In this digital world, if you lack access to information technologies, you’re often out in the cold. In a world where some countries (most recently Finland) consider Internet access a legal right, the US is falling behind in this department.
To address this problem, the Knight Foundation, a stalwart champion of media accessibility, has launched a $3.3 million initiative to expand digital access and training, according to a foundation press release. The program will increase Internet accessibility at local libraries in 12 places across the country.
The effort responds to recommendations published by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, which identified public libraries’ provision of digital access and training as key to shoring up the country’s democracy, something the commission considers “threatened by the lack of equal access to quality information.”
The initiative will give grants for the following projects, among others.
- Instituting mobile computer labs in Akron, Ohio, Lexington, Ky., Aberdeen, SD, Myrtle Beach, SC, and Milledgeville, Ga.
- Recruiting and training mutlilingual technology teachers in Broward County, Fla.
- Establishing a digital career center at Charlotte, NC’s main library.
- Installing wireless Internet at all public libraries in the Wichita, Kan., area.
“Digital access is essential to first class citizenship in our society. Without digital, you lack full access to information, you are second class economically and even socially,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the Knight Foundation.
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