Watertown Commission on Disability

Computer/internet literacy and access to hardware, software, and broadband is becoming more and more important for participation in civic life and access to government services. This recently published report from ICI addresses these issues and offers some solutions.

Institute for Community Inclusion National E-News 7/2/07

ICI Bridges Digital Divide

 Certain hard-to-reach populations within the United States and the United Kingdom are being excluded from online government services and transactions (e-government) through lack of access. These groups of individuals, including rural, poor, senior, disabled, and/or ethnic-minority populations, and their degree of access to e-government were the focus of a six-month study conducted by Heike Boeltzig, a research associate with ICI, and Doria Pilling, a UK researcher.

Their report identifies the technical and social barriers currently limiting access to e-government in these two countries, and examines how individuals currently without access could benefit most from the use of online government services. Also, the authors propose their own 10 recommendations for increasing access to and use of the Internet among the hard-to-reach.