Category Archives: Digital Divide

Cold weather points out inadequacies of rural broadband

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MinneapoliMedia reports…

There are moments in Minnesota when the cold does more than freeze lakes and stiffen breath. It interrupts the machinery of daily life. It closes schools, empties buses, quiets playgrounds, and turns the ordinary act of leaving home into a calculation of risk. Friday, January 23, 2026 is one of those days.

Added in the difference in broadband based on location…

For many families, school is not just a place of learning. It is childcare. It is reliable meals. It is heat. It is structure. When buildings close, those supports scatter into private homes that are not equally equipped to absorb the shock.

Hourly workers lose income. Parents working essential jobs face impossible choices. Families without reliable internet struggle to make e-learning function as intended. Rural households with long driveways and limited broadband face isolation compounded by cold. For elders who depend on school transportation staff, school nurses, or community routines connected to schools, the day becomes longer and lonelier.

The cold does not distribute its burden evenly. It presses hardest on those with the fewest buffers.

NDIA announce 2025 Digital Inclusion Trailblazers including Hennepin County and City of Hopkins

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NDIA reports on their 2025 Digital Inclusion Trailblazers, including Hennepin County and City of Hopkins in Minnesota… [Correction – early I attributed the award to NTIA.]

Entering our ninth year of Digital Inclusion Trailblazers, in 2025 we are proud to recognize new and returning awardees for our annual program. Trailblazers demonstrate the important role that municipal, county, and regional governments play to bring digital opportunities to their residents.

 

Highlights from this year include:

  • 58 communities recognized
  • 25 states represented
  • Almost 900 individual resources and documents

The communities listed here demonstrate contemporary best practices in the rapidly growing digital inclusion field.

Pew reports on who subscribes to broadband at home

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Pew Research recently posted a lot of facts about broadband, smartphones and the digital divide. I thought the following would be of interesting to readers…

Over the years, some of the biggest and most consistent divides in home internet access have been by household income. That remains true today.

Americans in households making under $30,000 a year are far less likely than those with higher incomes to subscribe to home broadband. In this lowest-income group, 54% do, compared with 94% of those in the highest-income households – a 40 percentage point gap.

When it comes to the communities people live in, urban and rural Americans subscribe to home broadband at similar rates. But both groups are less likely than suburban adults to do so.

Black and Hispanic adults are also less likely than White or Asian adults to subscribe to broadband.

Changes over time

Overall, the share of Americans who subscribe to broadband has held fairly steady in the past few years. That’s also true for many demographic groups.

But between 2023 and now, it dipped slightly among young adults and Hispanic adults:

  • 71% of those ages 18 to 29 now subscribe to broadband at home, down from 78% in 2023.
  • 68% of Hispanic adults do, down from 75% in 2023.

For more on how these shares have changed over the past two decades, read our fact sheet on internet and broadband use.

Doug Dawson has an interesting take on digital literacy with smartphones vs devices

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Doug Dawson looks at digital literacy in a recent POTS and PANS post…

A friend of mine, Frederick Pilot, recently asked me an interesting question. Is digital literacy that comes from using a smartphone the same as digital literacy from using a computer? It’s a great question, because the majority of Internet users in the world only have broadband access through a smartphone. In developing nations, 90% of broadband users only have access to a smartphone. In the U.S., 16% of adults only use a smartphone to reach the Internet.

There are skills needed to master using a computer that can’t be learned from using a smartphone. Computer users learn to use a mouse and to type – even people who speak to a computer need the mouse and keyboard. People working on computers learn how to create, save, and manage files. Computer users learn how to use operating systems and software programs.

By contrast, smartphone users mostly learn how to use apps. While some apps are complex, the skills learned generally apply mostly to the specific app.

The conclusion…

None of this discussion answers the original question, which asks if smartphone users are digitally literate. I’m sure that many smartphone users are fully literate in terms of being able to navigate the web. But that doesn’t mean they have the digital skills that employers are looking for. And that begs the question of what it means to be digitally literate.

It’s always an interesting question and Doug’s take is interesting too. My mom was a system’s analyst when I was a kid. She could (and can) type. My dad had a software development company. He wasn’t great at typing then; he’s better now. He understood the technology. He may be the exception that proves the rule, or he may be exception that highlights a loophole. If you understand the technology and you are in charge or have people, you might get away without typing.

