Research

More than three years after pandemic shutdowns forced employers and employees to shift toward remote work if they could, it seems that for a portion of working Californians, remote and hybrid work is here to stay. According to the November 2023 Public Policy Institute of California Statewide Survey, 14 percent of Californians say they work remotely all of the time, 21 percent are working in a mix of some work from home and some outside the home at the workplace, and 61 percent say they are working exclusively in person at the workplace.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Steady but uneven progress in global Internet connectivity highlights the disparities of the digital divide and is leaving people in low-income countries behind. Approximately sixty-seven percent of the world's population, or 5.4 billion people, is now online.

In the wake of the Biden Administration’s request for a $6 billion extension of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), some in Congress question the program’s true impact on bringing broadband access to new users.

A look at potential changes to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) eligibility criteria based on participation in social benefits programs such as Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Public Assistance Income (PAP). These potential changes would have broad impacts since the National Verifier (NV) uses program participation rather than income to confirm eligibility for over 90 percent of ACP applications.

Rural advocates have high hopes for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. While it primarily focuses on providing infrastructure to places that are “unserved” and “underserved”, there is also a requirement for states to describe how their plans to award funds will address broadband affordability. Both are important topics for rural residents. The most recent data we have show dramatic rural-urban gaps in both broadband access and adoption. It’s widely recognized that affordability plays a large role in why households remain offline.

How can participatory action research be used to develop a theory of change and an evaluation framework to benefit the digital equity field? In Developing a Digital Equity Theory of Change with Tech Goes Home, our research team discovered several findings that we believe can be useful for the U.S.

A study of more than 2 million people’s internet use found no “smoking gun” for widespread harm to mental health from online activities such as browsing social media and gaming, despite widely claimed concerns that mobile apps can cause depression and anxiety. Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, who said their study was the largest of its kind, said they found no evidence to support “popular ideas that certain groups are more at risk” from the technology.

This research examines how people in the UK are spending their time online.

Frontier Communications boasts a higher Net Promoter Score (NPS) for its fiber product compared to competitors like AT&T, Verizon and Lumen, according to New Street Research’s broadband trends report. An NPS measures the loyalty of a company’s customer base from a scale of -100 to 100.

The New Jersey Office of Broadband Connectivity (OBC) is spearheading the state's effort to implement New Jersey’s vision for digital equity. OBC recently released a draft Digital Equity Plan titled Connecting New Jersey. The plan offers a view of the state’s needs, resources, vision, and ambition regarding digital equity. OBC is seeking feedback through November 30, 2023.