Archiv Detail

Vortragende Person/Vortragende Personen:
Dr. Wenhong Chen (Associate professor of media studies and sociology, the co-director of Center for Entertainment and Media Industries, and a Distinguished Scholar in the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at UT Austin)

Google Fiber, promising super-fast internet connections, has generated great attention and expectation since its debut in 2011. In spite of early optimism, its impact has been framed as 1) spurring telecom incumbents to offer comparable broadband service and 2) providing policy lessons on the challenges of public and private partnership for infrastructure deployment. Yet, few empirical studies have systematically examined the adoption and impact of Google Fiber. Drawing on a household survey of a hard-to-access, disadvantaged population, interviews and participant observation, our research sheds light on some of the most fundamental digital inequality issues in marginalized communities through the case of Google Fiber adoption and impacts. First,  we develop the concept of core tech support networks to show that there must be the right kind of social connections to bridge the digital divides. Second, besides the expectation gaps, community intervention such as digital inclusion programs and promotional neighborhood events were significant contributors that increased Google Fiber adoption. Third, Google Fiber provided public housing residents critical service for communication, entertainment, and education during the COVID-19 Pandemic. These findings have policy implications, emphasizing the coordination of the public, private, and non-profit sectors to connect disadvantaged urban residents with a digital future.

Zoom link available by e-mail