Benton Institute for Broadband & Society - Roberto Gallardo

Brian Whitacre

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Thu, 04/25/2024

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Daily Digest 4/24/2024

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Wed, 04/24/2024

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Affordability/Cost/Price

Universal Broadband

https://pcrd.purdue.edu/a-closer-look-at-indianas-digital-equity-mobile-only/

A Closer Look at Indiana’s Digital Equity: Mobile-Only

dclay@benton.org — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 18:47:35 +0000

In Indiana, 9.1 percent of survey respondents only had smartphone devices, compared to 86.4 percent with smartphones and at least one other device. Less than 5 percent of respondents either did not have devices or had devices other than smartphones. Demographically speaking, the majority of smartphone-only survey respondents were urban, less educated, lower income, younger, and white non-Hispanic. Furthermore, the share of these smartphone-only respondents was on average lower compared to the overall sample when it comes to benefits of using the internet and confidence in specific online tasks—which supports previous research that found that smartphone-only users do not leverage the internet to its fullest extent.

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Research has found that relying solely on smartphones undermines the potential of digital technology and applications.

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Send date:

Fri, 10/06/2023

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Daily Digest 10/5/2023

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Thu, 10/05/2023

Coverage Type:

Devices

Digital Divide

Affordability/Cost/Price

Individuals who are Members of a Racial or Ethnic Minority Group

Wireless Telecommunications

Wireless Internet

Why Are Indiana Residents Not Paying for Home Internet?

dclay@benton.org — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 20:11:50 +0000

Over 12% of Indiana survey respondents did not pay for home internet in the previous 12 months. The biggest reasons were related to affordability and not only about home internet service but devices too. Lacking a desktop or laptop was the main reason why 7% of survey respondents did not use the internet daily. Additionally, survey respondents believed a home internet service was not necessary since their smartphones let them do everything they needed to do online. Furthermore, 73.5% of rural respondents with any disability cited home internet costing too much as a big reason, followed by 61.2% indicating computers cost too much. Also, 42.2% of rural survey respondents said home internet costs too much, followed by 38.9% saying they could not get it installed. This confirms lack of broadband access in rural areas is a barrier since less than 10% of urban survey respondents cited this reason. Between white non-Hispanic and racial/ethnic minorities, 55.6% of minorities not paying for home internet cited the use of the smartphone versus 26.9% of white non-Hispanics while 44.3% of white non-Hispanic respondents said computers cost too much compared to 37.5% of racial/ethnic minority respondents.

Benton Content:

https://pcrd.purdue.edu/why-are-indiana-residents-not-paying-for-home-internet/?…

Teaser:

A look at the reasons why 12.4% of Indiana survey respondents did not pay for home internet for any of the previous 12 months

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Send date:

Wed, 09/20/2023

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 9/19/2023

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Publish Date:

Tue, 09/19/2023

Coverage Type:

Devices

Digital Divide

Affordability/Cost/Price

Individuals who are Members of a Racial or Ethnic Minority Group

Individuals with Disabilities

Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

https://pcrd.purdue.edu/a-reverse-digital-divide-in-indiana/

Wireless Internet

A “Reverse” Digital Divide in Indiana?

dclay@benton.org — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 16:09:01 +0000

The Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD) partnered with the Indiana University Center for Survey Research (IU-CSR) to gather data on Indiana residents on several digital equity indicators. A surprising finding was that the difference between Whites and racial/ethnic minorities was not statistically significant but more importantly, they were “reversed” to what was expected. In other words, White non-Hispanics in Indiana lag racial/ethnic minorities when it comes to paying for home internet for all previous 12 months. There are two possible explanations for this unexpected finding: (1) survey results may be capturing the effectiveness of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), as the program has a higher share of African American households enrolled compared to White non-Hispanic households; (2) may be due to a higher share of Indiana rural residents—more likely to lack home internet access, be less educated, and/or have lower incomes—being White non-Hispanic.

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Indiana's "revered" digital divide finds non-Hispanic whites lagging behind other groups in broadband access.