I remember teaching a class on using technology to start a business. There was one student who showed up with her phone only. She sold fry bread. She was young enough that I’m sure she learned “keyboarding” at school, but the phone was more mobile, affordable and something she could operate from her kitchen (or her mobile stand). Her phone allowed her to accept payments on the fly.

I also talk to a lot of musicians. Some are very technical, both in creation and promotion of their music. Those who aren’t, hire managers or PR folks. But if you want to be the manager or PR person, you’ll need the tech skills.

It seems that there are many flavors of digitally literacy; workforce tech skills, entrepreneurial tech skills, artist tech skills, parenting tech skills (filling out FAFSA alone!) and more.

A reminder that lack of broadband is still an issue in rural Minnesota (Anoka County)

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MinneapoliMedia is a new media source in Coon Rapids MN. It features local folks and tells their stories. A recent article caught my eye because it started with an image that will be familiar to many readers and it’s a story that folks who have good broadband think is in the past, a farmer without adequate broadband…

Naima Dhore apologizes for the delay. She is in rural Minnesota, where broadband thins the farther you move from city limits, where the land opens wide but infrastructure does not always follow. She explains that she needs to stay still so the connection does not drop.

It is an unintentional metaphor for the work itself.

To farm here is to learn patience. To hold your ground. To stay present even when conditions are uncertain. To root yourself deeply enough that what you are building can endure.

“I do exist,” she says, smiling when the image finally comes through. “I’m not AI.”

BEAD funding addresses access to broadband but not devices, skills or affordability

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Doug Dawson reports on the shortcomings of BEAD when trying to reduce or eliminate the digital divide…

One of the big glaring weaknesses of BEAD was that the enabling legislation and the NTIA rules made it impossible to consider affordability as a criterion of selecting BEAD grant winners. A few states tried to stress affordability during the BEAD process, but were largely shut down by the NTIA. After the Benefit of the Bargain rules, consideration of affordability went out the door, along with all factors other than the construction cost per passing.

In a speech made to the Hudson Institute, NTIA Assistant Secretary Aerielle Roth was quoted as saying, “This administration does not want BEAD to become just another well-intentioned broadband program that falls short. Its mission is nothing less than to close the “digital divide” once and for all.”

Unfortunately, the BEAD infrastructure grants alone were never going to close the digital divide. When we talk about solving the rural digital divide, we’re really talking about several different issues. A primary element of solving the digital divide is broadband availability, which is what infrastructure grants tackle. BEAD focused on making sure that BEAD-eligible locations got at least one broadband option with a speed of at least 100/20 Mbps.

Solving the digital divide means two more things. First, it means making sure that people have computers and devices and know how to use them effectively. Finally, solving the digital divide means having broadband that people can afford.

OPPORTUNITY: Google AI Essentials Training at NO COST!

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I got this from the NDIA Listserv – and I double checked to make sure it wasn’t just for the Palmetto community…

Palmetto Goodwill is offering Google AI Essentials and Google Prompting Essentials at no cost!  This training is designed to help individuals strengthen digital skills that are essential in today’s workforce. AI literacy is becoming a key requirement across many industries, and this training can open doors to better employment options—especially for those rebuilding their lives after incarceration.

 

Course Benefits:

  • Free access to a Coursera certificate course
  • Learn the fundamentals of AI, including real-world applications
  • Optimize AI interactions through effective prompting tactics
  • Self-paced online learning—complete on your own schedule
  • Earn a Coursera Certificate to boost your resume or LinkedIn profile

 REGISTER: Google Coursera Professional Certificates | Palmetto Goodwill

Those with a large number of interested learners may submit a list that includes each participant’s first and last name, along with their email address, to digitalskills@palmettogoodwill.org.

Feel free to enroll and share the opportunity within your organization and across your community networks.

