CETF 2015 Annual Survey of California Digital Divide

www.cetfund.org



The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) is pleased to share with you the results of the
2015 Annual Survey on broadband adoption in California that was released yesterday. The Annual Survey is sponsored by CETF and conducted by the Field Research Corporation in 6 languages with a sample size in excess of 1,600 randomly-selected households (50% by cell phone and a margin of error + 2.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level). The results show that progress is being made in closing the Digital Divide with 79% of all California households now having high-speed connections at home to the Internet (8% by smart phone only), but there is still much work to be done because unacceptable percentages of disadvantaged populations remain offline—35% of low-income households (below $20,000 annual income); 30% of Latino families (37% Spanish-speaking); and 41% of people with disabilities. It is important to keep in mind that the Digital Divide is just another manifestation of the Opportunity Divide and Economic Divide, and that those who are stuck on the wrong side of the Digital Divide—urban low-income neighborhoods and remote rural communities—are faced with a multitude of challenges in daily life that CETF calls the “wall of poverty” that must be tackled with strategic interventions to improve education coupled with workforce preparation and economic development.

The Annual Survey information is very timely as the Federal Communications Commission takes up tomorrow the issue of a Broadband Lifeline Program, State policymakers continue to explore how best to tackle poverty, and local governments continue to struggle to balance budgets and generate jobs. The data underscores the need to incorporate Digital Inclusion into all major initiatives to promote economic prosperity and quality of life in California.

Please feel free to distribute the results of the 2015 Annual Survey, post it on your own website and/or link to the CETF website http://www.cetfund.org/progress/annualsurvey, and reference the data as you find useful. We look forward to continuing to work together to close the Digital Divide in California. Thank you for your commitment and leadership.

Sunne Wright McPeak
President and CEO
California Emerging Technology Fund

AOL: 2.1 million people still subscribe to dial-up Internet

BY BRANDON RUSSELL | MAY 9, 2015 TechnoBuffalo



AOL on Friday revealed that 2.1 million people in the U.S. still subscribe to its dial-up service, an astonishing and surprising number in the year 2015. A large majority of Americans have ditched the comatose service as faster broadband has become more accessible. But, either through ignorance, stubbornness, or sheer unavailability in certain areas, people are still clinging to the good old days of the early Internet.

Back in 2010, AOL revealed it had about 4.6 million dial-up users, so usage is on the decline, but it’s a slow, slow process, not unlike the service these people still get.

CNN Money notes that over 70-percent of Americans are connected through faster broadband, with an average speed of 11.4 Mbps, which is lighting quick compared to AOL’s 56k speeds. Compared to what the Internet looked like 20 years ago, 56k connections probably wouldn’t even be able to load a modern day website, much less stream a video on YouTube or Netflix.

Without fast Internet, online tech journalism just wouldn’t exist in the way it does today. And there would be no Twitch or Spotify. It would be a cruel, apocalyptic world.

The most shocking thing of all? Customers are paying AOL $20 a month for dial-up access, which means the company is still making a killing each year from these subscriptions. If you or someone you know is still using dial-up, it might be time for an intervention.

I get it: not everyone can afford broadband Internet, and there’s a minuscule chance they don’t have access to the faster speeds in their remote part of the wilderness. But 2.1 million is a hefty figure, and so long as people subscribe, AOL will continue to be an enduring time capsule of despair.

Futurology: U.S. Failed With Broadband

A 2004 prediction guessed the U.S. would have near universal high-speed connections. It hasn't happened.

Internet speeds are slow and broadband still hasn't reached all Americans.

By Lindsey CookNov. 6, 2014 | 9:58 a.m. EST+ U.S. News and World Report

This article is part of a series that examines predictions about the future. So far, we've looked at predictions for 2025 and explored 2004 predictions about online voting, cybersecurity, health care and politics. If you want to discuss this series with us and potentially be included in a future article, join the U.S. News Futurology Facebook group.

Tonight, as you wait for the latest episode of Scandal to buffer, think about the following: the Internet speeds in the United States suck. Really, they do. We pay more; we get less.

Way back in 2004 when your memories of dial-up connections and waiting for music to download from Napster were fresh, the Pew Internet Project asked experts for their predictions of the future of the Internet. The group wanted to know what to expect by 2014. More than half agreed that 90 percent of Americans would have high-speed Internet connections in their homes that were "dramatically faster" than previous speeds.

Too bad they were wrong.

Internet connections:
2004 prediction: By 2014, 90 percent of all Americans will go online from home via high-speed networks that are dramatically faster than today’s high-speed networks.

At the time, 34 percent of adults in the United States had a broadband connection either at work or at home, so the prediction was quite ambitious. In the imagined world of 2014, almost all Americans have access to high-speed Internet, allowing people to connect with new social networks, educational opportunities and health resources. One expert went even further, writing: “Yes, but 90 percent isn't good enough. We must do away with the digital divide entirely if we are to become a truly advanced culture.”

It's a sentiment that was also expressed frequently in the report detailing predictions about what would be possible by 2025 with even faster Internet speeds, with one expert writing: “We should not expect these bandwidth increases to be evenly distributed, and many who cannot afford access to increased bandwidth will be left with low-bandwidth options. We may see a new class divergence between those able to access immersive media, online telepathy, human consciousness uploads and remote computing while the poor will be left with the low-bandwidth experiences we typically use today.”

Technology isn't as ubiquitous in the United States as many people think it is. For all the Americans that do live in cities (at the same time living on the Internet and on social media), there are plenty of Americans living in rural areas that don't have computers and don't have Internet connections. Many more can't afford the Internet. While the prediction talked specifically about 90 percent of Americans having high-speed connections, that many Americans don't even have Internet period. 

View county-by-county data.

In 2011, 28 percent of Americans reported no Internet access at home, according to a report by theU.S. Census Bureau. Although the percentage of Americans with Internet and computers in their homes has increased since 2004, it hasn't increased to 90 percent. 

Internet access has a racial component as well. Blacks and Hispanics are less likely to have household Internet than whites or Asians are. 

