Hancock: Guidelines aimed at helping communities close digital divide

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration(NTIA) and theInstitute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) recently published guides aimed at helping community organizations create or expand programs to help close the digital divide. The guides provide an overview of the community model that has proven to be successful, the model’s key elements, and the challenges organizations may face in establishing or growing a digital inclusion program.

Any consumer who is shopping for a technology solution will be looking for the same things the community is offering; equipment and services at an affordable price, technical support, and a vendor they can trust. The model described in the guides is just that. It recommends low-cost or donated computer equipment, low-cost broadband access with minimal up-front requirements, basic computer classes, technical support, and all offered from local, trusted community agencies. Surprisingly, one of the elements holding people back from adopting broadband at home is low-cost or donated computers, and that is an easy problem to solve.

Over the last several months I’ve expanded my efforts to increase the availability of low-cost equipment in California. Having been apparently spoiled by the relationship I developed with the County of San Diego, I’ve been amazed at how little supply there actually is in the refurbished channel. Having developed relationships with government and business for the purpose of obtaining equipment for reuse, and can say with confidence that the shortage of supply in the refurbished channel does not necessarily reflect a lack of interest from governments or business. Most often the reason governments and businesses do not give their equipment to local, nonprofit refurbishers is because:

1. They didn’t know they were there – most businesses and governments have no idea there are nonprofit refurbishers who professionally collect, refurbish and distribute computers for social good, yet nearly all major communities have one.
2.   Don’t want to take the risk – this is true especially of businesses and even more so for high-tech businesses that deal with security or a lot of private data. Many go so far as to shred their hard drives, which removes almost all of the value. Refurbishers in California have addressed this issue by becoming state certified collectors, by implementing rigorous drive wiping processes, and by creating highly secure refurbishing environments, some that even include web-based monitoring systems their donor clients can use any time to see the equipment they donated.
3. Don’t fully recognize the social value – many people assume that a three or five year old computer is too old for anything. That’s not true. The refurbishing channel, with support from Microsoft, is able to extend the life of these systems and provide great value to the end user for many years. The systems go to seniors, people with disabilities, foster children and others.
4. Don’t fully recognize the corporate value – donating used equipment for the purpose of helping low-income Americans improve their lives is something any corporation or government can do at virtually no cost to them. The value is extremely high.
5. It’s too much work – disposing of electronic equipment in environmentally safe ways actually is a fair amount of work. The best nonprofit refurbishers are certified by the state and have developed systems that make the process extremely easy for their clients. Nearly all of them are also certified to collect ewaste so everything they collect either goes to good use or is properly disposed of.

There really isn’t any reason more businesses and governments shouldn’t be working with a local nonprofit refurbisher. By simply making their equipment available, they are supporting seniors, people with disabilities, disadvantaged families, other local nonprofits and schools.