Enhancing Digital Literacy October 28th, 2009
Regina Hopper

With work on a national broadband plan now underway, U.S. policymakers have made clear universal broadband is a priority.  You might be surprised to know that for the small minority still without broadband, most say they don’t have it because they don’t need it – not that they don’t have access.  So to achieve the goal of universal broadband adoption, we must reach out to reluctant adopters and promote tech literacy, while underscoring the myriad benefits of broadband to American life.

Recognizing these challenges, several broadband providers are promoting innovative tech literacy efforts to achieve more widespread adoption across all demographics.  For example, AT&T recently outlined a plan to achieve 100% broadband penetration by 2014 – and a key strategy backing this plan is to fund programs that remove barriers to broadband adoption, such as digital literacy.  To this end, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation are partnering with One Economy to bring technology into the homes of 50,000 low-income families – in addition to providing grants to other tech literacy efforts across the nation.

The Verizon Foundation’s Thinkfinity Literacy Network (TLN) offers a free, online resource designed to give everyone from literacy instructors to librarians to parents the tools to advance literacy and learning.  In 2008, Verizon targeted $7 million to support literacy programs, and company employees tutored thousands of children and adults in reading and computer skills.  The Verizon Foundation also hosts a National Literacy Summit to convene nonprofit, academic and corporate leaders to discuss optimal ways to address literacy challenges today.

In addition to these industry efforts, there are other creative endeavors taking place to address the digital divide.  Florence Henderson, who formerly played the T.V. mom on the Brady Bunch, recently launched the FloH Club – a tech support hotline to help older adults overcome tech hurdles and become more web-savvy.  The nonprofit Connected Nation, meanwhile, is succeeding in stimulating broadband growth at the state level via innovative public-private partnerships.  As a result of Connected Nation’s work in Kentucky, broadband has spiked from 60 percent to 95 percent of households since January 2004.

While there is more work to be done, pro-innovation and investment policies combined with visionary partnerships and industry support can go a long way toward resolving the remaining digital divide.  And with every success, broadband adoption will garner greater momentum.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Benefits of Broadband. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.