Research

This booklet shows the job opportunities in your rural telecommunications company. These positions are not from a specific company and titles vary from company to company, but the job titles and descriptions provide an idea of the various roles at a rural telecommunications company. Often positions at telecommunications companies can allow a person to remain in their rural community. Typically, companies are willing to train new employees to develop skills needed for the industry.

The Center for Digital Equity (CDE) at Queens University of Charlotte has released its first-ever Annual Collective Impact Report, showcasing the progress its digital equity work has made in bridging the digital divide in Charlotte (NC) communities. The CDE’s Annual Report highlights the collective impact of its partnership with residents, partners, and stakeholders in fervently addressing the needs of all people living in Mecklenburg County (NC). From July 2022 – June 2023, thehe CDE:

New broadband funding programs necessitate dramatic reforms to old programs. In its report, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) recommends reversing the status quo and sustaining the Affordable Connectivity Program by shrinking the redundant hodgepodge of federal broadband programs. With so much at stake, it is more important than ever to ensure that broadband funding helps those who need it, and the right programs are sustainable. ITIF says that as things now stand, federal broadband programs are dangerously out of balance.

The Aspen Institute's Principles for Latino Digital Success were conceived as a series of guidelines to inform the design and implementation of effective digital equity efforts targeting the Latino community in the United States. Our generation is responsible for maximizing the impact of these Federal investments. We have a unique chance to build the foundations of a better society with equal opportunities for everyone to succeed and thrive and for the US economy to remain at the forefront of global innovation.

Discussions about funding for social programs are too often framed along predictable partisan lines. However, the reality on the ground is frequently more complex, and the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is no exception.

In July 2013, activists first used the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag to spark conversation about racism, violence and the criminal justice system following George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Ten years later, Black Lives Matter stands as a model of a new generation of social movements intrinsically linked to social media.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program holds out tremendous opportunity to close the broadband availability gap.

Digital equity is a core social driver of health. Digital equity refers to the condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy and economy.

All five major social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter—received low and failing scores for the second consecutive year. The platforms continue to fail at enforcing the safeguarding of LGBTQ users from online hate speech, fail at providing transparency in the use of LGBTQ-specific user data and fail in expressing commitments to protecting LGBTQ users, specifically, policies and commitments to protect transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming users from being targeted. Twitter is the most dangerous platform for LGBTQ people.

Evidence of political, psychological, medical, and cultural harms associated with social media continues to mount, particularly in light of the many revelations contained within the documents and testimony shared by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. In many countries, efforts to impose regulatory safeguards related to the social responsibilities of these platforms are underway. In the US, however, we have seen relatively little consequential action at the federal level beyond ongoing antitrust inquiries, a continuing array of congressional hearings, and a series of bills that show few