digital inclusion

On Tuesday March 9th at 9am - 11am The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Knight Foundation will host the Digital Inclusion Summit:  Working Together to Expand Opportunity Through Universal Access this Tuesday. The Summit, taking place at the Newseum in Washington, DC will present a new agenda for bridging the gap to internet access that affects nearly a third of Americans, and over 40% of Philadelphians. We will be watching a live telecast of the Summit from Philadelphia at the Media Mobilizing Project office at 4205 Chestnut St. You are invited to join us for refreshments, and discussion after the live webcast of the Summit.
 
Please take a moment to RSVP here
 

Three leaders in work at the cross section of civil rights and digital rights just wrote this piece on the issue of Net Neutrality and the digital divide. Its an important read especially with recent acts by Comcast in mind. Expect more in the future.
 
Originally posted over at Huffington Post

Watch the full presentation here

On September 22nd in Philadelphia, One Web Day organizers held a panel on the future of broadband and digital inclusion across the region. Todd Wolfson of Media Mobilizing Project (MMP) was on the panel. During the discussion MMP put forward an argument that poverty and the digital divide are deeply linked. Building on this analysis, MMP is harnessing the Federal Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program and bridging the digital divide as a core strategy of building a movement to end poverty led by the poor. Comments from the panel are below and here is a link to photos by Jesse Brown.

OneWebDay is an annual, global event celebrated every September 22. Much like Earth Day, which inspired it, OneWebDay provides an opportunity for communities to celebrate the power of Web for positive change, and to educate the public and policy-makers on key social, economic, and political issues related to broadband access. Find out more about Philly OneWebDay

(By TODD WOLFSON & HANNAH SASSAMAN from the Philadelphia Daily News)
PHILADELPHIA is lining up for a race with a big prize - tens of millions in stimulus money to expand Internet access. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has authorized $7.2 billion for broadband programs, with everything from tricking out community centers with high-speed lines to mapping broadband availability already on the table as fundable programs.

 
The access is to broadband Internet and the speaker is Vice President Biden, who unveiled the rules for $7.2B in stimulus funds for broadband in Erie County, PA. The announcement was made in a rural part of the county, but the county is also home to the fourth-largest city in the state (and to my family - hello!).

In the recent edition of Times Magazine Matt Vilano looks at the role computer nerds can play in saving journalism. The piece details the forward looking work of the Knight Foundation and allied journalism schools like Northwestern's Medill, which have created specialized degrees in journalism for software programmers, in order to find solutions to the crisis in journalism. The assumption is that whiz kid programmers are going to develop software, like Everyblock, that will make journalism both relevant and financially solvent in the age of the Internet.