It was an honor to join Dr. Nicol Turner Lee, Senior Fellow, Director of the Center for Technology Innovation at The Brookings Institution, and the host of the Brookings Tech Tank podcast, alongside Dr. Fallon Wilson, Vice President of MMTC and Director of Black Churches for Digital Equity to discuss the upcoming end of the…
Author: Colin Rhinesmith
Libraries and Digital Equity Coalitions
In their Digital Inclusion Coalition Guidebook, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance has defined a coalition in the following way: “Is a collective organization of organizations (e.g., local governments, libraries, educational institutions, housing authorities, community technology training and network providers, other social service and civic organizations, etc.). Operating in the public realm, with a reasonable degree…
Call for Submissions: 20th Anniversary Issue of The Journal of Community Informatics
Call for Submissions: 20th Anniversary Issue of The Journal of Community Informatics Community informatics (CI) is the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support community-defined development goals. It is a multidisciplinary field that includes researchers and practitioners from information studies, social work, rural sociology, public policy, urban planning, among other areas. Similar to…
Community Informatics and AI
(Lego Mesh Wireless Network at the 2011 Allied Media Conference photo by Colin Rhinesmith) [Editorial re-posted from The Journal of Community Informatics] In yesterday’s Op-Ed, titled “For all the hype in 2023, we still don’t know what AI’s long-term impact will be” written by Open University Professor John Naughton and published in The Guardian, Naughton…
New Report Highlights Participatory Action Research Project with Tech Goes Home
Over the past year, my team and I at the Digital Equity Research Center at METRO co-led a participatory action research project with Tech Goes Home (TGH). The purpose of the study was to develop a theory of change for TGH, as well as an analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing community-based organizations in…
New Article in Mobile Media & Communication
I am thrilled to announce that my new article, titled “‘It’s one of the most important things we carry for us’: How mobile hotspots support people experiencing homelessness” was just published in the journal, Mobile Media & Communication. It will be part of an upcoming special issue on homelessness and mobile media. MMC’s Social Media…
Digital Equity and Justice in Maryland: Challenges and Opportunities
At the Digital Equity Research Center this year, we had the opportunity to lead a research project to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities related to issues of digital equity and justice for residents across the state of Maryland. The study was commissioned by Economic Action Maryland. As their website explains, “Working…
FCC Task Force to Prevent Digital Discrimination Listening Session Comments
The Federal Communications Commission’s Task Force to Prevent Digital Discrimination held a public listening session at Medger Evers College in Brooklyn yesterday. As part of the event, the FCC invited several speakers from a diverse group of organizations representing communities impacted by digital discrimination to provide their comments that could be included in the public…
New Book Contract with UC Press!
I am incredibly honored and excited to announce that I have just signed a contract for my new book to be published by the University of California Press! The title of the book is Digital Equity Ecosystems and will be published as part of the UC Press Technology Studies list. The book builds on the…
Digital Inclusion Research Forum on Oct. 12-13
The Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City and Philadelphia seek proposals for presentation at the Digital Inclusion Research Forum, to be held in Dallas, Texas, Oct. 12-13. The proposal deadline is July 21. I am honored to serve on the advisory committee for the research forum. Feel free to share this call for…