Community Networks in Seattle: A Call to Action | by Esther Jang | Seattle Community Network | Medium

Could you live without Internet access, or with spotty, slow and unreliable access, in a moment when nearly every part of life has moved online? Covid-19 has undoubtedly worsened digital divides, bringing into stark focus the relative disconnectedness of the more rural and underserved communities around Seattle. At the recent virtual Indigenous Connectivity Summit 2020 conference hosted by the Internet Society, Navajo Nation advocate Darrah Blackwater described seeing the sudden, disproportionate impact of long-acknowledged, persistent digital divides on Indigenous families as “humbling.”¹ In addition to successful techno-activist projects such as Muralnet working to improve connectivity in North American Indigenous territories, there has been a recent surge of interest in new projects to connect semi-urban or rural communities throughout the US due to this new recognition of need. Underserved, low-income communities exist not only in rural areas, but in the heart of the city, where In

Could you live without Internet access, or with spotty, slow and unreliable access, in a moment when nearly every part of life has moved online? Covid-19 has undoubtedly worsened digital divides, bringing into stark focus the relative disconnectedness of the more rural and underserved communities around Seattle. At the recent virtual Indigenous Connectivity Summit 2020 conference hosted by the Internet Society, Navajo Nation advocate Darrah Blackwater described seeing the sudden, disproportionate impact of long-acknowledged, persistent digital divides on Indigenous families as “humbling.”¹ In