April 8, 2003
In "Never Forget a Face," Alan visits Dr. Sandy Pentland's computer science lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and gets to play with a variety of futuristic wireless gadgets. Smart clothing reminds Alan of the scientists' names, and a personal recording device documents Alan's trip across campus.

These are fun gadgets, but Pentland and his colleagues have more than just fun in mind. With their designs, Pentland and his colleagues hope to bring technology to more of the world's people, bringing greater prosperity, education and healthcare in its wake.

"Most technologists haven't thought about how [technology] fits into the context of broader life," says Pentland. "We're now at the point that asks, what do we want as humans? How can we make our family connections better and our work connections better? How can we make sure that folks don't get left behind or excluded?"

Raising these questions-and finding their answers-is how Sandy Pentland is working to close the digital divide.
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Defining the Divide

The "digital divide" describes the disparity between those who have Internet access and those who do not. In the United States, 143 million people-a little more than half the population-regularly use the Internet, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Fewer than 2% of the 6 billion people on Earth have Internet access

But even as Internet use continues to rise across all demographics, poor, uneducated, unemployed and older Americans-the very groups who could most benefit from the web-make up the bulk of the "other half" of Americans still not on-line. More disturbingly, African-Americans and Hispanics seem disproportionately affected by the digital divide, prompting some to dub it the "racial ravine."

And while about half of all Americans have been left behind by the Internet revolution, fewer than 2% of the 6 billion people on Earth have Internet access, according to the NTIA's 1999 figures. All sorts of historic, socio-economic and cultural factors contribute the yawning global disparity.

	Sitting in front of a box on a desk might soon be a thing of the past.

Lack of infrastructure is one factor. Africa, home to 740 million people, has just 14 million telephone lines. Widespread illiteracy in some countries isanother factor. And 80% of all web pages are in English, a language just 10% of the world population speaks.

"The technologies we have are engineered for people in New York and Seattle," says Pentland. "And that's okay, but that leaves out an awful lot of the world's population and it misses a lot of opportunities."

Opportunities Pentland and his colleagues aren't willing to miss.

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