{"product_id":"universal-access-and-its-asymmetries-isbn-9780262544559","title":"Universal Access and Its Asymmetries","description":"\u003cb\u003eA framework for understanding the totality of costs and benefits of universal access that will foster honest appraisal and guide the development of good policies.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUniversal access—the idea that certain technologies and services should be extended to all regardless of geography or ability to pay—evokes ideals of democracy and equality that must be reconciled with the realities on the ground. The COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of the need for access to high-speed internet service in the United States, but this is just the latest in a long history of debates about what should be made available and to whom. Rural mail delivery, electrification, telephone service, public schooling, and library access each raised the same questions as today’s debates about health care and broadband. What types of services should be universally available? Who benefits from extending these services? And who bears the cost?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eStepping beyond humanitarian arguments to conduct a clear-eyed, diagnostic analysis, this book offers some surprising conclusions. While the conventional approach to universal access looks primarily at the costs to the system and the benefits to individuals, Harmeet Sawhney and Hamid Ekbia provide a holistic perspective that also accounts for costs to individuals and benefits for systems. With a comparative approach across multiple cases, \u003ci\u003eUniversal Access and Its Asymmetries\u003c\/i\u003e is an essential exploration of the history, costs, and benefits of providing universal access to technologies and services. With a fresh perspective, it overturns common assumptions and offers a foundation for making decisions about how to extend service—and how to pay for it.Series Editor Introduction ix\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments xiii\u003cbr\u003e1 Introduction 1\u003cbr\u003e2 Postal System 21\u003cbr\u003e3 Education 41\u003cbr\u003e4 Electrification 57\u003cbr\u003e5 Telephony 75\u003cbr\u003e6 Public Libraries 91\u003cbr\u003e7 Broadcasting 105\u003cbr\u003e8 The Internet 129\u003cbr\u003e9 Conclusion 145\u003cbr\u003eNotes 167\u003cbr\u003eReferences 189\u003cbr\u003eIndex 221“In a work destined to become a classic, Sawhney and Ekbia provide a long-overdue critical perspective on the ‘universalizing impulse’ in social infrastructures.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Milton L. Mueller, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A grand history of the concepts and policies driving ideas of equity and progress in American life, illuminating both the shrouded corners and the major arcs of how we have sought to be connected.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Sharon Strover, Philip G. Warner Regents Professor in Communication, University of Texas at Austin\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“The authors remind analysts of American schooling that there are both 'gains and travails' from universal access for students and political systems alike that should be, and are often not, fully understood or acknowledged.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Bob Pepperman, Taylor Elliott A. Brown Green and Gold Professor of Law, Politics, and Political Behavior Department of Political Science University of Vermont\u003c\/b\u003eHarmeet Sawhney is Professor, The Media School, Indiana University, Bloomington. He is Editor-in-Chief of \u003ci\u003eThe Information Society.\u003c\/i\u003e Hamid Ekbia is Professor, School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eHeteromation and Other Stories of Computing and Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press) and \u003ci\u003eArtificial Dreams: The Quest for Non-Biological Intelligence\u003c\/i\u003e (Cambridge University Press).","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305095909605,"sku":"NP9780262544559","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262544559.jpg?v=1767743270","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/universal-access-and-its-asymmetries-isbn-9780262544559","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}