Research by Political Science Professor Caroline Tolbert was referenced in two articles reported by the national news website FiveThirtyEight.
FiveThirtyEight: Lots of people in cities still can’t afford broadband
FiveThirtyEight: The worst internet in America
This internet access geographic data set, derived from the three-year NSF grant (Iowa PI), is the first to report home internet access rates (home computer and high speed connection) for all 3000 counties. Existing data available from the Census reports data for just 850 counties with populations above 65,000. Both articles are generating quite a bit of publicity. Tolbert and coauthor Karen Mossberger (Arizona State University) have been contacted by the Governor of Massachusetts and the state legislature of Maryland as they seek to know more about disparities in internet access in their states. The Census and National Telecommunications and Information Administration have also been in contact.
School of Journalism and Mass Communication Assistant Professor Daniel Lathrop did some of the data visulation used in the FiveThirtyEight articles, based on the raw data and geographic maps. The complete data set of internet access is housed at the ASU broadband portal.
The Department of Political Science and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication are both part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.