OTI and EveryoneOn Release Broadband Adoption Metrics Rubric and Instruments

In order to build a holistic understanding of the effectiveness of EveryoneOn’s programs, New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute has examined the factors that influence participants’ choices to engage (or not engage) with Internet service offers. Drawing on our experience evaluating efforts such as the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, as well as scholarly literature and instruments from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), and the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project; state-level efforts such as the California Emerging Technologies Fund (CETF); and the Internet Use Survey at the University of Chicago, OTI has compiled a rubric of standard indicators pertaining to the choices that people make regarding whether or not to use, and/or to subscribe to, digital technologies and Internet services.

We have tailored this rubric to emphasize outcomes-oriented indicators related to “meaningful broadband adoption,” a framework developed by OTI that takes into account contextual and historical social factors impacting digital choices. Metrics designed to understand meaningful broadband adoption thus measure not only progress towards achieving broader subscription rates among traditionally underserved and demographically likely non-adopters, but also a more holistic picture of comfort with digital tools and the availability, effectiveness, and impact of support and training resources.
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