Colin Rhinesmith, GSLIS doctoral candidate and Information in Society Fellow, was recently featured on DMLcentral, the Digital Media and Learning (DML) Initiative blog. In a video interview, Rhinesmith talks about his study of the Philadelphia Free Library Hot Spots program. He found that creating an atmosphere of safety, trust, support, and respect was integral to community broadband adoption.
Colin Rhinesmith was the lead researcher on the two-year Hot Spots program, which focused on providing access to technology and library services to underserved Philadelphia neighborhoods. Rhinesmith studied what effects this public engagement model had on community member’s everyday experiences with technology. He presented his findings to a group of junior scholars and mentors at the 2012 DML Summer Research Associates Institute in Boston.
During the evaluation process, Rhinesmith discovered that comfort was an essential factor in community broadband adoption. He describes this idea of comfort as one that includes safety, trust, support, and respect…[the] video explores how these findings, which focus on community use of technology in collaborative spaces, can help inform future strategies around federally funded broadband adoption programs.
Rhinesmith’s study was published last fall in a special issue on broadband adoption in the International Journal of Communication.
The DMLcentral blog is produced by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, whose mission is to advance research in the service of a more equitable, participatory, and effective ecosystem of learning keyed to the digital and networked era. It is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative.