The longer you're homeless (which could be quite a while)
He bought a Toshiba laptop. When it died, he bought a used Dell. Last month, that one expired, too, with a cracked screen. Now he checks email and posts to his Internet forum on homeless issues, from computers at libraries, college campuses and a laptop stashed behind the counter of a coffee shop by a friend.
...the more your access degrades. And it's not guaranteed in any event.
On the Street and On Facebook: The Homeless Stay Wired
Mr. Pitts Lacks a Mailing Address But He's Got a Computer and a Web Forum
By PHRED DVORAK
SAN FRANCISCO -- Like most San Franciscans, Charles Pitts is wired. Mr. Pitts, who is 37 years old, has accounts on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. He runs an Internet forum on Yahoo, reads news online and keeps in touch with friends via email. The tough part is managing this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge.
"You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper," says Mr. Pitts, an aspiring poet in a purple cap and yellow fleece jacket, who says he has been homeless for two years. "But you need the Internet."
Mr. Pitts's experience shows how deeply computers and the Internet have permeated society. A few years ago, some people were worrying that a "digital divide" would separate technology haves and have-nots. The poorest lack the means to buy computers and Web access. Still, in America today, even people without street addresses feel compelled to have Internet addresses.
New York City has put 42 computers in five of the nine shelters it operates and plans to wire the other four this year. Roughly half of another 190 shelters in the city offer computer access. The executive director of a San Francisco nonprofit group, Central City Hospitality House, estimates that half the visitors to its new eight-computer drop-in center are homeless; demand for computer time is so great that users are limited to 30 minutes.
Shelter attendants say the number of laptop-toting overnight visitors, while small, is growing. SF Homeless, a two-year-old Internet forum, has 140 members. It posts schedules for public-housing meetings and news from similar groups in New Mexico, Arizona and Connecticut. And it has a blog with online polls about shelter life.
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Library access going from none to some
Interesting that most of the people in the article are relatively new homeless. I think a reporter might find, upon investigation, that people with homes, but without Internet access, do the same things to get online as the homeless people in the article do. Finding a connection is a great equalizer.
In the late '90s I volunteered at the first library in my area to be wired. The volunteer work lasted several years, but I still make the rounds often enough to watch how things have evolved and are still evolving. Early on, you signed up for help with word processing or help with basic online activities. You weren't left on your own too much. The libraries in my area were an extremely low-key daytime haven for the homeless at the time, and very few went near the computer space. Actually, I can only think of one person who was a real "regular," who also went to one of the adult schools to get more computer time.
Now, with most libraries being wired (and wireless) and having fairly decent workstations, not to mention access to article databases, it's more of a self-serve environment in the several branches I frequent. The computers are full of a mix of kids, homeless, and out-of-town visitors/tourists. If you don't have your own laptop, you sign up for ~30-minute sessions and the reference librarians help you if you need it. One branch has laptops for in-house checkout. It costs money to print but all the rest is free. I see this as a step up from where it used to be for the long-term homeless. For the newly homeless, well, they have to figure out the system but it's there.
The downside for everybody right now is shrinking city/county budgets, which translate to shrinking library hours.