What We Know About the Human Infrastructure of Broadband
The vast majority of funding in the immense Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is focused on building physical networks to locations where people are unconnected or insufficiently connected. Investments and research have traditionally privileged the wires and poles of broadband infrastructure without accounting for or making explicit the human infrastructure needed to enable digital opportunity. But fiber-optic cables may just be glass in the ground if people cannot subscribe to and use high-speed internet access. The human infrastructure of broadband is the necessary social and relational complement to the work of building physical infrastructure. The human infrastructure of broadband helps people—including, but not limited to, traditionally marginalized groups—access and make meaningful use of broadband. Whether it is a librarian helping a veteran fill out an online benefits application at a public computer, a digital navigator assisting a senior citizen in signing up for affordable home broadband, a digital skills trainer teaching social media privacy in Spanish, or a device refurbisher helping students find devices to use at home—all comprise the human infrastructure of broadband.
What We Know About the Human Infrastructure of Broadband