Associate Professor Colin Rhinesmith has authored a new book examining how community coalitions address digital inequality and strengthen democracy.
Rhinesmith's Digital Equity Ecosystems: How Community Coalitions Reduce Inequality and Strengthen Democracy, published by University of California Press, introduces the concept of "digital equity ecosystems" to describe how community coalitions work to alleviate technological inequity and social injustice.
The book is the first in-depth look at how cross-sector coalitions—led by local governments, philanthropic organizations, and community members—address information needs and opportunities. The coalitions' work includes environmental sustainability, featuring examples of technology refurbishers, who provide low-cost computers to individuals and families while keeping e-waste out of landfills.
"This book is really about the groundswell of human activity, in the form of community coalitions, focused on helping people to meet their information and technology needs and to achieve their goals and aspirations using technology," Rhinesmith said. "It's a hopeful book filled with stories of everyday people doing impactful things with others in their community, particularly after realizing they could do more when working in coalitions."
Drawing on theories and concepts from information, communication, technology, and public health studies, Rhinesmith argues that understanding digital equity ecosystems—environments in which digital inclusion practices occur—is essential to addressing urgent digital inequalities.
"The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the depth of the digital divide, which many people did not know existed until they saw individuals and families in their communities relying on internet access outside of closed schools and libraries," he said. "In response, there was a significant increase in the number of cross-sector coalitions working to help people gain access. I wrote this book to describe how these coalitions do this work not only to provide information access, but also to combat digital inequity and social injustice."
The book presents five case studies of digital equity ecosystems in Chicago, Illinois; Baltimore, Maryland; San Antonio, Texas; Essex County, Massachusetts; and Los Angeles County, California. Through these examples, Rhinesmith examines coalition development, community contexts, ecosystem threats, and ecosystem health, providing a framework for understanding how communities work together to advance digital equity.
Rhinesmith is an associate professor and director of the Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Lab in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research contributes to the fields of community informatics, engaged scholarship, and information policy. Rhinesmith earned his PhD in library and information science from Illinois.