Why community digital equity discussions should be in person

Iowa’s Department of Management (DOM) is kicking off a series of 50-plus town hall-style meetings to learn directly from residents what broadband and digital services they need. The in-person meetings, which DOM announced on March 6, started on March 14 and will run through late May. They will cover four topic areas: accessibility, affordability, digital devices, and digital skills. One reason the meetings are not available virtually is to emphasize local, in-person participation, said Matt Behrens, the state’s chief information officer. “We want to be out in the communities, we want to visit with people and we don’t want to make any assumptions that they’ll have the technology or the connectivity in order to participate virtually.” Those who attend will have a chance to break into groups to discuss the four topic areas. Although Behrens said there is no target number of attendees, the more the better. “The more folks that we have attend, the more robust the discussion will be, the more ideas that we’ll get,” he said.