Gant interviewed on CIO Talk Radio

Jon Gant, director of the Center for Digital Inclusion and GSLIS faculty member, was recently a guest on CIO Talk Radio, an internet-based talk show that discusses the ways in which technology is changing business and society. The show, “Could Global Connectivity Transform the World’s Economy?” aired on February 19, 2014. CIO Talk Radio reaches a global audience of CIOs and business leaders with its weekly format.

Over five billion people, nearly two thirds of the world’s population, are without Internet access. Attempts to bridge the gap of this Digital Divide have struggled due to poor infrastructure and an inability to generate greater commerce or quality of life. But new innovations with mobility have made it such that people can receive 3G connectivity in places without electricity. So can global Internet connectivity have the necessary gradual impact on a region’s economy and living conditions in order to see a significant change? How are governments, the commercial sector and non-profits joining hands to contribute to this cause, and how can working on this help solve the impoverished world’s other priorities?

Gant is a national leader in the areas of digital inclusion and broadband adoption and an expert in evaluating the social and economic impact of broadband Internet and other ICT investments. In addition to his work on multi-million dollar broadband projects, he serves as a consultant with ASR Analytics as a research director and member of the academic advisory board for the evaluation of the Department of Commerce, NTIA $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP).

He was joined by John Windhausen, Jr., executive director of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, a diverse coalition of community anchor institutions, broadband companies, foundations (such as the Gates Foundation) and public interest groups; and William A. Brindley, recently retired chief executive officer and executive director of NetHope, a new-generation information and communications technology collaboration.