Older Americans are also less likely to have Internet connections than younger Americans, according to Pew.

For most of the Americans without Internet, it isn't an issue of ability to connect because the area is too remote. They don't want it or can't afford it. Only 2 percent can't have Internet, but recent reports show 20 percent of Americans don't have access.

Cost is prohibitive for many. When compared to other developed parts of the world, the U.S. pays more and gets less, according to research from the Open Technology Institute.



Hong Kong, South Korea and Tokyo lead the world in Internet speeds. The United States ranks No. 27 in global Internet speeds, according to Net Index. You can also use their maps to compare global speeds more in-depth.

Lindsey Cook is a data reporter for U.S. News & World Report. You can follow her on Twitter or reach her at lcook@usnews.com.

CETF: Let's Get Internet For All Now!

Last Friday we gave you a sneak preview of our current work to secure Internet For All Now! Today we move into full gear.

The California Emerging Technology Fund and more than 100 Partners are launching a public education project to make opportunity possible with affordable Internet at home. We have worked together before to achieve better opportunities for low-income communities. Now it is time to show we care through social media. Join us and urge the Federal Communications Commission to require Comcast to deliver affordable Internet Essentials service to all low-income households.

Currently, there are 80 million people across America without high-speed Internet service at home. A quarter (a full 25%) of California’s population—9,580,000 people—are among those without access to essential web resources for finding a job, doing homework, applying to college, communicating with distant loved ones, or locating an affordable home.

We have an opportunity to change that now.

Will you help us by signing the petition, tweeting and posting on social media? Let’s get Internet For All Now!

Thank you for your leadership and compassion.



Sunne Wright McPeak
President and CEO
California Emerging Technology Fund

CETF Internet For All Petition

One in four Californians do not have Internet at home and we have a unique opportunity to change that.

For California—the most populous state in the nation and home to so much technology innovation—the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable-Charter deal is the "ballgame" for anyone who really cares about Digital Inclusion.

Many of you have already endorsed the 5 Recommendations we are making to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hold Comcast accountable for improving and expanding its affordable Internet offer, Internet Essentials. Now we are asking you sign a petition urging the FCC to act on the recommendations and make Internet affordable for those who can least afford it. Please read and sign our Care2 petition.

We know first-hand from working with our partners in the trenches with the most disadvantaged populations and impoverished neighborhoods that they are up against a "wall of poverty" that demands concerted and purposeful action from our elected representatives and policymakers.

The 5 Commissioners of the FCC have the fate of 25% of California and the nation's residents in their hands with the authority to make an immediate transforming difference in their lives through Digital Inclusion. They need to hear from us.

Read and sign our Care2 petition!

Consider how Candelaria Amador is taking action to improve her life. She is looking for work and really needs Internet at home. She told us, “I was surprised to learn how much the Internet costs, and I cannot afford another bill now. I take care of older people in their homes, but two months ago I lost a client I was caring for. I support myself, and I decided I should learn to use the computer so I can find more clients in the online ads on Craigslist.”

In her weekly class, she is learning how to write an online resume. But without Internet at home, she says it’s very hard to find a job. She is not eligible for Comcast’s current low-cost Internet program, because the company only offers the program to low-income families with students at home.

Now is the time to stand with Candelaria and ask the FCC to take action for all who need affordable Internet at home!

Sign our petition on Care2!

Thank you for your ongoing support to help us close the Digital Divide.


Sunne Wright McPeak

Comcast’s Internet for the poor too hard to sign up for, advocates say

FCC urged to boost Comcast's commitments in Time Warner Cable merger.

by Jon Brodkin - July 23 2014, 1:00pm CDT  Ars Technica


Comcast

A California nonprofit says that a Comcast Internet service program for poor people is too difficult to sign up for, resulting in just 11 percent of eligible households in the state getting service.

Comcast had to create the $10-per-month Internet Essentials program in order to secure approval of its acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011. About 300,000 households containing 1.2 million people nationwide have gotten cheap Internet service as a result, but the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) complains that the signup process is riddled with problems, a charge Comcast denies.

CETF itself was created by the California Public Utilities Commission when approving the mergers of SBC-AT&T and Verizon-MCI, and its purpose was to accelerate broadband deployment for unserved or underserved populations. The group says additional requirements should be imposed on Comcast as part of its pending acquisition of Time Warner Cable.

In comments filed with the FCC, CETF said Comcast has signed up 35,205 households out of more than 313,000 eligible ones in California. Nationwide, 300,000 families out of 2.6 million eligible have signed up, Comcast said in March. The service offers 5Mbps download and 1Mbps upload speeds and a computer for $150, of which 23,000 have been sold.

"Comcast makes the sign-up process long and cumbersome," CETF claimed. "The application process often takes 2-3 months, far too long for customers who are skeptical about the product in the first place, and have other pressing demands on their budgets. The waiting period between the initial call to Comcast and the CIE [Comcast Internet Essentials] application arriving in the mail can stretch 8-12 weeks, if it comes at all. After submitting the application, another 2-4 weeks elapse before the equipment arrives. Many low-income residents do not have Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and are required to travel long distances to verify their identities because Comcast has closed many of its regional offices. Recently, some potential subscribers with SSNs were rejected over the phone and told they had to visit a Comcast office. Comcast has a pilot effort in Florida that should be expanded to allow customers to fax or e-mail photocopied IDs as proof of identification."

This is false, Comcast spokesperson Charlie Douglas told Ars today. "Once we receive a fully executed application we can provision service in about three to five days," he said. CETF has "brought us customers in the past, and we diligently look through every single one and try to resolve it to the best of our ability and will continue to do that if there are additional customers they haven't brought to our attention," Douglas said.

CETF also wrote that Comcast has violated program rules by conducting credit checks. "Comcast conducts credit checks for some customers, contrary to CIE rules," the CETF filing said. "Dozens of clients are receiving letters from Comcast saying that they have failed a credit check. Comcast specifically states and advertises no credit check is needed for CIE. This has repercussions beyond obtaining broadband service. The act of performing a credit check can negatively impact the consumer’s credit worthiness. Initially, some CIE service representatives told customers they could pay $150 deposit to avoid a credit check, also contrary to program rules."

