6. Who Doesn’t Have Access?
one third of all Americans
or
100 million Americans
7. Who Doesn’t Have Access
• less than 33% poorest Americans have adopted
home broadband (over 90% of the richest Americans
have high-speed internet access at home)
• less than 50% of African Americans have home
broadband access
• less than 50% Latinos have home broadband access
• less than 50% of the elderly have home broadband
access
• less than 50% of rural populations have home
broadband access
-Genachowski, 2011
10. Digital Literacy is the ability to use
information and communication
technologies to
find, evaluate, create, and
communicate information requiring
both cognitive and technical skills.
ALA Digital Literacy Taskforce, 2012
12. Some Stats
• Over 80% of Fortune 500 companies require online
job applications (including major employers such as
Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and ExxonMobil)
• students with a computer and broadband at home
have 6 to 8 percentage higher GPA than similar
student who don’t have home access to the Internet
• Consumers with broadband at home have the
potential to save more than $7,000 a year.
- Genachowski, 2011
19. Resources
• Digitalliteracy.gov
• Connect to Compete
• Digital Literacy Project - Atwater
Library
• Digital Literacy: Learning
Resources | Idaho Commission for
Libraries
20. References
• ALA supports FCC proposal to fund digital literacy training through public libraries. (2012, April
3).District Dispatch. Retrieved from http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/04/ala-supports-fcc-
proposal-to-fund-digital-literacy-training-through-public-libraries/
• Becker, S., Crandall, M. D., Fisher, K. E., Kinney, B., Landry, C., & Rocha, A. (2010). Opportunity for
American Library Association. (2011). The state of America's libraries: A report from the American
Library Association. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Retrieved from
http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries2011/state_of_americas_li
braries_report_2011.pdf
• All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries (IMLS-2010-RES-01).
Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services.
• DiMaggio, P., & Hargittai, E. (2001). From the ‘digital divide’ to ‘digital inequality’: Studying internet
use as penetration increases. Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University: Center for the Arts and
Cultural Policy Studies.
• Federal Communications Commission. (2010). Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan.
Washington, D.C: Federal Communications Commission.
• Genachowski, J. (2011, November). FCC & “Connect to Compete” tackle barriers to broadband
adoption, Face Sheet for Chairman Genachowski Remarks on Broadband Adoption, Speech
presented in Washington, D.C. Retrieved from
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-310924A1.pdf
• Smith, A. (2010). Home broadband 2010. Washington, D.C: Pew Research Center’s Internet &
American Life Project.
• Zickuhr, K. (2010). Generations 2010. Washington, D.C: Pew Research Center’s Internet and
American Life Project.
• Zickuhr, K., & Smith, A. (2012). Digital differences. Washington, D.C: Pew Research Center’s Internet
and American Life Project.
When citizens gain access to the internet they gain access to a multitude of new possibilities. Research by Pew shows that broadband users of all ages utilize the internet for a wide range of activities including: email, using search engines, seeking health information, following the news, buying products, making travel reservations or purchases, online banking, looking for religious information, rating products, services, or people, making charitable donations and downloading and listening to podcasts Government agencies are no longer issuing print forms. Banks are sending alerts and account balance information via text messages. Email notification of package deliveryHomeworkSearch for and Apply for jobsEducation Health and wellness, diet and nutrition informationFind a doctor Laws & regulationsGovernment formsContact information for a specific government official or agencyCommunity and civic engagement NewsPersonal financesPay billsWe are exposed to more mediated messages in one day than our great-grandparents were exposed to in a year-Center for Media LiteracyA respected Swiss scientist, Conrad Gessner, might have been the first to raise the alarm about the effects of information overload. In a landmark book, he described how the modern world overwhelmed people with data and that this overabundance was both "confusing and harmful" to the mind. The media now echo his concerns with reports on the unprecedented risks of living in an "always on" digital environment. It's worth noting that Gessner, for his part, never once used e-mail and was completely ignorant about computers. That's not because he was a technophobe but because he died in 1565. His warnings referred to the seemingly unmanageable flood of information unleashed by the printing press