Government Technology
Maryland Announces Its Digital Service Leadership Team
Maryland has named the senior leadership team for its Digital Service, an IT department division that launched in January. The Digital Service aims to improve residents’ access to digital services and benefits, lower the costs of providing these services and help state agencies offer “well-designed and user-centered digital experiences.” Rather than rely on vendors or contractors for this work, the state chose to make the Digital Service an in-house team of full-time employees.
Experts Analyze Court Ruling Against E-Rate Funding Source
A recent federal court ruling is unlikely to mean the permanent end of the E-rate program that funds school telecommunication services, but the program's future is still uncertain. On a recent webinar, attorneys Sean Lev and Andy Schwartzman emphasized the recent ruling will have no near-term effects on E-rate.
Connecting Older New Yorkers Through Skills Training, AI
Online classes for older adults are increasingly helping the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) not only raise digital skill levels—but more efficiently implement other technology to serve clients, including artificial intelligence.
Getting Connected: How Wide Is the Digital Divide?
North Carolina has about 400,000 homes and businesses either not served by high-speed Internet or with woefully inadequate service. North Carolina, like every state and U.S. territory, is in the throes of getting a clearer understanding—than perhaps ever before—of just how wide their digital divides are. They have organized state broadband offices, generally within technology agencies, to count, quantify and analyze the depth of the problem.
States Work to Make Digital Services Accessible for All
People with disabilities regularly face accessibility challenges while using government websites. Solving these challenges has become more urgent, for two reasons. First, COVID-19 pushed more of life online, and it is often easier now to do business digitally than in person. Second, the U.S.
California Contemplates Cuts to Middle-Mile Broadband Build
State budget woes will not derail a major broadband infrastructure project in California, but cuts will be made.
The Areas Hit Hardest by the End of the ACP Internet Subsidy
After the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program on June 1, Government Technology analyzed enrollment data published by the White House to determine where state and local government leaders might expect to see the biggest impact as a result of the end of the program. While California, New York, Texas, Florida and Ohio had the largest numbers of Internet subscribers
When Counting Broadband Users, Remember Connected Vehicles
Broadband infrastructure may be the latest public utility connecting homes and businesses, but it’s also foundational to the emergence of “smart roads” and autonomous vehicles (AVs). Much of the discussion around broadband expansion has been focused, appropriately, on connecting large swaths of the nation with no Internet or less-than-stellar infrastructure.
North Carolina Representatives, Superintendents Rally to Save Affordable Connectivity Program
The Affordability Connectivity Program, a federal program that helped lower-income households pay their Internet bills and connect to the Internet, fully expires at the end of May, but Rep Kathy Manning (D-NC) is calling for it to continue. Rep Manning enlisted Guilford County and Rockingham County schools superintendents and State Senator Michael Garrett (D-27), to help make the case. Rockingham County Superintendent John Stover said the school district invested effort and dollars, alongside other partners, toward expanding infrastructure for families to access the Internet in the county.