Project GOAL (Get Older Americans onLine) is launching Tuesday (April 6) with a press conference at the National Press Club and a speech by FCC senior broadband adviser Blair Levin.
The group is described as comprising tech companies, agencies dealing with aging, and nonprofits, all with the goal of getting more older Americans to adopt broadband.
Seniors, lower income and minority groups, are all populations with adoption rates under the national average.
A spokesperson for the group said one of the factors behind launching the initiative was that there was no section specifically devoted to senior issues in the FCC's National Broadband Plan. But the plan does give the discrepancy between that national average (65% adoption) and senior's adoption (35%) prominent placement as part of a chart on the first page (literally "Exhibit A") of its section on Adoption and Utilization.
One of the barriers to adoption is said to be a lack or relevant content. To that point, the plan also includes a sidebar on a Web portal for seniors (SeniorPlanet) that includes blogs a calendar and other forums for promoting health and improved quality of life.
GOAL's goal is to: "advance the benefits of broadband (telemedicine, expanding social interactions and social networking, reducing isolation, maintaining connections with family and friends, and facilitating aging in place) and address the barriers to the adoption of broadband that are of particular concern to the aging community."
