Earlier this week I attended the Digital Inclusion conference at the University of Minnesota. The keynote speaker was David Keyes, who directs the City of Seattle’s digital inclusion programs. Mr. Keyes indicated that one of the great things that they were able to do in Seattle was to encourage legislation that addresses digital inclusion. Also he mentioned a site that I thought folks might find particularly useful: www.seattle.gov/tech/indicators.

I have caught some of his presentation here. (My real life lesson of the day: I’m much better with a Flip Video than a Droid. You may learn this too if you watch.)

You can see more online. (I suspect that SPNN may upload video from the conference as well. I’ll try to post that info when I get it.)

Also speaking at the conference was:

Kit Hadley, St Paul Public Library
Catherine Settanni, Community Computer Access Network
Kevin Kalla, St Paul Neighborhood Network
Abdulahi Farah, Project for Pride in Living
Jennifer Vanek, St Paul Public Schools ABE (LearnerWeb)
Bill Rappel, Computers for Youth

I got a video of the last two questions about the interaction with local government and government agencies and interaction with local businesses.

Here are some other of my highlights from the conference:

Technology is just a tool – technology helps create solutions for issues at hand.

Folks in the field are finding that while people need to use technology – the truth of the matter is it’s a list of items that many people need to learn, but improving digital literacy makes learning other skills and competencies much easier. For example, for someone interested in becoming a citizen it’s easier to first learn how to use a computer and then access the websites designed for citizenships.

You forget where digital literacy starts until you are in front of a class or working with a group. As a teacher, you may think you’ll be talking about Google Maps, but you may find that you’re showing people how to use a mouse. And many students start with learning how to use a mouse because they need to fill out a job application online – as soon as possible.

Technology can help us connect – both with the rest of the world but also with our neighbors. It can be a good tool for youth to get involved.

Questions:

My 2012 mobile devices will outpace laptops and computers. How are you planning for that?

It is critical for our families to get access to mobile devices – and iPads might make more sense – especially if someone wants to write a paper or someone has vision issues. Also we need to have connectivity that’s portable. As a city we try to frame delivery of services to suit mobile ( as a apps).

PCs for People – we give away computers. We have trouble sourcing computers. How have you had success?

The City of Seattle authorized us to provide our own computers for refurbishing. We’ve been trying to build connections to folks like law firms and software companies. Recycling laws seem to lean towards large businesses.

In Computers for Youth, we used to have lots of small relationships. As we grew we got larger relationships – such as with Goldman Sachs. With BTOP will be serving 17,000 families – and we’ve outsourced this. We’ve had success with federal computers but not as much on the local or state level.

In Seward we have some large housing developments. Has anyone worked at getting a computer/broadband considered an appliance like a stove?

Great questions. We (Computers for Youth) have an affiliate with a BTOP grant in Florida who is working on that. They are putting the CPU in the wall.

How will you integrate indicators into something that’s useful in an ever-changing field?

We’ve been working with indicators for 10 years – so now we have longitudinal data. We modify where we can and we work to use indicators in policymaking.

How do we add engagement to the equation? We have online lists (e-democracy) and we find that education and higher educated folks are using the lists, not so much the less educated or New Americans.

Part of the issue us making sure that the users have the education (civic ed, writing in English…) to participate in the discussions.