SaTC: CORE: Small: Safeguarding and Enhancing the Experience of Public Internet Users.

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The ready availability of computing resources such as word processing, social media, and broadband Internet access has become a social and economic necessity. However, the way in which those resources are accessed is influenced by larger issues of social and economic inequality. Those who do not have their own computer to access digital resources must rely on public computing systems such as those offered by public libraries. This population faces a unique set of challenges: their computing lives are resource-limited, transient, and less private and secure than those who own their computers and access the Web through broadband at home. Public Internet users’ engagement with library computers is somewhat analogous to the way people experiencing physical homelessness relate to a temporary shelter: the facility may provide basic necessities and be an essential resource for them, but it is not a substitute for the many benefits and control people have in their personal home. This project seeks to understand and mitigate the challenges faced by people who must use public resources to connect to the Internet and fully use its resources. A key contribution will be the development of a hybrid software-hardware prototype device. The device would allow a person to have a seamless, secure computing session carried out and maintained on the device. This project includes the design of a functional prototype, and iterative tests of the device in collaboration with members of the target population, incorporating their experiences in the design process. For those persons, the lack of secure, private computing resources undermines their participation in new forms of civic involvement. This work can lead to a new, inexpensive, and easily replicated technology that could be adopted widely by public libraries in many different communities. Doing so would address the security and functional challenges of citizens without private Internet access and advance the goal of a secure and trustworthy cyberspace. This societal benefit will address the needs of under-represented and under-served populations and ameliorate key aspects of the unequal distribution of the risks and resources associated with online life for some of our most vulnerable citizens.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.