Skip to main content

Understanding Digital Inclusion

Digital Inclusion

Understanding Digital Inclusion

Closing the Digital Divide 

Connected Nation

Digital Inclusion 101

National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA)

What is Digital Inclusion?

Microsoft

Strategies and Programs to Increase Broadband Adoption and Use in Your Community  

This is an excellent time to plan community digital inclusion projects because tens of millions of dollars in federal digital equity funds will flow to Michigan over the next few years.

Are you interested in starting a community digital inclusion program in your area? A community digital inclusion program is a local, grass-roots initiative that seeks to deliver to members of a community — especially for the benefit of those who are struggling, digitally disadvantaged and in particular need of help — services that fit in one or more of the following five categories. Below are some ideas that will help bridge the Digital Divide in your community.

Learn More About Each Strategy

programs

Low-Cost or Affordable Broadband Programs

Promote low-cost broadband programs in your community to ensure everyone can access affordable service. There are federal and provider programs available to eligible residents of Michigan.
Low-Cost or Affordable Broadband Programs
enabled devices

Low-Cost Internet Enabled Devices

Ownership of internet-enabled devices is critical for navigating the internet. To ensure the community has access to low-cost devices, it is essential to identify and/or promote affordable devices locally.
Low-Cost Internet Enabled Devices
Community

Community Anchor Institution Device Loan Programs

Schools and libraries should make internet-enabled devices available for K-12 students, staff and their families who may not own enough devices to meet their household needs.
Community Anchor Institution Device Loan Program
public

Public Access Computers

Bring awareness and encourage the availability of public access computers in community organizations in your community, including but not limited to libraries, mobile computer labs, workforce development centers, senior centers, afterschool centers and places of worship. 
Public Access Computers
tech support

Tech Support for New Users

Provide technical support services for new internet users via organizations that already provide social services to local community members. The goal is to provide on-demand support for internet access, adoption and use activities.
Tech Support for New Users
Digital Skills

Digital Skills and Readiness

Establish partnerships in the local community to develop digital skills training programs or advance existing ones that advance digital literacy, digital readiness, digital skills and upskilling to technology jobs, particularly those skills needed by local employers. 
Digital Skills and Readiness
Internet

Internet Safety

Ensure that community members have access to training resources about internet safety. Internet safety training tools provide information on how to maximize a person’s awareness of how to use the internet with minimal risk of compromising private information and becoming a victim of cybercrime.
Internet Safety
Applications

Meaningful Use of Applications

Create programs that advance meaningful use of applications that advance telehealth, education, remote employment, access to local resources and other applications.
Meaningful Use of Applications

Digital Inclusion Playbook - Five Steps to Address Digital Equity in Your Community

  • Engaging with your local community is important to understanding their digital inclusion needs and offering appropriate support for digital inclusion barriers. To address digital inclusion in your community, follow these steps:

    1. Creation of a Local Broadband Team or Coalition

    What organizations, community anchor institutions and local leaders should be involved in the effort to improve digital inclusion in your community? How will you coordinate activities and work together to ensure all barriers are addressed?

    Consider forming a group that meets regularly to discuss challenges and opportunities and share best practices and local digital inclusion efforts.

    • Make sure the coalition represents the diverse stakeholders addressing the digital divide including local government, community-based organizations, workforce development, community anchor institutions, schools, institutions of higher education like colleges and trade schools and local community members.
    • Make sure the coalition has a designated “champion” — a leader who regularly manages and meets with the group, distributes broadband information and advocates for the community’s broadband needs.

  • 2. Collect Local Data on Internet Adoption and Use

    What data and information are needed to understand digital inclusion needs and how different populations might be affected by the digital divide?

    Consider conducting local surveys asking residents about challenges they face accessing high-speed internet and programs and support they would like to see in their community. Ensure that the surveys can be accessed in paper form and local languages.

    • Key questions should ask about the current cost of internet, available speeds, teleworking, cost, digital skills etc.

  • 3. Perform a Digital Inclusion Asset Inventory

    What are the current digital inclusion programs, offerings and resources available in your community?

    • Digital inclusion resource map to understand local programs and offerings.
    • Survey the coalition and any other community stakeholders to determine what programs are available and who is involved.  Keep in mind that digital inclusion support can happen in informal or non-traditional settings.

  • 4. Establish Goals and Objectives for Bridging the Digital Equity Gaps

    What key goals and metrics should your team set to track progress on closing the digital divide?

    • Using the collective understanding of the coalition and key data points, set two to three goals to improve digital inclusion in your community. Track progress toward those goals and update them as needed.

  • 5. Identify Local Strategies & Programs to Bridge Local Gaps to Accessing the Internet

    What are appropriate strategies and programs community organizations should implement to address the key priorities?

    • Consider the gaps in local digital inclusion offerings based on community surveys and current programs.
    • Determine which programs are currently being used at high rates or are oversubscribed, and ways to expand them.
    • Identify potential state, local, federal and philanthropic funding opportunities that could support the goals and strategies of your community’s digital inclusion efforts. 

Terms Associated with the Digital Divide

  • Digital Inclusion

    Digital Inclusion encompasses the activities necessary to ensure that individuals and communities have the tools and resources to access and meaningfully use the internet and related technology. Primary elements of advancing digital inclusion include:

    • Access to reliable and affordable internet service
    • Access to internet-enabled devices that meet a user’s needs
    • Availability of basic digital literacy training and technical support
    • Use of applications and online content designed to enable and encourage self-sufficiency, participation and collaboration
    • Basic awareness of online safety and related matters

  • Digital Equity

    Digital Equity means the condition in which individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States (Broadband Infrastructure Law - Page 1211).

  • Digital Literacy

    Digital Literacy is the ability to use current technologies, such as smartphones and laptops, and internet access to research, create content and interact with the world. There are five key characteristics of a digitally literate person. The digitally literate person:  

    • Possesses the variety of skills — technical and cognitive — required to find, understand, evaluate, create and communicate digital information in a wide variety of formats
    • Can use diverse technologies appropriately and effectively to retrieve information, interpret results and judge the quality of that information
    • Understands the relationship between technology, life-long learning, personal privacy and stewardship of information
    • Uses these skills and the appropriate technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, colleagues, family and on occasion, the general public
    • Uses these skills to participate in civic society actively and contribute to a vibrant, informed and engaged community

  • Equal Access

    Equal Access means the equal opportunity to subscribe to an offered service that provides comparable speeds, capacities, latency, and other quality of service metrics in a given area, for comparable terms and conditions (Broadband Infrastructure Law – Pg 817).

  • Broadband 101

    Internet For All - Broadband 101

    Table on Contents

    • Broadband or High-Speed Internet?
    • Overview of Broadband in USA
    • NTIA Bipartisan in USA
    • NTIA Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Broadband Funding Programs
    • The Life of an Internet Packet
    • Broadband Key Terms
    • Broadband Connection Types
    • Broadband Economics 

Success Stories