The part of the broadband debate we’re missing

The National Urban League’s Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity and Inclusion wants to ensure that everyone can fully participate in the world the Web has created — from their education as children to their employment as adults to their health all along the way. The proposal, which emphasizes how historically marginalized groups have seen inequities compounded by a disproportionate lack of access to the Web, is chock full of recommendations for bringing broadband to those whose homes aren’t served or for whom service is too expensive. Yet the plan is most helpful in pointing out two additional gaps to bridge. The first of these is what the report’s authors call digital readiness. There is little point in paying for an Internet plan if you don’t know how to use the Internet. Then there’s the so-called utilization gap, jargon for the gulf between what we could be doing with the networks we already have and what we’re actually doing. Government services are poorly digitized: The report recalls governors scrambling at the beginning of the pandemic to find retired programmers who could rescue antiquated and overwhelmed benefit systems.