COLUMN ONE : Busting Barriers to Cyberspace : On-line activists fight to keep the poor, the elderly and minorities from being left out of the Information Age. Their challenges include closing cost and culture gaps.

During a Black History Month observance in February, a standing-room audience jammed a Library of Congress meeting room to hear a talk about an unlikely historical subject: cyberspace.

More than 200 people listened to authors Stafford L. Battle and Roy O. Harris encourage African Americans to get more involved with computers and on-line technology. Their 100-page book reportedly is the first on the topic aimed at a black audience--and it has sparked enthusiastic response.

“I don’t think we have had any audiences as large as that one,” said John Ashley, program director of the Daniel Murray African American Culture Assn. “It tells me there is an enormous amount of interest out in the community about computers and technology.”

Battle and Harris are on-line activists, leaders of what might be called the civil rights movement in cyberspace. Together with advocates for the poor, the elderly and women, they are demanding more computer access for the disenfranchised and urging minorities to put aside their fears and enter an information highway mostly dominated by students, scientists and male computer jocks.

It’s a movement that has come into its own only recently:

* Last month, a White House official joined the Older Women’s League, the Gray Panthers and Senior Net, a nonprofit training and on-line service group, to announce an alliance to encourage computer use among older Americans.

* In South-Central Los Angeles, a citizens’ task force organized by City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas is starting a computer bulletin board this month that will link residents to each other and to the global Internet. The group plans to have 65 terminals open.

* In November, nonprofit groups formed the on-line Latino Net, aimed at linking thousands of community groups across the nation.

* Alarmed at the lack of computers in inner-city homes, a grass-roots coalition in Ohio last fall persuaded regional phone giant Ameritech Corp. to bankroll construction of 14 community centers in order to offer computer access to low-income residents.

These efforts come amid mounting evidence that the United States is dividing into two societies: one comfortable with computers and telecommunications technology, and another with neither knowledge of the Information Age nor access to its basic tools.

Civil rights leaders and others fear some groups may be cut off forever from an emerging network that will be the nation’s electronic lifeline--connecting Americans to each other and to the massive information resources of government, universities and industry.

“The telecommunications revolution is the functional equivalent of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century in terms of its impact on the lives of ordinary Americans,” said Wade Henderson, director of the Washington office of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. “But this technology requires hands-on participation for full appreciation of its potential. To the extent that African Americans and other minorities don’t have that basic access, they are at a competitive disadvantage.”

This problem is something of a paradox, in that many political activists and technology visionaries have considered information technologies--especially personal computers--to be instruments of empowerment. Yet, for several reasons, these resources aren’t being embraced by many groups that would appear to need them most.

Lack of money is one factor. Despite steadily falling prices, personal computers, software and on-line services remain too expensive for many Americans. Many government policy-makers and industry officials have focused on providing some kind of access via public schools or libraries, although few say they believe that is an entirely adequate solution.

But activists say money is only a piece of the problem. Equally important is showing the relevance of technology to people who do not see its benefits in daily life. Even the most cynical Americans, experts say, can be engaged when given the incentive to explore the on-line world.

“Many people think that the barrier for people in lower socioeconomic groups is the cost of the computer equipment,” said Mike Goodwin, staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a lobbying group concerned with cyberspace legal issues. But now that the cost of used equipment is often lower than a TV set, he said, the real barrier is helping people accept the idea that computers ought to be a part of their lives.

The psychological and cultural obstacles that keep many people--especially minorities--away from technology are deep-rooted.

When Battle tries to persuade black merchants in his old Washington neighborhood to try selling over the Internet, he often encounters a fear of cyberspace and the perception that computers are for whites.

“They say: ‘That’s the white man’s thing,’ ” Battle said. “ ‘We don’t need technology.’ ”

In a recent study of inner-city Camden, N.J., Jorge Reina Schement, a communications professor at Rutgers University, found that 25% of households did not have a telephone to connect to on-line services--even though many could afford cable TV.

“Nobody we talked to said that the telephone was unimportant, but many said they chose to invest in cable rather than get a telephone because with cable their kids would invite their friends over and the parents would know where they were,” Schement said. By contrast, he said, many parents saw the telephone as a way for outsiders to lure their children into illegal street activity.

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According to an October, 1993, Census Bureau study, less than 14% of adult blacks and Latinos have a computer at home, compared to 26.9% of whites. The study also found that 47.1% of employed whites used a computer at work, compared to 36.1% of blacks and 29.3% of Latinos. (Figures for Asians were not available.) Among the elderly, 8.4% had a computer at home and 20.3% used one at work.

