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Information infrastructure

Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on February 13, 2009 which was signed it into law four days later by President Barack Obama. A portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act designated approximately $7.2 billion in investments to expand broadband access nationwide, improve high-speed connectivity in rural areas and public computer centers, and increase Internet capacity in schools, libraries, public safety offices, and other public buildings.

According to a joint report from The Alliance for the Public Technology and the Communications Workers of America released in July of 2008, states developed initiatives before there had been any national-wide action aimed to actively develop an information infrastructure and start to catch up to other countries in respect to the number of households with broadband internet. Broadband initiatives by the states can be broadly classified into seven different types:

• “Broadband Commissions, Task Force, or Authority established through legislation or executive order that directs public and private stakeholders to assess the state of high-speed Internet deployment and adoption in the state and recommend policy solutions.
• Public-Private Partnerships convened through executive order or statute to broadband availability, identify unserved and underserved areas, assess supply and demand-side barriers, create local technology teams to implement programs to increase computer ownership, digital literacy, aggregate demand, and accelerate broadband build-out.
• Direct Funding Programs to support the build-out of advanced networks in unserved and underserved areas by leveraging private sector funds to make network investment – and thus Internet service – more affordable
• State Networks operated by public agencies or the private sector connecting schools, universities, libraries and state and local government agencies to reduce costs by aggregating demand. In some cases, public agencies serve as anchor tenants to make middle-mile broadband build-out to underserved communities more economic. At least 30 states have established state networks
• Telehealth networks linking rural clinics with specialists in hospitals and academic institutions. At least 25 states support state telehealth networks.
• Tax Policy with targeted tax incentives for investment in broadband equipment.
• Demand-Side Programs to promote computer ownership, digital literacy, and development of community-based applications and services."

Notable Initiatives

In 1993, the U.S. Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure was established and administered a report called A Nation of Opportunity that planned access to ICTs for all member of the population and emphasized the government's role in protecting their existence.

Founded in 1996, the Boston Digital Bridge Foundation attempts to enhance children's and their parents' computer knowledge, program application usage, and ability to easily navigate the Internet. In 2010, the City of Boston received a 4.3 million dollar grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The grant will attempt to provide Internet access and training to underserved populations including parents, children, youth, and the elderly.

Starting in 1997, Cisco Systems Inc. began Cisco Networking Academy which donated equipment and provided training programs to high schools and community centers that fell in U.S. Empowerment Zones.

Since 1999, a non-profit organization called Computers for Youth has provided cheaper Internet access, computers, and training to minority homes and schools in New York City. Currently, the agency serves more than 1,200 families and teachers per year.

The Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology established by the Department of Education was given almost $400 million between 1999 and 2003 to train teachers in elementary and secondary schools to use ICTs in the classroom.

The National Science Foundation gave EDUCAUSE (a non-profit that attempts to enhance education with ICTs) $6 million to focus on providing ICTs to Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Colleges and Universities.

In 2000, President Clinton allocated $2.25 billion to provide low-income families at-home access to computers and the Internet, to install broadband networks in underserved communities, and to encourage private donation of computers, businesses or individuals to sponsor community technology centers, and technology training. An additional $45 million was added to emphasize provision of ICTs to underserved areas.

In 2003, the Gates Foundation contributed $250 million to install more than 47,000 computers and train librarians in almost 11,000 libraries in all 50 states.

In 2004 in Houston, Texas, a non-profit organization called Technology for All (TFA) established a free broadband Wi-Fi network in an underserved community, Pecan Park. An additional grant in 2010 assisted TFA, in collaboration with Rice University, in upgrading their Wi-Fi network to a new long-range version, a "Super Wi-Fi" in order to enhance network speed and computer quality.

In 2007, projects called One Laptop per Child, Raspberry Pi and 50x15 were implemented in attempting to reduce the digital divide by providing cheaper infrastructure necessary to connect.

