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As government services, political discourse and commerce expand online, policymakers and public interest organizations are promoting broadband “adoption” among people who are not currently using the Internet, or using it marginally. Yet there is little discussion of what “adoption” means or how it can be measured. For lack of a better indicator, agencies and researchers often use the metric of home subscription numbers, which tell us very little about the different modes or locations of access which may be more relevant for some populations, nor about the effects of adoption on new users and communities.

In the United States, the absence of meaningful metrics for adoption is becoming evident as two federal digital inclusion efforts — the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) — enter their evaluation phases. As policymakers and advocates search for ways to document the effect of these programs, the design of meaningful metrics could have implications for the sustainability of broadband initiatives and the well-being of individuals and communities identified as possible beneficiaries.

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