Digital Assessment Survey To Set Digital Priorities To Improve Technology Access For Austin Residents

Survey results will inform the deployment of the City’s Digital Inclusion Strategic Plan, allowing the city and community to prioritize goals, inventory resources, and identify gaps in services…

The Austin Digital Assessment, a residential technology survey will be mailed to 11,000 homes this week. The City of Austin and its research partner, the University of Texas – Telecommunications and Information Policy Institute seek to evaluate and assess residents’ access to technology resources and literacy and training programs and to identify unmet needs and barriers.

This study will help guide city decisions and help those involved in digital inclusion better target their efforts, so if you receive a survey in the mail, please respond. You will be helping the city, its libraries, and other service providers design better services for you.

The Austin Digital Assessment delves into many elements of society including education, health care, civic engagement, job opportunities and social connections in Austin, including:

• Access: What is the availability of technology to Austin residents? Are the available options affordable in Austin? What inclusion options are available for all Austin residents?
• Adoption: What type of digital technologies do Austin residents need? Do residents have the training to maximize available digital technologies?
• Application: How many people use digital technologies to improve their employment skills? What types of education and supportive services will Austin residents need?

Responses are confidential and will inform future decisions that ensure every Austin resident has an opportunity to be fully engaged in digital society, accessing and using digital and communications technology in Austin. If you receive the survey, please complete and return it in the postage paid envelope by April 6, 2018.

Background

Survey results will inform the deployment of the City’s Digital Inclusion Strategic Plan, allowing the city and community to prioritize goals, inventory resources, and identify gaps in services. The survey is conducted at three year intervals recommended by the Austin Community Technology & Telecommunications Commission. Both processes will inform future Imagine Austin priority program(s) to increase digital inclusion opportunities in Austin.

Austin’s most recent Residential Technology Study conducted in 2014 concluded 8% of Austinites (55,000) do not use the internet.