VIRGINIA SEEKS TO NARROW GAP BETWEEN DIGITAL HAVES, HAVE-NOTS.(BUSINESS)

Digitization without representation.< That's the crux of what's better known as the ``Digital Divide.''
Technology has an increasingly important role in all aspects of society, particularly in the vital areas of commerce, communications and education. The latest numbers show that as many as 110 million people in the U.S. have Internet access. Just like us, they buy, they chat, they learn and play.
But not all Americans are benefiting from the digitization of the republic. We send e-mail, they can't. We buy things online for less than they can in stores. We can apply for jobs online, they can't. We compete, they can't.
Look at the stats:
A recent study by the National Telecommunications and Information Association found that 12 percent of the people earning less than $10,000 a year use the Internet, compared with an estimated 59 percent of those earning $75,000 or more a year.
The U.S. Commerce Department says the divide for home Internet access between those at the highest and lowest income levels widened 29 percent from 1997 to 1998.
Haves and have-nots have always been at odds. But the divide started to garner more attention last summer. Now, government wants to do more to fix things. (Hey, for government, eight to nine months is fast turnaround time.)
Last week, the highest tech honcho in state government, Donald W. Upson, aka secretary of technology, rode onto the Peninsula. He met with groups for minorities, the disabled, senior citizens and small businesses to brainstorm ways to spread the state's technology-fueled fortune.
``Gov. Gilmore's agenda when it comes to technology is very simple,'' Upson said. It is ``To build the best business environment for companies anywhere in the United States, anywhere in the world,'' and ``to ensure that all Virginians have digital opportunity.''
What those opportunities will be is still uncertain, since Upson was in feedback-receiving mode.
The Virginia Electronic Commerce Technology Center (Net graybeards know it by its old acronym, SEVAnet) and the state's Center for Innovative Technology are also doing something to plug the divide.
Last week, VECTEC and CIT officials visited businesses on Virginia's Eastern Shore, a place - how can we put this nicely - not known as a hotbed of economic development. Geographically and culturally isolated from the rest of the state as it is, it's still home for the 66 or so business people who turned out to learn more about electronic commerce.
Beth Parkhurst, e-commerce coordinator for the Eastern Shore Regional Partnership, explained the turnout as the desire ``for knowledge to become globally competitive.''
Bill Muir, director of VECTEC, said he and Karen Jackson, an electronic commerce specialist with Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, were floored by the response - they had expected maybe 30 people.
It was surprising, Muir said, because, ``They're a conservative group of business people.'' Maybe so, but they apparently recognize that an online presence helps level the playing field when a consumer must choose between trekking to the department store or simply pointing and clicking to buy an item.
So far, three Eastern Shore companies have signed up to partner with VECTEC on building an online presence and handling secure e-commerce transactions.
``This project is so exciting because we're finally getting the opportunity to run with the rest of the world,'' Parkhurst said.
They will likely pay $1,000 to $2,000 apiece to receive a year's worth of e-commerce expertise from VECTEC.
But before anyone can cross the divide to the Net, they have to have good phone service.
Robust competition among telecom providers will be crucial, said B. Keith Fulton, director of technology programs for the National Urban League in New York. It could also be one of the biggest obstacles to accessing the Net's full capabilities.
``In most central business districts,'' Fulton said, ``there are five to six telecom companies fighting for business.
``In urban areas though, you usually have just one, which keeps the price of connecting high. This uneven deployment stifles opportunities in these areas.''
There's much more that can be said and - we hope - done about the Digital Divide. One column, as complete and effective as these are each week, can't fix a problem this big. Government groups can hold summits, conferences and forums. Unless we find paying gigs as professional meeting attenders, we won't make all the sessions, but we can keep tabs on the situation with the help of Web sites such as www.digitaldivide.gov, from the U.S. Commerce Department, and www.digitaldividenetwork.org.
The understated irony in that activity is that we have Net access to check and see how much farther ahead we are.