Publications & Reports
Report: Digital Inclusion in Austin
A team of researchers under the supervision of professors Joseph Straubhaar and Sharon Strover conducted the Austin Digital Assessment Survey for the City of Austin to assess internet usage in Austin. The team sent 11,000 surveys to random Austin addresses and...
Report: The digital inclusion role of rural libraries: social inequalities through space and place
Abstract: A great deal of scholarship on broadband deployment and federal policies has positioned rural America through a deficit framework: rural parts of the country have older populations (and therefore not tech savvy), are poor (and therefore justifiably ignored by the market), too remote (therefore outside of legitimate profit-making enterprise), and losing population (and therefore significance). This research examines rural Internet connectivity through the lens of local libraries lending hotspots for Internet connectivity. Qualitative data gathered in 24 rural communities in Kansas and Maine undercut simplistic notions regarding how communication systems operate in environments ignored by normative market operations. Financial precarity and pressures from social and economic institutions compel rurally based individuals and families to assemble piecemeal Internet presence and connectivity. The public library plays a crucial role in providing Internet resources and stands out in the rural environment as a site that straddles public trust and local.
TIPI Partners with Glasshouse Policy in Support of Closing Rural Connectivity Gap in Texas
In support of closing the rural connectivity gap in Texas, Glasshouse Policy partnered with AARP, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC), and the University of Texas Technology and Information Policy Institute to host a series of town halls and...
Broadband: “The Backbone of Communication”
The term 'broadband' refers to an advanced telecommunication service that developed from a need for greater amounts of information to be transmitted across the Internet. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines broadband in terms of speed. The current...
Reports List
Policy Briefs Children and the Internet: Parental Concerns and Internet Site DataDr. Sharon Strover, Ellen Wartella, Pat Stout, & Jef RichardsDownload Libraries in a Networked TexasDr. Philip DotyDownload Rural Implications of H.R. 1542: The Internet Freedom and...
Presentations and Webinars
Past Presentations: National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals(NACDEP) Annual Conference; Big Sky, Montana; June 11-14, 2017. http://www.nacdep.net/2017-cds-nacdep-conference “Rural Library Hotspot Lending Programs: Addressing the...
Research in the Press
"How to Hot Spot" by Christina Vercelleto hosted on the Tech Knowledge blog on the Website, Library Journal: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/09/lj-in-print/hot-spot-techknowledge/#_ D-Lib Magazine: The Magazine of Digital Library Research, "At the Edges of the...
“How to Hotspot” Guide for Libraries
Implementing a Mobile Hotspot Lending Program at your library offers up a world of possibilities for your patrons. Enabling patrons to take the Internet home offers a number of unique benefits, such as bridging the digital divide and lessening the homework gap for...
Access and Digital Inclusion Reports: 1997-2013
2013 Rural Broadband Availability and Adoption: Evidence, Policy Challenges, and Options Dr. Sharon Strover, Brian Whitacre, Robert Gallardo Download 2012 The bumpy path of technological transformation: digital inclusion Dr. Sharon Strover Download Digital Divide:...
Information Society Reports 1997-2001
2001 Technologies of Liberation and Consumption: Shifting Discourses Surroundingthe Internet Karen GustafsonDownload 1997 Comprehensive Bibliography on Information Society LiteratureDr. Sharon Strover & Dr. Stana MartinDownload