NTIA, Census Seeking More Granular Data on Internet Adoption Through Joint Project
NTIA wants comments by Oct. 15 on its Local Estimates of Internet Adoption (LEIA) project (docket NTIA-2024-0003), a new joint effort with the U.S. Census Bureau, said a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. The agencies will use Project LEIA to…
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"develop model-based estimates of internet adoption for smaller populations than would typically be possible using survey data alone," it said. The project aims to fill a "key gap in our knowledge of digital equity challenges," said Rafi Goldberg, NTIA senior adviser-digital equity, in a blog Monday. The agencies released their first "set of experimental, single-year estimates of household wired internet adoption for every county" in the U.S., Goldberg said. The new model is based on 2022 American Community Service data "in combination with several variables related to subscribership levels," he said. Project LEIA was developed to "obtain feedback from stakeholders and enhance future estimates," said a Census Bureau news release. It used "small area estimation methods" and "restricted data" to produce a feasibility report, user guide and data files.