Foundation Journal

You can help break the ‪ "digital divide" in ‪Kansas City‬ by joining a Digital Inclusion Town Hall this Friday, January 16 with local organizers from KC Digital Drive, Connecting for Good and the Kansas City Public Library. You'll need to register for the event . Friday, January 16, 2015 9:00am @ Central Library Continental breakfast provided Organizers of the 2014 Kansas City Digital Inclusion Summit — a first-of-its-kind event addressing troublesome gaps in residents’ access to computers and the Internet — return three months after that daylong gathering to deliver their official report. The October summit examined trends, discussed challenges and opportunities, spotlighted current inclusion efforts, and shared best practices. Since then civic leaders and other individuals and organizations have been exploring ways to bridge Kansas City's digital divide by providing better Internet access and quality tech education. The town hall meeting also features an announ...

As organizations in Kansas City like Connecting for Good and KC Digital Drive have pointed out, Broadband Internet access usually decreases with income levels. And usually the older people get the less they go online. Income and age are two factors determining how connected people are in the digital world. A December 19 article on the Tech Crunch website points out another component of the digital divide: In the developing world, 25 percent fewer women  [PDF] have access to the internet than men. It’s increasingly important to consider all aspects of the global digital divide to ensure that tools are accessible to intended users.

During the October 17, 2014 Digital Inclusion Summit (see Jason Harper's report ) in Kansas City noted Digital Inclusion Strategist Angela Siefer identified herself as a “huge, huge advocate of city involvement in digital inclusion” projects towards improving affordable Internet access in low-income neighborhoods. This position represents a challenge to Kansas City to build bridges that close a digital divide in our community. Kansas City would do well to look at the example of Philadelphia and Minneapolis to launch big impact efforts, as Ms. Siefer pointed out in her presentation. And through the efforts of an emerging digital inclusion coalition that includes the KC Public Library, KC Digital Drive and Connecting for Good, a roadmap has been defined to bring city and other resources to this effort. Through a city-run project called "Keyspots" Philadelphia placed 80 free wireless hotspots in operation. Through their efforts they are offering 847 workstations across...