Citizen Scientist Broadband Data Collection

Presenters

Charlotte Bewersdorff, Vice President for Community Engagement, Merit Network

Dr. Johannes Bauer, Quello, Chair for Media and Information Policy, Michigan State University

5 million households with school-aged children in the US lack access to broadband, creating the “homework gap,” which is likely to reinforce socio-economic divides that limit opportunities for households on the margins. Access to and use of the internet has become an integral component of everyday life in the 21st century. It is imperative for communities to leverage broadband network access for education, telemedicine, public safety and workforce development to maintain the quality of life. This presentation will explore the Michigan Moonshot’s approach to crowdsourced broadband availability data. We will also discuss preliminary results from our pilot data collection efforts and the ways in which communities might leverage data collection to better inform their broadband plans.