broadband adoption

Join us for the Community Broadband Adoption Impact & Sustainability Conference.

You are invited to attend... Community Broadband Adoption Impact & Sustainability Conference   Monday, June 27, 2011 8:00 AM until Tuesday, June 28, 2011 4:00 PM CBAIS REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! Join us for the Community Broadband Adoption Impact & Sustainability Conference! Sustainable Broadband Adoption and Public Computing Center project staff and other digital inclusion practitioners are implementing strategies to creatively engage, equip, train, and support those left out of our digital society. Join us as we learn from each other, share best practices and brainstorm solutions. We have designed the CBAIS Conference as an interactive event focusing upon: Evaluation Participant Training Staff Professional Development Outreach & Collaboration Broadband Connectivity Program Management Sustainability Policy Hosted by Connect Your Community, a project of OneCommunity.

Digital equality. Digital excellence. Community technology. Digital literacy. Community media. The terminology has changed. The end goal has not.

My personal historical view of digital equality and its terminology:

1996-1997
As a grad student at the University of Toledo, I helped create the Coalition to Access Technology and Networking in Toledo. We had asked community organization what they were struggling with. Their answer - technology. The computer labs we supported were focused upon computer access and training with one or two Internet enabled computers. And there began work I would continue to this day.

2000-2006
When I was executive director of the Ohio Community Computing Network, the use of "community computing center" was dated. OCCN's mission statement: "Ohio Community Computing Network is committed to creating a society in which everyone has equal opportunity to gain access to computer and network technology for life-long learning and personal and community empowerment."  I was told (more than once) that there would soon be no need for public access computer labs since everyone would have a home computer. My response - There would always be group of folks left out and even those with computers would need trainings helping them figure out what to do with those computers.

2005-2006
While the board president of CTCNet (Community Technology Centers Network), I advocated for defining membership as community technology (without the centers) to broaden who we served since we were seeing stand alone community technology centers close and organizations open computer labs to support their particular missions. Perspective article published in Community Technology Review Spring/Summer 2005. 

2006
My blog was called Diary of a Community Technology Advocate with a byline of "Broadband, Media, Internet, Community Technology".  The OCCN Board and I had become convinced we had to broaden our focus to include broadband access.

2008
Began using Twitter, defining myself as a digital equity activist.

 
2009
On the ShinyDoor website, stated my vision for "a world in which all members of society have the tools and the resources to use the Internet for the betterment of themselves and their communities."

2009
Joined the Alliance for Community Media believing community media could become the umbrella for all programs encouraging online content creation and distribution.

2009
Assisted OneCommunity with a grant proposal for Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) funds. In the proposal we referred to community technology practitioners, mostly due to the lead of that project, Bill Callahan, and I recognizing community technology practitioners have existed for over a decade and we should make use of their experience.

2010
Assisted the City of Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Center (GPUAC) submit BTOP proposals for a Public Computing Center and Sustainable Broadband Adoption. The federal government defines public computing centers as public access Internet computer labs. They define broadband adoption as computer and internet training, possibly including programs to get computers into the home.

2010
Working with Central Ohio organizations drafting a call for action to define the information needs of residents, how residents currently receive and share information and then fill in the gaps. The draft calls for an information needs assessment and notes we expect some of the solutions to include: nonprofit journalism, experimentation with online journalism monetization models, partnerships with existing information providers, public access computer centers, digital communication trainings and citizen journalism trainings.

The terminology has come full circle. The end goal is the same. The why and the how have changed. Whereas the focus used to be on workforce development and the underserved populations of low income, disabled and senior citizens, we now throw into the mix media creation and sharing, citizen journalism and civic engagement. I'm sure as technology changes and how we use that technology changes, we'll adjust again. I am also certain there will always be a need for digital equality efforts as there is likely to always be folks left out of the equation.