Broadband: high-speed Internet access that is always on and faster than traditional dial-up access. Includes high-speed transmission technologies like fiber, wireless satellite, digital subscriber line and cable.
Broadband adoption: residential subscribership to high-speed Internet access. Also, daily access to the Internet: at speeds, quality, and capacity necessary to accomplish common tasks, with the digital skills necessary to participate online, and on a personal device and secure convenient network.
Broadband equity: occurs when all people and communities are able to access and use affordable, high-speed, reliable internet that meets their long-term needs.
Community anchor institution: entities that are rooted in their local communities by mission, invested capital, or relationships to customers, employees, and vendors. Includes such entities as schools, libraries, medical and healthcare providers, public safety entities, community colleges, and other institutions of higher education, and other community support organizations and agencies that provide outreach, access, equipment, and support services to facilitate greater use of broadband service by vulnerable populations, including low-income, the unemployed, and the aged. These entities have stable organizational practices and are typically housed in a physical location that is accessible to all and expected to be sustained in that location and community long term.
Digital citizenship: the responsible use of technology and etiquette pertaining to an online presence for the purposes of professional networking and development. Digital citizens have a broad understanding of the short- and long-term implications of sharing information on the internet and recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical.
Digital divide: gap between those who have affordable access, skills, and support to effectively engage online and those who do not. As technology constantly evolves, the digital divide prevents equal participation and opportunity in all parts of life, disproportionately affecting people of color, Indigenous peoples, households with low incomes, people with disabilities, people in rural areas, and older adults.
Digital equity: condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy. Digital equity suggests that all workers, learners, and communities have access to training they need to gain relevant skills and the technology necessary to participate in our society and economy. Advancing digital access and skill development ensures all residents (including those who have been historically marginalized, such as disabled, minorities, and low-income) have access to reliable, affordable, and secure technological infrastructure as well as training to gain required foundational and occupational digital skills. Digital equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services.
Digital fundamentals: digital literacy skills beginning with foundational technology skills, such as typing, computer basics, internet browsing, and use of business applications.
Digital inclusion: the work that cities and states are doing with partners to create a state of digital equity. Digital Inclusion refers to the activities necessary to ensure that all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, have access to and use of information and communication technologies. This includes 5 elements: 1) affordable, robust broadband internet service; 2) internet-enabled devices that meet the needs of the user; 3) access to digital literacy training; 4) quality technical support; and 5) applications and online content designed to enable and encourage self-sufficiency, participation, and collaboration. Digital Inclusion must evolve as technology advances and requires intentional strategies and investments to reduce and eliminate historical, institutional, and structural barriers to access and use technology.
Digital literacy: the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.
Digital navigator: trusted guide who assists community members in internet adoption and the use of computing devices. Digital navigation services include ongoing assistance with affordable internet access, device acquisition, technical skills, and application support which may be provided in person, by phone, or via email or text within the context of a full- or part-time position or within an existing job function.
Digital redlining: discrimination by internet service providers in the deployment, maintenance, or upgrade of infrastructure or delivery of services. The denial of services has disparate impacts on people in certain areas of cities or regions, most frequently on the basis of income, race, and ethnicity.
Digital resilience: awareness, skills, agility, and confidence to be empowered users of new technologies and adapt to changing digital skills demands.
Digital skills: the abilities needed to fully, safely, and responsibly participate in a society reliant on digital technology and the Internet. Digital skills include the ability to use and continue to learn to use frequently changing devices and software platforms, and to find and access, organize, evaluate, create, and communicate information with understanding of online safety and data security to accomplish the individual’s living, learning, and working needs. Included are examples of the terms used in this definition to add clarity:
Digitally literate person: someone who possesses the variety of technical and cognitive skills required to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information in a wide variety of formats and is able to use diverse technologies to retrieve information, interpret results, and judge the quality of that information. They also understand the relationship between technology, life-long learning, personal privacy, and the stewardship of information and use these skills and the appropriate technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, colleagues, family, and the general public. They use these skills to actively participate in civic society and contribute to a vibrant, informed, and engaged community.
Foundational digital literacy: having baseline technology skills, such as typing (inputting), knowledge of basic computer functions, internet browsing, and the use of business applications.
Foundational digital skills: a core of base level digital skills which underpin the ability to use technologies including the following examples:
Occupational digital literacy: the ability to use and continue to acquire new digital skills used at a place of employment or as a part of a job or occupation. Employers may list skills that are necessary for occupational digital literacy at a job, such as the ability to safely and securely use identified software applications to complete work on computers, laptops, tablets, or mobile devices to communicate or log transactions, interactions, time, or to create and share work products. Examples may be understanding of workplace software applications or the ability to use intermediate and advanced features of common office applications to complete required work tasks.
Occupational digital skills: skills in using technology as a part of a workplace function. These skills may be required by an employer or agency before hire or to pass a probationary period.
These definitions taken from Appendix A: Broadband Glossary, in Advancing Digital Skills in Pennsylvania: 2022 State Plan and Recommendations: Recommendations for advancing the digital skills of adult workers in Pennsylvania, provided by the 2021-22 Workforce Innovation Network Pennsylvania team. This planning was made possible through a grant from the National Governors Association.
Broadband Glossary Prepared by Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development
November 2021
– A project area that has no access to broadband service or lacks access to reliable broadband service with a speed of not less than 25 megabits per second for downloads and three megabits per second for uploads and a latency sufficient to support real-time, interactive applications.[xxxvi]
PA Forward defined areas for library focus that may all include an element of digital literacy.
Basic Literacy: Developing foundational competency including reading, writing, math, job application assistance, and overall life-skill development. Also includes STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) knowledge building on basic skills and concepts.
Information Literacy: Having the ability to express, connect with and understand knowledge and communication through comprehensive and innovative formats; the ability to distinguish between credible and non-credible sources; recognizing when information is needed to further oneself, an objective or a project.
Civic and Social Literacy: Engaging in discourse while remaining respectful of other individuals of varying opinions; understanding the importance of community engagement which allows individuals to interact with one another, in a participatory manner; invoking societal change.
Health Literacy: Having the ability to make informed decisions in relation to an individual’s physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health; Also applies to caregivers understanding the health information of a loved one.
Financial Literacy: Having the knowledge and understanding necessary to make informed fiscal/economic decisions for personal life planning and business interests including responsible budgeting, spending and saving skills.
Do people in your community ask for help with using websites or finding information online?
If you aren’t offering programs in digital skills or digital literacy, now is the time to make a plan to start.
The Resources in this box below can help your library staff to be ready to host digital skills classes with pre-made curriculum and lesson plans made with OER (open educational resources).