RAPID: Quantifying Hyperlocal Digital Equity: A Path to Supporting Digital Participation
- Funded by National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Total publications:0 publications
Grant number: unknown
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Key facts
Disease
COVID-19Start & end year
20202021Known Financial Commitments (USD)
$196,271Funder
National Science Foundation (NSF)Principal Investigator
Rosta FarzanResearch Location
United States of AmericaLead Research Institution
University of PittsburghResearch Priority Alignment
N/A
Research Category
Secondary impacts of disease, response & control measures
Research Subcategory
Other secondary impacts
Special Interest Tags
N/A
Study Type
Non-Clinical
Clinical Trial Details
N/A
Broad Policy Alignment
Pending
Age Group
Unspecified
Vulnerable Population
Unspecified
Occupations of Interest
Unspecified
Abstract
This urgent research will swiftly address how the COVID-19 has made the digital divide untenable for people living in communities already marginalized by systemic disparities, by developing short-term immediate interventions that inform longer-term digital equity infrastructure. As many services shift to online delivery, suddenly the most vulnerable members of society are expected to own and master the most complex human-built artifacts: hardware, software, and the Internet, for daily living. The goals of this project are to (1) collect community data to understand the knowledge barriers individuals have faced with regards to the shift to digital health, education, and human services during the pandemic and the social structural roots of these digital gaps; (2) develop bottom-up and data-driven community digital participation indicators to evaluate the impact of a community coalition's ongoing work in distributing hardware and internet access to households across two neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, (3) quantify the digital know-hows within these communities and estimate the training cost, and (4) work closely with community-based organizations and resident leaders to design a peer-to-peer digital participation intervention for the purpose of training residents as community digital ambassadors who can address the identified digital participation barriers.
The project is innovative in developing a framework to quantify digital equity at the hyperlocal level and designing customized tools and processes to support a community-based digital ambassador program. The research aims to answer questions of (1) What are the factors associated with the hyperlocal barriers to digital participation beyond hardware and broadband access? (2) How can this insight be translated into models that inform human service providers and policymakers in supporting digital equity? (3) How can this insight be utilized to develop an effective community-based digital ambassador program? The findings will investigate the hyperlocal, community-based factors in technology learning and diffusion, thus complement the existing studies and theories in innovation diffusion and learning, social mobilization, and regional economic development.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The project is innovative in developing a framework to quantify digital equity at the hyperlocal level and designing customized tools and processes to support a community-based digital ambassador program. The research aims to answer questions of (1) What are the factors associated with the hyperlocal barriers to digital participation beyond hardware and broadband access? (2) How can this insight be translated into models that inform human service providers and policymakers in supporting digital equity? (3) How can this insight be utilized to develop an effective community-based digital ambassador program? The findings will investigate the hyperlocal, community-based factors in technology learning and diffusion, thus complement the existing studies and theories in innovation diffusion and learning, social mobilization, and regional economic development.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.