Digital Inequalities: Broadband to the Neighborhood in Detroit

This Quello Center project investigated the degree that neighborhoods in Detroit are disconnected from the Internet and what could be done to increase digital equity. Working in collaboration with the Wayne State University Center for Urban Studies, we conducted 525 telephone surveys with residents across three Detroit neighborhoods and conducted three focus groups. The team completed data collection in December of 2017. This work was the focus of keynote presentation at the Merit Conference in May 2018 in Ypsilanti, MI. Findings were presented at TPRC in September 2018, in Washington D.C. In February, this work was presented at a Martin Luther King Day public forum hosted by the University of Michigan Detroit Center.

This work will be presented in August at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. A paper entitled ‘Urban Myths and Realities: A Detroit Case Study’ has been accepted for publication in the journal of Information, Communication and Society. A second paper, entitled ‘Mobile Phones will not Eliminate Digital and Social Divides’ is currently under review. We are currently analyzing these data to explore the relationships between family structure and patterns of use. In particular, this study looks at the role of children as technology enablers and technology brokers for Black female heads-of-household and multi-generational households – family structures which are both more prevalent in Detroit as compared to the national average.