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Send date:

Mon, 09/11/2023

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 9/8/2023

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Publish Date:

Fri, 09/08/2023

Coverage Type:

Federal Broadband Programs

Digital Divide

Affordable Connectivity Program (was Emergency Broadband Benefit Program)

Universal Broadband

Individuals who are Members of a Racial or Ethnic Minority Group

Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

https://pcrd.purdue.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-Impact-of-Remote-Work-1.p…

The Impact of Remote Work

dclay@benton.org — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 16:21:04 +0000

Working from home became necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a survey done by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research during May of 2020, 42% of all US workers worked from home and accounted for two-thirds of the nation’s gross domestic product. Therefore, work from home has become a feasible economic development strategy at the onset of COVID-19. This study gauges the contribution of workers from home in Indiana in 2021 by using the Regional Economic Modeling, Inc. (REMI) general equilibrium model. Results indicate that the roughly 222,000 workers from home in the state contributed to a little more than 493,000 jobs across more than 10 industries. In addition, these workers added close to $54 million to the state’s GDP that year. To fully maximize the impact of these workers, some strategies may include communities adapting work from home incentives, better and more affordable broadband, adequate facilities for workers from home (like co-working spaces), matching employers with workers from home, and offering work from home-related skills through training and certifications.

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Remote work's impact on the American economy has continued to grow since the advent of COVID-19.

Source:

Author:

https://dailyyonder.com/the-need-for-speed-rural-users-tend-to-have-slower-inter…

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Wed, 08/16/2023

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Daily Digest 8/15/2023

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Tue, 08/15/2023

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The Need for Speed: Rural Users Tend to Have Slower Internet Connections

dclay@benton.org — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 21:58:08 +0000

As the federal government, along with states, gets ready to make a once-in-a-lifetime investment in broadband infrastructure, the concept of the digital divide remains somewhat the same as it was back in the mid-1990s, when the term was coined. Namely, who has access to the internet and who does not? Increasingly, being on the “right” side of the divide is moving beyond a yes/no access at home and more toward determining whether a user’s connection satisfies their needs. While there are areas with no connectivity whatsoever, increasingly the question is becoming: Who is using the internet at faster speeds? Are connections symmetrical—where download and upload speeds are similar? Or are most internet users driving down a six-lane paved road (faster download speeds) and driving back on a dirt road (slower upload speeds)? To address these questions, we looked at speed test results from the Speedtest by Ookla Global Fixed Network Performance Maps and the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 2017-2021 from the US Census Bureau. Overall, as the share of a tract’s population is more rural, the average download and upload speeds are slower.

[Roberto Gallardo is vice president for engagement at Purdue University, director of the Purdue Center for Regional Development, and an associate professor in the Agricultural Economics Department.]

Benton Content:

Teaser:

A new study based on individual users’ internet speed-tests offers one more way to measure the digital divide.

Source:

Daily Yonder

Author:

Send date:

Tue, 08/15/2023

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 8/14/2023

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Publish Date:

Mon, 08/14/2023

Coverage Type:

Op-Ed

Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

http://srdc.msstate.edu/digital-divide/individual-digital-capcity-survey-report.…

Bridging the Digital Divide in Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Communities in the South

dclay@benton.org — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 18:12:02 +0000

The Southern Rural Development Center in partnership with the Purdue Center for Regional Development received funding from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to document digital exclusion among disadvantaged groups in the South, gauge the digital inclusion capacity of Cooperative Extension personnel, and design and implement programs and resources to tackle digital exclusion. As part of this effort, a survey was conducted to better understand the depth and breadth of digital exclusion among disadvantaged groups in the South. The following sections discuss the methodology as well as survey findings across three main themes: Internet and device access, reliability, and affordability; digital interactions, resourcefulness, and internet use; training interests & access to support networks. Key takeaways include:

While there are differences between Whites and minorities as well as metro and nonmetro, the larger and more notable differences took place between lower/higher earning, less/more educated individuals and, to a slightly lesser extent, between younger and older respondents.
The analysis and findings of another group—mobile-only users—supported existing research that has found that these users do not benefit as much and/or leverage the technology to its fullest potential.
Additionally, exclusively mobile users were less interested in training topics and their support networks were more limited compared to other groups.
More importantly, exclusively mobile users tend to be lower-earning and less educated individuals, more so than minorities or younger respondents.

