Worst-connected U.S. cities in 2014

American Community Survey data for 2014 came out last Thursday, and we now have our second edition of the nation's "worst-connected cities", released this year by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance.

Out of 184 U.S. cities with more than 50,000 households, NDIA's release lists the 25 worst-connected in terms of

• percent of all households in 2014 with no home Internet access of any kind
• percent of households with incomes below $35,000 that lacked Internet subscriptions (including dial-up or mobile).

Here's a handy map...


This is only the second time the Census has published household Internet numbers, and the exact percentages and rankings for 2014 vary somewhat from the 2013 list, reflecting the fact that ACS data is based on random surveys and always shows some year-to-year inconsistency. But overall, the two lists are pretty similar.

Internet access and personal health records

Posted elsewhere today on the subject of digital inclusion and personal health records:

(CYC 2.0) MetroHealth study finds “emerging inequality” in online health record adoption

(National Digital Inclusion Alliance) Lifeline comments: Maximize impact of Lifeline broadband on personal health record adoption

Here's CHRP's "Emerging Inequality: presentation" (on which I'm listed as a co-author, because they used CYC digital divide information as background).

And here's the killer chart...

FCC Lifeline comments: Cheap broadband is necessary but not sufficient

(I wrote the following for submission to the FCC as part of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance's comments on "Lifeline modernization", which includes FCC Chairman Wheeler's proposal to add a broadband Internet option to the Federal Lifeline telephone program.This was NDIA's response to paragraph 17 of the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which says: "The ability to use and participate in the economy increasingly requires broadband for education, health care, public safety, and for persons with disabilities to communicate on par with their peers. As we ensure that Lifeline is restructured for the 21st Century, we want to ensure that any Lifeline offering is sufficient for consumers to participate in the economy.")

The Commission's goals for Lifeline Modernization include not just more access to the Internet for low-income households, but meaningful social and economic outcomes of that access in the areas of education, health care, public safety, and improved opportunities for low-income disabled Americans.

Affordable broadband access is necessary, but not sufficient, to produce those desired outcomes.