SCC-PG: Building Resilience during Disasters through Digital Inclusion of Older Adults: A Smart and Connected Community Research Initiative

智能和互联社区对于在COVID大流行等灾害期间和之后的社区复原力至关重要。那些因无法接入互联网或缺乏有效使用互联网的技能而经历数字鸿沟的人，可能会对他们的适应能力产生有害影响。研究表明，较贫穷的社区，特别是这些社区的老年人，特别容易受到数字鸿沟的影响。拥有数字化能力的老年人和残疾人社区不仅要做好准备，防止或尽量减少灾害对健康/生命、生计、财产和环境造成损害的风险，而且还要有能力在危机发生后迅速恢复并恢复日常生活和生计。这项研究将确定关键参数，以加强与流行病和灾害有关的老年人的恢复和复原力规划。它将为确定提高社区应对环境的复原力和能力所需的基本支柱奠定基础。这项与主要利益相关者，德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校（UTSA），西区社区伙伴关系，研发联盟，圣安东尼奥市（COSA）和圣安东尼奥绿洲研究所以及Goodwill的合作提案将采用基于对社区合作，凝聚力，用户社区数字需求和挑战的理解的使用启发研究方法。这项规划奖助金的重点有两方面：1)通过一项试点研究，研究并确定西区老年人使用技术的障碍，西区是圣安东尼奥市最贫穷的社区之一。2)在试点研究的基础上，制定一项全国性研究计划（例如，亚特兰大与亚特兰大地区委员会合作），研究如何通过提高社区凝聚力和不同社区的数字包容来提高可扩展战略的障碍，从而提高生活质量。这项研究将影响劳动力和微型企业的弹性，这些企业受到这些较贫穷社区中老年人作为所有者、员工和客户的数字访问和扫盲挑战的影响。与该项目有关的学习单元将教育学生和老年人如何提高应急复原力，并为应急人员和组织举办讲习班，介绍社区支持的应急措施。研究成果将包括关于复原力措施、老年人和残疾人社区复原力建设、基于用户的协作研究框架以及数字干预措施评估的白皮书。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Smart and connected communities are critically important for community resilience during and after disasters such as the COVID pandemic. Those who experience the digital divide through lack of access to the Internet or the lack of skills to use it effectively can experience a deleterious effect on their resilience. Research shows that poorer communities, especially older adults in those communities, are particularly vulnerable to the digital divide. A digitally empowered older and disabled community will not only be prepared to prevent or minimize the risk of damage to health/life, livelihood, property, and the environment due to disasters but also have the ability to quickly recover from and return to their everyday life and livelihood after a crisis. This research will identify critical parameters to enhance recovery and resilience planning of older adults related to pandemics and disasters. It will provide a foundation for identifying essential pillars needed for increasing a community's resilience and capability in responding to their environment. This collaborative proposal with primary stakeholders, the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Westside Community Partnership, the R&D league, City of San Antonio (COSA) and San Antonio Oasis Institute, and Goodwill will employ a use-inspired research approach, grounded in an understanding of community cooperativeness, cohesiveness, user community digital needs and challenges. The focus of this planning grant is two-fold: 1) research and identify the obstacles to the use of technology by the older adults on the West Side, one of the poorest communities in the City of San Antonio through a pilot study and 2) based on the pilot, develop a plan for a national study (for example, Atlanta in partnership with Atlanta Regional Commission) on the roadblocks to enhancing scalable strategies to enhance the quality of life through improved community cohesiveness, and digital inclusion of divergent communities. This research will impact the resilience of the workforce and micro-businesses that are affected by the digital access and literacy challenges of older adults in these poorer communities as owners, employees, and customers. Learning modules related to this project will educate students and older adults on mechanisms for improving emergency resilience and conduct workshops for emergency responders and organizations about the community-supported response. Research output will include white papers on measures of resilience, resilience building of older and disabled communities, collaborative user-based research frameworks, and evaluation of digital interventions.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.