SafiriSalama.com is helping Kenyans to digitally plan and manage funerals

Low-income people often miss out on court dates because they cannot afford to miss work or leave their children. Michigan and Ohio courts have incorporated the Matterhorn “online adjudication system” to handle simple cases so individuals can participate through the Internet. The system also offers the advantage of having “less bias” than in-person trials, because the race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status of the individual is protected online.

In an effort to address a lack of broadband access, Indigenous communities are working together, and with local organizations, to acquire funding to bring internet access to their communities and close the digital divide.

Black Churches 4 Digital Equity partners with local congregations and clergy members to connect people with internet access helping them get signed up with the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides discounted internet access and a one-time discount for laptop, desktop, or tablet purchases for those whose income is less than 200% of the federal poverty line. Through community outreach and events, local clergy have helped more than 230,000 households enroll in the program.

To make internet connectivity accessible and affordable across Africa, Dr. Harold Omondi developed “internet from the moon,” a technology that uses satellite dishes to communicate with transponders placed in the moon several years ago by NASA. The transponders can send and receive information and, since the moon keeps the same side of its surface pointed towards earth, the connection cannot be lost. Still in the piloting phase, the system currently offers free internet at Jomo Kenyatta University, where over 1,200 people login every day, and has another station in South Sudan serving 300-500 people daily.

The Internet Archive is a digital library of around 544 billion archived web pages, most of which are found using a bot that crawls the web and saves snapshots. However, a self-described loose collective of volunteer activist archivists, known as the Archive Team,' individually monitors and preserves websites at risk of being abruptly taken down. Using donated bandwidth and hard drive space on the archiving application “Warrior,” they systematically download sites they fear will be deleted. The downloads are saved within the Internet Archive database, which is available to the public.

In order to combat xenophobic attitudes against refugees in Europe, three friends founded Solomon; a media outlet that “gives voice to non-native populations, countering negative stereotypes about them and helping them integrate into their new communities.” Recent grants have helped the magazine expand and pay staff. “We’re not like other media that focuses on refugees’ selling their bodies or selling drugs. We go with our camera and write about integration.”

The Equitable Internet Initiative (EII) is transforming community organizers into “digital stewards” who are literally building out internet connection in their communities. In Detroit, where 40% of residents don’t have internet access, this service through the EII is invaluable. The program is also equipping youth of color with relevant technology skills and creating a stronger sense of place for the three Detroit neighborhoods it serves.

It can be difficult to find and afford farmland in the United States, so a web tool called Georgia FarmLink connects disadvantaged farmers to landowners and resources for help with legal and business advice.

When Facebook rolled out its Free Basics program offering internet services through a company-controlled portal, Indian activists launched the Save the Internet campaign to oppose the initiative and the practice of "zero-rating" on the grounds that these practices violated Net Neutrality. Through marches, social media organizing, and viral videos, the movement was able to sway public opinion and the Indian regulatory authority ultimately outlawed zero-rating.

Online volunteer assistance efforts in New York have played a crucial role in the dissemination of the COVID-19 vaccine, while city and state appointment systems have caused confusion or created barriers for many. Although these efforts can't address all barriers, such as lack of computer access or literacy, they have been used by thousands of people each day to find available appointment times.