Media Metrics

Since 2009, the federal government has funded 232 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) digital training and access projects nationwide. New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) is a partner on two of them, in Detroit and Philadelphia. As these programs draw to a close at the end of 2012, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are taking stock of the impact and outcomes of one of the largest and most comprehensive digital inclusion efforts ever undertaken.

As federal and local authorities continue efforts to close the digital divide in the United States, innovative researchers are using new approaches to understand why some people “adopt” broadband—and why others choose to remain offline.

• Version 1 of the Media Policy Initiative’s latest information community case study, The Research Triangle, North Carolina: A region oflocallyowned media outlets and entrepreneurs on the verge, was posted to the website on Sept. 16. Fiona Morgan has reported on the “information health” of the Triangle area, i.e. Durham, Wake, Orange, and Chatham counties, according to The Knight Commission Report on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy.

In the coming month, New America’s MPI team will publish three more case studies of “information communities” across the country. These reports will assess the availability of quality, local-level information and the capacity of individuals to engage with it in three metro areas:

"Infection in our Health Care System," an hour-long investigation by Media Mobilizing Project (MMP) into the local impacts of the healthcare crisis, premiered May 18 on PhillyCAM, the new public access cable station serving the people of Philadelphia.