The Digital Divide, on Coney

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Just around the corner from cafes that are overrun with laptops using their free wifi, this very thorough story from The Pakistani Newspaper:

[Mo] Razvi found the same situation whenever he visited the public library at Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn. “I found many Pakistani students and community members who had no access to the Internet,” he explained.

Eighth-grader Usman Chughtai, 13, is one of the Pakistani students who visit the Cortelyou Public library almost five days a week. Most recently he visited the library to get summaries The Tale of Despereaux, a book assigned in a school project.

“I have to come to the library because we don’t have Internet connection at home,” Usman said. He commented, however, that “exactly after 30 minutes, the Internet connection goes off automatically so the next person in line could use Internet.”

It took Usman more than a day to write a summary of the book due to the 30-minute time constraint. He has also been selected to act in the play that will be staged in his school.

“I need to use the computer and Internet again to prepare for my character and role,” Usman said “that’s why I am here again at library.”

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