Bridging the Digital Divide: Wi-Fi Hot Spots as a Means of Digital Equity

IF 0.8 4区 管理学 Q3 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE
Meghan Salsbury, M. Hansen
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Abstract

abstract:Many areas of the United States still fall short of digital equity and inclusion, defined as the ability of individuals to access and use information and communication technologies to participate fully in society, democracy, and the economy. This is especially true in Montana, the authors’ rural state. Only 63.6 percent of Montana citizens have broadband access, and the average cost of the Internet is $91.54 per month—the third highest in the nation. The seven American Indian reservations in the state face even more barriers to access, with some having as low as 23 percent of the population with access to broadband. The lack of high-speed Internet coupled with the increase of remote learning (and remote work) added stress to many college and university students’ lives as they struggled to complete their coursework during the COVID-19 pandemic.Though no campus entity gathers information about student Internet access, the Montana State University Office of Planning & Analysis reports that 61 percent of the university’s students are Montana residents, and so many face access challenges similar to the rest of the state’s population. To ease the digital divide and improve students’ academic success, two Montana State University librarians wrote a successful grant proposal to purchase Wi-Fi hot spots to loan to students with poor or no Internet access. The hot spots were offered to students with high need on mediumto long-term checkouts and were initially marketed to programs and services on campus that work closely with underrepresented students.
弥合数字鸿沟:Wi-Fi热点作为数字公平的手段
美国的许多地区仍然缺乏数字公平和包容,数字公平和包容的定义是个人获取和使用信息和通信技术以充分参与社会、民主和经济的能力。在蒙大拿州,这个作者所在的农村州尤其如此。只有63.6%的蒙大拿州公民有宽带接入,互联网的平均费用是每月91.54美元,在全国排名第三。该州的七个美国印第安人保留地面临着更多的接入障碍,其中一些人的宽带接入率低至23%。由于缺乏高速互联网,再加上远程学习(和远程工作)的增加,许多大学生在COVID-19大流行期间努力完成课程,给他们的生活增加了压力。虽然没有校园实体收集有关学生上网的信息,但蒙大拿州立大学规划与分析办公室报告称,该大学61%的学生是蒙大拿州居民,因此许多人面临与该州其他人口相似的上网挑战。为了缓解数字鸿沟,提高学生的学业成绩,蒙大拿州立大学的两名图书管理员撰写了一份成功的拨款提案,购买Wi-Fi热点,借给那些上网条件差或没有互联网接入的学生。这些热点是提供给中长期有高需求的学生的,最初是针对与代表性不足的学生密切合作的校园项目和服务。
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来源期刊
Portal-Libraries and the Academy
Portal-Libraries and the Academy INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE-
CiteScore
1.80
自引率
8.30%
发文量
53
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