Temple interns to report on city technology issues

You just might see some new bylines pop up here at Technically Philly in the coming months.
Chelsea Leposa and Jared Pass will be among the first. They come to us as interns from Temple University’s journalism capstone class, the Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab, which features a neighborhood-focused newsroom that publishes to the Philadelphia Neighborhoods news site. Thusly, Leposa and Pass will be chasing down stories on Philadelphia technology issues and those working to remedy them.

For now, they’re meeting the players and learning the issues. They filed their first story for their class only, something of an introduction to the issues they’ll be dealing with this semester.
By way of introduction:

… Income is another big factor influencing the digital divide. A Pew Research study found that 58 percent of those making under $30,000 use the internet occasionally, compared to 94 percent of people making over $75,000. As well, after applying national statistics on internet use to Philadelphia, it can be estimated that 30 percent of Philadelphians with a yearly income below $35,000 do not regularly use the internet. After the downfall of Wireless Philadelphia’s 135 square mile Wi-Fi network in 2008, cheap internet service was no longer available. However, other city organizations offer programs attempting to close the digital divide. [Read the rest here]

Welcome Chelsea and Jared, and if anyone has suggestions for covering technology issues in Philadelphia or other neighborhood-focused tech stories, let it be known below.