As I shared in a previous post last year, I am writing on book on Digital Equity Ecosystems that will be published by the University of California Press. As I have been working on the book, I realized that the definition that I’ve been using from my work with Susan Kennedy, published by the Benton…
Public Policy
New TechTank Podcast Episode on the Affordable Connectivity Program
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…
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…
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 Working Paper: The Digital Opportunities Compass
As states across the U.S. develop their digital equity plans this year, as part of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s BEAD and DEA grant programs, a comprehensive and holistic framework is needed to evaluate the outcomes and impacts of these federal investments to advance digital equity in the years to come. In response, my…
Missing Pieces: How the FCC’s Broadband Map Misrepresents Public Libraries
Back in December, I responded to an open invitation from John Windhausen, Executive Director of the Schools, Health, & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, during the monthly SHLB Coalition member policy call, to take a closer look at how the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Broadband Map represents community anchor institutions (CAIs). I thought this would be a…
New Article in Information Technology and Libraries
My colleagues, Chris Ritzo, Jie Jiang, and I have a new article, titled “Measuring Library Broadband Networks to Address Knowledge Gaps and Data Caps” that was just published in the journal, Information Technology and Libraries. The journal is part of the American Library Association’s Core: Leadership, Infrastructures, Futures division. Here is the abstract for the paper…
The Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Fellowship: A Participatory Action Research Project
I am incredibly excited to announce the publication of our new report, titled “The Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Fellowship: A Participatory Action Research Project” published today by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. The report features essays from our amazing DEAR fellows and their hosts who participated in our six-city virtual fellowship program…