Douglas acknowledged that problem, chalking it up to a "technical error" in which a credit check was incorrectly triggered by an automated process. "That was an error we made, and we have tried to make right with any customer who was impacted," Douglas said. "We have reached out and apologized to customers and tried to resolve the problem in each and every instance." In cases when a credit check was performed by mistake, "we worked with the credit reporting agencies to have it removed from the applicant's record, and we worked with the partner organization to communicate that back to the applicant."

CETF also claimed that the CIE online application "has never worked properly… The site is often unable to complete address eligibility searches and simply redirects the customer to the 1-855 number again. This situation has been a major barrier at technology fairs, where families are told they cannot sign up online and must make a separate trip to a Comcast office. Comcast continues to ignore consumer feedback about the poor website operations."

Douglas said the online application does work. "We process thousands of applications online," he said. Applicants may be prompted to call if Comcast records indicate they have an unpaid bill or are at an address not in the company's service territory, he said.
Internet Essentials to play role in Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger

Comcast's annual report on its NBC commitments said that it "has distributed 27 million brochures in 14 different languages to school districts and community partners, fielded more than 1.5 million phone calls at the Internet Essentials call center, had 1.2 million visits to the websites, and broadcast more than two million PSAs about the program. The company has offered Internet Essentials in more than 30,000 schools in 4,000 school districts and provided tens of thousands of individuals with digital literacy training."

Comcast originally promised to keep the program running through June 2014, but "in March we announced voluntarily that we are going to extend the program indefinitely," Douglas said.

"This is an extremely hard group to market to," Comcast VP of Government Communications Sena Fitzmaurice told Ars today. "After 15+ years of marketing broadband everywhere we can, spending hundreds of millions of dollars doing so, our overall broadband penetration is only 39 percent in our markets (that was from our earnings call just yesterday). That we’ve gotten as many people as we have signed up via this program in this short a time is great."

Comcast has touted Internet Essentials while trying to win approval of its Time Warner Cable acquisition, pledging to bring the program to "millions of additional families in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Kansas City, and Charlotte," which are in TWC service areas.

The CETF urged the FCC to increase Comcast's commitments if the TWC merger is approved, asking for conditions including the following:

Include All Low-Income Households: Extend Comcast Internet Essentials to all low-income households, not just those with school children. For example, low-income seniors, people with disabilities, and recently returned veterans are not covered today.
Set Performance Goals: Set a national goal for Comcast to increase Internet Essentials subscribership for eligible households (now at about 11% in California and the nation) to reach 45% in 2 years and to continue the program until 80% adoption is achieved in low-income neighborhoods in each major Comcast market.
Capitalize an Independent Fund and Coordinate with States: Collaborate with states such as California that are major Comcast-TWC markets and have a strategic plan to close the Digital Divide and require Comcast to dedicate a sufficient amount to an independently managed fund to engage experienced community-based organizations to assist in achieving subscriber goals.

Edutopia: The Digital Divide: Resource Roundup

The "digital divide" is still a critical issue in education and beyond. Here's a roundup of resources and organizations to help educators understand the changing landscape and find information about supporting all learners to develop digital and media literacy.

By Amy Erin Borovoy, Ashley Cronin
JANUARY 20, 2014

Edutopia

California Emerging Technology Fund Calls for National Policy on Affordable Broadband Rate New Poll Shows Large Disparities in Home Broadband Use in California

Embargoed for media use: Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Contact: Mary Anne Ostrom, Maryanne.Ostrom@cetfund.org
Mobile: 510-381-3070

San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA – July 8, 2014 – The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) in partnership with The Field Poll today released results of a new survey examining the depth of the Digital Divide in California. CETF, a non-profit foundation, was set up by the California Public Utilities Commission in 2005 to break down barriers to broadband deployment and adoption based on statewide goals.

The poll found that home broadband adoption rates have stagnated over the past few years, leaving the hardest-to-reach Californians without an essential tool to access the educational, employment and civic engagement opportunities that lead to self-sufficiency. The statewide goal is to achieve 80% home adoption by 2017, with no single demographic group or region below 70%.

According to The Field Poll, demographic groups with home broadband adoption rates that fall more than 10 percentage points below the 2014 state home broadband adoption* average of 75% include:

Not a high school graduate (32%) Spanish-speaking Latinos (46%) All Latinos (63%)
65 or older (47%) Household income of less than $20,000 (53%) People with disabilities (59%) Non-citizens (60%) “These findings are a sobering reminder that while we live in a state renowned for technology and innovation, the Digital Divide is real and impacting millions of Californians. Fully one-quarter of California households do not have high-speed Internet at home. This is not acceptable,” said Sunne Wright McPeak, President and CEO of the California Emerging Technology Fund.

“On the brighter side, 6 in 10 of those who do not use the Internet at home suggested they might be interested if they had access to affordable broadband and equipment and the skills to use it. This
should serve as a wake-up call to the Federal Communications Commission and elected leaders that
the nation needs an affordable broadband rate and sustainable programs to address the literacy
needs of low-income residents if we want our country to be competitive,” McPeak said.

Poverty and Broadband Adoption
While progress has been made since initial polling data showed California at 55% home broadband
adoption in 2008, the stakes are even higher now. It is nearly impossible to find employment
without at having at least basic digital skills, and economic self-sufficiency is the only pathway out
of poverty.

“We must recognize that the Digital Divide is both a manifestation of, and driver of, the economic
divide. These survey findings indicate that a large swath of Californians, notably Spanish-speakers,
low-income residents and those without at least a high school education, exhibit significant
disparities in their access and use of the Internet. And because digital connectivity is crucial to
gaining economic empowerment in the digital age, this is a recipe for leaving a significant share of
Californians behind. In today's world and tomorrow's future, economic and social opportunity are
dependent on access to affordable high-speed Internet at home,” said Dr. Manuel Pastor, Professor
of Geography and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

Older Californians and Broadband Adoption
Older Californians are among the least-connected, according to the survey, which raises critical
quality-of-life issues for this group.