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Notable differences between lower/higher earning, less/more educated individuals

Source:

Southern Rural Development Center

Author:

Rural Development (USDA )

John Green

Send date:

Fri, 09/30/2022

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Daily Digest 9/29/2022

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Thu, 09/29/2022

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Individuals who are Members of a Racial or Ethnic Minority Group

Seniors/Aging Individuals

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308596121001981?dgcid=rs…

Wireless Internet

Do ‘dig once’ and permitting policies improve fiber availability?

benton — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 16:49:03 +0000

State and local governments have enacted different types of legislation aimed at improving broadband availability. Two unstudied policies of interest are: (1) “dig-once” policies requiring state-funded construction projects to notify local internet providers about the opportunity to bury conduit for easier wire installation in the future, and (2) permitting policies requiring an expeditious response from local jurisdictions regarding the installation of broadband equipment. We use the example of Iowa, which passed legislation on both of these topics in 2015 and compare trends in fiber broadband availability with that of states who did not pass such legislation. We also consider the potential impact on fixed wireless availability, which largely depends upon a fiber middle mile. We use coarsened exact matching at the census tract level to construct treated and control groups with similar pre-2015 demographic characteristics and broadband availability trends in Iowa and other states. Difference-in-difference regression analysis with the matched samples then assesses the policy impact on fiber and fixed wireless availability post-implementation. The results suggest that Iowa's policies increased fiber broadband availability by 2.4%–6.6% when considering eight model specifications which account for different criteria such as geographic region, other (non-dig-once or permitting) broadband policies, and federal funding received. The policies do not appear to have any effect on fixed wireless availability.

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Iowa's dig-once and expedited permitting policies increased fiber broadband availability by 2.4%–6.6%.

Source:

Telecommunications Policy

Author:

Christina Biedny

Brian Whitacre

https://dailyyonder.com/rural-counties-with-more-broadband-tended-to-do-better-i…

Send date:

Mon, 01/10/2022

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Daily Digest 1/7/2022

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Publish Date:

Sun, 01/09/2022

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Rural Counties with More Broadband Tended to Do Better in 2020 Census, Study Shows

benton — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 22:37:34 +0000

Although most of the nation’s rural counties lost population from 2010 to 2020, new Census data shows that rural counties with better broadband access tended to do better with population change than counties that lacked access. As more residents had access to broadband as defined by the Federal Communications Commission in 2011, the county population increased nine years later. Most counties did improve their broadband situation as the 2010s continued. Broadband access grew as the decade progressed for both kinds of counties – those that lost population and those that gained. But the importance of broadband access only continued to increase.

[Brian Whitacre is professor and Neustadt Chair in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University. Roberto Gallardo is the director of the Purdue Center for Regional Development.]

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Counties that grew from 2010 to 2020 had higher average connection speeds than rural counties that lost population.

Source:

Daily Yonder

Author:

Brian Whitacre

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8ad45c48ba5c43d8ad36240ff0ea0dc7

Send date:

Mon, 09/27/2021

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 9/24/2021

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Publish Date:

Fri, 09/24/2021

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2019 Digital Divide Index

Robbie McBeath — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 23:07:14 +0000

This 2019 Digital Divide Index (DDI) is an updated version that scores: the overall digital divide index, infrastructure/adoption, and socioeconomic. For purposes of this post, we divided all census tracts in the country, whose DDI could be calculated, into three equal groups (roughly same number of tracts per group) based on their DDI score: low, medium, and high. Of the roughly 324 million residents in the U.S. according to the 2015-2019 American Community Survey, 123 million or 38% lived in tracts with a low digital divide versus 108 million or 33% in tract with a medium digital divide and 92 million or 28% in tracts with a high digital divide. In terms of age, roughly 21 million or 29% of children and 16 million or 32% of those ages 65 or older lived in tracts with a high digital divide.

Benton Content:

https://pcrd.purdue.edu/2019-digital-divide-index-ddi/

Teaser:

This 2019 Digital Divide Index (DDI) is an updated version that scores: the overall digital divide index, infrastructure/adoption, and socioeconomic.

Source:

Author: