Guest post by Cassandra Johnson, a Santa Monica Fellow working with the California Civic Innovation Project.
When beginning my graduate program with Arizona State University, I never dreamed it would take me to a life in Southern California. In the final year of my master’s in public administration, I relocated to Los Angeles to begin a pilot program as a Santa Monica Fellow, working out of ASU’s California Center. My fellowship is the collaboration between ASU’s School of Public Affairs, Alliance for Innovation, and the California Civic Innovation Project (CCIP).
An important focus for ASU’s California Center is citizen engagement. My fellowship research has sparked a passion in me for understanding the trends in citizen engagement and seeking to change the ways in which the public interacts with local governments. As a Santa Monica Fellow I am able to work with community organizations and nonprofits while also interacting with residents throughout the city.
ASU’s partnership with CCIP has enabled me to work with the City of Los Angeles’ Information Technology Agency and assist with the Los Angeles Community Broadband Network (LACBN) Project.
Through the LACBN project, the City of Los Angeles plans to make broadband access available to all residents and businesses within the city limits. My role in the project is working with city staff to develop outreach options that promote broadband accessibility and gather citizen input. One piece of this very large project involves surveying the public to learn how they currently access and use the Internet. The survey is designed to capture how the public accesses and uses Internet services, and collect general public opinion regarding Internet services as a utility.
Think about how many ways we use the Internet in our daily lives. You are using it right now to read this blog. We learn, pay our bills, work, take classes, apply for jobs, stay connected to friends and family, and interact instantly across the globe. But only those who have Internet access are able to participate in this new society. We are keeping those who cannot afford the devices or the service provision from keeping up with this quickly moving, technologically driven world. Should a very basic level of Internet be available for free? The survey is asking that question.
One challenge to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate in this survey is bringing the online survey offline. To tackle this challenge we are partnering with a wide variety of Los Angeles community organizations and local nonprofits to connect with their members and collect responses either in paper format or via online. Having one-on-one interactions to educate and encourage participation, while also providing access to the survey should improve participation. In addition, local public Internet access points, like the public libraries, will make the survey available and have staff on-hand to assist with any questions.
By assessing the needs of the community, through this survey and other outreach programs, the City is gathering input from residents to help them better understand and plan for Internet access. I’m excited to be a part of this user-centered approach because it provides a model for future community projects.
When beginning my graduate program with Arizona State University, I never dreamed it would take me to a life in Southern California. In the final year of my master’s in public administration, I relocated to Los Angeles to begin a pilot program as a Santa Monica Fellow, working out of ASU’s California Center. My fellowship is the collaboration between ASU’s School of Public Affairs, Alliance for Innovation, and the California Civic Innovation Project (CCIP).
An important focus for ASU’s California Center is citizen engagement. My fellowship research has sparked a passion in me for understanding the trends in citizen engagement and seeking to change the ways in which the public interacts with local governments. As a Santa Monica Fellow I am able to work with community organizations and nonprofits while also interacting with residents throughout the city.
ASU’s partnership with CCIP has enabled me to work with the City of Los Angeles’ Information Technology Agency and assist with the Los Angeles Community Broadband Network (LACBN) Project.
Through the LACBN project, the City of Los Angeles plans to make broadband access available to all residents and businesses within the city limits. My role in the project is working with city staff to develop outreach options that promote broadband accessibility and gather citizen input. One piece of this very large project involves surveying the public to learn how they currently access and use the Internet. The survey is designed to capture how the public accesses and uses Internet services, and collect general public opinion regarding Internet services as a utility.
Think about how many ways we use the Internet in our daily lives. You are using it right now to read this blog. We learn, pay our bills, work, take classes, apply for jobs, stay connected to friends and family, and interact instantly across the globe. But only those who have Internet access are able to participate in this new society. We are keeping those who cannot afford the devices or the service provision from keeping up with this quickly moving, technologically driven world. Should a very basic level of Internet be available for free? The survey is asking that question.
One challenge to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate in this survey is bringing the online survey offline. To tackle this challenge we are partnering with a wide variety of Los Angeles community organizations and local nonprofits to connect with their members and collect responses either in paper format or via online. Having one-on-one interactions to educate and encourage participation, while also providing access to the survey should improve participation. In addition, local public Internet access points, like the public libraries, will make the survey available and have staff on-hand to assist with any questions.
By assessing the needs of the community, through this survey and other outreach programs, the City is gathering input from residents to help them better understand and plan for Internet access. I’m excited to be a part of this user-centered approach because it provides a model for future community projects.