, continuity services and network services to its customers.
That deal would allow the non-profit company to purchase computers previously leased to various corporations — including both the machine and the monitor — for $350. “These machines are really hooked up,” Lapp said.
The Web center plan seems like an ideal way for local business and municipal governments to work together, but would such a plan to bridge the digital divide work nationwide?
Steve Case and Ted Waitt, the chief executives of America Online Inc. and Gateway 2000 Inc. respectively, seem to think so. On Nov. 8, they announced a new initiative, called PowerUP, that links non-profits, corporations and the federal government with schools and community centers around the country.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, isn’t it?
