{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T17:23:07Z","timestamp":1754155387600,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,18]],"date-time":"2020-06-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1592438400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JICES"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,18]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The digital divide has persisted in California and the USA as a whole at approximately the same level for the past decade. This is despite multiple programs being created and billions of dollars being spent to close it. This paper examines why the efforts to date have been ineffective and to offers policy alternatives that might be more successful.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Using data from three, variable constrained projects in California, this paper examines the effectiveness of information-based outreach efforts at closing the digital divide. The projects tested various outreach and enrollment methods to see which, if any, could increase broadband adoption in low-income households.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This project found that providing low-income households\u2019 information about low-cost broadband offerings was ineffective at closing the digital divide. The findings in this paper were similar to those of two other works that examined the federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The findings of this paper along with the works cited that evaluated the BTOP program should be enough to change public policy. For the past ten years, efforts to close the digital divide have focused on providing information to low-income households. However, two independent surveys show broadband adoption has remained virtually flat during that period.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Social implications<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The digital divide brings concomitant economic and education harms and challenges that plague those unable to access information, services, educational and employment opportunities with the same ease, speed and sufficiency as their connected peers and neighbors. Those harms exacerbate the already existing education and income divides. This paper shows that without a change in strategy, those harms will persist.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec>\n<jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This paper breaks new ground and addresses one of the weaknesses identified in existing research. To the best of author\u2019s knowledge, this is the first paper of its type to use programs designed to generate data that can be empirically evaluated for effectiveness. Prior studies attempted to assess program effectiveness by using data generated from fully implemented government programs. However, those programs contained a vast number of unidentified variables and insufficient data collection. They were not designed to facilitate academic evaluation, and as such made a true effectiveness evaluation challenging.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/jices-04-2020-0041","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,19]],"date-time":"2020-06-19T13:36:12Z","timestamp":1592573772000},"page":"431-459","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Broadband adoption in urban and suburban California: information-based outreach programs ineffective at closing the digital divide"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Lloyd","family":"Levine","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"article-title":"American recovery and reinvestment act","year":"2009","author":"ARRA","key":"key2020080406595004900_ref001"},{"volume-title":"Twitter Users Send 50 Million Tweets per Day \u2013 Almost 600 Tweets Are Sent Every Second through the Microblogging Site, according to Its Own Metrics","year":"2010","key":"key2020080406595004900_ref002"},{"volume-title":"Broadband Internet Connectivity and the \u201cDigital Divide\u201d in CA \u2013 2017","year":"2017","author":"Berkeley Institute for Government Studies, UC Berkeley","key":"key2020080406595004900_ref003"},{"volume-title":"Internet Connectivity and the \u201cDigital Divide\u201d in CA \u2013 2019","year":"2019","author":"Berkeley Institute for Government Studies, UC Berkeley","key":"key2020080406595004900_ref004"},{"key":"key2020080406595004900_ref005","unstructured":"California Department of Finance (2018), \u201c(CA\/dof)\u201d, available at: www.dof.ca.gov\/Forecasting\/Demographics\/Estimates\/E-1\/"},{"key":"key2020080406595004900_ref006","unstructured":"California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC) (2016), Digital Access Project Final Report \u2013 June 2016."},{"key":"key2020080406595004900_ref007","unstructured":"California Law (2002), \u201cPublic utility code section 709\u201d, available at: http:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=709.&lawCode=PUC"},{"key":"key2020080406595004900_ref008","unstructured":"California Law (2017), \u201cPublic utility code sections 281, 912.2, and 914.7\u201d, Assembly Bill 1665-Chapter 851 Statutes of 2017, available at: http:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1665&search_keywords=broadband"},{"key":"key2020080406595004900_ref009","unstructured":"Carmel Group (2017), Ready for Takeo: Broadband Wireless Access Providers Prepare to Soar with Fixed Wireless THE BWA INDUSTRY REPORT: 2017, available at: https:\/\/carmelgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/TCG_2017_BWA_Full_Report.pdf"},{"key":"key2020080406595004900_ref010","unstructured":"Charter Press Release (2017), available at: https:\/\/newsroom.charter.com\/press-releases\/charter-industry-standard-low-cost-broadband-families-seniors\/"},{"key":"key2020080406595004900_ref011","unstructured":"City of San Jose and CETF (2019), \u201cSan Jos\u00e9 launches digital inclusion fund to close the digital divide. 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