Orleans' Digital Equity Plan, Explained

This week Orleans released a draft of its digital equity plan. The plan includes a vast array of findings and 18 different recommendations.

What is digital equity?

19 July 2024 — ORLEANS, MA — This might be the digital age, but not everyone has an equal ride. That's why advocates of "digital equity" say active planning  can make a difference in the ability of all people to use and benefit from the digital tools that define our daily life.

What is the Orleans Digital Equity Plan?

The Town of Orleans, along with the Cape Cod Commission took this observation to heart. Using funds from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), the town this week published a 64-page document explaining the gaps in digital equity in Orleans and more broadly on Cape Cod. It gathered its data through community feedback, and used the report to map out a series of recommendations to fill these gaps.

The plan organizes around three pillars: connectivity (does the community have adequate internet connection), devices (do people have access to and understand their devices), and digital literacy (can they exist on the internet safely and successfully).

What did the digital equity plan find?

Among the findings? The seasonal influx of residents and visitors creates and extra challenge, and connectivity often becomes an issue during the summer months. In addition, a higher median age on the Cape creates a challenge to digital literacy unique to this area. The plan makes a slew of suggestions, from expanding public wifi availability to one-on-one digital support spaces to device lending programs. To read the plan in its entirety, click HERE.

Why does the Cape need digital equity?

Cape towns and the Cape Cod Commission say the perceived reality of broadband on the Cape and the on-the-ground reality of the Cape may be quite different. For example, MBI's data found the Cape well connected to the internet. But this data was based on the internet speeds residents were paying for — not those they were receiving, according to Mike Solitro, Orleans’ assistant town planner.

Orleans is not alone. The Cape Cod Commission, with funding from MBI, using is working with Orleans as well as Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth and Barnstable to identify priorities of Cape communities and propose solutions.

What are other Cape towns doing about digital equity?

Bourne and Sandwich have already produced their plan drafts and are currently working on implementation, while Barnstable and Falmouth are still working on their drafts. Once all five towns have produced their plans, the Commission will draw on this work to help the region think more broadly about solutions for the entirety of Cape Cod.

The Fix Cape Internet Coalition, spearheaded by alternative service provider Open Cape,  is currently conducting a challenge process for Cape residents to correct MBI’s data. In this process,  residents click on a link, enter their Comcast bill number, and test  their actual internet speeds compared to what they’re paying for. This challenge which ends in mid July may help paint a more accurate picture of the Cape’s internet landscape, said Steven Tupper, deputy director of the Cape Cod Commission.