Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Donde Esta La BiblioTech? Patricia Realini KATIE: Hello. Welcome back. So, this is the last talk before we all get to take a break and get a snack. Try to, like, resist the urge to just go off to the pool and not come back because if you do it then I'll do it. And then who is gonna introduce the speakers if I'm not here? No. So, our next speaker is Patricia Ruiz oh, gosh. My brain. I'm sorry. I just. Patricia Ruiz Realini. I got that right, right? Yes. Okay. Cool. And Patricia, when I asked her about her fun fact in had her first job for three years, she was a taekwondo instructor. And if you have a problem with the bathroom policy, talk to her, not Brian. She'll set you straight. No, I'm sorry. She's a lovely person and you're going to enjoy her talk. Everyone, give it up for Patricia. [ Applause ] PATRICIA: Hi, everybody. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for coming to see my talk. I hope you're having a great first day. I would like to begin by acknowledging that we're on occupied lands and offer respect towards the people past and present. And I would also like to thank the organizers for another year of JSConf US. It's already starting to be it's already it's off to a really great start and I'm so grateful to be here. I have been wanting to give this talk for a very long time. I used to live on the same block as the public library in my neighborhood and I would go constantly to pick up books that I placed on hold. To co work in the summers because I didn't have AC and to print out concert tickets because I didn't to want spend my money on a printer and printer ink. And I got the experience of using the Internet from the library and it made me curious about what it is like to depend on libraries around the country for Internet access. Since then, I have made efforts to stop into public libraries it compare the experiences. That was the impetus for this talk. If you walk past the computer bay in a library, it becomes evident that when you don't own a device, personal computer or have a personal broadband connection goes far beyond the physical limitations. 30% of the rural US is closer to dial up speeds than broadband speeds. And urban broadband users are on 3.1 megabytes per second. You recall users are lucky to achieve 500 kilobytes a second. 162.8 million people do not use the Internet at broadband speeds. While the FCC previously reported that broadband is not available to 24.7 million Americans, that is stark in rural areas. For example, Microsoft found in Ferry County, Washington, they estimated only 2% of people use broadband service versus the 100% that the federal government is said so far access in that area. While many might focus on just the rural access, city broadband access is also just as relevant. The University of Illinois of Chicago's digital excellence in Chicago report found that 40% of Chicago residents, especially Latinx population, have limited or in access to the Internet. Of that 40%, 35% have to use Wi Fi in public places to get access. 25% of all Chicagoans do not use the Internet. Of those, people do not use the Internet at all, while 15% only have limited access. And here on the map, we can see those discrepancies based on geography and how that specifically happens in low income areas. On the left you can see the percentage who have Internet access at home, and on the right you can see the percentage who do not have Internet access at home because of difficulty of availability. This has a real effect on people's livelihoods. The US bureau of labor statistics employment data shows that the highest unemployment rates are frequently located in the counties with the lowest availability of broadband. This is why the 16,700 public library locations nationwide are so vital to the Internet. And on their own, are an incredible source of information about our users. The Institute of museums and library services 2019 report on the 2016 fiscal year found that for every 5,000 people libraries for every 5,000 people libraries serving a small population size offer 23.68 computers versus while only 4.04 library computers are available in libraries that serve large populations. For example, 70% of Idaho's 103 libraries are the only source of free Internet in Idaho's rural and remote communities. After significant investment from the broadband technology opportunities program, the mean connection speed in Idaho libraries is still only 12.8 megabytes per second. A steep drop from the national average of 57.4. The report looked at the discrepancies in availability. And it does vary across states. Seven states including Hawaii had fewer than four computers per 5,000 people. While two states, including Vermont and Nebraska had more than nine. Most states had between 10 and 20 public access Internet computers per a stationary outlet. DC having the most at 38.46. Libraries are highly popular amongst adolescent and teenagers who want to spend time with other people their age because they're open, accessible, free, and librarians make them feel welcome. In many branches, they even assign areas for teenagers to be with one another. Compared to the social space of the library with the social spaces of commercial establishments like Starbucks or McDonald's, not everyone can afford to frequent them, and not all paying customers are welcome to stay for long. Black and brown people, poor and homeless people don't consider entering these spaces. They know standing outside a high end eatery can make managers call the police. And I have been in restaurant using Wi Fi and ask police ask a person who was coming from jail and was a homeless person, I watched them ask this person to leave and say they were not welcome at the establishment because they did not fit in. This is really limiting so much access for people that desperately need it. So, where do they go? They go to the BiblioTech, of course. And not just during opening hours. The 2016 usage and engagement report found that 7% of Americans age 60 and overuse the library Wi Fi signal outside when