OPPORTUNITY AT Net Inclusion: Voices of Digital Inclusion: A Creative Showcase of Art, Music, and Words Participant Form

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Net Inclusion is happening in Chicago Feb 3-5. If you are (or are thinking about) attending, here’s a bonus opportunity…

Voices of Digital Inclusion: A Creative Showcase of Art, Music, and Words is a 90-minute breakout session at Net Inclusion 2026 grounded in creative expression and community voice. For the second year in a row, this session has been selected for the conference—an affirmation of how vital art, storytelling, and shared expression are to the digital inclusion movement.

This gathering invites people of all backgrounds and creative practices to share what they carry—art, stories, experiences, or reflections. We welcome poets, storytellers, singers, musicians, writers, visual artists, multimedia creators, performers, cultural workers, community organizers, digital stewards, archivists, technologists with a story, educators, students, activists, healers, improvisers, and those who don’t use any of these labels but feel called to share.

At a time when digital inclusion work is facing real pressures—funding cuts, burnout, and widening disparities—we’re carving out space for something both simple and profound: CONNECTION. Through art, music, and words, we gather to reflect, resist, and reconnect with ourselves, our work, and one another.

This creative showcase is a community-rooted space where every emotion is welcome and every voice matters. Whether your medium is poetry, storytelling, song, movement, visuals, memory work, or something entirely your own, we invite you to bring what feels true for you. Your creativity, your story, and your presence help shape a space of care, courage, and belonging.

We are issuing an open call for participants who would like to share during the session. If you feel called to contribute your voice or creative expression, please complete this short interest form.

Doug Dawson says ISPs Need to Tackle Digital Inclusion

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Doug Dawson, from CCG Consulting says…

I think it’s in the best interest of ISPs to step into the federal funding void to help tackle this issue. Very few ISPs have attempted to tackle the issue, but one tackled it in a big way. Comcast Internet Essentials provides a monthly broadband connection that includes WiFi for qualifying low-income households for as little as $14.95 per month, with no extra fees for equipment or activation. Participants get access to computer training, either online or in person. Participants can buy a computer for $149.99. The company says it has helped 10 million homes with the program and has a goal to help up to 50 million homes by the end of 2027.

Setting aside the low price issue, the Comcast Internet Essentials program is addressing two of the keys to digital inclusion – getting devices in the hands of people who need them and showing people how to use broadband. I have no idea how Comcast handles these two issues. I have to assume, at their scale, they’ve arranged to buy a lot of basic computers for a low price. If I had to guess, I would think that Comcast outsources the training to a vendor. Comcast can pull this off due to the size of the Internet Essential program – there is a lot of economy of scale in helping 10 million homes. Smaller ISPs are not going to easily be able to duplicate what Comcast has done. But that doesn’t mean that small ISPs can’t make a difference in their markets.

One way for an ISP to participate in the digital inclusion effort is to somehow partner with the local folks who are already tackling the issue. There are folks in most parts of the country already tackling these issues. It might be a library, a non-profit, or a local government agency. In my part of the world, the leader in this effort is the Land of Sky COG, a state-sanctioned group of local governments that work together to tackle local problems.

Providing funding and technical assistance to your local digital inclusion groups can help them pursue their mission of helping people join the digital world.

Thirty years ago (ouch!), I worked for an ISP, Minnesota Regional Network, and a huge part of what I did was digital inclusion. I explained the Internet. I taught people what email was and how to use it. Later, other ISPs hired me to do the same thing. It was the best marketing they had. It got people to sign up, and I suspect they were happy, loyal customers.

Can affordable internet increase employment opportunities for low-income workers?

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I can only access the abstract for this report – but sometimes the abstract can get you the info you need. (Not that I wouldn’t like to read the full article.) The research article (Can affordable internet increase employment opportunities for low-income workers? Evidence from the Affordable Connectivity Program) looks at the impact of the ACP…

This study investigates the labor market impacts of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the largest U.S. initiative to date aimed at reducing income-based disparities in Internet access. We assess ACP’s effects on labor force participation and employment and test the hypothesis that a key impact mechanism is the expansion of remote work opportunities for program recipients. Using large-scale national datasets, we also explore heterogeneity in program effects by gender, occupation, and connection type (fixed vs. mobile).

