1. Monthly archive
  2. January 2017

January 2017

City/county leaders cite digital inclusion, education as top priorities for libraries

Local government leaders envision public libraries as a key resource to support their communities’ education and digital inclusion goals while indicating interest in exploring new roles for libraries to address other community priorities, according to a recent survey conducted by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with The Aspen Institute and the Public Library Association (PLA). The new report, Local Libraries Advancing Community Goals, 2016, highlights five community priorities, ranked high or very high, where local government leaders see libraries playing an important role:

  • access to high-speed Internet service (73 percent)
  • digital literacy (65 percent)
  • early childhood education (65 percent)
  • primary and secondary school attainment (59 percent)
  • civic engagement (45 percent)

The survey also finds three areas of opportunity for library and local government leaders to work together more closely: collaborating on community priorities, engaging in active information sharing and communication about community issues, and seeking additional funding sources to enable libraries to expand programming and services.

Empirical data on the privacy paradox

The contemporary debate about the effects of new technology on individual privacy centers on the idea that privacy is an eroding value. The erosion is ongoing and takes place because of the government and big corporations that collect data on us all: In the consumer space, technology and the companies that create it erode privacy, as consumers trade away their solitude either unknowingly or in exchange for convenience and efficiency.

On January 13, we released a Brookings paper that challenges this idea. Entitled, “The Privacy Paradox II: Measuring the Privacy Benefits of Privacy Threats,” we try to measure the extent to which this focus ignores the significant privacy benefits of the technologies that concern privacy advocates. And we conclude that quantifiable effects in consumer behavior strongly support the reality of these benefits.

What's the Return on Investment on Local Broadband?

Hard data enables Louisville (KY) residents to know their broadband speeds and it's also proving beneficial to the city, which is looking to kick off new connectivity projects.

Last spring the city teamed with the IT developers at PowerUp Labs to produce the broadband speed-test site SpeedUpLouisville.com. Since then, nearly 4,000 citizens have logged on to test their Internet speeds, at the same time generating a first-ever view of what the providers are delivering and where the city infrastructure may be lacking. The idea for the test site percolated up at a code-a-thon hosted by the Civic Data Alliance. Results of ongoing speed tests show a number of stark contrasts. Seventeen percent of tests showed broadband speeds limping along at less than 5 Mbps, with geography playing a big role. In the slowest ZIP codes, testers clocked in at an average 7.32 Mbps versus more than 183 Mbps in the fastest neighborhoods.

Local Activism Is the Best Way to Preserve Net Neutrality

Before President-elect Donald Trump takes office Jan 20, take a moment to remember the height of the network neutrality battles of 2014 and 2015. Remember the letter writing campaigns, the comments filed to the Federal Communications Commission (some of them handwritten), remember John Oliver’s rant. Remember that the people fought, and the people won, and for a brief moment, big telecom monopolies had at least some limits placed on them by the federal government. The letter writing campaign to the FCC was good training for what will be needed in the future: Targeted, grassroots efforts that show politicians that access to the open internet matters to voters.

TDS Goes 50/50 with State to Expand Minnesota Rural Broadband

TDS Telecom (TDS) announced it would receive $3 million in Minnesota Dept of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) funds and invest another $3 million to expand and improve rural broadband services in parts of Crow Wing and Cass Counties. Elaborating, TDS said it would expand broadband service and high-speed wireless Internet access to serve more than 3,400 unserved households and a variety of local organizations.

Included among the latter are more than 60 businesses, 142 small enterprises, and a number of community “anchor” institutions. The project will impact residents and businesses in parts of Backus, Hackensack, Ideal Corners, Pequot Lakes, Pine River, and Woman Lake, according to a TDS press release. DEED is part and parcel of Minnesota’s effort to bridge the urban-rural digital divide. DEED announced it would invest a total of $34 million to fund 42 broadband infrastructure projects in rural areas across the state.

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