libraries are closed. A lot of the main reasons for Internet usage in public library are similar to a lot of our own basic Internet needs. Checking email, doing research in many cases on personal health and outside of these uses, the most different are taking classes and getting certifications. For example, getting a food handling license to work in a restaurant is a process that takes about three hours online and is one of the most common certifications out there for people in low income positions. Historically, this disproportionately affects black, Latinx, homeless and immigrants the most. With 58% of new American arrivals using the library Internet on a rate of once a week. Kids under the age of 16 and also highly effective. Seven of ten teachers now require homework with Internet access. Yet a third of kindergartners and others are unable to go online from home. Some in Coachella and Huntsville, Alabama, require buses that have Wi Fi. They are sometimes parked overnight and can connect and continue studying. In Detroit and New Orleans, as many as one third of homes do not have broadband, children crowd libraries and other areas to use free hot spots. Broadband limitations don't just change when and where you use the Internet, but how. Google's 2011 state of interactivity report shows the difference in usage based on broadband speeds. Here we can see people with limited access tend to download and rely on offline more than the cloud because they have higher access to broadband speeds. Specific to the library experience, there are a few standout considerations. Time outs are frequently out of the control of librarians on PC reservation software and it is a huge barrier for systemically oppressed people. Because when your identity contingencies generate social pressure, and the result of this being stereo type threat, it means people are less likely to speak up and ask for help when they need a longer session on the computer. And in most cases, there are many library locations where the librarians are not familiar with how to make the changes or have the administrative access to do so. When I visited the San Francisco public library, with a 25 guest pass I had 15 minutes. With 5 minutes to start up the reservation system. And the last 5 minutes, bombarded that it will end soon. Imagine trying to take a three hour certification course that cannot be returned to under those conditions. The Chicago public library requires people to show through ID that they are not Chicagoans to access guest pass. Some charge due to low budgets and limited numbers of biases. And you can see the biased co worker below, people like this are highly likely to accelerate charges on overdue materials and limit and bar people from Internet action access and the library. On the technical side, Windows 10 is the most prevalent operating system. While just in 2018, just last year, many librarians reported they're still in the process of moving from Windows 8 to Windows 10. Sorry. That's a little I can't see the rest of my speaker notes. I'm trying so, there's also a lot of device and Wi Fi hot spot lending that libraries do, but most of the time this is at a fee. They usually charge about $5 to check out a Wi Fi hot spot and take it home. And in some cases, if they're lucky, they have access to remote device management software that allows them to turn these devices off if they're overdue. But the charges can be up to $150 for not returning a Wi Fi hot spot to the library. With these charges, with device remote management software that librarians use to throttle data so they don't have to pay high charges, we see that a lot of libraries have difficulty offering these services without grants and subsidies that are highly needed in their communities. Being barred usage of the Internet in libraries is much more common than you think. In Seattle, patrons who $20 are blocked from borrowing, and $25, they are sent to collection agencies. Even in prosperous Seattle, 20% of accounts are blocked due to debt. This should be changing soon as Seattle just had a vote in August 6th of this year where they passed prop 1 which is going to eliminate the fine system at the Seattle public library which is fantastic news. But and we see that this is also happening in DC, Salt Lake and Baltimore. The San Francisco public library has 5% of accounts blocked due to overdue fines, but in low income areas, the rate is as high as 11% and they are currently also going through a proposal to go fine free as well. And this is important to know because fines aren't even a significant revenue for any libraries. Salt Lake went fine free in 2017 after finding that late fees accounted for just .3% of the city library's total revenue. Research shows overdue fines do not ensure materials end up back on the shelves. And fine free have not seen an increase in late returns. One library saw the late return rate drop from 9% to 4% following fine elimination. Some of the most pressing needs when it comes to Internet access in libraries are PC reservation compatible access, accessibility shortcuts. Most notably access to changing signs of text on the screens. Because some PC reservation software obfuscate access to any kind of visual controls. Also, the text to speech access and just most of the accessibility shortcuts on our computers is obfuscated by the software. And they're often limited to select locations, making access even harder. And with low broadband speeds, performance is also a super paramount issues as well as authentication and anti surveillance measures that we'll get a little bit deeper into. the Google need for speed report found that 53% of website visitors leave with f a website doesn't load in 3 seconds. The average load is 9 seconds on a 3G connection. That's as long as it takes to sing the alphabet song. And 14 seconds on a 4G connection. When surveyed, they found one out of two expect it to load in less than 2 seconds. And faster sites had session lengths 70% longer and bounce rates that were 35% lore. 