Community Anchor Institutions

As required by the Digital Equity Act, the $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program will be established soon, making hundreds of millions of dollars available in the first Notice of Funding Opportunity to implement digital inclusion projects. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act mandates that funding be directed towards programs designed to empower those impacted by the digital divide, known as Covered Populations.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could revolutionize education as profoundly as the internet has already revolutionized our lives. However, our experience with commercial internet platforms gives us pause. Like the commercialization of the internet, the AI consumerization trend, driven by massive investments across sectors, prioritizes profit over societal and educational benefits. We must advocate for a thoughtful, education-centric approach to AI development that enhances, rather than replaces, human intelligence and recognises the value of effort in learning. Some of the potential risks:

That universal broadband access is a goal worth pursuing has become conventional wisdom. The risk of being elevated to conventional wisdom is that the root arguments bury themselves so deeply that alternate notions sprout and threaten them. While broadband access touches social, cultural, political, health-related and even spiritual elements of modern life, let’s focus on two: education and economics. That’s where the digital divide can do the most damage. Anyone who has hopped on to YouTube for an appliance repair or software how-to knows the value of instructional show-and-tell.

At the July Federal Communications Commission Open Meeting, the FCC approved, on a 3-2 vote, an order to make Wi-Fi hotspots and Internet services eligible for E-rate program support for libraries and K-12 schools. This historic decision adopts a SHLB Coalition recommendation we and others proposed over three years ago. The proposed order allows schools and libraries to apply for E-rate funds to help offset the costs of purchasing Wi-Fi hotspots and I

he Federal Communications Commission voted to approve final rules to support the students, school staff, and library patrons around the country who find themselves on the wrong side of the digital and educational divide. Now, schools and libraries will be able to utilize E-Rate resources to loan out Wi-Fi hotspots which will provide internet access for those individuals without a reliable connection at home.

To explore the expanding role of libraries in providing internet access and promoting digital literacy, this article examines ten libraries in one state that developed Digital Navigator programs. Representing a mix of small and rural as well as metropolitan and large libraries, the libraries’ efforts offer a different philosophy in dealing with digital divide factors. This research investigates how libraries launched Digital Navigator programs, the processes behind developing them, and how they reflect notions of information access.

On July 18, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on new rules to make the offpremises use of Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile wireless internet services eligible for E-Rate funding. The new rules would take the next step towards modernizing the program to ensure students and library patrons have access to the connectivity needed for a 21st century quality education.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, in collaboration with the Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, recently hosted a webinar series titled the Power of Partnership: State Strategies for Digital and Educational Equity.

You didn’t need testing equipment to measure the state of Purdue University’s Wi-Fi network. You just needed to look on Reddit, where complaints were flying. That was the situation Ian Hyatt walked in to when he took a job as CIO of Purdue University three years ago.

The US Supreme Court just overturned Chevron v. The Natural Resources Defense Council, a 40 year old precedent for how government works. This is big news for anyone interested in the way technology (and Big Tech) shape public policy, and vice versa. Why does Chevron matter? As ordained by our political system, Congress is supposed to set rules and regulations that protect our rights. In today’s world, no elected representative can be an expert on every topic where they are called to make a decision.