A donation from CT Communications of eight computers valued at $4,000 was unveiled at the Champaign County Library Monday afternoon.
A part of Connect Ohio's "No Child Left Offline" program, the equipment will help bridge the digital divide and allow children to have improved access to the Internet outside of school hours. The donation is part of Connect Ohio/OTA Digital Day activities, including the distribution of 400 computers across the state. CT Communications is a member company of the OTA.
The donation highlights the needs of more than 2.6 million Ohioans who cannot participate in the economic, educational, health and social advantages of a broadband economy simply because they don't own a computer. The OTA is leveraging its substantial investment in infrastructure to highlight this opportunity to help close the digital divide, according to officials with the organization.
"This gift of computers in a year when our funding has been reduced has been wonderful," said Champaign County Public Library Director Zara Liskowiak. "It will certainly benefit our patrons who depend on the library for Internet access for studies, job searches and unemployment information, as well as recreational use. It was a very generous donation by CT to benefit our community."
Connect Ohio is a public-private partnership that works with technology-minded businesses, government entities and universities to accelerate technology in the state and close the digital divide.
OTA is a statewide trade association that promotes the common interests of telecommunications companies serving and employing Ohioans.
The No Child Left Offline effort has donated computers and software worth more than $100,000 to 200 underprivileged students in Ohio through the first year of operation. Statistics made available by the organization show that the vast majority of parents of youths who have Internet access believe it helps students with schoolwork and helps the students learn new things.
According to a Connect Ohio Technology Assessment for Champaign County, 76 percent of adult residents have a computer at home, 64 percent have Internet service (either dial-up or broadband) and 55 percent have broadband at home - identical to the state average.
According to the stats, 100 percent of county residents with bachelor's degrees or above own a computer.
Champaign County lags behind the state averages for Internet users who search the Web for product or service information, medical information, community events, information for schoolwork, information about government and information about jobs and employment. For example, 55 percent of Ohioans search for information online about government, while only 39 percent of Champaign County residents do so.
The county also lags behind state averages for communicating online and interacting with others online.
One area of deviation in this trend is that a slightly higher percentage of Champaign County residents purchase or sell more products or services online than others statewide. Also, 25 percent of county residents buy, sell or trade investments online compared to 19 percent statewide, but only 43 percent use online banking compared to 55 percent statewide.
Slightly more county residents read content online than the state average, 65 to 62 percent.
On average, Champaign County residents pay $36.89 per month for broadband service compared to $35.13 statewide.
Economic impact
Connected Nation's Economic Impact Study of Feb. 21, 2008 shows that a 7 percent increase in the adoption of broadband could generate the following results in the state of Ohio:
•96,000 jobs created or saved valued at $3.6 billion
•$25.4 million in health care savings
•$247.9 million in energy cost savings
Full digital inclusion (Every Citizen Online) would increase the potential benefit by as much as 11 times the amount above, since an 80 percent increase in Ohio's broadband adoption (currently measured at 55 percent) would be needed to completely eliminate the digital divide.
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