In 2007, the use of “hotspot” zones (people can access free Wi-Fi) was introduced to help bridge access to the Internet. Due to a majority percentage of American adults (55) connecting wirelessly, this policy can assist in providing more comprehensive network coverage, but also ignores an underprivileged population of people who do not own infrastructure, so still lack access to the Internet and ICTs.

The Broadband Access ($76 billion) and Community Connect ($57.7 million in grants) programs administered by the US Department of Agriculture (2007) and the e-Rate program administered by the Federal Communications Commission are the pillars of national policies intended to promote the diffusion of broadband Internet service in rural America.

Since 2008, organizations such as Geekcorps and Inveneo have been working to reduce the digital divide by emphasizing ICTs within a classroom context. Technology used often includes laptops, handhelds (e.g. Simputer, E-slate), and tablet PCs.

In 2011, Congresswoman Doris Matsui introduced the Broadband Affordability Act, which calls for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to subsidize broadband Internet service for low-income citizens, assisting in closing the gap between high-income and low-income households. The Act would expand the program to offer discounted internet service to lower-income consumers living in both urban and rural areas.

Digital literacy

Digital literacy has been defined as: "The ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information. The ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers. A person’s ability to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment... Literacy includes the ability to read and interpret media, to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments.”

Developing issues regarding digital literacy in the 21st century do not necessarily only pertain to the binary ability or inability or lack of computer skills anymore as the utilization of computers and other electronic/digital communication devices and heavy adoption of internet resources has steadily increased over the past couple of decades. Due to the exponentially increasing computing power of electronic devices becoming commercialized a new type of digital divide between the new generation of “media-savvy, multitasking” youth and their preceding generation(s) has emerged. This ‘Generation M’ has grown up alongside the exponential growth of the Internet and personal computer and because of this, in many situations, 'Generation M' has surpassed the technological knowhow of their parents and teachers simply because of their extended experience with technology, which usually started in early stages of life. From their foundational experiences 'Generation M' has developed innovative ideas and products based on these continually improving electronic resources and tools which have helped augment the span and quality of information and knowledge transmission. Thus the digital divide in the Unites States is no longer just a matter of lack of access but a sort of race where the generations that created computers and the Internet must now keep up with the improving skill level of ‘Generation M’. The exponential development of ICT has also developed situations where there is a great disparity in ICT skill levels among people of the same generation due to the differences in internet connection speeds in addition to differing levels of access and availability which can dictate the type and overall amount of media and information people are able to consume.

These differing groups can be classified based on ICT skill level by the following or in similar terms:

• Athletes – technophiles; those who are very keen on technology and usually have early adopter or innovator behavior and take pleasure in utilizing the internet and other information techonolgy
• The Laidback – those who are attributed with a lack of clarity of the potential benefits of the internet and information technology adoption who mainly use the internet and computers for search and email exchange
• The needy – those who require external help to help develop an initial inertia for starting to use the internet and information technologies in meaningful ways

Currently, much of the developed digital literacy levels attained derive from self-exploration and learning by doing. Another big portion of people learn information technology skills from required school coursework or from their workplace. Because of the ubiquity of computers and the internet, digital literacy is practically a requirement to be able to function in today’s digital society, which serves as the primary motivation for self-teaching and exploring.

Some strategies proposed to help react to this new form of the digital divide include providing digital literacy workshops for parents and educators who may have fallen behind the computer skill level of their children and/or pupils. Other proactive strategies include developing preservice teachers to ‘think with technology’ with minimum threshold standards that include: "# Demonstrating a sound understanding of technology operations and concepts.

1. Planning and designing effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology.
2. Implementing curriculum plans that include methods and strategies for applying technology to maximize student learning.
3. Applying technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies.
4. Using technology to enhance their productivity and professional practice.
5. Understanding the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in PreK through 12 schools and apply that understanding in practice."

Some groups have proposed changing traditional English or writing class curricula to integrate lessons on digital literacy and teach their students how to navigate through our increasingly more digital and information technology integrated environments to potentially provide an educational safety net for students who may not have as capable electronic devices or as fast or speedy broadband connections as others. There is also a general consensus on the emphasis of improving existing resources within public libraries and schools to keep citizens up to par with the ever-increasing speeds and capabilities of new technology and further expansion and development of the Internet.

