Queens University of CharlotteCity Case Study: Digital Media Literacy and Inclusion

Eric Freedman - James L. Knight School of Communication

• With an endowment from Knight Foundation, our charge is to engage the university community and the city in an ongoing partnership to measurably improve digital and media literacy across the greater Charlotte area.

• The School has developed strategic partnerships with city and county government, local industry, media organizations, the public schools and libraries, and civically engaged community service providers, and united these partnerships as a connected learning laboratory.

James L. Knight School of Communication

Guiding Principles – The Academic Perspective• Build and Assess Civic Capacity

• Foster Social, Cultural and Economic Innovation

• Connect Faculty, Students and Programs with the Regional Ecosystem

• Develop Scalable Practices Focused on Digital Media Literacy and Inclusion

• Engage Students with Experiential Learning and Applied Research

• Understand how the people in our communities are already using communications technologies. Three-tiered approach to building literacy: digital competence, digital usage, digital transformation.

• Understand the information needs of communities in relation to their ecosystems.

• For digital media literacy initiatives to take root, they must be guided by a model of reciprocal empowerment: build reciprocal relationships, leverage existing communities and individuals, connect metrics to feedback, adopt an iterative strategy.

Guiding Principles – The Community Perspective

• Who are the key stakeholders and how do we foster a conversation among them? Who is already doing similar work in our community?

• What are the community needs? What data exists?

• What is our mission? What is our intended impact?

• What services are we providing? How will they be deployed?

• What does success look like?

• Social innovation is a different approach to change than implementing program models with a known set of elements. Be dynamic. Be responsive.

Define the Work

• Knight School of Communication

• City of Charlotte

• Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

• Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools

Access, Devices, TrainingDigital Media Literacy and Digital InclusionCost and RelevanceTrust

Identify Early Stage Partners

• Community Survey – October 2012

• Digital Media Literacy Index

• Community Leaders Workshop

• Library Leaders Workshop

• Neighborhood Leaders Workshop

Build Foundational Data Points

296,616

2,55134,293

43,753

Computer & broadband Computer & dial-up

Computer with no internet No computer

Mecklenburg County household computer and Internet access.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates;

Federal Communications Commission and Open Technology Institute, 2012 and 2014

• High level of Internet use in Mecklenburg County, overall. County-wide average of individuals not using the Internet anywhere is 15%.

• Demographic segments where use is lower than the County average include African Americans, Hispanics, adults age 55 or older, adults who have not graduated high school and those whose highest level of education is high school, and respondents in zip codes 28208, 28105, and 28206.

• The west region of Mecklenburg County demonstrates lower than average Internet use in specific communities. For example, 43% of respondents in zip code 28208 do not use the Internet anywhere. Here, cost is cited as the biggest obstacle to home Internet access, with the majority of respondents indicating at some point they have had to cancel service.

• Digital and Media Literacy: The majority of the population demonstrates the greatest proficiency in analysis and evaluation, and the weakest proficiency in the more communal activities of sharing, creating and acting (areas that are commonly associated with civic engagement).

Report Key Findings

Digital CharlotteDigital Media Literacy Outreach

Expand our bandwidth to make the Schoola dynamic and broad-based communication program, with a responsive attachment to our community: Neighborhood Toolkit,Mobile Toolkit, Internet Options Toolkit.

Knight School – Strategic Initiatives

Knight School – Strategic InitiativesKnight Foundation and Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Foundation Grants – Digital Inclusion Steering Team

A community effort that includes education, government,business, neighborhoods, foundations, tech partners, housing partners, media agencies, and others.

Knight Foundation GrantAnnual Best Minds Conference

Connect and engage Charlotte with the nationaldialogue on digital media literacy and inclusion.

Knight School – Strategic Initiatives

AT&T Digital Inclusion GrantDigital Media Literacy Outreach

Expand our bandwidth by pairing digital literacywith digital inclusion, with the assistance ofa broad range of Internet service providers. Help residents understand their options andevaluate their needs, while remaining vendor agnostic.

Knight School – Strategic Initiatives

Google Fiber GrantConnect Charlotte

Expand our bandwidth with a responsive attachment to our community, local infrastructure builds, and new opportunitiesfor inclusion: convene community partners, co-lead plan development, and build the curriculum for residents in public housing properties.

Knight School – Strategic Initiatives

Mecklenburg County concentrations of HCV holders inneighborhoods with higher high school drop out rates.

Source: UNC Chapel Hill Center for Urban and Regional Studies, June 2015