The world saw the power of information technology when the Berlin Wall tumbled live on CNN, and Tiananmen Square protesters used fax machines to reach their supporters worldwide.

But many of Los Angeles' poorest residents have missed even the past century's communications revolution. One out of five renters in Watts, for instance, does not even have a telephone.

Such persistent deprivation amid rapid advances raises a new challenge for policy-makers, educators and high-tech industries. As workplaces, schools and the government depend more on computer networks and other high-tech systems, many wonder: Will the growing power of information technology underscore the powerlessness of the poor?

Those who have a computer that can tap into networks such as the Internet already have an edge over those without them.

Contractors use the networks to bid for city jobs. Students look for books in libraries, including the Library of Congress, from home computers. Network users send messages to friends on other continents for the price of a local phone call.

Democracy, too, is increasingly tied to technology as computer-savvy activists review congressional bills on line. And in Santa Monica, Glendale and Diamond Bar, residents can send messages directly to city officials from their computers.

"This is going to be the central nervous system of the 21st Century. Communities that are bypassed will end up as shriveled as those that were bypassed by the interstates in the 1950s," said Jeffrey A. Chester, head of the Center for Media Education, a Washington organization that works with civil rights groups on technology issues.

In inner-city Los Angeles, schools, libraries and community groups are taking small steps to avoid being left behind. For instance, students at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles are among the lucky few who have free access to the Internet.

On a recent morning at Garfield, which is one of three city schools that give students Internet log-ons, students crowded around three computers to scan the offerings of the worldwide computer network. One group studied a color map of the topography of the Earth's oceans, another linked up with the computer at the White House and others checked the concert schedule of the rock group Pearl Jam.

"If we didn't have this, we'd probably only know about Internet from commercials. We'd see it on TV but wouldn't really know what it's all about," said Santiago Cardona, a 17-year-old senior, who has used the system to research an English paper.