Work

Susan Crawford has an important piece in today’s New York Times: The New Digital Divide. Here’s a snip:

Over the last decade, cheap Web access over phone lines brought millions to the Internet. But in recent years the emergence of services like video-on-demand, online medicine and Internet classrooms have redefined the state of the art: they require reliable, truly high-speed connections, the kind available almost exclusively from the nation’s small number of very powerful cable companies. Such access means expensive contracts, which many Americans simply cannot afford.

While we still talk about “the” Internet, we increasingly have two separate access marketplaces: high-speed wired and second-class wireless. High-speed access is a superhighway for those who can afford it, while racial minorities and poorer and rural Americans must make do with a bike path.

Hundreds of people here in Chicago have worked in a sustained way on matters of the Digital Divide here in our city. Much progress has been made, including expanded programs at libraries and increased capacity at other public computer centers. Lots of applications are being built for both high-speed and lower-speed Internet connections.

She outlines good news on the connectivity front:

True, Americans of all stripes are adopting smartphones at breakneck speeds…

These numbers are likely to grow even starker as the 30 percent of Americans without any kind of Internet access come online. When they do, particularly if the next several years deliver subpar growth in personal income, they will probably go for the only option that is at all within their reach: wireless smartphones. A wired high-speed Internet plan might cost $100 a month; a smartphone plan might cost half that, often with a free or heavily discounted phone thrown in.

But highlights an underlying problem:

The problem is that smartphone access is not a substitute for wired. The vast majority of jobs require online applications, but it is hard to type up a résumé on a hand-held device; it is hard to get a college degree from a remote location using wireless. Few people would start a business using only a wireless connection.

As the market progresses, and technology advances, the original way we conceived of the “divide” morphs into something more sophisticated. Smart Chicago is working toward a day when reliable, high-speed access— and the transformative power of the applications that run on those networks— is everywhere.

Smart Chicago is proud to help fund the City of Chicago’s Code for America project, which will allow the City to conform with the Open311 standard and help citizens and government officials collaborate to solve problems and make the city better. Here’s a snip from the project page on Code for America:

Chicago was an early adopter of 311 — a system that connects residents directly with the local government for non-emergency needs — and now it is a popular method for citizen requests for government services in the city. Their system, however, is phone-based and so closed to the wide range of digital mediums people use to communicate. There’s tremendous opportunity to leverage web-based technology to redefine and renovate 311 in Chicago.

Here’s what Mayor Rahm Emanuel had to say when the project was announced:

“The City of Chicago is breaking ground every day, increasing efficiency and delivering services in innovative ways,” said Mayor Emanuel. “As I said during my campaign, ‘Open311’ is long overdue and something we should pursue. Through this important project, Code for America will help modernize the way service requests are received, executed and tracked, and better serve Chicagoans.”

The project begins in February 2012– stay tuned for more updates on the fellows and how you can get involved in funding, coding, and app development.

Here’s some pictures from a great earned computer event at the Auburn Gresham Family Net Center Grand Opening.