Colin Rhinesmith - New Approaches to Bridging the Digital Divide - GCS16
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This document summarizes a presentation on new approaches to bridging the digital divide. It found that digital inclusion organizations use a four-part strategy: providing low-cost broadband, digital literacy training, low-cost computers, and public computing centers. These organizations connect to broader city initiatives but few use outcomes evaluation. Addressing digital divide requires understanding how poverty limits broadband adoption and emphasizing human connections over technology access alone. Recommendations include addressing ability to pay over willingness, sustaining inclusion programs, and developing evaluation frameworks.
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Colin Rhinesmith - New Approaches to Bridging the Digital Divide - GCS16
- 1. Presentation Title Subhead New Approaches To Bridging The Digital Divide Colin Rhinesmith, Ph.D. Gigabit City Summit May 17, 2016
- 2. How Not To Bridge The Digital Divide “Low-cost technology is just not an effective way to fight inequality, because the digital divide is much more a symptom than a cause of other divides.” - Kentaro Toyama (2015)
- 4. Problem Statement • Only 67% of Americans have broadband at home (down from 70% in 2013). • Low-income people face significant barriers to broadband adoption. Only 41% of people with an annual household income of less than $20K have broadband at home (down from 46% in 2013). - Pew Research Center (2015)
- 5. Federal Broadband Policy Context Federal Communications Commission (2015) • Lifeline Program: Creating a broadband subsidy for qualifying low-income consumers Broadband Opportunity Council (2015) • How can the federal government promote best practices in broadband deployment and adoption?
- 6. Definitions • “Digital divide implies the gap…between Americans for whom Internet access is readily available and those for whom it is not… • Digital literacy encompasses the skills and abilities necessary for access once the technology is available… • Digital inclusion is the policy developed to close the digital divide and promote digital literacy.” - Paul T. Jaeger, John Carlo Bertot, Kim M. Thompson, Sarah M. Katz, & Elizabeth J. DeCoster (2012)
- 7. Meaningful Broadband Adoption “When we talk about meaningful broadband adoption, we imply an ecology of support— institutions, organizations, and even informal groups that serve to welcome new users into broadband worlds; share social norms, practices, and processes related to using these technologies; and help policy targets make sense of and exercise control over how broadband enters users’ lives.” - Gangadharan & Byrum (2012)
- 8. Research Questions • What are the key characteristics of low-cost Internet and digital literacy training initiatives? • What indicators are used by digital inclusion organizations to measure the success of their programs?
- 9. Research Design • 3-Month Qualitative Study (July – Sept 2015) • 8 Digital Inclusion Organizations • 75 Participants (multiple perspectives) a. Digital inclusion organizations (administrators, staff) b. Community partners c. Low-income individuals & families
- 10. Research Sites Austin, TX | Cleveland, OH | Kansas City, KS/MO | Los Angeles, CA | Machias, ME | Portland, OR | St. Paul, MN
- 11. Findings 1. Four-part digital inclusion strategy to promote meaningful broadband adoption. 1. Digital inclusion organizations are connected to broader citywide and regional initiatives. 1. Few organizations used an outcomes-based evaluation framework to show their impact.
- 12. Four-Part Digital Inclusion Strategy 1. Providing low-cost broadband 1. Connecting digital literacy training with relevant content and services 1. Making low-cost computers available 1. Operating public access computing centers
- 13. Four-Part Digital Inclusion Strategy Low-cost Internet Digital Literacy Training Low-cost Computers Public Access Computing
- 16. Ability to Pay v. Willingness to Pay • The low-income individuals and families who participated in this study explained that paying for broadband is not as much of a choice that involves what they are willing to pay for different Internet speeds, but rather a choice between broadband service and the ability to pay for food.