They found that…

The results provide robust evidence that ACP participation is associated with improved labor market outcomes, particularly among women and individuals with high-speed residential connections. These gains appear to be driven, in part, by increases in both the incidence and intensity of remote work. The findings suggest that a narrow focus on first-level adoption outcomes underestimates the broader socioeconomic benefits of affordable broadband initiatives. Theoretically, they indicate that the so-called Matthew effect – whereby digitization amplifies existing social inequalities – is not inevitable and can be partially offset by well-designed, targeted policy interventions.

Has broadband adoption gone as far as it’s going to go? Why does it matter?

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The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society looks at leveling off of broadband adoption in the last few years (The End of Progress: New Data Raises the Alarm that No Progress May Be the New Normal for the Digital Divide)…

The 2024 American Community Survey (ACS) shows essentially no change in wireline broadband adoption between 2023 and 2024 and just a 1-point increase in the share of households with broadband of any type. The primary growth in broadband adoption of any type occurred among households with subscriptions to cellular data plans for smartphones. The figure below shows the data.

The author (John Horrigan) calls this a consequence of an income constrained saturation point and explains why this is a societal issue…

The consequences of this income constrained saturation point becoming an enduring condition are important. Key services in our society are increasingly optimized in a way that assumes people have both mobile and fixed-access subscriptions. Think about healthcare services. They are increasingly designed such that online tools contain test results, post-intervention care instructions, and wellness information as well as a platform for telehealth sessions. A fixed (i.e., wireline) connection at home (with a sufficiently large video display) facilitates video interactions with healthcare providers. For check-ins, co-pays, and reminders, many systems are designed with mobile access at the forefront. Educational or job training applications function best with large displays on fixed connections, while mobile access supplements with scheduling and other resources. With generous (or unlimited) monthly data allotments, fixed subscription plans give users latitude to benefit from such applications that mobile plans alone do not allow.

He offers some policy solutions…

This leaves policy intervention as an option to reverse the tide. The return of a program such as the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is an obvious tool, as it proved effective in bringing millions of households online and maintaining connections for millions more low-income homes.8 The chances of ACP’s revival do not seem good at the moment. But it is worth noting that all the current promises of the digital revolution—productivity enhanced by artificial intelligence, improvements in health care delivery and outcomes—are premised on widespread and robust connectivity among all citizens. The current data on broadband adoption indicate that this connectivity will not likely happen due to market forces alone.

Digital equity advocates ask Congress to release the Affordable Connectivity Program

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Broadband Breakfast reported earlier this month…

Digital equity advocates warned Thursday that inconsistent federal financing threatened to erase broadband adoption gains, and urged Congress to replace the lapsed Affordable Connectivity Program with a stable, long-term consumer subsidy.

Moderated by Revati Prasad, executive director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the panel said high monthly costs remained the main reason families lose or forgo internet service.

Any replacement for the ACP must function as a permanent affordability support, not a short-term emergency program, argued Prasad of the Benton Institute, a nonprofit that researches broadband policy and digital equity.

NDIA looks at why AI is important in digital inclusion

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NDIA reports…

NDIA contracted with MassHire Metro North Workforce Board, the organization that leads the Digital JEDI Consortium in Massachusetts on training and support for their digital navigator program. In thinking through the topic of our last professional development training together, one topic kept coming up again and again: artificial intelligence. However, it quickly became apparent that people wanted not just some basic knowledge about AI – i.e., what do we mean by “artificial intelligence,” and what are some common AI tools that people can use – but also guidance on how to approach the field as digital inclusion practitioners.

I was privileged to be given a lot of freedom by the MassHire team to explore some big questions. How do we talk about bias and misinformation in AI systems? How do we equip our community with sufficient knowledge to decide how and whether to engage with AI tools? How do we talk about how AI is being both used by and on our communities? I wanted to share a couple of themes that surfaced from the research, development, and delivery of the AI training:

They came up with at least two reasons learning more about AI is important:

  • Understanding how something is made opens up deeper discussions on its impacts
  • Practitioners are hungry for conversations about the impacts of AI on individuals and society

The article links to many resources of potential interest.