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site that they had trouble accessing and 40% will visit a competitor's website instead. Mobile sites that loaded in 5 seconds earned almost double the revenue websites that took 19 seconds. And you can boost conversion by 27%. Part of the problem is ads on mobile. Mobile ads take an average of 5 seconds to load. About double the time as it takes for desktop ads to load according to the media ratings council. Sorry. Email and online and then another issue past performance is authentication. Recently there was this Twitter thread a few months ago which made me sad that it happened after my talk and not before. Because I was excited to tell you about this. But email and online messages SMS services like WhatsApp are truly the modern catch 22. You need an email to get a phone number. And you need a phone number to get an email. So, especially for people struggling with homelessness, this is a huge barrier for them to escape this oppression. And I personally think that this problem is ripe for password managers to find a solution to. I would love to see authentication stations in libraries utilizing authenticator app technology and having access base on a librarian's approval. For users that are not web literate, dealing with sensitive materials like paying bills and sharing photos. An example of handling this is making sure that we detect in f a device is a new device and it's the first time logging on. We can offer alerts and messaging like GDRP and communicating with them and what to do before working on computers that may be insecure. Another security factor is surveillance. Facial recognition software is creeping into libraries starting in academic libraries today. The most prevalent threat, however, to intellectual freedom is section 215 of the patriot act. The government can demand the library records with a secret can court order and without probable cause. They can block the librarians from revealing the request, and it doesn't only cover the books, but Internet check ins, and hard drives from library computers. Libraries took action to protect patrons. Posting these within view of computer stations. In fall of 2002, the library research center at the University of Illinois surveyed 1500 libraries and found that of the 444 libraries that had been subject to law enforcement requests for information about patrons, 225 had not cooperated but 219 had. Librarians in Santa Cruz demonstrated their opposition by taking drastic measures and shredding all historical information including computer usage or a daily basis. In 2005, four Connecticut librarians going under the modicum of John Doe with the help of the ACLU sued the US attorney general to lift the gag order that the librarians were subject to produce records. By 2006, the FBI dropped the defense of the gag division. It was expired in May of 2015, but the US freedom act, the expired parts of the law with the exception of the gag order were reported broadly as restored and renewed and come up for expiration this year in December. But there's a lot of success stories too. Libraries are still the most helpful resource for learning about the Internet and web literacy classes are the most highly requested programming at libraries. Because library staff need to be totally up to date on their digital skills, they learn these things just in time and turn around and immediately start teaching them to patrons. My favorite resource are the zines by read me and they host crypto parties. And there are libraries offering some of the most high tech access rout there. The Los Angeles library has the Octavia Butler space. It's at the location that's great for families to toy around with 3D printing and all kinds of other high tech gadgets. And the Austin public library, the laptop stations with computer users and up to date technology. All you have to do is scan your library card and unlock one of these laptops much like you would unlock a bicycle out in a rideshare program and you can use the laptop anywhere you want in the library. The biggest tax credits, grants and subsidies only go so far to support public library Internet access. All the most robust results are the public private partnerships. We as a community should be doing everything we can to encourage the companies we work for to get involved and help build partnerships to get better hardware, software and help. Overreliance on the federal broadband stimulus program has tied censorship to funding and the future has the potential to be bleak as we have seen how the patriot act affected usage of the Internet in the libraries. And there was the initiative that has harnessed the unused channels known as white space. It's unused spectrum below 700 megahertz. Using UHF signals. This is sometimes called super Wi Fi. It behaves like regular Wi Fi but uses lower channels to cover greater distances than Wi Fi hot spots. It's less populated in remote regions. And imagine the capacity for urban areas where people don't have personal access at home. Where their kids need to stay on buses to be able to use Wi Fi to finish their homework. If your company can't get involved, volunteer for a crypto at your library. Organize your next meetup at a library computer lab to give more access to people outside of your own personal circle. So, thank you so much for coming and hearing about what it's like to use the Internet at the library. I hope next time you stop by a library and check out what it's like to use their computers and not just your fancy Macbooks. Thank you. [ Applause ] KATIE: All right. Thank you so much, Patricia. And how freakin' awesome is the themed slide presentation. Yes. So cool. It matches my new scrunchie. All right. So, it is time for a snack break. So, we will be back here in this room or the other room what time again? At 4:15. So, we have quite a bit of time to go out, have a snack, relax and we'll see you at the next talks. Take care.
B1 library broadband access wi patricia public ¿Donde Esta La BiblioTech? - Patricia Realini - JSConf US 2019 3 0 林宜悉 posted on 2020/03/28 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary