Launch of National Broadband Research Center Puts Focus on Adoption, Not Access

Declaring that its prior mission had been accomplished, on Thursday the Alliance for Public Technology rebranded itself as the National Broadband Research Center, a new organization charged with carrying the banner for broadband adoption. When the Alliance for Public Technology was founded twenty years ago, its members saw themselves as leaders in the call for equal access to technology. Now, "the goal of universal access is not really new," said Kenneth Peres, president of the board of directors, and an economist for the Communications Workers of America. Peres said that equal access is approaching realization: among other achievements, almost 100 percent of American classrooms are now wired. The leaders of APT believe that there is now a more fundamental problem with demand. Hence the National Broadband Research Center steps in. The NBRC mission is to "foster adoption of high-speed applications by unserved, underserved, under-resourced and under-represented communities through educating, informing and connecting them to relevant resources," according to the center.