ABSTRACT
It is very important that any exploration of social access to telematics looks beyond the hardware of the networks and technologies themselves at the burgeoning range of services that are provided over them. Telephones and telematics terminals are gateways into much more than interpersonal communications-they also support entrance into a rapidly growing world of information services, welfare services and value added services (such as teleshopping, telebanking and other tele-transactions). As Bowie (1990; 133) suggests,
the terms and conditions for access to information technology increasingly define one’s right of
access to information per se…information that is particularly useful, relevant, timely
information, is increasingly tied to complex electronic technology…. The gap between the
information rich and the information poor is a gap between the privileged and the powerless.
