Building communities, bridging divides: Community technology centers and social capital

This paper explores the use of community technology centers (CTCs) by U.S. adults. In this context, CTCs are broadly defined as public, not for profit facilities where individuals can access the internet and information communication technologies, the most common of which are public libraries. Furthermore, CTCs are a junction where technology usage and community participation can occur concurrently. Two rounds of data collection using Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 585) and a Qualtrics Survey Panel (n = 330) were used to develop a unique measure of social capital generated at CTCs. Through multiple regression analyses, this study identifies that the activities completed at CTCs but not the frequency of attendance are associated with higher levels of community technology center social capital (CTCSC), or rather the feelings of trust and reciprocity captured by our measure

Women\u27s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa

This paper presents emerging evidence from studies in diverse contexts in sub-Saharan Africa —with a deep dive into Nigeria and Uganda—on how COVID-19 has affected women’s groups and how these groups have helped mitigate the gendered effects of the pandemic’s and the associated policy responses’ consequences up until April 2021. The synthesis presents evidence that savings groups found ways to continue operating, provided leadership opportunities for women during the pandemic, and mitigated some of the negative economic consequences of COVID-19 on individual savings group members. Savings, credit, and group support from other members all likely contributed to the ability of groups to positively affect women’s group member’s resilience during COVID-19. However, savings groups themselves often faced financial challenges because of decreased savings, which sometimes resulted in the depletion of group assets. These findings are consistent with a recent evidence synthesis on how past covariate shocks affected women’s groups and their members. We conclude the paper by presenting various policy recommendations to enable savings groups to achieve improvements in women’s empowerment and economic outcomes and research recommendations to address some of the current evidence-gaps on how COVID-19 is affecting women’s groups and their members

Local Economic Impacts of Investments in Community Technology Centers: An Empirical Investigation

Although community technology centers (CTCs) provide a host of services that may have economic consequences, few studies have attempted to empirically assess the impact of CTCs on local communities. Controlling for broadband availability and demographics, this study found that there is a small but positive and significant impact of CTC quality on median household income, at the county level. In addition to bridging the digital divide for disadvantaged populations, our research shows that there are also quantifiable economic benefits from CTC investments

Awareness of and experience with online outsourcing journalism labor markets: A benchmark study of freelance journalists

Online outsourcing markets (OOMs), those sites that connect buyers and sellers of digital labor, have grown dramatically, attracting a global cadre of freelance workers. Journalism OOMs are beginning to have an impact on the buying and selling of freelance journalism. This paper is an exploration of early effects, reporting findings of a survey (n=453) of freelance journalists who use OOMs and those who don’t, or don’t yet. The paper reviews recent scholarship on OOMs and freelance journalists. Freelance journalists were asked about their awareness of and experience with journalism OOMs. Considering OOMs only recently started diffusing, analysis shows a relatively high level of awareness and use of OOMs, plus perceptions about their value for obtaining work, working conditions and monetary and intrinsic rewards

Women\u27s groups and COVID-19: An evidence review on savings groups in Africa

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and some of the associated policy responses have resulted in significant gendered impacts that may reverse recent progress in gender equality, including in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents emerging evidence from studies in diverse contexts in sub-Saharan Africa -with a deep dive into Nigeria and Uganda-on how COVID-19 has affected women\u27s groups, especially savings groups, and how these groups have helped mitigate the gendered effects of the pandemic\u27s and the associated policy responses\u27 consequences up until April 2021. The synthesis presents evidence that savings groups found ways to continue operating, provided leadership opportunities for women during the pandemic, and mitigated some of the negative economic consequences of COVID-19 on individual savings group members. Savings, credit, and group support from other members all likely contributed to the ability of groups to positively affect the resilience of women\u27s group member during COVID-19. Households with a female member in a savings group in Nigeria and Uganda have coped with the crisis better than those not in savings groups. While savings groups have shown the potential for resilience during the pandemic, they often faced financial challenges because of decreased savings, which sometimes resulted in the depletion of group assets. Savings groups also contributed to community responses and provided women a platform for leadership. These findings are consistent with a recent evidence synthesis on how past covariate shocks affected women\u27s groups and their members. We conclude the paper by presenting various policy recommendations to enable savings groups to achieve improvements in women\u27s empowerment and economic outcomes, and research recommendations to address some of the current evidence gaps on how COVID-19 is affecting women\u27s groups and their members