Digital Equity | Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Lab | School of Information Sciences

New Book Published on Digital Equity Ecosystems

Title of book shown against a black background, which is above a picture of blue water in an estuary surrounded by greenery and a flock of white birds seen from above.

I’m thrilled to announce that my new book, titled “Digital Equity Ecosystems: How Community Coalitions Reduce Inequality and Strengthen Democracy” is now available from the University of California Press. The book introduces an ecosystem approach to study and understand the role of community coalitions in promoting digital equity and social justice. In addition, the book describes how these coalitions work to protect the environment through technology refurbishing while also providing spaces for democratic communication and civic participation in public life.

The book was featured in the iSchools Book Talk series and more information about the book can be found online at the publisher’s website.

Here is an excerpt from the Introduction, which describes the main argument and goals for the book.

In this book, I highlight and uplift stories of “ordinary” people—including educators, librarians, pastors, managers, neighbors, parents, and friends— doing extraordinary things in communities to help other people and our planet. This book underscores how a sense of community can be built by listening and paying attention to these everyday social interactions focused on care. The pandemic reminded us about the importance of digital technologies in our everyday lives, as well as about the face-to-face interactions that we need to solve problems and heal our natural world. However, if we are going to continue this work, we must move beyond an embrace of individualism and towards an embrace of interconnectedness with each other and the earth. By focusing on human and community interactions such as those highlighted in this book, I believe we can learn more about the things that connect us at a basic human level, which can also inspire us to create a better world for one another. At the same time, we must continue to question the role of digital technologies in supporting or limiting the possibilities for such interconnectedness.

The Blueprint for Equitable Digital Participation

A virtual meeting with five participants, four women and one man, all smiling. Name labels identify Caroline Stratton, Claudia, Dominique, Dr. B. Risendorf, and Colin Rhinesmith. Captions appear at the bottom of the screen. (alt text by alttext.ai)

I was honored to participate in a webinar on July 1st to celebrate Dr. Alisa Valentin and Claudia Ruiz’s excellent new paper, titled “The Blueprint for Equitable Digital Participation” from Public Knowledge, UnidosUS, and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA).

From the Benton Institute: “This webinar, featuring the authors of The Blueprint for Equitable Digital Participation and leading experts in the digital equity field, will offer ideas for how policymakers can ensure low- to middle-income households across America can gain and sustain access to high-speed, reliable internet, connected devices, and digital skills.”

It was wonderful to join Alisa, Claudia, and my other amazing colleagues, Regina (Gina) D. Cooper Benjamin, Dr. Dominique Harrison Aluko, Dr. Bianca C. Reisdorf, and Dr. Caroline Stratton.

More information about the event can be found here: https://www.benton.org/event/blueprint-equitable-digital-participation

New Tech Policy Press Op-Ed

Cook County Digital Equity Director and visionary leader, Kyla Williams Tate and I have a new piece up at Tech Policy Press. In it, we share our perspectives on why our federal government needs to restore the Digital Equity Act. Mainly, we argue that federal funding is required to sustain the ecosystems that digital equity requires.

Here’s a blurb from our op-ed in today’s Tech Policy Press.

Healthy ecosystems require sustained investment. Without it, progress slows while the surrounding environment continues to change rapidly. One year later, the argument for restoring the Digital Equity Act is not primarily a financial one. It is an ecological one. Digital equity is not a pipeline that can be turned on and off. It is a living and resilient environment, shaped by trust, sustained by relationships, and dependent on the kind of investment that the Act was designed to provide.

Public Engagement Summit Presentation

Five people are in a conference room: four standing near a podium and one seated. A person at the podium is presenting a PowerPoint slide titled

On Friday, April 17th, DEAR Lab members (pictured right), Dr. Colin Rhinesmith along with Elliot Barber (on Zoom), Isabel Braico, Mads Christiansen, and Bashi Hariharan Yasodha, joined our community partner, Anne Slaughter, RAILS Director of Technology Service at the Public Engagement Summit.

During the Summit, we presented our case study titled “Building the Digital Equity Capacity of Illinois Public Libraries.” As our abstract describes,

This presentation will cover the key findings and strategic directions for a research initiative in partnership between the Digital Equity Research Lab at Illinois and the Reaching Across Illinois Library System to investigate the capacity of public libraries to address the digital equity needs of their communities.