“Far too many older adults are being left behind. Often, these are our parents and grandparents.
This has huge implications for their health and welfare, personal fulfillment and social
connectedness,” said CETF Board Secretary Barbara O’Connor. “Businesses, governments and
non-profits must work to reduce broadband adoption barriers by implementing affordable highspeed
Internet access at home for older adults, integrating technology into the delivery of
government services, and providing digital literacy training, particularly in the area of health and
financial empowerment.”

Usage Patterns by Smartphones and Computing Devices
With the explosion of smartphones, the survey examined how people use the Internet from home
for different activities depending on whether they mostly or only used a computer or whether they
only used a smartphone. Higher percentages of poor households, Latinos, African-Americans and
non-citizens said they only use the smartphone to connect at home.

While both types of users cited entertainment and social media as their top activities, “smartphone only users” were much less likely to visit government or community web sites, bank online or transfer funds to family members, get health or medical information or communicate with their doctor or take a class online.Education and Broadband Adoption “While mobile phones are essential devices, they are not enough to help poor Californians access many of the services they need to break out of poverty or close the education Achievement Gap,” McPeak said. For example, California public school students are now required to take assessment tests on a computing device and those without daily experience at home using a desktop, laptop or tablet will be at a disadvantage.

The poll found that parents who have a broadband connection other than a smartphone at home were highly likely to go online at home to help their children learn (84%) and to obtain information about their children’s homework and grades from the school website (75%).

“As technology is integrated in the classroom, poor students who only have smartphone access to the online world when they go home will fall farther behind and we all will be worse off for it. This is a call to action for government, industry and philanthropic groups to work to finally close the Digital Divide in California,” McPeak said.

For full poll results, please go to http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2476.pdf

___________________________________________________________________________________

How to Subscribe to Affordable Broadband at Home CETF partners with the Stride Contact Center, an independent, non-profit entity that provides free telephone consultations on how to find discount broadband service where you live. For more information, call 1-888-491-5982. About the California Emerging Technology Fund The mission of CETF is to close the Digital Divide in California by breaking down barriers to high-speed Internet access at home. The goal is to reach 98% of all residences with broadband infrastructure and to achieve 80% home adoption by 2017. This statewide goal can only be accomplished if the following specific hard-to-reach target communities achieve at least a 70% adoption rate: low-income populations, Latino households, rural communities, and people with disabilities. For more information, please visit www.cetfund.org.
___________________________________________________________________________________

*This percentage includes adults accessing the Internet at home with a smartphone or through DSL, cable, satellite or fiber optic connections to a home desktop, laptop or tablet computer.

Libraries in Chicago and New York will soon let people check out Wi-Fi hotspots

By Josh Lowensohn on June 25, 2014 07:59 pm
The Verge



Two libraries in the US plan to offer programs that let patrons check out Wi-Fi hotspots like they would books. The New York Public Library and the Chicago Public Library are both recipients of funding from the Knight Foundation that will help launch separate Wi-Fi hotspot lending programs. Both plans aim to give low-income households 24-hour access to the internet. "Providing continuous access will expand [people's] ability to participate fully in the modern economy and allow them to continue to learn, work, explore and create after the library's doors have closed," the NYPL said in its pitch.

CHECK THE INTERNET OUT
The two programs differ in their scope. The NYPL's $500,000 grant will offer 10,000 households a hotspot for a full year. That's as opposed to the 40 minutes of use people can get once a day through the library's 92 branches, and well beyond the pilot the library's done with 100 hotspots for the past month. The CPL program is more stringent, giving patrons a three week loan of the hardware.

Seven other projects received major grant money as part of the Knight News Challenge. That list includes Code2040's plan to offer professional technology programs to minority students, funding for secure mobile messaging app TextSecure, and support for open internet project Measurement Lab.

Consumer Reports: Average Spending on Telecom Bundles is $1,848 a Year

3/27/14 at 1:00 AM by Andrew Burger  telecompetitor

Americans don’t believe they’re getting good value from their in-home telecom services, Internet and TV services in particular, despite the fact they spend an average $1,848 a year on them, according to a new market report from Consumer Reports National Research Center.

Even bundled service subscribers don’t see their service packages as any great value. Though they rated highly for service satisfaction, Verizon FiOS and regional cable telecom services provider WOW, both received “middling or lower” grades for value.

“Our latest report on telecom services revealed that very few consumers think they’re getting a great deal, in part because of soaring prices and confusing bills,” Consumer Reports’ electronics editor Glenn Derene was quoted in a press release. “But the last thing consumers should do is be passive. Even though some companies are cracking down on serial negotiators, there’s really no downside to haggling.”

When it comes to overall customer satisfaction among bundled service subscribers (Internet, TV and phone), Verizon FiOS took top honors. Verizon FiOS received the highest ratings for reliability across all three services, though it did receive more billing complaints than average, Consumer Reports noted.

WOW scored highest overall among bundled telecom providers and received high marks for all services as well. SuddenLink and Bright House Networks also received higher-than-average satisfaction scores for bundled services.

Consumers are getting better at negotiating deals with telecom service providers, Consumer Reports found. Ninety-two percent of survey respondents who reported trying to negotiate a better deal with their providers said they got one. Forty-six percent of those said they received a discounted price as much as $50 lower per month, 44 percent received a new or extended promotional rate, 33 percent received additional channels, and 16% got equipment free or at a discounted rate.

Consumer Reports offers some recommendations for consumers looking to haggle successfully with their telecom service providers, though it also points out that managements are trying to discourage the practice.
Ask for a better deal. It might sound obvious, but the first step is to call customer service and say your bill is too high.
Fight price hikes. Even if your promotion has expired, ask whether you qualify for a new one. Forty-three percent of Consumer Reports subscribers in that situation negotiated a new discount.
Check out the competition. If your requests fall on deaf ears, see what other local providers are offering new customers, then ask your current provider to match it.
Threaten to disconnect. Still no luck? Call to say you’re planning to cancel your service because it costs too much.
Be ready to walk. At some point, you may have to switch if you can’t get what you want.

