4.2.6: Power, Privilege, and Access to Information
- Page ID
- 260826
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Access to Information
In addition to the inequities that exist in terms of whose stories and voices are more likely to be amplified and whose stories and voices are more likely to be suppressed in information sources, there are also inequities in terms of who has access to the information that is produced.
Accessibility, or the ability of people to be able to view and/or use something, is a key concern with information. Common barriers to information access include cost, technology access, technology proficiency, and whether the format of the information is accessible to people with disabilities.
Libraries's and tribal standards also differ regarding what information should be publicly available and what information should only be shared only within the tribal group, so some libraries include Indigenous knowledge and/or artifacts that was never approved by tribal authorities for public sharing (Hurley, 2017).
Library Databases
As a student, you have access to subscription databases provided by your campus library. These databases provide free, online to access information sources such as ebooks, news sources, peer-reviewed articles, and videos that are not available for free to the general public. But when you are no longer a student at your college, your access to these resources ends.
Open Information Movements
Free online availability of academic research sources with the rights to use or share them without financial, legal, or technical barriers.
Free online availability of educational resources that students would otherwise have to purchase, such textbooks.
Free online availability of research data, allowing anyone to download and use it without financial, legal, or technical barriers.
Open information movements make scholarly and educational information widely available to the general public, including those who don't have access to expensive library databases through an affiliation with an academic institution. Scholars from every academic field are working to make their research more freely accessible. Open access journals exist to publish scholarly journals and share that research more freely. Open research also helps to diversify the voices that are heard in academic research.
The open access movement improves access to scholarly research by making it freely available to the public online. The Directory of Open Access Journals, for example, provides information about about over 12,000 open access journals, including over 9,000 that are searchable at the article level.
Similarly, the open educational resources (OER) movement addresses the problem expensive textbooks by developing free materials and resources for teaching and learning. This textbook is one example of the thousands of OER resources that are available to students at no cost. At California Community Colleges, many courses are labeled as ZTC (Zero Textbook Cost) to show students that they have been designed so students won't have to pay for textbooks or other course materials.
Creating open information resources presents challenges related to cost and licensing, which we will explore in Chapter 5.
It is also important to note that access to open information requires accessible formatting for people with disabilities (such as screen-readable materials) and reliable internet access, both of which present technical barriers for many people, as discussed further below.
Public Libraries
Public libraries also serve an important role in providing the general public with access to information and the technology to access it, as well as literacy programs and many other services. But public libraries often get the majority of their funding from local property taxes, which leads to a dramatic disparity in public library funding between rich and poor communities.
Some library policies themselves, such as charging overdue fines, can contribute to inequities in access to information. The video below explores some access and equity issues related to public libraries, and makes a case against fines.
Note: Turn on subtitles with the closed captions (CC) button
Incarceration and Access to Information
The American Library Association advocates for the right of prisoners to access information (ALA Council, 2025). While many prisons and jails have some form of library, most people incarcerated in the United States do not have access to the internet, which presents a significant barrier in an increasingly online era.
Access to Information for People with Disabilities
The format of information sources on the internet and in libraries often presents access barriers for people with visual and other disabilities. In one case, the University of California, Berkeley faced legal action under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regarding the accessibility of its online content, particularly its library resources and free online courses. The Department of Justice (DOJ) investigated and reached a consent decree with UC Berkeley, requiring the university to make its online materials accessible to individuals with disabilities (Landmark agreement, 2013). This case highlights the importance of accessibility and equitable access to online content for all students, regardless of disability.
Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers should be regulated as a public utility, like water or electricity, and should treat all internet traffic identically, regardless of the person using the service, the technologies they are using, or the information being transmitted.
On January 2, 2025, a federal appeal's court struck down the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) rules regarding net neutrality (Bowman, 2025), allowing allowing internet service providers (ISPs) to channel some content into “slow lanes” and some content into “fast lanes,” to charge more for access to certain content, or to block content altogether. Since the original revocation of the FCC's rules in 2018, the throttling of data speeds has had a serious consequences, such as in August 2018 when Verizon slowed wireless data speeds for California firefighters during the Mendocino Complex Fire (Brodkin, 2018). In that case, following public outcry Verizon promised to stop throttling data speeds for first responders (Carman, 2018).
The video below provides specific examples of how the internet -- and your access to it -- is likely to change without net neutrality.
Note: Turn on subtitles with the closed captions (CC) button
Digital Redlining
The elimination of net neutrality allows internet service providers to prioritize the transmission of certain types of information over the internet. Inequities also exist in the availability, quality, and cost of internet service itself in different neighborhoods.
The term digital redlining comes from the broader term redlining, which refers to the discriminatory practice of systematically denying or increasing the cost of services such as mortgage loans, insurance, health care, and supermarkets to residents of certain neighborhoods based on the racial, ethnic, and/or socio-economic makeup of those neighborhoods.
Digital redlining includes practices such as:
- internet service providers choosing not to provide adequate service in low income neighborhoods and communities of color, or charging more for service in those areas; and
- online advertising platforms allowing advertisers to choose to share, or not share, housing-related ads based on the viewer’s gender, race, religion, national origin, marital status, location, or disability.
"Digital redlining particularly affects marginalized groups such as Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities, individuals with low income, and those living in rural areas" (Wang, 2024).
Artificial Intelligence
Like the end of net neutrality and the problem of digital redlining, the growing prominence of generative artificial intelligence also poses equity challenges. AI can be used to adjust lessons to meet specific student needs, to improve the accessibility of class materials for people with disabilities, and to translate materials into other languages. However, most AI tools are not free, which creates a gap between those who can and cannot afford to use these tools. AI systems are also prone to algorithmic bias.
Sources
ALA Council. (2025, Jan 26). Prisoners' right to read: An interpretation of the library bill of rights. American Library Association.
Bowman, E. (2025, Jan 3). Net neutrality is struck, ending a long battle to regulate ISPs like public utilities. NPR. Retrieved July 14, 2025.
Brodkin, J. (2018, Aug 21). Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” data during Calif. wildfire. Ars Technica.
Carman, A. (2018, Aug 24). Verizon says it will stop throttling emergency responders’ data speeds. The Verge.
Hurley, D. A., Kostelecky, S. R., & Aguilar, P. (2017). Whose knowledge? Representing Indigenous realities in library and archival collections. Collection Management, 42(3–4), 124–129. doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2017.1392805
Image: Brown wooden framed glass door by Anton is in the Public Domain CC0
Image: New Haven, Connecticut, master file - Security map and area description, p. 9 is in the Public Domain CC0
Landmark agreement big step forward for students with print disabilities. (2013, May 7). Disability Rights Advocates.
Wang, M.L. (2024, Oct 30). Digital redlining perpetuates health inequity. Here’s how we fix it. Harvard Public Health.