IP: NSF Release on Growth of Info Technology

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

                GROWTH OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
               IS CHANGING THE FACE OF THE ECONOMY
S&E Indicators '98 says IT likened in scope to Industrial Revolution
     The impact of new information technologies (IT) has been
pervasive on society but productivity benefits are more difficult
to pin down, according to a new National Science Board (NSB)
report to Congress, Science and Engineering Indicators 1998.
     The NSB report notes a tremendous upward demand for
employment in computers and data processing across a wide range
of industries.  These skills are increasingly in demand by
manufacturing, service and other industries that are modernizingtheir processes.
     The report also notes recent studies indicating that the
impact of IT is mixed, saying there are measurable payoffs in
productivity, but that IT has diffused unevenly throughout the
economy.  Its effects, therefore, are often difficult to measureprecisely.
     Highlighting the challenge, says the NSB in a special
chapter on IT, is the difficulty in tracking the rapidly
developing and changing technologies that are permeating all
sectors of the economy.
     Nevertheless, the use of IT is widespread, says the report,
and is contributing to the retooling of the U.S. economy.
     "We've entered a new era.  Information technology is shaping
our economy and many elements of our society," Claudia Mitchell
Kernan, NSB chair of the Science and Engineering Indicators
subcommittee, explains.  "Our high-speed, high-volume information
systems need to enhance our international competitiveness, global
research capabilities and our personal well-being."
     Indicators reports that in education, there has been a large
jump in the use of computers and related technological tools.
However, schools with a large percentage of economically
disadvantaged students have one-third to three times less access
to these technologies than schools attended by primarily white or
nondisadvantaged students.  In addition, disadvantaged students
can't compensate in their homes for this lack of access in
schools, the report points out.  African Americans and Hispanics
had (in 1993) about half as much ownership of home computers as
whites.  Research, meanwhile, indicates that when the
"informationally disadvantaged" are given access to computers and
the Internet, they use these resources effectively for selfempowerment.
                              -NSB-
> > The following document (pr9835) is now available from 
> > the NSF Online Document System
> >
> >   Title: Growth of Information Technology is Changing the Face of
> >          the Economy
> >    Type: News Releases
> > Subtype: National Science Board, Social/Behavioral Sciences       
> >
> >
> >
> > It may be found at:
> >
> >    http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?pr9835
> >
> >
> > Full text follows.