Free CWIB and CWA Webinar: Diverse Pathways to Promising ICT Careers, January 28th

The California Workforce Association and the California Workforce Investment Board invite you to join a webinar on:

 

Diverse Pathways to Promising ICT* Careers

Information and Communication Technologies 

 

Tuesday January 28, 2014

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

  

Live-cast from the CWA Youth Conference – Anaheim

  

Agenda

• Help Wanted for 1.5 Million Jobs! - The Magnitude of ICT Careers
• Basic Work Readiness – Digital Literacy      
• Academic Pathways to ICT Careers
• Training Pathways to ICT Careers

Presenters Include:

• Bob Lanter, Executive Director, California Workforce Association
• James Jones, Executive Director, Mid-Pacific ICT Center
• Jennifer Riggs, Associate Vice President, California Emerging Technology Fund
• Jackie Cruz, Executive Director of Advancement, Hartnell College
• Joe Welch, Lead CSIT-In-3 Faculty, Hartnell College
• Barrie Hathaway, Executive Director, The Stride Center

This is the second in a series of webinars that will explore Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Workforce. Other webinar topics include:

• Workforce Readiness – Digital Literacy, the New Basic Skill
• ICT Employment Marketplace Challenges
• Engaging on ICT with and within the Workforce System

Register Here: http://calworkforce.org/ict_in_workforce_webinars.html

 

Also join us at the CWA Youth Conference on January 29, 2014 at 1:15pm for a participatory workshop focusing on real-world examples from the field about creating a variety of pathways to entry-level ICT careers. Click here for more information: http://calworkforce.org/youth_conference.html

Silicon Valley Tech Museum: Computer Science Education Week

CSEdWeek at The Tech
Monday, December 9 – Sunday, December 15
Sponsored by Google
Free with Museum admission
Drop-in programs. No registration required.

Code.org has organized an Hour of Code for CSEdWeek. So far, they have 30,000 locations hosting an Hour of Code for 4,000,000 students, across 160 countries. The Tech is proud to take part in this global initiative to promote computer science education, along with many schools and learning organizations all over the world.
 

Program yourself a great week at The Tech!

As part of Code.org’s Hour of Code for CSEdWeek, guests can learn drag-and-drop programming with Blockly and Blockly Turtle Graphics to solve maze puzzles and create their own digital art, or they can go unplugged and program a live zombie in our life-sized version of Plants vs. Zombies. We'll also be partnering with programming-focused partners like Google, Play-i, andGlobaloria to lead programming stations and prototype their technology with guests.

 

During the week, we’ll expose guests to different ways to learn programming, with stations set up throughout the lower level. From learning to code with visual programming languages to mastering games, solving puzzles, making cool designs, and programming robots to do playful tasks, guests will start to think like programmers as they break down complex problems into logical steps and leverage their own creativity to make technology do whatever they want.

 

Guests will get to learn programming directly from Google volunteers and the founders of Play-i, a very successfully crowd-funded robot company that makes computer programming fun and accessible through a robot that teaches the logic behind programming in a hands-on, experiential way. The founders are a team of designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs from Apple, Google, and frog design.
 

Schedule for CSEdWeek at The Tech:

Monday – Friday

10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m 

Program your way through Blockly maze puzzles with Google volunteers. 

 

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. 

Program Bo the robot to play a xylophone with the Play-i founders. 
Meet The Tech Awards 2103 laureates Globaloria and play video games designed by their students. 

 

12:00–2:00 p.m. 

Program live zombies in this life-sized version of Plants vs. Zombies.

 

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. 

Program your own digital art with Blockly Turtle Graphics. 

 

Saturday & Sunday

1:00 – 4:00 p.m. 

Program your way through Blockly maze puzzles with Google volunteers. 

Program Bo the robot to play a xylophone with the Play-i founders.

Program live zombies in this life-sized version of Plants vs. Zombies.

 

9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Program your own digital art with Blockly Turtle Graphics.

 

More on the programming stations:

All stations are great for guests with no programming experience.

Blockly Maze Puzzle station

(Recommended for ages 8 and up)
Located in The Tech Studio

Self-guided puzzles that teach the basics of computer science. In each puzzle, guests write a program that gets a character through a maze. They’ll use Blockly, a visual programming language that has blocks that they drag and drop to write programs. As they use blocks to write code, guests will be able to see the code they write represented in Javascript, a text-based language. There are short videos featuring computer science celebrities Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerbuerg, and the maze puzzles have been designed with characters from the games Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies. 

Blockly Maze Tutorial

 

The puzzles align with educational standards from Common Core, NGSS, and CSTA. Code.org designed these puzzles not only to teach basic computer science concepts, including repeat-loops, conditionals, and basic algorithms, but also to have guests see that computer science is fun, approachable, and relevant to their lives. 

 

Blockly Turtle Graphics station

(Recommended for ages 8 and up)
Located in Play.net

Guests build on their experience at the Blockly station as they use the same visual drag-and-drop programming language they used to solve the maze puzzles, but now they’ll have even more Blockly command blocks to choose from as they create their own digital masterpieces.

Blockly Turtle Graphics "The Artist" Tutorials:
Level 1 Tutorial
Level 2 Tutorial
Level 3 Tutorial
Level 4 Tutorial
Level 5 Tutorial
 

Play-i Robot Programming station

(Recommended for ages 3 and up)
Located in The Tech Studio

Guests learn to program Bo the robot to play a xylophone with the founders of Play-i, a new robot company that makes computer programming fun and accessible through a robot that teaches the logic behind programming in a hands-on, experiential way. 

