In October, the Federal Reserve Banks of Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Kansas City convened the first-ever Digital Inclusion Research Forum (DIRF), bringing together researchers and practitioners to highlight the latest in digital inclusion research, emerging methodologies, and best practices in the sector. In order to access the broadband funding made available by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), all states have to develop plans for how they will use these funds to build broadband networks and achieve digital equity. Insights from current research and practice can guide and support this important work. We’ve been reflecting on what we learned at DIRF, not simply the outcomes of research projects from around the country but, more broadly, an approach to researching digital equity. 

Numbers Represent People

Setting the tone for DIRF in her keynote address, Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee reflected on the past 30 years of her work in this sector. She cautioned the room that this work was about more than “shiny,” cutting-edge technology, but rather about people. For her upcoming book, she collected stories from across the country about how the lack of broadband impacts people—from farmers in rural America to seniors in centers within urban cities. Centering people in this way, Turner-Lee said, meant centering equity. 

In his welcome, Jeremy Hegle, Assistant Vice President and Community Affairs Officer from the Kansas City Fed, echoed that sentiment as well. DIRF, he noted, was a space to demystify complex problems while keeping in mind that numbers represent people. Many of the research presentations focused on putting that principle into practice.

Community Voices Community Power

Dr. Amy Gonalzes presented work on what academic researchers can offer those working to improve digital equity in their communities. Leanne Przybylowski demonstrated a research partnership with a North Philadelphia digital inclusion organization. Both stressed the importance of designing research in partnership with practitioners and focusing on what learning outcomes are meaningful to your participants and partners. 

Marycruz De Leon and Kassandra Huhn from the Federal Reserve Banks also emphasized the need to learn from communities and encourage them to tell their stories. They highlighted ways that researchers can help communities and local organizations doing digital inclusion work, such as: 

• Mapping assets and identifying gaps that need to be addressed
• Providing technical support and expertise to help lead broadband infrastructure projects,
• Data and grant proposal review support for grants and storytelling,
• Provide the evidence for why and where broadband needs exist, in order to draw support from community members or local leaders, and
•  Assisting with program evaluations from designing evaluation frameworks, guiding data collection and conducting analysis. 

 
While many of the researchers showed how existing data can help digital inclusion work, some researchers also argued for the need to tailor initiatives to specific communities and to be cognizant that, even within a given ethnic or racial minority, differences could exist as we move from one region to another. For example, Diego Deleersnyder from the Aspen Institute Latinos & Society Program noted that the needs of the Latino community in New York could be very different from those in El Paso.

Lean into Qualitative Research

Much of the advice on how to understand on-the-ground contexts and respond appropriately encouraged the use of qualitative research. Dr. Caroline Stratton from Florida State University argued for the value of qualitative research in understanding the nuances of community needs. She pointed out some of the shortcomings of quantitative data. For instance, large-scale datasets might fail to capture data about specific populations, such as unhoused people. She also underscored that sometimes quantitative data do not reflect how people’s situations change. In contrast, qualitative data allows for open-ended questions that can help practitioners and researchers test hunches, respond flexibly, and move from findings to action in program design and delivery.  She acknowledged the difficulties of sound qualitative research, particularly the subjective nature of data analysis, asking researchers to consider how they weigh different ideas and voices that they encounter. 

While presenting the work of her organization, Mamacitas Ciberneticas, Maria Chaparro stressed the importance of respect for participants’ time and contributions. In concrete practical terms, she pointed to easing barriers to participation like childcare and transportation needs, as well as compensating participants. In fact, many of the researchers present concurred with the need to pay participants and partners for their time. As we conduct research or seek to learn from local organizations—many of whom have been working in this space for years—we need to ensure that we’re not going into these communities, taking advantage of the relationship and trust that they have built within their communities, without any compensation.

Meaningful Measures 

A number of the researchers presented work on frameworks and tools to structure and strategize digital equity work. Dr. Colin Rhinsmith and Dr. Pierrette Dagg presented the Digital Opportunity Compass—a five-component framework that includes access, affordability, skills, application, and outcomes that can guide state and local policy. In her framework, Dr. Erezi Ogbo (one of the authors of this piece) argued that improving individuals’ everyday lives through broadband connectivity should be the goal of digital equity, thus access, affordability, and adoption (which include having the skills and support to use broadband for a wide range of activities) together should be addressed with the goal of helping members of communities to achieve defined outcomes. Dr. Fallon Wilson, Isaac McCoy, Jurnell Cockhren, and Lena Winfree presented the Black Tech Ecosystem Index (BTEI), which details different indicators that can be used to evaluate digital equity within the Black community in the US.

These frameworks emphasize the multi-faceted nature of digital equity—network and device access, skills and literacy, as well as the uses and outcomes of the technology. They underscore the importance of centering people’s lived experiences, both with and without technology. They think creatively about mapping a chart forward and measuring progress along the way. For instance, the Digital Opportunities Compass uses coalitions as a unit of measurement for the strength and resilience of a digital equity ecosystem. 

The Black Tech Ecosystems Index also emphasizes an ecosystem approach, pointing to the community anchor institutions that can serve as “Black digital infrastructure”  from  K-12/STEAM organizations, Black public interest tech organizations, Black tech pipeline organizations, historically black colleges and universities, Black entrepreneurship organizations, and Black multi-faith institutions. While the index recognized the barriers more likely to be faced by Black people in the tech space, ranging from access to broadband to funding for tech entrepreneurs, BTEI stresses an asset-based approach, not a deficit-based one. Charity— Wilson, McCoy, Cockhren, and Winfree pointed out— is different from investment. Instead, working from a framework of abundance, they called on everyone in the room to make space for Black joy in their work: The need to build the technology and make sure that the needs of Black people are represented must exemplify the full joyful Black experience. 

You can learn more about the research presented at DIRF here. 

Dr. Revati Prasad is the Vice President of Programs at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

Dr. Erezi Ogbo is an Assistant Professor at North Carolina Central University and a Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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