As we described in our presentation, Boyer’s (1996) “scholarship of engagement,” along with Barker’s (2004) “taxonomy of engaged scholarship” were particularly useful in describing our approach to engaged research with Anne and her team at RAILS. It was also wonderful to join Anne to co-present on our work together and future plans moving forward. The full presentation slides can be found here on IDEALS.

Baltimore Digital Equity Program Evaluation Workshop

Thank you to amalia deloney (Point A Studio) and Mariam Sannoh from the Baltimore Office of Digital Equity for inviting me to lead a workshop with a group of amazing non-profit leaders and digital equity advocates from Baltimore’s vibrant digital equity ecosystem this evening.

Many of the attendees were interested in learning more about how to develop meaningful outcomes-based digital equity program evaluations, as a way to communicate the value of their work to funders, policymakers, their communities, and other digital equity stakeholders.

As part of my university service and public engagement, I was honored to join amalia and the Baltimore Office of Digital Equity to share several resources that were relevant in this work. Many of which I have had the opportunity to help develop and/or contribute to the final publications, which are included in the presentation available on IDEALS.

Book Talk at MSU Quello Center

Flyer for a Quello Center event featuring Colin Rhinesmith, promoting a Zoom talk on Feb. 18 at 11 AM ET about digital equity ecosystems and community coalitions. A photo of Colin, wearing glasses, is on the right (alt text by Alttext.ai).

I will be giving my first book talk on Wednesday, February 18th at 11:00am (EST) at the Quello Center at Michigan State University, where I am a Research Fellow. The book will be published in June 2026 by the University of California Press. Here is the link to the event on the Quello Center’s website.

The talk will be online and the link to register is below.

Digital Equity Ecosystems:
How Community Coalitions Reduce Inequality and Strengthen Democracy

a talk with Colin Rhinesmith, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Join us on February 18, 2026, from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET for a stimulating talk!

Use the link here to register for the Zoom webinar: https://tinyurl.com/47ukftct

DNHV: Report Highlights and Recommendations

The Southeastern New York Library Council released a new report today, titled “DNHV: Report Highlights and Recommendations.” I am thrilled to have played a small part in this report, which outlines the findings from research on data gathered by the Southeastern NY Library Resources Council about the Digital Navigators of the Hudson Valley program between 2022–2024.

Here’s an excerpt from the Executive Summary:

“L&G Research and Evaluation Consulting, working in partnership with the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council, analyzed data gathered by the Southeastern NY Library Council about the Digital Navigator program between 2022–2024. The research team found many benefits for public libraries, underscoring the necessity of these services for libraries and other community-based organizations in their regions. Because nationwide indicators for measuring the outcomes and impacts of Digital Navigator programs do not currently exist, we believe the findings in this report will help to inform efforts to develop indicators in the future.”

Download the full executive summary and summary of data findings to learn more about the impact of the program.

New Digital Equity Research Project with RAILS

We are thrilled to partner with the data and technology team at the Reaching Across Illinois Library System on a new project to investigate the digital equity capacity of Illinois libraries!

While existing studies have identified the role of public libraries in addressing their communities’ digital equity needs, there is little research on the digital equity capacity of public libraries in Illinois. For example, existing scholarship has documented the digital inclusion services provided by public libraries across the U.S. Other studies have examined the role of “Digital Navigators” in addressing a communities’ digital needs beyond the walls of the public library. Several dissertations at Illinois have sought to address gaps in the existing scholarship on public libraries, digital inclusion, and broadband infrastructure. But there is currently a lack of research on the digital equity capacity of Illinois libraries that can be helpful to state and regional library agencies working to support these libraries.

This research seeks to address this gap in practice and scholarship through a partnership with the data and technology services team at the Reaching Across Illinois Library System. The purpose of the research is to achieve through the following objectives: (1) determine effective ways to measure the digital equity and literacy needs of the populations served by RAILS libraries; (2) identify key methods of collecting and interpreting data about the effectiveness of digital equity resources in RAILS libraries; and (3) establish key metrics that can be used to measure the effectiveness and impacts of a digital equity program or model for public libraries in Illinois.