 

Life-Sized Plants vs. Zombies station

(Recommended for ages 5 and up)
Located in the Atrium

Guests will get to program live zombies in this life-sized version of Plants vs. Zombies. They’ll learn to move the zombies with various Blockly-based commands as they navigate through the game, and then they’ll become the zombie as they let other guests program them!

Globaloria Games station
(Recommended for ages 8 and up)
Located in the Atrium
Meet The Tech Awards 2103 laureates Globaloria and play video games designed by their students. Globaloria, developed by MIT Media Lab and Harvard Graduate School of Education graduate, Dr. Idit Harel Caperton, is an award-winning K-12 blended learning network and catalog of digital courses to teach 6th-12th grades to design and code educational games (web/mobile) using industry-standard tools. 

80 percent of schools lack sufficient Internet

Technology is changing the way students are taught, but many schools lack the sufficient Wi-Fi and broadband access to take full advantage of the online learning opportunities.

By Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press / December 5, 2013  Christian Science Monitor

Second grade teacher Heather Black works with Ingrid Soracco, 7, right, on her e-book assignment using an iPad at Jamestown Elementary School in Arlington, Va., Nov. 25.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP


• Needed to keep a school building running these days: Water, electricity – and broadband.

Interactive digital learning on laptops and tablets is replacing traditional textbooks in many cases. Students are taking computer-based tests instead of fill-in-the bubble exams. Teachers are accessing far-off resources for lessons.

Technology is changing the way students are taught – and tested. But there's a catch: Most of it is occurring in schools that have rich connectivity to the Internet.

Although nearly every school has Internet access, classrooms frequently are not connected or the connections are super slow.

The hurdle is limited capacity inside schools to transmit data, or bandwidth.

"It's the backbone. We have to actually think not just about the sustainability of the current traffic, we're talking about exploding traffic," said Raj Adusumilli, assistant superintendent for information services in the Arlington Public Schools in northern Virginia.

The effort to get high-speed Internet access in every school got a boost Wednesday from the philanthropy of two technology gurus – Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates. Zuckerberg's Startup: Education and Gates' foundation have contributed a combined $9 million to the nonprofit EducationSuperHighway, a San Francisco-based nonprofit working to improve connectivity in schools.

"When schools and teachers have access to reliable Internet connections, students can discover new skills and ideas beyond the classroom," Mr. Zuckerberg said in a statement.

The funds are expected to be used to provide technical expertise to schools and use competition to help drive costs down.

It likely would cost billions to get high-speed Internet access to every school in America.

President Barack Obama this past summer set a goal of having 99 percent of students connected to high-speed Internet connections within five years. Also, the Federal Communications Commission is weighing changes to a program to increase connectivity in schools.

Today, about 80 percent of schools have Internet capabilities that are too slow or isolated to places like front offices and computer labs, said Richard Culatta, director of education technology at the Education Department. Many schools have the same amount of connectivity as an average home. That means several hundred kids or more operate on an Internet connection similar to that used in a house by four family members. That leads to networks that are slow and prone to crashing.

"There are many examples of fantastic things happening across the country, but they are happening in places where infrastructure is in place that supports these types of innovations," Mr. Culatta said.

At Jamestown Elementary School in Arlington, Va., first and second graders use iPads to document the growth of caterpillars for a science project or record themselves reading out loud as they make electronic books.

"It's fun. You can draw and make books and movies," said 7-year-old Braeden Meeker. "We learn writing and math. We learn a lot of things."

But one day in class, the system crashed when students tried to look up their house on a Google map.

The district has upgraded to high-speed broadband, or Internet access that is always available and faster than dialup, in middle and high schools and is in the process of doing the same in elementary schools. The district's goal is to assign a device to each student by 2017.

In some districts, particularly rural ones, cost is a huge factor in getting access to lines that would bring broadband into schools. To buy the equipment and install Wi-Fi costs an estimated $30,000 to $50,000 per school and to run fiber optics into the school can cost tens of thousands more per mile, said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway.

A lack of competition for broadband access helps drive up costs at Chautauqua County Unified Schools, a district with about 360 students in an agriculture and oil community in rural Kansas. About three-quarters of students in the district qualify for free or reduced lunches.

The district relies on distance learning to teach Spanish, physics and calculus and has issued an iPad to all students in upper grades, said Nancy Pinard, the district's technology director. Its broadband bill would be about $9,000 a month without a special Federal Communications Commission program that reduces it to $2,000 to $3,000 a month.

"My big thing is the cost of it," Pinard said. "How long will we be able to maintain where we are at just because of the cost?"

The drive for increased broadband capabilities has been fueled in part by a drop in the price of tablets and their rising popularity, said Doug Levin, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association. More apps and other educational software are available and states and districts have loosened rules to allow textbook dollars to be spent on digital learning, he said.

"It used to be OK that some students could access these opportunities and others couldn't, and the big shift is now there really is an expectation that all kids need to access" these opportunities, Mr. Levin said.

Another factor is preparation for tests connected to Common Core academic standards rolling out in most of the country. The shift to computer-based tests requires more bandwidth than many districts have.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the issue goes beyond technology in schools. About half of American children live in poverty and many of them don't have technology at home, she said.

At the same time, she questioned Zuckerberg's and Gates' motives. "So the question I have is, why are these foundations doing this now? Are they doing it because of the Common Core testing? Or, are they doing it because we want to actually help kids succeed?" Weingarten said in an interview.

A few minutes later, she amended her response. "Let me just say on the record, it's great that they want to help deal with the digital divide. I'd like for them to help with other things as well but it's great that they want to help with the divide."

Joint Workforce Development, CBO and MPICT Webinar Recording: ICT, a New Kind of Sector that Affects Almost Everything

Please feel free to share with organizations and people you think may be interested in the topic.

The next webinar will be live-cast from the California Workforce Association Youth Employment Conference, January 28 - 30, 2014.  We will have a webinar that includes both in-person and online participation.  Registration information for the webinar will be available in December.

We look forward to learning with you again soon!