Technology companies, acting not only out of civic-mindedness but also recognizing the need to broaden the appeal of their products and services, are starting to address the access problem.

Using equipment and resources donated by Bell Atlantic Corp., IBM Corp., Apple Computer Inc. and others, Senior Net has trained 40,000 people in 31 states. And corporate marketing campaigns now have minorities in mind.

“The people who were naturals for personal computers were kids who were nerds and hung out in the science lab--and that turns out not to be women and minorities,” said James M. Burger, director of government affairs for Apple.

“But you can’t look at Apple or most other companies and say we are aimed only at the white middle-class male. It’s in our interest not to ignore other segments of the population.”

Added Monica Harrington, group marketing manager for Microsoft Corp.: “It’s certainly something we talk a lot about internally. . . . We need to attract a broader audience.”

Retired government analyst Ben Kalser, 71, is among the seniors trying to enter cyberspace.

Although he says he hasn’t ventured on-line yet, he’s learned to use computers to track his investments and study genealogy. Citing his failing eyesight and the difficulty of typing on the small keys, he says using a computer is a challenge, but a worthwhile one.

“It’s still a little bit complicated, but as long as you don’t have any fear it becomes pretty straightforward,” he said.

That observation is echoed by many cyberspace activists.

“This isn’t just for computer nerds or techies,” Battle told the audience at the Library of Congress. “You might not be interested in fiddling with computers. But if I told you you could access almost any library in the world or send messages to virtually anybody in the world or if I told you you could shop from your home . . . you’d be interested then, right?” Many in the room shouted in agreement.

Still, conquering apprehensions--even among presumably worldly community leaders--is a major challenge.

When Ceasar McDowell, president of the Civil Rights Project Inc. in Boston, recently offered Internet training to 14 community activists and business leaders, all eagerly accepted. But when they first saw the bank of eight Macintosh computers, many were intimidated.

“People are fearful of this stuff, and you have to figure out a way to overcome that and engage them,” McDowell said.

His solution? “I began showing them how to use e-mail.” Then, “I showed them the World Wide Web,” the colorful graphic interface that allows users to view pictures, video and text and jump to computer sites around the globe.

McDowell said it didn’t take long for the fear to dissipate: “They’ve become very enthusiastic. They are surprised by the amount of information out there. It’s amazing to see this (disparate) group of people come to the table around technology.”

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At the grass-roots level too, community activists are finding common ground on cyberspace.

Astounded that there were only two computers in her inner-city Dayton, Ohio, neighborhood of more than 1,000 people, Linda Broadus joined neighbors and the local Legal Aid office to lobby for help. After weeks of negotiations, Ameritech agreed to fund construction of 14 community centers around the state.

In a ground-breaking agreement approved by the Ohio Public Utilities Commission in November, Ameritech promised to spend $2.2 million on construction and set aside $18 million for a fund school systems will use to buy equipment and wire schools to networks.

“People in my community were on their way to being left out because they had such limited access,” Broadus said. “Everyone who lives in this community is not low income and (the industry) ought to realize that the more people are exposed to this technology, the more demand there will be for their products.”

Hector Briones is making a similar appeal in Southern California.

The director of the nonprofit Neighborhood Empowerment and Economic Development Corp. has teamed with Los Angeles County housing officials and local librarians to solicit corporate funding for the installation of computers in a planned 80-unit, low-income housing project in Lake View Terrace.

Briones said he and other community leaders are still formulating plans but hope to get terminals for each unit, allowing residents access to a computer system in a nearby public library. “The computer is almost an essential item in society these days,” Briones said. “It would empower people and help them to be full participants” in a democratic society. He said residents he has talked with are very excited about the idea and say the computers will be a big educational benefit.

But providing all low-income citizens with that level of access to information technology remains a distant dream. Government policy-makers certainly are aware of the problem, and--although it is unlikely that Congress will adopt the suggestion of House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and give all the nation’s poor laptops--lawmakers say they hope to pass a bill that will assure most people access to the next generation of telecommunications.

The debate--part of a broader effort to overhaul America’s antiquated communications laws--centers on whether users of the modern networks that make up the information highway should be required to subsidize access to it, as with the current phone system.

But anything short of free access is likely to leave at least some Americans unable to afford the networks that soon will be able to transmit massive amounts of data, phone calls and visual images to virtually anyplace around the world.

And the notion of subsidizing some kinds of interactive video services and other technologies that will be used mainly for entertainment is hardly a popular one.

Still, cyberspace evangelists are unbowed. “We do have a problem with access . . . but we can’t rely entirely on government policy” to correct those ills, said Armando Valdez, founder of Latino Net. “We need to develop a critical mass of people to go into the community and teach people to use this technology.”