{"id":801654,"date":"2019-11-22T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T17:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=374803"},"modified":"2019-11-22T10:00:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T17:00:27","slug":"opinion-susan-knopf-public-libraries-bridging-digital-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/opinion-susan-knopf-public-libraries-bridging-digital-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | Susan Knopf: Public libraries bridging digital divide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Susan Knopf \/ Summit Daily News<\/strong>
Susan Knopf \/ Summit Daily News<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Up here we\u2019re accustomed to sharing our Continental Divide, but there is a looming, greater barrier separating the haves and have-nots: the digital divide. It isn\u2019t just whether you have a computer or web access; often it\u2019s about the speed and the accessibility.<\/p>\n

I live in rural Summit County, my guests are forever heading up the road to camp out at the local coffee shop where the internet speed is faster. In a previous column,<\/a> I wrote about the timeline for broadband to reach our doors, but I\u2019m not even on that calendar.<\/p>\n

At least I have a car and can carry my laptop into a local hangout, when my internet speed needs some juicing. Others head to the library to use a free computer. Summit County Library Director Stephanie Ralph says today\u2019s library is becoming more of \u201ccommunity hub. It\u2019s a social center.\u201d It\u2019s a nexus of diverse activities, including the public technology portal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe library provides internet access for anybody who walks through the door. You don\u2019t need a library card,\u201d Ralph says. \u201cMostly there isn\u2019t too much of a wait.\u201d The library asks people to make a reservation. Ralph says that\u2019s mostly to \u201ckeep track of the number of sessions. It\u2019s to gather statistics.\u201d<\/p>\n

The library doesn\u2019t keep statistics on the unsheltered, the homeless, that use the computers to write resumes, fill out online applications or complete the myriad ordinary daily tasks many of us take for granted.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most interesting role the library plays in mitigating the digital divide is that the internet was thought to be the death knell<\/a> of the public library. To the contrary, the digital age swept children, teenagers, travelers, homeless and the marginalized into the libraries to use a computer, access the web and connect to the world. Just as the library of the past century was the gateway to adventure in faraway lands, so too today\u2019s library provides access to those left behind by economics, location or lack of education.<\/p>\n

The importance of the web and access to the marketplace cannot be emphasized too strongly. \u201cThe internet has transformed the way small businesses operate, communicate with employees, and interact with customers. \u2026 Internet service is an important tool for achieving strategic goals, improving competitiveness and efficiency, reaching customers, and interacting with vendors. \u2026 High-speed (broadband) internet access is as essential to \u2026 business as other utilities such as water, sewer, or electricity.\u201d That\u2019s according to a 2010 study<\/a> conducted by the U.S. Small Business Administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough there is not a significant difference between metro and rural markets in terms of businesses\u2019 need for broadband, there are significant differences between metro and rural areas with respect to the availability, performance and price of high-speed broadband options,\u201d according to the study.<\/p>\n

For the record, in 2018 the Colorado Legislature authorized diverting tax revenue<\/a> to support and accelerate rural broadband installation. The taxes came from a 2.6 cent tax intended to support rural telephone service. A year later, a Paonia man credits much of his business success to the recent installation of broadband.<\/p>\n

KUNC reports<\/a> Charlie Rutledge recently launched True West Hats, an online store, after installing a faster internet connection. He said without the new high-speed internet connection he gets from Elevate<\/a>, it would be much more difficult for his business to survive in a place like Paonia.<\/p>\n

For $50 a month, Delta-Montrose Electric Association provides Rutledge download speeds of 100 megabits per second. That\u2019s four times faster than my internet speed, the state\u2019s minimum for high-speed internet. My kids would probably laugh at the suggestion I have high-speed internet.<\/p>\n

Mark Kurtz, of Delta-Montrose Electric Association told KUNC, project Elevate is \u201cthe most meaningful thing the electric co-op has done since it first started bringing electricity to homes 80 years ago.\u201d Elevate also offers one gig, what the co-op calls \u201csupersonic\u201d fast for $80 per month.<\/p>\n

Kurtz said, \u201cIt\u2019s impactful. \u2026 It\u2019s not about just being able to stream Netflix. \u2026 It\u2019s \u2026 about allowing people to live a modern lifestyle and more importantly the economic development aspect of helping to pick up an area that has traditionally had some challenges on the Western Slope and putting them on par with folks in a city like Denver.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019d like some of that prosperity right here in rural Summit County. We need to tell our local officials to speed up the time frame to bridge our digital divide.<\/p>\n

Susan Knopf\u2019s column \u201cFor The Record\u201d publishes Fridays in the Summit Daily News. Knopf has worn many hats in her career, including working as an award-winning journalist and certified ski instructor. She moved to Silverthorne in 2013 after vacationing in Summit County since the 1970s. Contact her at sdnknopf@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Susan Knopf \/ Summit Daily NewsSusan Knopf \/ Summit Daily News Up here we\u2019re accustomed to sharing our Continental Divide, but there is a looming, greater barrier separating the haves and have-nots: the digital divide. It isn\u2019t just whether you have a computer or web access; often it\u2019s about the speed and the accessibility. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-801654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 21:54:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}