{"651210":{"#nid":"651210","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Using Edge Computing to Bridge the Digital Divide","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers are planning to bring edge computing to Atlanta\u0026rsquo;s Westside. With National Science Foundation funding, the group will deploy edge-based information services to increase internet access for the community.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe $150,000 planning grant will enable researchers to explore the possibilities of the project, develop community relationships, and gather a team of students. They believe their methods in the Westside could serve as a test case for applying the solution to similar urban neighborhoods elsewhere.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The digital divide in urban communities is getting worse: They don\u0026rsquo;t have reliable connectivity, or affordability for connections,\u0026rdquo; School of Computer Science (SCS) Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EUmakishore Ramachandran\u003C\/strong\u003E said. \u0026ldquo;Georgia Tech should be able to do something to help our neighbors.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe project started three years ago when researchers approached Westside leaders to figure out their needs for increasing access to information. To develop trust with the community, undergraduate and graduate students have been regularly attending Westside community meetings.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey determined the community would most benefit from local area network (LAN) based connectivity and streaming services that are not reliant on cloud connectivity. For sustainability, they aim to train high school students and other community members to maintain these systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBuilding relationships is just as important as the technology. As a concrete use case, they plan to provide a streaming service using an open-source LAN-based platform akin to Zoom for Tech students to tutor Westside area children.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Technology is the easy part; the hard part is earning trust of community,\u0026rdquo; Ramachandran said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERamachandran is co-principal investigator along with SCS Assistant Professor faculty \u003Cstrong\u003EAshutosh Dhekne\u003C\/strong\u003E and Professors \u003Cstrong\u003EMustaque Ahamad, and Mostafa Ammar;\u003C\/strong\u003E School of Economics Associate Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EShatakshee Dhongde\u003C\/strong\u003E; and City and Regional Planning Associate Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ENisha\u0026nbsp;Botchwey\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"With National Science Foundation funding, the group will deploy edge-based information services to increase internet access for the community."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2021-09-29 17:13:03","changed_gmt":"2021-09-29 17:13:23","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-09-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-09-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"649162":{"id":"649162","type":"image","title":"Welcome to the 404: A Beginner\u2019s Guide to Atlanta","body":null,"created":"1627841851","gmt_created":"2021-08-01 18:17:31","changed":"1627841851","gmt_changed":"2021-08-01 18:17:31","alt":"","file":{"fid":"246464","name":"Screen Shot 2021-08-01 at 2.02.23 PM.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202021-08-01%20at%202.02.23%20PM.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202021-08-01%20at%202.02.23%20PM.png","mime":"image\/png","size":2150315,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202021-08-01%20at%202.02.23%20PM.png?itok=G5HL9GTO"}}},"media_ids":["649162"],"groups":[{"id":"50875","name":"School of Computer Science"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Communications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etess.malone@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}