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Austin has the resources, knowledge and expertise to address the challenges we face in bridging the digital divide. The real problem is that we must connect what's available to what's needed. The City and its partners in digital inclusion should embrace technological innovation to help connect residents to programs and services.

Initiative 4.1.1: Expand existing digital inclusion inventory and mapping resource capabilities

Residents need to be able to access a robust and accurate inventory of public computer labs and digital literacy training opportunities. AustinConnects.net is an example of an existing catalog with geographic filtering capabilities by program type. But this map could be strengthened by incorporating data indicating where programming and public technology access is most needed as identified in the Austin Digital Assessment. This could be visualized as a heat map useful to providers to identify where further program development could be maximized.

The City should work to make sure that Austin Digital Assessment data and AustinConnect.net’s program inventory are publically available through Austin’s Open Data initiative. This effort can be guided by advice and input from the City’s Communications & Technology Management Department. Next, the City should work with local programmers and hackers to build upon AustinConnects.net to improve its existing mapping capabilities and incorporate technology usage data as a tool for providers. Once completed, the City should alert social service partners like Texas Connector and 2-1-1 to these mapping tools so they can be incorporated into these existing services.

  • Goal: To Develop Relevancy & Advocacy Campaigns Within Specific Communities & Populations
  • Objective: Schedule a presentation at an Open Austin (or equivalent community organization) event to garner technical support for this initiative within the local civic hacking community. Create a timeline for hacking to occur.
  • Primary Audiences: All residents seeking digital inclusion programming & local community providers
  • Key Players: City, Business & Entrepreneurs

Initiative 4.1.2: Develop a system for keeping the inventory and map  robust and up-to-date

Keeping information up-to-date is a major challenge for any community inventory effort. A system must be developed to engage local providers in providing information about programs as programs change, expand, or new programs are added. 2-1-1 and Texas Connector may be valuable partners in this effort, as they both provide public information on community programs of all types, including community computer labs and digital literacy programs. An effort should also be made to expand the types of programs included in the digital inclusion inventory to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of this issue. For example, relevant public health locations should be included to the extent that access to computer hardware and online patient and caregiver portals are available.

2-1-1 annually asks community providers to update information about their programs and sees a very high response rate to this effort. The City and its partners in digital inclusion should work to promote this 2-1-1 outreach to local program providers to ensure the highest response rate possible, creating a reliable information resource. After the 2-1-1 inventory has been updated, this information can be annually incorporated into the digital inclusion inventory and map as outlined in Initiative 1. Texas Connector, which draws data from 2-1-1, can tag and map these resources

  • Goal: To Develop Relevancy & Advocacy Campaigns Within Specific Communities & Populations
  • Objective: Create a calendar for updating the catalog based on the 2-1-1, and any other relevant inventory catalog, annual update timeline. Coordinate with others who use these data in mapping tools distributed across Austin such as the Texas Connector.
  • Primary Audiences: Digital inclusion program and service providers
  • Key Players: City, Community-Based Providers, Nonprofits

Initiative 4.1.3: Promote the inventory and map

Upon the launch of the updated inventory and map, the City and its partners should promote the map to the community to ensure the public and community providers are aware of it. Links to the inventory and maps should be made available and promoted through literature available at the public libraries, public computer labs, public schools, recreation facilities and public health facilities. Organizations that provide social services support should encourage their clients to use this as a resource to identify available access or training resources.

  • Goal: To Develop Relevancy & Advocacy Campaigns Within Specific Communities & Populations
  • Objective: Identify key channels and strategies to promote the inventory and mapping tools
  • Primary Audiences: Digital inclusion program and service providers
  • Key Players: Business & Entrepreneurs, Community-Based Providers, Community, Nonprofits, Public Health, Education & Higher Ed, City

Initiative 4.1.4: Facilitate ongoing innovation techniques using this open data

The local civic hacking community can be a strong resource to the Digital Inclusion effort. We should engage with this community on an ongoing basis at Open Austin and similar meetups in addition to civic hack-a-thons like the ATX Hack for Change to seek advice and technical support when needed on how to spark social innovation. For example, we should encourage a volunteer from within the civic hacking community to bring to Austin an application like LocalFreeWeb.org, a text-based application that can locate public computer locations near specific bus stops. The LocalFreeWeb API is publically available on Github.

  • Goal: To Develop Relevancy & Advocacy Campaigns Within Specific Communities & Populations
  • Objective: Attend an upcoming Open Austin meeting to promote development of this application and ongoing innovation
  • Primary Audiences: Civic hackers
  • Key Players: Business & Entrepreneurs, City