missing links: lessons on the digital divide from texas' telecommunications infrastructure fund...
DESCRIPTION
TIF’s Community Networking Program Began in 2000, produced 3 rounds of funding Spent about $70 million and supported 188 communities in Texas Grants ranged from $250K to $500K Authorized institutions were “fiscal agents” of community collaborations Grants required: Public access computers A community Web portal Computer and Internet classes/training In , University of Texas team evaluated first round of 36 grantee communitiesTRANSCRIPT
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Missing Links: Lessons on the Digital Divide from
Texas' Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund"Internet Use in the Americas"
Mexico City, MexicoJune 16-17, 2005
Gary ChapmanLBJ School of Public AffairsUniversity of Texas at Austin
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Texas’ Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF)
• Began in 1995, originally scheduled to last for ten years and to spend $1.5 billion
• Ended in August 2003, spent approximately $1.3 billion in 8 years
• Four authorized institutions received grants:• K-12 schools• Public libraries• Nonprofit medical facilities• Higher education
• Grants were for infrastructure and connectivity, not training nor personnel
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TIF’s Community Networking Program
• Began in 2000, produced 3 rounds of funding
• Spent about $70 million and supported 188 communities in Texas
• Grants ranged from $250K to $500K
• Authorized institutions were “fiscal agents” of community collaborations
• Grants required:• Public access computers
• A community Web portal
• Computer and Internet classes/training
• In 2002-2004, University of Texas team evaluated first round of 36 grantee communities
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Patterns in TIF’s Community Networking
• Investments tended to reinforce the inventories and control of the fiscal agent institutions
• Single computers deployed at unusual sites were underutilized or even unused
• Weak connection to the communities most adversely affected by the “digital divide”
• Poor or weak support by the TIF agency
• Funding was binary, either on or off, limiting sustainability planning
• Grantee agencies were inherently conservative
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Missing Links: What Would Have Helped
• A coherent vision of community networking
• An appreciation of the concept of “effective use”
• A “learning community” of community leaders
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A coherent vision of community networking
• There was no shared understanding of public access or community networking in the TIF program
• The TIF staff was unable to provide support for innovation and inspiration
• The grantee agencies were focused on the requirements of the grant contract
• Once the grant requirements were met, the projects tended to stop developing
• Case studies of innovative and successful projects might have helped
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An appreciation of “effective use”
Michael Gurstein, New Jersey Institute of Technology:
“The capacity and opportunity to successfully integrate ICTs into the accomplishment of self or collaboratively identified goals."
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An appreciation of “effective use”
Mark Warschauer, University of California at Irvine
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New tools to support community networking
• Blogging• Content management systems
• Mambo• Drupal• Plone• CivicSpace
• Bulletin boards• Photo-sharing: Flickr, BuzzNet• Group calendaring• Web portal software• Collaborative software, project management, wikis
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The importance of a “learning community”
• The importance of a virtual community to support learning and avoid duplication of mistakes
• There are easy-to-use tools for building virtual learning communities
• Support for case studies and distribution of knowledge
• “Digital divide” projects should be built around the development of a learning community
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Gary ChapmanLBJ School of Public AffairsUniversity of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas, [email protected]
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