RAPID: Quantifying Hyperlocal Digital Equity: A Path to Supporting Digital Participation

这项紧急研究将通过制定短期即时干预措施，为长期数字公平基础设施提供信息，迅速解决COVID-19如何使生活在已经被系统性差距边缘化的社区的人们无法维持数字鸿沟的问题。随着许多服务转向在线交付，突然之间，社会中最脆弱的成员被期望拥有并掌握最复杂的人工制品：日常生活所需的硬件、软件和互联网。该项目的目标是：(1)收集社区数据，以了解疫情期间个人在向数字卫生、教育和人力服务转变方面面临的知识障碍，以及这些数字差距的社会结构根源；(2)制定自下而上和数据驱动的社区数字参与指标，以评估社区联盟在匹兹堡两个社区的家庭分配硬件和互联网接入方面正在进行的工作的影响；(3)量化这些社区内的数字专业知识并估算培训成本；(4)与社区组织和居民领导密切合作，设计点对点数字参与干预措施，以培训居民成为社区数字大使，解决已确定的数字参与障碍。该项目的创新之处在于制定了一个框架，在超地方层面量化数字公平，并设计了定制的工具和流程，以支持基于社区的数字大使计划。本研究旨在回答以下问题：(1)除了硬件和宽带接入之外，与数字参与的超本地障碍相关的因素是什么？(2)如何将这一见解转化为模型，为人类服务提供商和政策制定者提供支持数字公平的信息？(3)如何利用这种洞察力来开发有效的基于社区的数字大使计划？研究结果将探讨技术学习与扩散的超本地、社区因素，从而补充创新扩散与学习、社会动员和区域经济发展方面的现有研究和理论。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。

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.