Bob Lanter, Executive Director

California Workforce Association

Tim Rainey, Executive Director

California Workforce Investment Board

Barrie Hathaway, Executive Director

The Stride Center

Jennifer Riggs

California Emerging Technology Fund

James Jones, Executive Director

Mid-Pacific ICT Center (MPICT)

www.mpict.org

Study: U.S. Cities Pay More Money For Less Broadband

by Karl Bode 09:40AM Monday Oct 28 2013 DSLReports

 

A new study by the New America Foundation has found that United States fixed and wireless urban broadband customers pay significantly more for less bandwidth than their overseas counterparts. The report compared fixed and wireless broadband pricing in most of the largest United States cities to international cities such as London, Berlin, Bucharest and Zurich.

Though the United States is ranked near the bottom on price in most categories (with little to no movement year to year), the comparisons are particularly stark when it comes to triple play pricing, with no United States city even in the rankings until Bristol, Virginia shows up at 32.

"....In larger US cities, we continue to observe higher prices for slower speeds," notes the study. "In the US for example, the best deal for a 150Mbps home broadband connection from cable and phone companies is $130/month, offered by Verizon FiOS in limited parts of New York City. By contrast, the international cities we surveyed offer comparable speeds for $77 or less per month, with most coming in at about $50/month."

Things don't get much prettier when it comes to wireless pricing, notes the report.

"When it comes to mobile broadband, the cheapest price for around 2GB of data in the US ($30/month from T-Mobile) is twice as much as what users in London pay ($15/month from T-Mobile). It costs more to purchase 2GB of data in a US city than it does in any of the cities surveyed in Europe."

The report's solution shouldn't be surprising if you've been paying attention (or if you recall Google is a major funder).

"Rather than allowing American cities to fall behind, policymakers should reassess current policy approaches and implement strategies to increase competition, in turn fostering faster speeds and more affordable access."

S.F.’s tech community needs to support our schools

by Matt Haney San Francisco Examiner



Geri Lavrov/Getty Images

Skyrocketing rents. Google buses. New restaurants on every corner. There is an impassioned conversation happening in San Francisco about the latest tech boom and the deep impact it is having on the fabric and character of our city. It is a hot topic in newspapers and blogs, and San Franciscans are debating it at coffee shops, parks and dinner tables.

In all of this, one question has been conspicuously absent: What does the tech boom mean for our city’s schools? And what should we ask the tech community to do to support the next generation of San Franciscans?

As the only millennial on the San Francisco school board, I have a unique perspective. Googlers and Facebookers are my peers and friends. I believe there is an important place for them in San Francisco, and that they are here to stay. I also know that in order to build 21st-century schools and an inclusive, prosperous San Francisco, we need their help.

It is critical that we open up opportunities for all of our children to benefit from our city’s economic, cultural, and social dynamism and innovation. Far too many of our young people, particularly those in the most disadvantaged parts of our city, are increasingly unable to access the experiences and skills to stay and thrive here as adults.

Building innovative technology companies in San Francisco is admirable and a valuable contribution to our city’s economy and culture, but their presence alone is not charity. Living in a city with new startups popping up every day and tens of thousands of tech company employees has to mean something more for our kids than higher rent, fancy coffee shops and Muni delays.

There are concrete, positive actions that our tech community can take right now to help restore San Francisco’s social contract with our children and families. No student in San Francisco schools should be without a mentor, a paid internship, or access to training in coding and computer engineering. Tech companies should work with The City to establish a local-hire pipeline to recruit, develop and hire San Francisco residents. Our public schools should be hotbeds of innovation where students and teachers — at every grade level — are equipped with the latest technology and know how to use it.

Amping up the positives of a tech presence for our schools is essential, but it does not diminish the need for a serious conversation to address gentrification and affordability. The consequences of a rapidly ballooning tech sector are real, especially for children — when families are displaced or have trouble affording food or rent, there is a huge impact on students and their academic success. In fact, it is these very costs that create a heightened responsibility on the part of tech companies to our city’s kids and families.

The incentive is there for both sides: Working closely with our city’s tech sector to support our youths will break down barriers, leading to greater mutual understanding, local talent pipelines and stronger, more equitable communities.

There are already great examples of the tech community’s contributions to building 21st-century schools — Salesforce.com, Zynga, sf.citi, the Sara & Evan Williams Foundation and others have come forward to support our schools. Just this week, Mayor Ed Lee, the San Francisco Unified School District and Salesforce launched a Middle School Leadership Initiative, a comprehensive approach to transforming the middle school experience for our students including full integration of digital content and iPad technology. Building on these efforts, we need a policy-based, coordinated movement, embraced by public officials and leaders in the tech community to expand upon these promising beginnings.

It’s time to broaden public dialogue across San Francisco about what our residents expect of our tech community — not only how to address the serious challenges, but also how to build on the latest San Francisco tech expansion and create opportunities for our children, our families and our schools.

Matt Haney is a member of the Board of Education.

IT giants back project to slash Internet costs worldwide

Computerworld UK

Google, Microsoft, Cisco and Yahoo head coalition wants to ensure broadband access costs less than 5 percent of monthly incomes

By Zach Miners | IDG News Service | Published 10:40, 08 October 13

Google, Microsoft, Cisco and Yahoo have helped found the Alliance for Affordable Internet, or A4AI, a global coalition backed by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee that hopes to dramatically cut the cost of Internet access.

Households in developing countries pay roughly a third of their monthly income for a fixed Internet connection, according to figures from the International Telecommunication Union.
"The reason for the Alliance is simple -- the majority of the world's people are still not online, usually because they can't afford to be," Berners-Lee said in a statement.

A4AI has a specific goal: to make broadband service cost less than 5 percent of average monthly income.

It hopes to do that by promoting a set of policy and regulatory best practices, like allowing spectrum to be used in new ways, banning excessive tariffs on telecom equipment and ensuring competition.
In addtion to IT companies, A4AI is backed by UK Aid, US Aid and the Omidyar Network, an investment firm.