- 17. The Ability to Pay for Broadband • “It’s hard because we’re in Washington County. Internet’s expensive—and we’re on our own doing this. It’s either rent, food, or Internet. They need to do something for low-income people to get Internet. I mean, I’m not asking for like a hand- out, but something to make it easier for low-income people to get a cheaper deal.” - Anne, a young female adult in rural Maine. • The $10 is definitely easier. I mean, some months it might help to pay more. It is a little bit more if you pay by month. I think it is like $15 or $13 or something, and sometimes it is what you got to do. You know, it is that or groceries, but it is nice if you do have the money you can pay ahead and that has been really helpful. - Theresa, a single mother with three kids in Saint Paul, MN
- 18. Four-Part Digital Inclusion Strategy Low-cost Internet Digital Literacy Training Low-cost Computers Public Access Computing
- 20. Ashbury Senior Computer Community Center • Low-Cost Internet • Digital Literacy Training
- 21. Four-Part Digital Inclusion Strategy Low-cost Internet Digital Literacy Training Low-cost Computers Public Access Computing
- 24. Four-Part Digital Inclusion Strategy Low-cost Internet Digital Literacy Training Low-cost Computers Public Access Computing
- 27. Findings 1. Four-part digital inclusion strategy to promote meaningful broadband adoption. 1. Digital inclusion organizations are connected to broader citywide and regional initiatives. 1. Few organizations used an outcomes-based evaluation framework to show their impact.
- 29. KC Coalition for Digital Inclusion KCLibrary KCMO Digital RoadmapDigital Inclusion Strategic Plan eSteward Enterprise Community Connections Community Centers HUD ConnectHome Sprint Best Buy ALA GitHub EveryoneOn US Ignite College Board & Khan Academy Age of Learning, Inc. PBS Boys & Girls Clubs of America HUD Choice Grants White House City of Austin Housing Authority of Austin Texas UTA HAKC KCDigitalDrive Connecting for GoodW.E.B. DuBois Learning Center YMCA LiteracyKC MCPLDigital Inclusion Fund Google Fiber Digital Inclusion Fellowship AT&T Time Warner Cable Comcast Kauffman FDN LINC UrbanTec FEC Metropolitan Community Colleges KC School District Surplus Exchange Lincoln Building Black Family Technology Awareness Association The Upper Room aSTEAMvillage Digital Inclusion in Kansas City
- 30. Findings 1. Four-part digital inclusion strategy to promote meaningful broadband adoption. 1. Digital inclusion organizations are connected to broader citywide and regional initiatives. 1. Few organizations used an outcomes-based evaluation framework to show their impact.
- 31. Outcomes-Based Evaluation Challenges • Lack of time & money • Most organizations are focused on outputs Number of Internet subscriptions, classes, computers, public access computing hours, etc. • Fewer are heading toward outcomes • Only one had a developed framework
- 32. Youth Policy Institute: Home Internet Adoption Logic Model
- 33. Addressing the Digital Divide • Poverty is intimately connected to the challenges facing low-income people in adopting broadband Internet at home. By looking outside the home and into the community, digital inclusion researchers and policymakers can gain a deeper understanding of the important role that community-based organizations, as trusted local assets, play in helping people gain access to technology in meaningful ways that reflect their everyday experiences with poverty.
- 34. Addressing the Digital Divide • Rather than focusing on the human-to-computer interactions, meaningful broadband adoption emphasizes the human-to-human interactions in community contexts that are most helpful to individuals and families.
- 35. Recommendations • Cost – continues to be a major barrier to broadband adoption. Successful policy interventions will need to address “ability to pay” rather than “willingness to pay.” • Sustainability – additional funding from government and private foundations is needed to support digital inclusion organizations’ meaningful broadband adoption efforts. • Outcomes-Based Evaluation – digital inclusion organizations need assistance in developing evaluation frameworks to help gather data, show impact, and connect their work to broader public policy goals.
- 36. How Not To Bridge The Digital Divide “Low-cost technology is just not an effective way to fight inequality, because the digital divide is much more a symptom than a cause of other divides.” - Kentaro Toyama (2015)
- 37. Thank you Contact Colin Rhinesmith, Assistant Professor School of library and Information Studies University of Oklahoma • email: crhinesmith@ou.edu • website: http://crhinesmith.com • twitter: @crhinesmith
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Before I present my research today, which is focused on making low-cost technology available to help bridge the digital divide, I want to call attention to this quote from Kentaro Toyama in his excellent book, Geek Heresy, Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. Toyama formerly with Microsoft and now a faculty member at the Michigan’s iSchool, says..
