Global Resources and Promising Practices for Building and Refining Accessible and Inclusive Smart Cities from Darren Bates LLC.
Digital Inclusion is the ability of individuals and groups to equitably access and use information and communication technologies.
Smart City must ensure all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, have access to, and use of, Smart City information and communication technologies (ICTs).
This includes 5 elements: 1) affordable, robust broadband Internet service; 2) Internet-enabled devices that meet the needs of the user; 3) access to digital literacy training; 4) quality technical support; and 5) applications and online content designed to enable and encourage self-sufficiency, participation, and collaboration.
Digital Equity ensures all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy.
Digital Equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services
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Reiterating the importance technology, Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government wants to create a digital ecosystem, which leads to digital inclusion.Speaking at a conclave on ‘Financial Inclusion’ organised by the United Nations, the Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and law & Justice said, “This is the age of technology, and technology is power; and…
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Smart Cities NYC ’17: How to make urban areas inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities Length: 2:00 | May 9, 2017 Every city should have a chief accessibility officer to ensure inclusiveness for people with disabilities, according to Victor Pineda, president of World Enabled, which partnered with Microsoft for the creation of the Smart Cities for All Toolkit Video Source:http://www.techrepublic.com/videos/share/smart-cities-nyc-17-how-to-make-smart-cities-inclusive-and-accessible/
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Inclusion Summit Yoo, who is Senior VP for Corporate Affairs at Cisco, says over the years Cisco’s Networking Academy has benefited over 3,000 students with disabilities and the company has made a commitment to more than triple that number in the next five years. “We believe that helping people with disabilities develop technical skills is a win-win,” writes Woo. “It…
Read MoreConcern that the proliferation of smart cites will widen the gap between persons with disabilities, aging communities and the rest of the population is the impetus behind the global Defining Accessible Smart Cities Initiative. Learn more about the effort to infuse accessibility into smart cities programs. Source: Smart Cities Council | Making smart cities more accessible for people with disabilities…
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Last month at Smart Cities NYC 2017, nonprofits G3ict and World Enabled launched their Smart Cities for All toolkit to help city leaders, urban planners and technology companies design accessible and inclusive smart cities for all citizens. It contains four tools to help smart cities include a focus on ICT accessibility and the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities and…
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Maps That You Can Hear and Touch Sighted people read maps almost every day. Maps help us get off at the right subway station, grasp global affairs, plan museum trips, and remember the new office floorplan. And our use of maps, and sense of what they represent, is based almost entirely on looking at them. So it’s disorienting to think…
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The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is an independent research and innovation lab that focuses on educating children in a rapidly changing media landscape. Source: Joan Ganz Cooney Center – Advancing Children’s Learning in a Digital Age
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The quality of families’ Internet connections, and the kinds and capabilities of devices they can access, have considerable consequences for parents and children alike,” the report states. “When Internet access is intermittent — either because families have trouble paying monthly service charges or are using the Internet only in community locations — they face constraints on what they can…
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Compassionate Cities Initiative Compassionate Cities is a Smart Cities Council initiative to raise awareness about ways communities can reduce suffering and improve the lives of vulnerable populations through the use of digital technologies already being applied to solve other city challenges. Click here to learn more about the initiative – and scroll down for articles highlighting how technology is helping…
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Digital Inclusion Broadband Pilot Program Currently the pilot program is delivering free 1 Gigabit broadband, and at least one desktop computer, to community rooms at the 10 selected affordable housing complexes, allowing K-12 students and their parents without broadband or computers in their home to walk downstairs and access the internet for homework help and research. “Broadband is no…
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ConnectHome is a public-private collaboration to narrow the digital divide for families with school-age children who live in HUD-assisted housing. ConnectHome creates a platform for community leaders, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and private industry to join together and produce locally-tailored solutions for narrowing the digital divide. Through these stakeholders’ specific commitments to provide free or low-cost broadband access, devices, and digital…
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A 2015 study by a University of Tennessee economist found that Chattanooga’s much heralded smart grid and citywide gigabit Internet service had resulted in at least 2,800 new jobs and added $865.3 million to the local economy. The figure was due to a reduction in power outages resulting in part from smart grid technologies provided by S&C Electric Co., plus…
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It’s difficult to understand how, in 2017, the digital divide still exists. And it doesn’t just exist in developing countries – one report suggests 14% of people in Europe have never used the Internet. And 2015 U.S. Census data found about one-fifth of Americans don’t have Internet access at home. The good news is that we’re regularly seeing new initiatives…
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