The head of the Federal Communications Commission announced a new public-private partnership last week, part of a flurry of FCC activity to increase broadband Internet access and adoption.
In the Connect to Compete initiative, Microsoft and Best Buy lead a long list of corporations focusing on spreading digital-literacy and job skills, including Best Buy putting its technology agents to work on digital-literacy training in 20 cities and Microsoft launching an online digital-literacy training center.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski also announced plans to explore ways the federal E-Rate program, which subsidizes Internet-related purchases at schools and libraries, can expand access to digital-literacy training toward ultimately forming a Digital Literacy Corps, a body whose creation was one goal of the National Broadband Plan.