- Today, I’ll be presenting findings from my study which was published by Benton Foundation in a report this January. The report presents my findings from a national study of digital inclusion organizations that help low-income individuals and families adopt high-speed Internet service. The study looked at eight digital inclusion organizations across the United States that are working at the important intersection between making high-speed Internet available and strengthening digital skills—two essential and interrelated components of digital inclusion, which is focused on increasing digital access, skills, and relevant content. The goal of this report is to help policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as researchers, practitioners, and other key stakeholders, gain a deeper understanding of how digital inclusion organizations and their community partners can be successful in their efforts to promote meaningful broadband adoption.
- What’s the problem that the research seeks to address?
- Two significant policy development: #1) modernization of the FCC’s Lifeline USF program to include a broadband subsidy for low-income consumers. #2) The White House created the Broadband Opportunity Council bringing together all of the agencies in the Executive Branch to address the following questions.
- Traditionally, broadband adoption has been defined as having high-speed Internet service at home. Back in 2011, staff at the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute convened an academic workshop to try and come up with a more meaningful definition of broadband adoption – one that moves away from a focus on creating Internet consumers and toward a definition that considers the importance of social and community contexts in people’s everyday technology experiences. Much of this work also builds on the work of Dharma Dailey and her colleagues from 2010, which looked at the barriers to broadband adoption in low-income communities. The work also builds on Virginia Eubanks’ with low-income women at a YWCA in upstate new york to develop alternative articulations of the digital divide based on their everyday experiences with poverty and technology.
- Here is the map showing where the organizations were located. I was able to recruit the organizations by sending an IRB approved recruitment script to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance listserv, because I knew this was a perfect place to find organizations. I asked listserv subscribers, who represented organizations, if they would be willing to have me come visit their organizations for 3-5 days to conduct interviews, focus groups, and observe the social and technical aspects of their programs.
- There were really three key findings from the study.
- All organizations recognized a four-part strategy to promote broadband adoption, and this includes…
- Because people were looking for low-cost broadband access, PCs for People also had paper flyers available for those without access to the Internet. As you can see..
- Other organizations, like Connecting for Good, focused on setting community wireless mesh networks to provide public housing residents with free or low-cost broadband access.
- Much of the research on broadband adoption has focused on understanding the factors that influence whether an individual is likely to pay for high-speed Internet services. These factors have been used to predict rates of broadband adoption. As part of this thinking, the phrase “willingness to pay” has become widely accepted within broadband adoption literature. This phrase focuses on what an individual is willing to pay for high-speed Internet access, while also paying attention to demographic characteristics of the individuals studied. Low-income people, in particular, suggested that the term “ability to pay” is more relevant to their lives than the term “willingness to pay” in conversations about cost of broadband access. The low-income adults who participated in this study explained that paying for broadband is not as much of a choice that involves what they are willing to pay for different Internet speeds, but rather a choice between broadband service and the ability to pay for food.
- As I mentioned, cost is the major barrier to broadband adoption and here are two examples of stories which I heard time and again from people who relied on the low-cost Internet. Even at $10 a month, participants told me that the Internet was often a choice between access to information or food for that month. People need low-cost broadband.
- I was impressed by this innovative example of digital literacy training which was really rooted in people’s everyday experiences with technology and how they preferred to learn.
- The other thing I learned is that there is a significant population of 55-62 year olds who are not quite ready to retire and in need of digital literacy skills, and access to low-cost broadband as well.
- Low-cost or free computers are often just as important as having access to low-cost or free Internet options, particularly for people in low-income communities. Digital inclusion organizations have embraced this reality by refurbishing older computers and making them available to low-income people for free or at a reduced cost. Some digital inclusion organizations also provide ongoing technical support to residents who need the social and technical assistance to keep their computers up and running—and connected online—over time.
