The widespread exhilaration about the Internet, cyberspace, and the global economy must seem puzzling to those who live in rapidly decaying neighborhoods of America's inner cities. As measured by levels of illiteracy, unemployment, crime, drug abuse, and violence, today's high-tech miracles have brought few benefits to those mired in urban poverty. If the power of digital technology is as marvelous as its advocates proclaim it to be, then why has it done so little for those in most desperate need?

In scattered but highly promising efforts around the country, people of good will are beginning to address this problem, forging links between low-income communities and the realm of networked computing. I recently visited one such site: the Ark, an arts and literacy center in a decaying section of Troy, N.Y. Located in the ground floor of a decrepit nine-story public housing block, sustained by donated time and materials, the Ark offers some 150 boys and girls from poverty-level homes after-school programs in reading, music, painting, pottery, and homework help.