City Digital Inclusion Coalitions
- Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion
The Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion facilitates collaboration among organizations and initiatives working to bridge the digital divide in order maximize resources for the greatest impact.
- Technology Literacy Collaborative
The Technology Literacy Collaborative is a network of digital inclusion supporters committed to sharing best practices, advocating for technology and digital literacy skills and access, and promoting collaborative efforts.
- Digital Empowerment Community of Austin
The Digital Empowerment Community of Austin (DECA) is a network of nonprofits, educational institutions and other stakeholders working to improve the Austin community's ability to participate in digital society.
- KEYSPOT (Philadelphia)
KEYSPOT is a network of public, private and nonprofit organizations that provide technology, training and other opportunities through community-based public access centers. KEYSPOT is dedicated to improving education, economic and social outcomes for all Philadelphians through technology.
- Portland Digital Inclusion Network
The Portland Digital Inclusion Network is a coalition of community organizations interested in raising awareness about digital equity barriers and developing solutions to bridge the digital divide.
Digital Inclusion
- Research You Can Use: Digital Literacy Training & Employment-- NDIA
The goal of this research is to provide digital inclusion practitioners easy access to information that can be used to support programmatic goals, both to improve their programs and request funding while also providing policymakers information they can use to make strategic decisions impacting digital inclusion.
- Webinar: How the Evolution of Internet Service Technologies Impacts Digital Inclusion
In this webinar, Joanne Hovis describes the evolution of consumer broadband service technologies with a focus on providing an understandable, jargon-free technical explanation for the non-technical.
Digital Inclusion Programs
- Community Technology Network
Community Technology Network works with a variety of underserved populations in the Bay Area to improve their digital literacy through training and education.
- Tech Goes Home
Tech Goes Home (TGH) was founded in 2000 and is a national award-winning initiative empowering communities to access and use digital tools to overcome barriers and advance lives.
- Tech Goes Home Chattanooga
Tech Goes Home Chattanooga (TGH CHA) is The Enterprise Center's new digital inclusion program for residents across Hamilton County.
- DANEnet
DANEnet has served Dane County nonprofit organizations since 1995 by offering on-site technical support, technical training and technical planning and consulting services.
- California Emerging Technology Fund
The California Emerging Technology Fund 2017 annual survey, Internet Connectivity and the "Digital Divide" in California Households tracks the progress of broadband deployment and adoption throughout California.
- Connect.DC
Connect.DC works to bridge the digital divide by making technology easier to use, more accessible, more affordable and more relevant to the everyday lives of District residents.
- WinstonNet
For over 15 years, WinstonNet has been working to close the digital divide in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.
- Connect Your Community
Connect Your Community is a nonprofit organization based in Cleveland that is working to develop sustainable strategies to help disconnected people and communities to overcome their “digital exclusion” and join the digital mainstream.
Digital Literacy Articles/Blog Posts
- The Ultimate Guide to Digital Literacy
In this ultimate guide, TechBoomers.com gives you a complete breakdown of digital literacy.
- Guide to the Digital Divide: Causes, Impact, and Solutions
This subject is of increasing importance, and TechBoomers.com wants you to be fully in the know. Read on and learn more about the impact of the digital divide.
- Importance of Digital Literacy: 13 Ways It Can Improve Lives
If you don’t want to fall behind, you need to be proactive in your learning of digital technologies. Think of learning digital literacy as an opportunity for learning how to make your life easier, rather than something you need to struggle to keep up with.
- Best Digital Literacy Websites: 32 Great Resources and Tools
Check out this list of 32 of the best digital literacy websites. These websites are 100% free to use!
- The Guide to Digital Competence + 6 Steps to Become Digitally Competence
Digital competence is the ability to not only understand and make use of digital technologies and systems, but also to possess the confidence to use them creatively, critically and without assistance.
- 17 Ways to Enhance Your Digital Skills at Home and in the Workplace
Possessing digital skills is so important in today’s modern world, having digital skills is essential, both for your personal life, and in the workplace.
