This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of constructing interactive multimedia educational software to educate residents of economically disadvantaged communities in the skills necessary to take advantage of opportunities in emerging computer and information systems industries. A well-publicized revolution in information technology is taking place both nationally and globally. As the information decade unfolds, residents of economically disadvantaged communities face the prospect of further alienation from the American ideals of upward social and economic mobility (`Data Highway Ignoring Poor, Study Charges,` The New York Times, p. 1 May 25,1994). Just as real highways bypass economically depressed areas, it appears that the information superhighway--its technologies and its benefits--will bypass the residents of poor communities. Education, however, can give the residents of these communities the power to forge entrances into and become active participants in the information revolution. Instead of viewing emerging information technologies as further hindrances to the social mobility of historically disadvantaged groups, this project will construct the tools by which these technologies may be translated into new employment and educational opportunities. The technologies associated with the information revolution--interactive multimedia and computer networking--require a new set of job skills. Phase I research will prove that interactive multimedia training materials can effectively teach these skills, at both an introductory and an advanced level. Use of the proposed software will make students desirable members of the information technologies workforces by giving them skills, experience and training in emerging technologies. In addition, young adults who use the software will be introduced to subjects and technologies that will motivate them to pursue higher education in related fields.