Bringing the Internet to developing countries isn't a new idea. Google already has "Project Loon," which aims to connect people in rural areas using a network of hot air balloons, and it wants to bring broadband to Africa via unused TV broadcast channels.

Only 16 percent of people in Africa use the Internet today, according to the ITU -- half the penetration seen in Asia and the Pacific.

The group will begin its work in two or three countries this year -- it didn't say which ones -- expanding to at least 10 countries by the end of 2015. It will also produce an annual affordability report, with the first edition due in December.

Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com

e-skills uk - GO ON you can do IT

New free website from e-skills UK - GO ON you can do IT - accessible at www.go-onyoucandoit.co.uk

The new free website to help individuals improve their digital skills

e-skills UK has launched GO ON you can do IT - a free website that provides a friendly and supportive means for any individual to determine their current level of digital skills, and then gives immediate learning to help improve them.

To access the new free website, please visit
GO ON you can do IT.

Four topics are available initially - using the internet, email, document creation, and safety and security online - as these are the skills considered essential by most employers, and the skills that job seekers need to search and apply for vacancies online.

We're planning to add more topics to cater for a wider range of users in future. For example, office-based skills for individuals in work, or leisure-based skills to help more people use internet banking, online shopping or local digital services. There is also the opportunity to add in bespoke topics for staff in particular organisations, for example, hospitals. We're keen to hear from organisations who might like to sponsor a topic that would be attractive to their own customers and beneficial to the public at large.

If you'd like to know more about GO ON you can do IT, feature a link on your website, or think you can help with its future development, please contact martin.harvey@e-skills.com.

The development of GO ON you can do IT has received co-investment from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills through the Employer Investment Fund.

Keep up-to-date with the news you're interested in:

Follow us on Twitter @eskillsuk Like us on Facebook
Connect with us on LinkedIn Add us to your Google+ circles

Visit www.e-skills.com

Know someone else who might be interested? Forward this email

To contact us, please e-mail newsletter@e-skills.com

Governor signs bills to expand broadband in California

By Rachelle Chong posted on October 4, 2013 Techwire

Broadband advocates are celebrating after Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday signed two bills — Senate Bill (SB) 740 (Padilla-D, Pacoima) and Assembly Bill (AB) 1299 (Bradford–D, Gardena) — that will bring more broadband access to rural Californians and disadvantaged communities. SB 740 overcame opposition from the California Cable & Telecommunications Association, but ultimately, cable reached agreement with the author on amendments and withdrew its opposition when the bill was pending in the Assembly.

SB 740 will modify the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) eligibility requirements to let the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) award funding to entities such as the Wireless Internet Service providers or other advanced technologies, and add $90 million in funds from telecom ratepayer intrastate surcharges in 2015-2020 to the CASF program for additional broadband projects in areas with no broadband service or slow broadband service (below 6 megabits per second download speed and 1.5 Mbps upload speed). AB 1299 authorizes the CPUC to award up to $25 million in CASF grants for deployment and adoption of broadband services in publicly-supported housing communities and to promote broadband development in disadvantaged communities. The CASF was established by the CPUC in 2006, and codified law by the State Legislature the next year, to bring broadband access to all of California.

“This new law continues the state’s critical investment in our digital infrastructure so that every Californian has access to broadband,” said Senator Alex Padilla, the author of SB 740, praising the governor’s signature in a written statement. “High-speed Internet service is a vital aspect of modern life – everything from communicating with friends and family to access to jobs, education, health care, public safety, government services, and commerce are facilitated by broadband connections. . . [B]roadband is a key component for economic opportunity for both individuals and communities.”

“As the 21st century economy moves online, our society is increasingly defined by those who have access to the technology and services that define modern life, and those who don’t,” said Assembly member Steven Bradford in a written statement. “The future of our economy rests on broadband and other technology infrastructure. We cannot let certain unserved and underserved communities fall behind the rest when it comes to this critical resource. I am pleased that the Governor understands the value of helping our citizens climb out of the digital shadows.”

The CPUC, who had made the initial recommendation to Senator Padilla’s office for the main program changes contained in SB740, praised the Governor’s support of the bills.

“We are pleased at the signing of these bills, as they extend broadband infrastructure where it’s needed the most to increase economic growth, employment, jobs and social benefits,” commented Ryan Dulin, the CPUC’s Communications Division director. He said it is the goal of the CPUC to promote “ubiquitous availability of advanced communications services to all Californians and not just in urban areas. “

“We are thrilled that California leaders understand how critical it is to close the Digital Divide in California to keep our state globally competitive and offer all residents access to educational and employment opportunities by being connected to the Internet,” said President and CEO Sunne Wright McPeak, of the California Emerging Technology Fund. “We now will have the resources to continue to get more Californians connected to affordable, reliable broadband, and be able to expand the Smart Housing Initiative statewide to connect more of California’s 200,000 public housing units to the Internet.”

Rural broadband community leaders were also effusive in praise for SB740, which stands to benefit rural areas in particular. While disappointed that the additional CASF funding from 2015-2020 was reduced from $125 million in the original version of SB 740 to $90 million during the bill’s passage through the state Senate and Assembly, they were pleased to have the bill pass given the early opposition by entrenched broadband interests.

“Mendocino Coast Broadband Alliance is thrilled and greatly relieved that these two bills were signed into law,” said Shirley Freriks, a leader of MCBA. “Those on dial-up [access] in Mendocino rural areas cannot even access a web site these days without waiting 30 minutes or more. . . These bills will allow all students to work from home on their computers and have equal rights with other students who have internet access. Connectivity is assumed in the educational system but most rural kids cannot participate.”

Freriks added that with broadband, small businesses, entrepreneurs, medical applications, and the tourist businesses will be able to flourish in places like Mendocino, where 80% of the businesses are small, and in Fort Bragg where local resource-based industries have disappeared. She added that Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County has a grant request in to the CPUC now that would bring fast Internet to unserved and underserved areas in 16 counties.

A 2012 Akamai report on broadband speeds shows California ranked 16th in the nation.

The Internet Is Important To Everyone Infographic