- Types and Examples of Digital Literacy That Improve Lives
Obtaining basic digital skills around the house will be the backbone of your ability to integrate them into other aspects of your life.
- 14 Digital Literacy Articles You Should Read Immediately
To help you better understand the world of digital skills, here are 14 articles you should read right away! They are sorted into easy categories so whether you’re looking for information on digital literacy in the classroom, the workplace, the home or anywhere else, these are great posts to get started with.
- 8 Sites with Free Digital Literacy Courses and How to Use Them
If you want to learn how to improve your digital literacy skills, here is the solution for you. This article outlines a list of the 8 best sites for free online learning.
- 5 Characteristics of Effective Digital Literacy Programs
Digital literacy programs are educational sessions that help to train those with the inability to make use of digital technologies and the internet independently. They teach digital skills that can be applied to the user’s life, making tasks easier, faster and safer.
- How to Create a Digital Literacy Curriculum
Here are seven simple steps to creating your own digital literacy curriculum. It’s not as challenging as you may think to introduce digital literacy across the curriculum you currently teach.
- Teaching Digital Literacy Skills in the Classroom, Workplace and Community
This article explains the differences between teaching these skills in the classroom environment, teaching them to improve job performance and teaching to help the community.
- The Meaning of Digital Readiness
Since the late 1990s, inequalities in tech adoption have been characterized as the “digital divide,” and the focus has been mainly on the binary “haves versus have nots.” However, there has recently been a pivot in the technology adoption discussion that looks at people’s preparedness, such as their digital skills and their trust in technology, which may influence their use of digital tools separate from their access to them. The term often used to capture these factors is “digital readiness.”
- Digital Readiness Gaps
Americans fall along a spectrum of preparedness when it comes to using tech tools to pursue learning online and many are not eager or ready to take the plunge.
- Lingering Fears from Outdated Screen Time Recommendations Stunt Parent Buy-In
When it comes to the right amount and type of screen time, there seem to be more questions than answers. Check out this article from Ed Surge to explore this important issue.
- Gauging Household Digital Readiness
This study from researchers at Purdue University attempts to create a broader understanding of digital readiness through the development of a digital readiness index (DRI) score.
- Libraries Evolve to Bridge Digital Divide
A written and visual resource, created by the online Master of Library and Information Science program at University of Denver's Morgridge College of Education, that delves into computer and internet access throughout the United States and the role of libraries in providing the access and skills needed to bridge the gap between information and access.
Digital Literacy Training Resources
- https://www.gcflearnfree.org/
Americans fall along a spectrum of preparedness when it comes to using tech tools to pursue learning online and many are not eager or ready to take the plunge.
- https://www.digitallearn.org/
If you are new to computers, haven't used them for a while, are a little unsure and uncomfortable, or just need a bit of a refresher, digitallearn.org has the tools to help you tackle technology at your own pace and gain the confidence you need to succeed.
- Learn My Way
Learn My Way is a website of free online courses for beginners, helping users develop digital skills to make the most of the online world.
- Connected Nation
Connected Nation believes that states, communities, families and individuals can realize great economic and social advantages when broadband availability in underserved areas and broadband use in all areas is increased.
- Technology Learning Collaborative
The mission of the Technology Learning Collaborative is to sustain a robust network of community-based organizations doing digital literacy work, improve and expand programming across Philadelphia, share and promote member resources to the wider communities it serves, offer professional training and development for member staff, collaborate on high priority interest areas, and advocate for projects and programs that promote digital literacy and reduce the digital divide.
- Northstar Digital Literacy Project
The Northstar Digital Literacy Project defines basic skills needed to perform tasks on computers and online. The ability of adults to perform these tasks can be assessed through online, self-guided modules. Included are basic computer digital literacy standards and modules in ten main areas: Basic Computer Use, Internet, Windows Operating System, Mac OS, Email, Microsoft Word, Social Media, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint and Information Literacy. Northstar is an assessment, not a curriculum.
- NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network
NTEN believes that technology allows nonprofits to work with greater social impact. It enables its members to strategically use technology to make the world a better, more just and equitable place. NTEN facilitates the exchange of knowledge and information within its community. It connects its members to each other, provides professional development opportunities, educates its constituency on issues of technology use in nonprofits and spearheads groundbreaking research, advocacy and education on technology issues affecting the entire community.
- TGH School & Community Live, Learn, Earn, Work and Play
Free internet skills curriculum from Tech Goes Home that is available in English and Spanish.
Health Technology
- American Public Health Association Health Informatics Information Technology
The Health Informatics Information Technology Section improves the public’s health and promotes prevention and early intervention by advancing the use of innovative and effective information technology and informatics applications.
Homework Gap
- COSN School-to-Home Report
A report by COSN outlining the necessity of 24/7 broadband access to student learning.
- The Perilous Future of Internet Access for Students of Color
The FCC is currently mulling over a proposal to essentially gut the one program it runs that aims to make communications services more affordable: the Lifeline program.
- 10 Steps for Bringing Connectivity Home
How a large Texas district developed iConnect, an innovative program that extends district-sponsored Wi-Fi access to underserved students where they live.
National Digital Inclusion Coalitions
- National Digital Inclusion Alliance
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance is a unified voice for home broadband access, public broadband access, personal devices and local technology training and support programs. It works collaboratively to craft, identify and disseminate financial and operational resources for digital inclusion programs while serving as a bridge to policymakers and the general public.
- National Coalition for Digital Equity
As a federally tax-exempt nonprofit, the National Coalition for Digital Equity provides free dissemination and policy education as well as comprehensive, fee-based consulting services, in support of digital equity for economic and educational opportunity.
Technology, Internet and Digital Divide Research Organizations
- ASA Communication, Information Technologies and Media Sociology Section
As the national organization for sociologists, the American Sociological Association, through its executive office, is well positioned to provide a unique set of services to its members and to promote the vitality, visibility and diversity of the discipline. Working at the national and international levels, the association aims to articulate policy and implement programs likely to have the broadest possible impact for sociology now and in the future.
- Community Informatics Research Network
The wiki-based Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) Commons is to be one of the main resources of the CIRN community, next to the annual Prato conference and the Journal of Community Informatics. It is the successor to the ciresearch.net site, and should contain a dynamic knowledge repository necessary for community informatics research and practice to be done more effectively and efficiently.
- International Association for Media and Communication Research – Communication Policy and Technology Section
The Communication Policy and Technology Section’s focus is on communication policy, with a keen interest in the socio-economic aspects of technological change. The Section welcomes theoretical and empirical studies and research that bridges theory and practice by offering scientific reflection as well as guidelines for political action. It does not adhere to any single philosophical or theoretical school, but encourages research that is critical.
- International Association for Media and Communication Research – Digital Divide Working Group
The aims of the Digital Divide Working Group is to contribute to theoretical understanding of inequality in access to information and media in the new digital environment; trace the development of new media through the concept of digital divide; identify gaps and inconsistencies in the digital media world, their origins and development; specify problems for media and communication systems brought about by ICT progress in local, national and global environments; promote better communication between researchers from different countries and continents; support innovative research in the field and support young researchers.
- International Communication Association
International Communications Association (ICA) is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication. ICA began more than 50 years ago as a small association of U.S. researchers and is now a truly international association with more than 4,500 members in 80 countries. Since 2003, ICA has been officially associated with the United Nations as a non-governmental association (NGO).
- iSchools
iSchools is a consortium of information schools dedicated to advancing the information field. These schools, colleges and departments have been newly created or are evolving from programs formerly focused on specific tracks such as information technology, library science, informatics, information science and more. While each individual iSchool has its own strengths and specializations, together they share a fundamental interest in the relationships between information, people and technology.