Do you want to apply for retirement benefits? Check your bank balance? Talk back to the TV? Look for a job? Help your kid with her homework? Keep up with the news?
Better be able to afford and, more important, know how to use technology – not just an old-fashioned computer but a range of technology tools including smartphones, the expanding social media options, email, Internet and whatever comes next.
Again this year, the City of Minneapolis set forth to survey the state of community technology. Some 3211 residents responded to the survey. The report is out (online, of course) and a series of community meetings is in process.
The biggest change since the 2012 survey is the expansion of mobile access. Internet enabled mobile phones is higher in 2013, even among those households less likely to own a computer. An interesting note is the fact that, of adults over the age of 45, women were much more likely than men to have cellphones with the ability to access the Internet.
A telling fact is that, while 90% of white households have computers, only 65% of Black/African American respondents have Internet access at home. Among the respondents with children in their household who reported their race on the survey, whites are far more likely to have access at home (95%) compared to people of color (73%).
The survey results are reported in geographic terms. Importance was ranked lowest among residents in Camden and Phillips and respondents who had lived in Minneapolis for fewer than six years were more likely to view having a computer and Internet access in their home as essential.
The full survey report includes much more information about access, attitudes and geographic distribution of technology. Maps depicting neighborhood access patterns are available here.
Future meetings about the survey are set for Tuesday, May 21, 5:30-7:00 p.m., DevJam Studios; Thursday, June 13, a morning session 7:30-9:00 a.m. at Eastside Food Coop, 2551 Central Avenue NE, and Wednesday, June 19, 6:00-7:30 p.m. at Sabathani Community Center, 310 East 38th Street.
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