new work: digital inequality in urban and rural Michigan

new work: digital inequality in urban and rural Michigan

I’m a little behind on sharing recent publications. In collaboration with my colleagues at the Quello Center, we recently published a paper on digital inequality in Detroit, and a report on digital inequality in rural Michigan schools.

“Mobile Phones Will Not Eliminate Digital and Social Divides: How Variation in Internet Activities Mediates the Relationship Between Type of Internet Access and Local Social Capital in Detroit,” was published in Social Science Computer Review. This paper is the result of a study of four Detroit neighborhoods. We explored the relationship between type of Internet access, the variety of online activities that people participate in, and the relationship to local social capital. We found that breadth of access predicts participation in a larger variety of online activities, which is associated with higher levels of local social capital. Neither public Internet access, home broadband, nor Internet access through a mobile phone data plan alone affords participation in a full range of social capital-enhancing activities. The findings highlight the potential problems of initiatives that assume equivalent social outcomes through nonequivalent modes of access, such as providing Internet access through mobile phones in place of home broadband.

Broadband and Student Performance Gaps” was published as a report of the Quello Center in collaboration with our partners at Merit Networks. You can find a summary of the report here. The goal was to better understand the costs associated with poor or no home Internet access on rural student performance in grades 8-11. Based on surveys, home speed-test data, and student SAT scores, we looked at how differences in the type and quality of home connectivity (e.g., broadband vs. cell phone) and digital skills related to educational outcomes. We found that students who do not have access to the Internet from home or are dependent on a cell phone alone for access perform lower on a range of metrics, including digital skills, homework completion, and grade point average. They are also less likely to intend on completing a college or university degree. A deficit in digital skills compounds many of the inequalities in access and contributes to students performing lower on standardized test scores, such as the SAT, and being less interested in careers related to science, technology, engineering, and math. The timing of this report helped us contribute to the early policy response as schools moved online in response to COVID-19. Here is a link to our Checklist for K12 Schools Considering Online Teaching in Response to COVID-19.