Digital society

See also: Information Society

A digital society can have a variety of different meanings in a variety of contexts. For the purpose of this page, a digital society can be seen to be synonymous to an information society which according to László Z. Karvalics, a digital or information society defined as "A new form of social existence in which the storage, production, flow, etc. of networked information plays the central role." In a digital society there exist newly combined institutions for government and the economy denoted respectively as e-government and e-commerce. Both utilize electronic resources and tools to eliminate the geographical barriers for communication and making transactions between citizens and their respective government entities and businesses.

In the U.S., despite the Internet becoming commercially available to American citizens in 1995, a national official government task force “targeted at improving the quality of services to citizens, businesses, governments and government employees, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of the federal government” was not established until July of 2001. This task force then helped to pass the E-Government Act of 2002 which legislatively aimed to “[establish] a broad framework of measures that require using Internet-based information technology to enhance citizen access to Government information and services.” The specific improvements the task force intended to make with the United States federal government included:

• "Simplifying delivery of services to citizens;
• Eliminating layers of government management;
• Making it possible for citizens, businesses, other levels of government and federal employees to easily find information and get service from the federal government;
• Simplifying agencies' business processes and reducing costs through integrating and eliminating redundant systems;
• Enabling achievement of the other elements of the President’s Management Agenda; and
• Streamlining government operations to guarantee rapid response to citizen needs”

The means by which e-government becomes established on the local/city/county level, state, and national level all vary but can be more easily described with “a broad model with a three-phase and dual-pronged strategy for implementing electronic democracy [as] proposed by Watson and Mundy.” The first phase consists of the initiating the utilization of the internet and electronic tools and resources to enable such things as web-based payment. The second phase consists of mass infusion of digital utilization such that citizens are enabled to routinely obtain presentation, reviews, and make government payments online as well as have open access to government information such as city council minutes and/or news on newly enacted legislation or public notices. The third phase consists of citizen customization where ideas become intertwined in discussion over whether the structure of government institutions is and/or should persist to be fundamentally hierarchical or can be better modeled by a simple hub-and-spoke sort of complex social network.

The Federal Communication Commission has projected that expanding access and broadband services in the United States would cost about $350 billion.

The United States’ most recent efforts to help improve the ubiquity and efficiency of e-government on the national level include Executive Order 13571 (Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service), Executive Order 13576 (Delivering an Efficient, Effective, and Accountable Government), the President’s Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, OMB Memorandum M-10-06 (Open Government Directive), the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), and the 25-Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management (IT Reform). These efforts have been outlined and summarized to describe how they each will contribute to achieving the overall goals and reasons for developing e-government by the Digital Government Strategy made available online on May 23, 2012.

E-commerce has made a distinct impact on the United States economy as it has outpaced the overall economy growth based on year-to-year percentage change, accounting for 4.4 percent of total retail sales in 2010 and an estimated $169 billion, an increase from $145 billion in 2009. Since the year 2000 through 2010 the percent of total of retail sales that can be held accountable for by various methods of e-commerce has been steadily increasing in linear fashion and has been projected to reach levels around $254.7 billion. The utilization of e-commerce has become so rampant that legislation on taxing products bought from the internet within the United States has been established such that taxes are taken from products bought online if there exists a nexus within the state the product is received in.

E-commerce is one of the solutions proposed by many groups that may help improve the lack of information technology adoption within rural communities. Prior experience with the Internet, the expected outcomes of broadband usage, direct personal experience with broadband, and self-efficacy as well as age and income have been found to have direct effects on broadband intentions. Taking these factors into account, successful methods of presenting how information and communication technology can improve the livelihoods of rural community citizens will most likely depend on promotional efforts made by rural community institutions that connect potential users with previous broadband adopters to stress the benefits of broadband usage and bolster the self-efficacy of novices.

References

Category:Technology in society Category:Digital media Category:Digital divide Category:Country classifications United States