In case you were wondering, we don't like the digital divide here at NTEN. In fact, we like it so little, we think every nonprofit has a responsiblity to work against it. It's an issue we care about deeply, so we're really excited about all the administration's moves to widen broadband access in the U.S.

We want you to be excited too, so we're going to try to make sure you know what's going on and how you can take part. To that end, we hosted a community call last week with Misty Perez from FreePress and Sheldon Mains. There are oodles of great links and resources below about everything from BTOP to Net Neutrality.

Peruse and enjoy, then take some action:

In November, I was lucky enough to sit on a panel on text messaging for advocacy at the Convio Summit. My co-panelists, Matt Wilson from Mobile Commons and Kristin Kich of NARAL Pro Choice America both had some great case studies about using mobile to build lists and generate actions. There were lots of great questions during the session, including the very appropriate one about just who is texting anyway. Much like social media, there's an assumption out there that the only people who are texting are kids. That was probably true as recently as 2006/07. But it's not anymore! Nielson Mobile has just released statistics that indicate that EVERYONE is now texting. In the last quarter of 2007, the number of text messages consumers sent outpaced the number of calls they make and receive. According to 160Characters, the number of text messages has been steadily increasing: Qtr 3, 2007: 226 calls / 193 texts Qtr 4, 2007: 213 calls / 218 texts Qtr 1, 2008: 207 calls / 288 texts Qtr 2, 2008: 204 calls / 357 texts Of course, it's still heavily skewed towards the kids. Teens age 13-17 send and receive an average of 1,742 text per month, compared to "just" 231 calls. But the dominance of text messages is clear in several age categories: All Subs: 204 calls / 357 texts 12 & Under: 137 calls / 428 texts Ages 13-17: 231 calls / 1742 texts Ages 18-24: 265 calls / 790 texts Ages 25-34: 239 calls / 331 texts Ages 35-44: 223 calls / 236 texts Ages 45-54: 193 calls / 128 texts Ages 55-64: 145 calls / 38 texts Ages 65+: 99 calls / 14 texts So if you've been thinking that text messaging wasn't a good way to reach to your audience, you may want to think again. The President-Elect doesn't have a mobile strategy for nothing.

Flickr Photo: Lizette GrecoWhat will a truly online world look like? A world where each and every one of us has quality access to the internet?

Sam Churchill, dailywireless.org, has compiled some graphs and rankings on the current wired and wireless states of the world from a Forbes article. We need to analyze this and wonder why the United States is dropping in these rankings. But what I found most interesting in the article is an organization that had its launch at the Personal Democracy Forum: Internet for Everyone.

Flickr Photo: hykuCongratulations to the Philadelphia Wireless team! An agreement was announced Tuesday that saves the wireless network Earthlink was set to dismantle. Event better, the city was able to deliver on the original promise of the network: a free service available to any user.

I'm excited that Philadelphia is back in the game and look forward to seeing the innovative work that Greg Goldman and his team at Wireless Philadelphia are doing to bridge the digital divide.

Full press release here.

On June 12, 2008, Earthlink Wireless plans to disconnect their municipal WiFi service in the City of Philadelphia. As of today, no alternative has been found, though the city is still exploring several avenues.

I've written several posts about why we at NTEN think wireless internet access is so important. Nothing I could write will ever be as powerful as a good story, well told, so check out this 13 minute documentary about Wireless Philadelphia: Change is in the Airwaves: A Documentary about the Philadelphia Wireless Initiative from George Rausch on Vimeo.

Flickr Photo: reway2007How long has it been since you heard the term "digital divide"?

We don't talk about it like we used to. Back in 2000, dozens of foundations and many more nonprofits were focused on making sure that everyone had access to a computer and the Internet. Mainstream media coverage came fast and furious.

Somewhere along the way, the digital divide fell out of vogue. Still, in every community across this country, there are children and adults who do not have a computer or cannot access the Internet.

Flickr Photo: ChotdaAs many of you know, I love bacon. Ask me for my recipe for maple and bacon cake (with maple frosting!) some time. Maybe one reason I love bacon so much is because Bacon is the source of one of my favorite sayings. In 1597, Sir Francis Bacon said:

Knowledge is power.

It's practically a moral code at my house. But I've also been thinking about it in the context of nptech lately.

When the Internet first went mainstream, there was a lot of talk about how it would democratize information: more of us would be able to access more information more easily and we'd all become more powerful. Access to information is the key to Thomas Friedman's argument about how and why the Berlin Wall fell and why China is opening up, for example -- and communications technologies are behind all that.

In the early 2000s, I thought a lot about this. Yes, we did know more. More people were able to share what they knew, and more of us could access it. But it wasn't the dynamic, sweeping, grand experience that a phrase like "democratize information" might suggest. Here's why:

1. Lots of information opened up, but lots more is still locked behind walls in old delivery models. You still have to subscribe to many publications. You have to travel to get particular volumes or pay lots of money for experts to tell you what you need to know.
2. Access is not pervasive enough. The folks who, arguably, most need free and easy access to information and knowledge have the least access to the chanels that can deliver it. If you are poor in urban America, or if you live in rural areas, you can't afford or simply cannot get Internet access.

In the last year though, we've seen signs that the democratization of information is about to happen in a very real, rapid, Founding Fathers kind of way.

Flickr Photo: hykuIf you live or work in the Philadelphia area, set aside some time on the evening of June 3 for a public forum on the future of wifi in that city. The event is organized by the Media Mobilizing Project and Temple University's School of Communications and Theater and will feature several speakers as well as an open forum for discussion. I could preach again about why I think muni wifi is so vital to the nonprofit sector, but the event organizers put it best:

The promise of a city where everyone has the potential to be connected, opens new doors for economic, social and political participation.

Flickr Photo: pfhyperMunicipal wireless became a dirty word a few months back. The stories out of San Francisco and Philadelphia were salacious, making the idea of wireless Internet access seem like a pipe dream.

The truth of the matter is that many towns have made it work, and many large cities are still committed to bringing the Internet to ALL their citizens, affordably. Look at Boston. Why haven't you heard about the Boston municipal wireless initiative before now? Probably because they are taking the slow and steady approach. This week, they had their first victory, getting a one square mile patch of the city covered.

With the ashes of so many municipal wireless contracts swirling around us, what makes places like Minneapolis and Boston (and the still viable Philadelphia plan) work? The answer in the case of Minneapolis and Boston is community ownership.

Flickr Photo: hykuPhiladelphia has been at the fore of communities offering wireless internet access to their citizens. With 70% of the city now covered, it's arguably the showcase effort among major cities in the country.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia's CIO, Terry Phillis, announced yesterday that he expects Earthlink will pull out of Philadelphia by the end of the year, leaving the city to prepare for an uncertain future. Phillis told ComputerWorld:

"We consider [the Wi-Fi network] an asset for the city. Our priority is to get it completed, to service the digital divide, to enhance tourism and to serve mobile city workers. But I can't talk a lot about our plans" [if Earthlink leaves].