The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Tony Wilhelm oversees the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program/(BTOP) at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). This agency advises the U.S. President on telecommunications policy, including national policies on broadband, Internet use, and access to both. The BTOP program distributed $4 billion in grants to increase broadband subscribership and meaningful use in unserved and underserved communities.
“Technology is important to seniors, but seniors are important to both technology and to the economy,” Wilhelm said, for this particular moment in time, as Americans live longer.
“The enormous technological and demographic changes in the last century have changed nearly everything about us,” Wilhelm said. “In the 20th century, more years have been added to human life than in all the millennia before. We are living twice as long. By 2015, there will be more of us over age 60 than under age 15. That’s our challenge to meet.”
Stanford University, he said, has developed a Center on Longevity to re-think approaches to aging. They are specifically studying the development of the human life span, and using innovation through science and technology to solve the problems of seniors in America. Technology can do much to make that longevity a healthy and prosperous lifespan. “But can seniors add to our technology today,” Wilhelm said. “So much we can’t quantify. Currently those Americans are not in the online discussion, and that is unacceptable.”
Wilhelm said that studies reveal surprising data about the elderly. “Seniors are more optimistic, the most generous, more open to reconciliation, and have less stress, compared to other age groups. Our parents and grandparents have more experience, more expertise. They understand trade-offs, and know nothing is free.” “With more of these perspectives in public and digital life, the nation will be richer, better, and far more compassionate,” Wilhelm said.
The face of the U.S. economy and workforce will look older in the next decades and beyond. There will be even more older Americans, many of whom who are looking at several more decades of living after their retirement. Assuming good health, “Many Americans are now working well into retirement, getting new jobs after retirement, following a dream or working part time,” Wilhelm said. “Seniors are also very creative. Most inventors are over age 50.” Think of the even greater contribution that seniors could make by focusing their lifetimes of knowledge and experience to create in the last third of their lives.
Wilhelm met a 66-year old woman recently who has created a digital game, an assortment of brain teasers called “Muddles.” “Today she is saving to buy I-pad,” Wilhelm smiled, underscoring the ethic of many older Americans -- to buy what you can afford, and go stake your claim in the marketplace of ideas.
Use of social networking sites is exploding in the older demographics, portending very good news in a population most skeptical of the digital economy and information age. “A public library in Bangor (Maine) started a class called ‘Facebook for Seniors’,” Wilhelm said. “They consistently have a 50-person waiting list to get into the class. There is just tremendous interest in getting into that, and other classes that help seniors navigate the evolving world of social networking.”
Wilhelm’s office at the NTIA has both limitations and opportunities to support getting more low-income seniors online. One of the most useful tools NTIA can provide to the organizations represented at the conference are official reports. They can give partners working with seniors data to support requests for public or private funding, offer a data overview to inform advocates, and give them official information to rely on.
“These kinds of reports also help us draw attention – then focus attention – on problems around the digital divide, and remind us to solve the problems,” Wilhelm said. Easily the most visible contribution by the Administration to bringing broadband to more Americans – and expanding the access to low-income communities – was the over $4 billion in seed money to establish partnerships with many of the organizations hosting or participating in the conference.
“The investments we made for both broadband access and broadband adoption were game-changing investments,” Wilhelm said. “These investments accelerated the efforts already underway at the local and community level.”
“This nation absolutely needs to continue these game changing investments – like BTOP – to stay ahead of the rest of the world in the internet economy,” said Wilhelm. “While we are still in early stages of accessing information and feedback on the partnerships we invested in, we already know we have significantly changed the lives of many people and learned lessons that will help us in the future.”
“Last year, we also launched a digital literacy portal to establish a cross-agency, one-stop-shopping forum on best practices and recent information for practitioners delivering digital literacy training and services in their communities,” Wilhelm said.
“We have got to make broadband relevant in every corner of our country,” said Wilhelm. “We rely on intermediaries, particularly in distressed populations or low-income communities in areas – to train seniors who are difficult to reach,” said Wilhelm, noting that creativity matters when finding ways to reach low-income seniors. “Intergenerational partnerships are particularly effective,” Wilhelm said. “California Connects takes junior college students to teach family members digital skills. The art of this is meeting people where they are – and finding locations that mitigate travel and places that dispel the fear of using it.”
“We have found that comprehensive services to address questions for the seniors, help with a successful training,” Wilhelm said. “Transportation and food vouchers are often important to getting seniors there. The constant we hear is that human interface is very important to getting seniors online.” Only two years into this, and everyone’s efforts are making headway, even into the stiff economic wind.
Seniors, practitioners, advocates and others can do something to promote the public good. “Share,” Wilhelm smiled. “Add things to our digital literacy portal, documents or information, which will benefit others doing this important work. Share lessons on what’s working in your particular environment,” said Wilhelm. “More importantly share and explain what is NOT working. It is trial and error that perfects this evolving effort.”
Wilhelm said that a digital literacy corps is in development. The Administration is promoting digital literacy across all federal agencies. “We are working to build a digital literacy corps,” Wilhelm said, which could be based on the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps model.
Wilhelm said that he was hearing at the conference the same thing his research was telling him. BTOP projects need four components for success:
- Relevance (broadband use must be meaningful in people’s lives),
- Trusted intermediaries (people learn better from familiar faces; intergenerational programs have shown great success),
- Location (it’s important to meet people where they normally gather and are comfortable), and
- Comprehensive services (successful adoption programs address broadband access, equipment and digital literacy).