An invitation from Benton Institute for Broadband & Society...

Libraries in Response

Session 117: “’Human Infrastructure of Broadband” Project”

Registration is Open
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025
11am ET / 1600 UTC

Speakers:
Adrianne Furniss, Executive Director at Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Revati Prasad,  VP of Programs, Benton Institute
“Whether it is a librarian helping a veteran fill out an online benefits application at a public computer, a digital navigator assisting a senior citizen in signing up for affordable home broadband, a digital skills trainer teaching social media privacy in Spanish, or a device refurbisher helping students find devices to use at home—all comprise the human infrastructure of broadband.” – Benton Institute

Join in to get the latest on this ground breaking report from Benton Institute. In complement to the $4.25 billion BEAD program, congress also passed the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act, which aims “to ensure that all people and communities have the skills, technology, and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of our digital economy.”

While critical, simply connecting homes is not enough to allow everyone to fully participate in the digital economy and society. But how is this supposed to work? What processes and structures are in place or need to be created to implement such an ambitious goal?

“The vast majority of funding in the immense Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is focused on building physical networks to locations where people are unconnected or insufficiently connected.

Investments and research have traditionally privileged the wires and poles of broadband infrastructure without accounting for or making explicit the human infrastructure needed to enable digital opportunity. But fiber-optic cables may just be glass in the ground if people cannot subscribe to and use high-speed internet access. 

The human infrastructure of broadband is the necessary social and relational complement to the work of building physical infrastructure. The human infrastructure of broadband helps people—including, but not limited to, traditionally marginalized groups—access and make meaningful use of broadband.” — Benton Institute
Registration is Open
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025
11am ET / 1600 UTC