[NA-Discuss] [NDIA Listserv] Lecture announcement

Fri May 21 13:30:48 UTC 2021

Hi
Here is some background  on the speaker
https://ischool.utoronto.ca/news/phd-student-wants-to-bridge-toronto-community-housings-digital-divide/

Mersereau is in the final stages of editing his dissertation, which looks
at broadband internet access as a basic utility in households. The onsite
data collection for his research was carried out in late 2018 and early
2019 when he drilled down and asked residents at three different TCHC
residential facilities about how they manage their basic needs. They talked
to Mersereau about different household practices, including education,
healthcare, finances and nutrition so he could see what, if any, role
access to broadband played.

“Most of the stuff with the school is online now,” said one single parent.
“I can pay for my kid’s school trips and stuff like that, but the most
important thing for us are the Google Docs and library reservations.”

Older residents told Mersereau they used the internet for everything from
watching physiotherapy exercise videos to booking transport. “I log into
the UHN (University Health Network) website every day to make sure I
haven’t missed an appointment or mixed up the medication I’m supposed to
take,” said one senior.

Another resident didn’t understand how people could get by without the
internet. “Anything you need to do with Revenue Canada, applying for
benefits and stuff, means you have to go online and connect to them through
your bank, which means you need online banking,” the resident said.

For Mersereau, surveying and talking to residents gave him “a real sense of
how valuable having access to the internet is and what happens when that
service is interrupted.” His goal was to provide tangible, evidence-based
research to help inform policy outcomes related to universal access. His
doctoral research built on his earlier Master’s thesis, which explored the
role of Internet-based technologies in supporting and sustaining the
organizational practices of Toronto’s Native-Men’s-Residence (Na-Me-Res).
Mersereau credits his advisor, Professor Leslie Shade, for suggesting that
investigating broadband use in basic needs activities “would make for a
great PhD thesis”.

As a result of his work in the field, as well as connections made
advocating at City Hall for motorcycle safety, Mersereau had established
relationships in the municipal bureaucracy, making it easier for him to get
his proposal for TCHC to decision makers.

With 110,000 low-income residents, the TCHC is the second largest social
housing provider in North America, right behind New York City. In the past,
the city had looked at the possibility of deploying enhanced WiFi networks
and delivering broadband internet on its own, both of which were judged too
challenging and complex. Having TCHC assume a kind of intermediary status
as the service provider, as Mersereau proposes, is a simpler and quicker
solution. If accepted, it would have to go out for a competitive bid.

“The service will be there and residents will have access whether they
choose to use it or not,” explains Mersereau. If accepted, it would
function in the same way as Hydro and other utilities, which are included
in the rent of 85% of TCH units. Households that want to retain their
existing internet services would get a credit back on their base rent.

Mersereau hopes that the pandemic has finally made it clear that
“subsidizing broadband is not paying for people to watch Netflix. It’s
subsidizing their ability to send children to school and perform basic
financial activities, and stopping them from becoming further
impoverished,” he says.

*Update:* Michel Mersereau successfully defended his doctoral thesis, *The
Essential Internet: Locating Internet Contingent Practices & Activities at
the Toronto Community Housing Corporation*, on December 16.

Glenn McKnight, MA
Virtual School of Internet Governance
Chief Information Officer
www.virtualsig.org
*YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATION *

On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 8:47 AM Glenn McKnight <mcknight.glenn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi
> Sorry about the error.  this is an early version of the Canva facebook
> post
> Its on Tuesday May 25t,h at 2021
> [image: image.png]
>
> Join Zoom Meeting
>
> https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89923898137?pwd=RHI3Z1hFKzBLQ1hCaFhKM3g4akJpZz09
>
> Meeting ID: 899 2389 8137
>
> Passcode: 253082
>
> Glenn McKnight, MA
> Virtual School of Internet Governance
> Chief Information Officer
> www.virtualsig.org
> *YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET GOVERNANCE EDUCATION *
>
>
>
> On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 11:16 PM Aminat Adebiyi <Aminat.Adebiyi at ibm.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I wanted to confirm that the lecture will be next year in 2022? I looked
>> up May 2nd, 2022 and it is on a Monday.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Aminat
>>
>>
>> ----- Original message -----
>> From: Glenn McKnight <mcknight.glenn at gmail.com>
>> To: NDIA Affiliates and Friends Listserv <listserv at digitalinclusion.org>,
>> Marita Moll <mmoll at ca.inter.net>, NA Discuss <
>> na-discuss at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
>> Cc:
>> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [NDIA Listserv] Lecture announcement
>> Date: Thu, May 20, 2021 4:36 PM
>>
>> Glenn McKnight, MA  Virtual School of Internet Governance  Chief
>> Information Officer www.virtualsig.org  YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERNET
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