The Digital Equity Action Research Fellowship

In November 2021, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Black Brilliance Research Project (BBR), and Community Informatics Lab at Simmons University launched the six-city Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Fellowship. The DEAR Fellowship helped young adults, ages 19–24, learn participatory action research skills to examine and address the root causes of digital inequities in their communities. Participatory Action Research (PAR) is different from traditional research paradigms. PAR should be used to both investigate and change—shaping the design of new initiatives, informing the execution of campaigns, and increasing the understanding of issues. As part of this initiative, one organization in each of the six participating cities—Baltimore; Boston; Cleveland; Long Beach, California; San Antonio; and Seattle—took part in the fellowship and hosted one DEAR Fellow. The fellows and their host organizations received a stipend for their work on the project for a two-month period from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund. The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation partnered on the project to underwrite the participation of Baltimore's Village Learning Place and its DEAR Fellow. The end goal of the fellowship was to increase the skills and capacity of the DEAR Fellows and their communities and to identify and address the root causes of digital inequities while learning from peers around the United States. The fellows learned new participatory action research skills, an approach that brings together advocacy and research methods to create change with those closest to the problems in community settings.

See The Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Fellowship: A Participatory Action Research Project

[Shaun Glaze is Research Lead and Director at the Black Brilliance Research Project and one of the designers and facilitators of the curriculum for this inaugural DEAR Fellowship. Benton Senior Fellow Colin Rhinesmith (he/him) is the Founder and Director of the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Chris Webb is the Internet Access and Digital Equity Research Team Leader at Black Brilliance Research Project. Sabrina Roach is a Digital Equity Advisor and the former Director of Strategic Partnerships, Inclusive Data in support of the Black Brilliance Research Project.]