- Although all of the low-income individuals who participated in this study understood the relevance of broadband to their everyday lives, many digital inclusion organizations have developed innovative digital literacy training strategies to assist people who do not feel the Internet is relevant to them. Many organizations also provide mobile digital literacy training – going outside their physical walls – to reach people in places that are convenient to them.
- Many digital inclusion organizations also maintain public access computing facilities that allow residents to access technology in places in which they feel comfortable and supported. These spaces also complement the digital literacy classes that are often offered in the same location. Low-income individuals and families value public access computing centers because they are often in convenient locations and have helpful staff that provide them with one-on-one support with computers and broadband Internet access.
- The second key finding was that most digital inclusion organizations were connected to broader citywide and regional initiatives.
- This broader ecology of social support is at the core of what I mean by meaningful broadband adoption. What Seeta Gangadharan and Greta Byrum refer to as the social layer of broadband adoption.
- This is a figure from Michael Liimatta. You’re not expected to read this, but it’s important to show how many entities within and outside Kansas City have been playing a role in the digital inclusion ecosystem within Kansas City.
- The last finding that I’ll share with you today is that few organizations used an outcomes-based evaluation framework to communicate their theory of change to funders and show the impacts of their work in the communities they served.
- This was understandable given that most organizations reported that they did not have the time or money needed to develop sophisticated outcomes-based evaluation frameworks. However, all organizations recognized the need for such evaluation tools.
- The Youth Policy Institute in Los Angeles was the only organization that had an example to show because they were the largest and most well-funded organization. They have a long history and internal researchers on staff who can assist with developing outcomes-based evaluation frameworks. But for smaller organizations, where funding is an issue, this work was much more difficult to accomplish.
- So why is this study important? I argue that first and foremost, it’s critically important to remember that poverty is intimately connected to the challenges facing low-income people in adopting broadband at home. Dharma Dailey and her colleagues showed back in 2010 that there are multiple hidden costs for people living in poverty beyond simply the cost of broadband that makes it extremely difficult to priotize internet access within strained monthly budgets. I argue that meaningful broadband adoption provides a research strategy for looking outside the home – beyond individual broadband subscribes – and into the community to gain a deeper understanding of the important role that …
- In other words, rather than focusing solely on the human-to-computer interactions -- which are certainly important -- in digital inclusion initiatives, meaningful broadband adoption emphasizes the human-to-human interactions in community contexts that are most helpful to individuals and families in gaining access to and using low-cost technology.
- Here are three recommendations in the report. The first is focused on strategies for increasing meaningful broadband adoption in low-income communities and the second two are focused on those organizations that work with low-income people to promote digital inclusion. 1.) First, successful digital inclusion efforts should recognize the role that persistent poverty plays in shaping people’s ability to access and use computers and the Internet. Toyama’s quote is an excellent reminder of this reality. Therefore, successful policy interventions will need to respect low-income people and their “ability to pay” rather than “willingness to pay” for broadband. Rather than assuming people living in poverty have choices in terms of how much they would be willing to pay for the Internet, policymakers need to focus on their ability to pay for the Internet along with other essential needs. The findings also suggest that more research is needed to understand budgeting issues and other concerns related to people’s experiences living in poverty. 2.) Second, policymakers will also need to recognize the important role that digital inclusion organizations, including public libraries and other information organizations, play in promoting meaningful broadband adoption. The federal government, particularly the BOC should make additional funding opportunities available, particularly for digital inclusion organizations that are on the front-lines with public libraries in promoting broadband adoption. 3.) Third, digital inclusion organizations need assistance in developing evaluation frameworks to help gather data, show impact, and connect their work to broader public policy goals. I am honored that I’ve had the opportunity to share these recommendations as well as many more stories from people in the report with policymakers at the FCC, in Congressional, the White House and Executive Branch agencies.
- Before I present my research today, which is focused on making low-cost technology available to help bridge the digital divide, I want to call attention to this quote from Kentaro Toyama in his excellent book, Geek Heresy, Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. Toyama formerly with Microsoft and now a faculty member at the Michigan’s iSchool, says..