The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) published a notice on the Federal Register on Jan. 10 looking for input on how to best distribute over $48 billion in new broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

A new report found that the majority of educations – 74 percent – believe that video is more effective than text-based educational content.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced today that it is committing more than $361 million in the latest wave of funding for the Emergency Connectivity Fund program, bringing the program’s total funding to nearly $4.2 billion.

The Financial Information System for California (FI$Cal) project – now in its 17th year (not a typo) of implementation – is slogging along with a revised project plan that has reduced functionality and obscured project costs. FI$Cal is due to miss yet another planned project completion this summer, and will have to extend the project timeline by another two years.

Bloomberg Philanthropies awarded 10 cities a “What Works Cities Certification” in recognition of their “exceptional use of data to inform policy and funding decisions to improve residents’ lives.” The 10 cities are Baltimore, Md.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.; Denver, Colo.; Durham, N.C.; Evanston, Ill.; Long Beach, Calif.; Miami, Fla.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Salinas, Calif.

Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito announced that the state of Massachusetts awarded $3.5 million in funding through its Community Compact Cabinet Information Technology grant program to 70 different municipalities.

Finalsite, an internet software company that provides website design, hosting, and content management solutions to school districts announced that a ransomware attack impacting 5,000 of its total 8,000 global customers.

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) plans to take up a proposal to require “nutrition labels” for broadband service at the commission’s public meeting set for Jan. 27.

To close out the 2021 fall semester, the University of Arkansas announced that the mainframe that powered Business and Administrative Strategic Information System (BASIS) was powered off after 25 years. Decommissioning the mainframe will save the university approximately $1 million per year in service and licensing fees while ensuring the integrity of institutional data.

In 2021, the residents of New York City relied on technology unlike ever before to ensure equitable access to work, school, and daily life, according to a year-end compilation released by the Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO).