By Tom Foley, Guest IIA Blogger
This is a guest blog post from Tom Foley, Deputy Director of the World Institute on Disability and the Director of the Access to Assets Program. — IIA.
That is absolutely one of my new favorite sound bites, because it rings so true. For most people, technology and the Internet provide scales of efficiencies and convenience not dreamt of twenty five years ago. However, for those of us with disabilities, well, old enough to remember, this access represents far more. It represents the first time we have completely independently read and paid bills, followed our favorite team’s news, and controlled our banking, investing and retirement planning.
Just in the last hour, I have paid college tuition, checked my most recent stock calamity, and recognized being a Chicago Cubs fan is completely futile. As a person who is blind, in the past, I would have been dependent on someone else to read the financial
aid contract, check the news paper stock listings, and well…you get the idea.
From a professional point of view, it is probably impossible to underestimate the importance of technology for me. Email and Internet access are but the first and obvious advantages, but the value of a virtually paperless office is immeasurable. It seems so
common place today, but when I take the time to reflect, it is amazing that I can now, independently, read and organize thousands of files across numerous programs to add value for my employer. I can do this in the office, from home in the middle of the night,
or even, as recently observed, from a smoky Paris hotel lobby, as I compiled an issue of my organization’s newsletter with colleagues in two other countries. This is amazing, empowering, transformative, really cool stuff that, somehow, has nearly become
pedestrian for many, but certainly, not for all.
Perhaps, as some sort of Zen exercise, the true nature and value of technology can only be appreciated in its absence.
This was vividly illustrated to me, in that same smoky, cramped lobby, a few months ago. I was about to transmit yet another email to the office, when a virus detection alert popped up demanding immediate attention. I knew something was horribly wrong,
when I did not recognize the name of the software which detected the virus. Before I could do anything, the voice output on my computer had crashed, and shortly thereafter, the dreaded blue screen of death.
Losing access to the Internet, email and all of one's work product is difficult enough. However, when it happens in a foreign country, where English is discouraged, and oh, yeah, you are marooned by a volcanic ash cloud going on day four, and all media reports
are in French, one gains an entire new respect for the empowering nature of technology. I was simply lost. I could not determine the status of my three times rescheduled flights, access the necessary information for the newsletter, or even locate a new hotel,
as my existing reservations expired.
Nationally, less than one third of people with disabilities have broadband access according to a December 2009 Chamber of Commerce study. For these people, the consequences of this technology gap are far more significant than a mere travel inconvenience. Without the critical technology, skills and broadband access, people with disabilities’ employment and economic outcomes are guaranteed to decline from today’s dismal numbers.
That simply cannot be allowed to happen. Perhaps at no other time in history have the stakes for people with disabilities been so great. The opportunities for employment and economic advancement via technology are limitless and must be protected, expanded
and recognized. With great opportunity comes great obligation. It is up to all of us within the disability community to continue to strive to deliver the promise of employment and economic opportunity through access to available technology.
I returned to the Bay Area 25 hours prior to leaving for Washington, D.C. for a series of meetings I had planned for weeks. Thanks to the heroic efforts of far more tech savvy friends, my computer was restored to health with all data preserved in time for the trip.
In the end, technology has allowed me to work, pay a mortgage, help friends’ children attend college, build a financial future, and live more independently than I ever thought possible. Ultimately and without hyperbole, technology has allowed me to live my life.
— Tom Foley
By IIA
According to the Pew Center and other sources, in 2009, 68 percent of white households had broadband service, compared to 46 percent of African-American households and 48 percent of Hispanic households.
— Shapiro, Robert and Kevin Hassett. “A New Analysis of Broadband Adoption Rates by Minority Households.” Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. Washington D.C. June 22, 2010.
By IIA
According to Akamai’s State of the Internet report, college towns are some of the best connected cities in the United States, with Berkeley, CA, Chapel Hill, NC, Stanford, CA, Durham, NC and Ithaca, NY leading the pack.
— Akamai’s State of the Internet Report, 4th Quarter, 2009.
Read more facts about broadband.
By Brad
Via the CBC, nationwide broadband has become a campaign issue in Canada:
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is promising ubiquitous high-speed broadband internet access across Canada within three years if his party is elected to government.
Ignatieff made the commitment to 100-per-cent connectivity, with speeds of at least 1.5 megabits, for all Canadian communities by 2013 in a video conference from Thunder Bay, Ont., on Tuesday. He also promised expanded cellphone coverage and said a more ambitious internet speed goal would follow by 2017.
Interesting sidenote: In 2000, Canada ranked second in people connected to broadband. Today, they’re tenth.
By IIA
In 2008, the 94 percent of U.S. schools with Internet access used almost exclusively broadband connections, but residentially-based broadband in rural areas continues to lag the availability in metropolitan regions.
— Robert LaRose et. al., “Closing the Rural Broadband Gap,” Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media, Michigan State University. November 30, 2008.
More facts about broadband.
By Brad
Over at The Root, Cornell Belcher of Brilliant Corners Research & Strategy examines some of the roadblocks keeping communities of color offline:
It may be surprising to learn that the single biggest reason that African Americans and Latinos are not subscribing to broadband is not cost-related. Rather, our poll found that the most consistent reason given by non-broadband users is that they do not see the value in the Internet and therefore have no perceived need to go online. This challenge should be easily surmounted. Already, efforts by the president and other community leaders to extol the benefits of broadband are having a positive impact.
With respect to broadband adoption, Internet content is king. Younger minorities expressed interest in educational content, online gaming and sports information. Older citizens in communities of color value health information and the ability of broadband Internet to connect them to their families and communities. Heads of households see broadband as increasingly critical to their jobs and career opportunities.
Read Belcher’s full article at The Root.
By IIA
According to FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, in 2003, about 15% of Americans had access to broadband in their homes and that number has grown to nearly two-thirds of the country.
Kamala Lane & Howard Buskirk, “McDowell Warns Against Excessive Broadband Regulation.” Warren’s Washington Internet Daily, February 1, 2010.
More facts about broadband.
By Brad
On Wednesday, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies held a panel discussion called “Open Internet, Innovation and Economic Development.” A a re-cap of the event is now widely available, and highlights some of IIA Co-chairman David Sutphen’s remarks:
Panelists like David Sutphen, co-chair of the Internet Innovation Alliance, asked that government focus on adoption first, especially among minorities and lower-income groups. “The National Broadband Plan is most important,” said Sutphen. “If we could get everyone who has been worried about open Internet principles focused on the digital literacy and value proposition gap, we’d go a long way towards solving the problem.”
Read Capital Wire’s full re-cap. Video is also available of the event.
By Brad
IIA Co-chairman Bruce Mehlman has an op-ed today on AOL News:
High-speed Internet connections are helping to change the meaning of a snow day—serving as a vital tool to keep Americans working, even when the roads, public transportation and airports are not. For those who could go online from home during the storms, it was largely business as usual.
But clearly not enough could. The “Snowmageddon” of 2010 forced federal offices to shut their doors for days, resulting in an astounding loss of money and productivity. It’s been estimated that closing the government for just one day costs taxpayers roughly $100 million. If you factor in the business shutdowns in the private sector, it is easy to see that these storms exacted a high cost on the nation as whole.
The problem is that currently about a third of the population doesn’t have a broadband connection, and one in five don’t have any Internet connection at all.
Read the full op-ed.
creative commons image from zrail
By IIA
IIA Co-Chairmen Bruce Mehlman and David Sutphen respond to the FCC’s new study “Broadband Adoption and Use in America.”
I commend the FCC for its leadership on broadband adoption and for recognizing the role the Internet plays in the American job market. We no longer operate in a brick-and-mortar economy. Broadband increases opportunities for American businesses large and small to succeed and advance and enables new job creation as well.Investing in Internet technology and infrastructure benefits all business sectors, and at a time when economic recovery is at the top of our national agenda, broadband advancement has never been more critical.
— Bruce Mehlman
The new FCC study underscores the need to remain focused on closing the digital divide by addressing the American public’s attitudes about broadband and reinforces the IIA’s belief that digital literacy must be a key component of the National Broadband Strategy, due to Congress next month. In a 2009 survey of 900 African Americans and Hispanics by Obama pollster Cornell Belcher, 43 percent of respondents cited not knowing how to use the Internet or not seeing the need for the Internet as the reason why they are not online, and 44 percent of those same minorities polled said they would be more likely to subscribe to Internet services if they were provided free lessons on how to use the technology. Bridging the digital divide and getting every American online should be our top priority—broadband Internet is the great enabler and the great equalizer.
— David Sutphen
By Bruce
In advance of its deadline to present a national broadband plan to Congress on March 17, the FCC conducted a consumer survey on Internet usage. The commission will be presenting the results at the Brookings Institute today, but via Multichannel News here are some highlights:
The survey, a random phone survey conducted in October and November, found that 80 million adults (and 13 million kids) do not have high-speed Internet at home.
More than one-third of the non-adopters (28 million adults) indicated that they don’t have broadband because either the price of service is too high (15%); they can’t afford a computer; installation costs are too high (10%); or they don’t want a long-term service contract (9%). According to the survey, the average monthly broadband bill is $41.
The full FCC survey results are available via the Wall Street Journal.
By IIA
In the U.S., the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) projects that high-speed connections to the home would increase the number of telecommuters to 19 million by 2012. That would save 1.5 billion hours of commute time—and reduce gasoline consumption by 5 percent.
John T. Chambers, “Broadband Speeds Our Economy,” Gigaom [blog], March 3, 2009.
More facts about broadband.
By Bruce
The Democratic Leadership Council has released a new report on job growth in America. Entitled “Where Jobs Come From: The Role of Innovation, Investment, and Infrastructure in Economic and Job Growth,” it helps shed light on the important role broadband expansion plays in creating new jobs. From page 11 of the report:
Job creation was also strongest in the industries that utilized information technology and had the most to gain from faster Internet connectivity. Industries such as Information; Finance and Insurance; Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; and Utilities saw employment growth ranging from 12 to 16 percent. Given this evidence, there is enormous potential for job creation if we expand broadband deployment and upgrade existing infrastructure. A Brookings study found that for every 3 million new lines deployed, nearly 300,000 economy-wide jobs are created. Separate research has shown small businesses, the drivers of job creation and biggest beneficiaries of faster networks, hire 40 percent of the high tech workforce of scientists, engineers, and computer programmers.
Read the full DLC report (PDF).
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