Seattle Demonstrates Models for Digital Divide Success

While Congress debates whether or not it should fund national programs to address the Digital Divide, many communities continue their efforts to ensure all local residents have the technology training and access needed to secure high-quality employment and attain skills through lifelong learning. The City of Seattle, through its Department of Information Technology, may offer one of the more sophisticated and successful models for approaching the issue.

With guidance provided by the City's Citizens Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board (CTTAB), Seattle has identified a number of appropriate roles for the city to play in addressing the Digital Divide, including: access provider, strategic planning, data collection and mapping, technical advisor, coordinating resource development, Web hosting, funding community technology centers and literacy efforts, and promoting civic use of technology.

The department's Community Technology Program includes a Citizens Literacy and Access Fund, which supports a number of community technology centers and digital divide research projects. Monies for the fund, estimated to be approximately $400,000 this year, are derived from cable franchise fees. Grants to community technology centers (CTCs) have been used by some recipients in the past to match or leverage grants from federal programs such as the Technology Opportunities Program in the U.S. Department of Commerce or the U.S. Department of Education's Community Technology Centers program.

The Seattle Community Technology Program also supports an aggressive research program and indicators project to assess the need for and shape of its efforts. The program has released several reports looking at IT usage and Digital Divide issues.

In Sustainability Strategies for Community Technology Centers in Seattle, released in the last two weeks, "sustainability" is defined as "the long-term ability of CTCs to maintain or improve their capacity to deliver services." Functioning CTCs, according to the report, have seven operational elements in common:

• Management and Administration (e.g. business planning, technology planning, evaluation and reporting)
• Programming and Curriculum Development Fundraising and Resource Development Partnerships
• Networking and Potential Resource Sharing Facilities and Equipment
• Outreach, Participant Recruitment and Community Involvement

The report highlights some of the challenges present in the above elements, as well as strategies to help meet them, addressing the question, "Since Centers vary in size, structure, affiliation, and overall mission, how can strategies that work at one CTC be successfully applied by others?"

The principal challenge, the report suggests, is to consider how CTCs can work together without giving up what they do best individually, including their ability "to adapt their operations to the needs of those who form their core constituencies." Four models of sustained service delivery and public access differ in the amount they must tap resources to be successful, the report states. The models — Pure Enterprise Model, Pure Service Model, "Affinity Group" Model and "Association" Model — are provided as grounds for discussion among the City of Seattle, CTC managers and funders.

The 2000-2001 Information Technology Indicators for a Healthy Community Report presents the first set of measurements describing the state of information technology as it impacts the social, economic and cultural health of Seattle. A chapter is dedicated to business and industrial issues, particularly workforce development and connectivity.

Conducted in November of 2000 as a part of the Indicators Project, the Residential Technology Survey takes into account 1,011 interviews completed via a random sampling procedure. The study measures the following:

• Residents' ownership and access to information technology.
• Residents' usage of information technology.
• Levels of technology literacy and fluency.
• Integration of technology into local community activities.
• Awareness and use of city services online and on cable TV.
• Residents' feelings about privacy, security and safety on the Internet. And,
• Residents' perceptions of the impact that technology is having on their personal time, quality of life, and the quality of life for the city.

Most residents have access to computers and the Internet, the survey notes, but significant divides remain. The survey shows 88 percent of respondents have a computer at home, work or another location, and 82 percent of respondents generally have access to the Internet. Of those who do not have access to a computer, 56 percent are 65 years or older. Similar divides are shown among varying income and education levels.

A similar study of the city's small business community is underway, and the results will be released this summer. Preliminary results of a survey of technology integration in the nonprofit community have been published online as well.

More information on the City of Seattle Department of Information Technology and CTTAB is available at:

http://www.cityofseattle.net/tech/default.htm