Research on Community Technology's Impact in Washington State

A Study of Community Technology in Washington State

In the summer of 2007, the University of Washington Information School conducted a phone survey across 211 agencies in the state identified as community technology providers. This was a collaborative statewide project involving the WSU Center to Bridge the Digital Divide, the University of Washington Information School, Stone Soup, NPower Seattle, The City of Seattle Department of Information Technology, and OneEconomy.

• 47 of the 211 agencies completed the survey, and 7 sites were visited for more in-depth study.
• This was combined with earlier data to provide a snapshot of CT in Washington State.
• Findings indicate both the impact that CT is having on communities, as well as barriers being faced.

Findings were presented at two Senate Committee hearings in November 2007:

• Economic Development, Trade & Management Committee CCN ETD hearing.pdf
• Water, Energy and Telecommunications Committee CCN WET hearing.pdf

Findings: How Many People Served?
Based on information from about half of the known community technology providers in the state– we know that these agencies serve:
99,467 unique users per year.

Weekly counts show that on average, a user visits 14 times during the year.

Resulting in an estimated total of over 1 million (1,392,538) visits per year.

Benefits

The study showed these benefits:

Employment/Economic Benefits
• Developed job skills that prepared them for getting a job
• Empowered to obtain additional technical skills
• Helped gain employment
• Helping users to get a better paying job
• More skilled work force
• Better educated population

Academic Skills and Literacy
• Providing references and/or resumes for college or jobs
• Academic improvement like raising math scores one letter grade
• Preparing users to obtain a GED or go to college
• Connecting families to technology
• Ability to help school aged children

Social Inclusion and Personal Growth
• Relationship building/friendship
• Staying out of trouble
• Developing or expanding interests
• Tangible skill development (e.g. leadership, public speaking)
• Providing connections to community leaders
• Building confidence and elevating expectations
• Improving family relationships
• Keeping kids safe by checking their online activities
• Motivate users to take action in their communities
• Community building

Barriers
These were barriers to greater success for the programs:

Inadequate staffing or instructors
• “Not enough staffing. Kids must be supervised in the CTC but there are not enough people to monitor kids and give them computer access.”
~ Delridge Neighborhood Development Association, Seattle

Funding issues
• “It is easier to get technology funding than staff funding.”
~ Reel Grrls, Seattle
• “The organization currently lacks the requisite money to replace their aging desktop and laptop computers.”
~ Washington CASH, Seattle

Insufficient space, computers or technologies
• “Once I wanted to study the computers, but there wasn’t room.”
~ Yesler Terrace, Seattle
• “It’s hard to run an Internet business with no bandwidth.”
~ Stone Soup, Republic