EVENT Nov 20: Effects and Effectiveness: Evaluation Strategies for Digital Inclusion Programs

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An upcoming event from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society…

Join us on November 20 at 2:00 p.m. ET for a webinar on program evaluation for the non-profit community. Available via the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s YouTube page, the webinar will open a conversation on designing and conducting research to understand the effects and effectiveness of digital inclusion activities. Panelists will reflect on how to fit evaluation into common resource constraints that non-profits face, as well as the opportunities for evaluation across digital inclusion ecosystems.

Dr. Caroline Stratton, Research Director at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, will moderate a discussion with:

  • Dr. Amy Gonzales, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Associate Director of the Chicano Studies Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Gonzales is the lead author of A Simple Evaluation Guide for the Digital Equity Community, published in 2024 by Digitunity.
  • Dr. Yeweon Kim, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Trustworthy AI at Seoul National University and Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow. Dr. Kim is a co-author of A Simple Evaluation Guide for the Digital Equity Community.
  • Dr. Richard Feistman, Chief Learning and Evaluation Officer of Tech Goes Home. Tech Goes Home’s 2023 publication of Theory of Change research informed a 2024 ten-year strategic plan for the organization and associated evaluation efforts.
  • Meg Käufer, Chief Visionary Officer of the STEM Alliance. Käufer has led the STEM Alliance’s evaluations of multiple initiatives and programs, including the Yonkers Y-Zone Digital Equity Project and Connect Westchester.

Tune in to learn more about what organizations of all sizes should consider and prioritize in evaluating their programs and broader impact in the community.

Register Here

Research on Addressing Homelessness Through Equitable Design on TikTok

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The Journal of Community Informatics released a new edition that has a number of broadband-forward or adjacent articles. (I mentioned this edition before.)  There is an interesting article on Addressing Homelessness Through Equitable Design on TikTok. Here’s the abstract…

This study examines the digital experiences of individuals experiencing homelessness on TikTok, focusing on their usage patterns, challenges, and opportunities for social connection. Through a review of literature and analysis of TikTok content, the study examines how individuals experiencing homelessness use social media, the challenges they encounter, and the potential benefits and risks associated with online engagement. Despite challenges such as network access, device quality, and privacy concerns, homeless individuals navigate digital spaces to share personal stories, seek support, and participate in online communities. The study identifies themes related to digital divide perceptions, survival infrastructuring, social capital building, and health information seeking behaviours among homeless populations on TikTok. Based on these insights, the study proposes platform-level and user-level recommendations to improve the digital experiences of homeless individuals on TikTok, focusing on bandwidth-sensitive design, enhanced privacy controls, and security toolkits. These recommendations aim to promote digital inclusion and support for vulnerable populations in the digital age, contributing to ongoing discussions about equity and social support online.

By question was – why TikTok, but they answered that up front…

While previous research has examined how marginalized communities use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, TikTok presents a unique case due to its algorithm-driven content distribution, highly visual nature, and participatory culture. Unlike text-heavy platforms, TikTok’s short-form video format enables individuals to share personal narratives in compelling ways. Its algorithm-driven distribution enables content from marginalized users to achieve visibility far beyond their networks; its video-based format allows creators to share personal narratives even with limited literacy; and its participatory culture supports resource-sharing and solidarity. For unhoused individuals, these affordances may create new opportunities to document lived experiences, seek aid, and contest stigma. At the same time, the same mechanisms also pose heightened risks of exposure and coercion. This duality is especially pressing in Canada, where the Privacy Commissioner’s 2025report noted that despite TikTok being most used social media app by children and teens, it fails to adequately explain its data practices for these vulnerable groups(Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 2025). For unhoused individuals, who already face heightened risks of surveillance and coercion, such opacity compounds existing vulnerabilities. With over 14 million users on TikTok and a steadily growing daily user base(Statista, 2022), it becomes pertinent to understand the nature of interaction and user behaviour on the platform—especially when members of vulnerable groups have a different experience on the same. By situating homelessness within the broader literature on digital inequality and community informatics, this study asks how design and policy might better support unhoused individuals engaging with TikTok. Specifically, given the prevalence of smartphone access and social media use as well as the heterogeneous, complex nature of homelessness, this study looks at the existing literature in the domain to answer the following questions:
1. How do individuals experiencing homelessness use social media platforms like TikTok?
2. What are the primary challenges they face in doing so?