74220 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 177 / Thursday, September 12, 2024 / Notices 

1See, e.g., NTIA, ‘‘New NTIA Data Show 13 

Million More internet Users in the U.S. in 2023 

than 2021,’’ June 6, 2024, available at https://

www.ntia.gov/blog/2024/new-ntia-data-show-13- 

million-more-internet-users-us-2023-2021. 

2 47 U.S.C. 1303(d). 

3U.S. Census Bureau, Digital Equity Act of 2021, 

available at https://www.census.gov/programssurveys/community-resilience-estimates/ 

partnerships/ntia/digital-equity.html. 

4U.S. Census Bureau, ACCESS BROADBAND Act 

of 2021, available at https://www.census.gov/ 

programs-surveys/community-resilience-estimates/ 

partnerships/ntia/broadband-act.html. 

Phone Number 301–734–1088. To 

attend via webinar, please R.S.V.P. to 

Donna Brown (contact information 

above) by Friday, October 25, 2024. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Status: 

The meeting will be open to public 

participation with a public comment 

period on Monday, October 28 at 3:15 

p.m. The Board expects that public 

statements presented at its meetings will 

not be repetitive of previously 

submitted verbal or written statements. 

In general, each individual or group 

making a verbal presentation will be 

limited to a total time of three (3) 

minutes. Written comments should be 

received by Ms. Donna Brown by 

Monday, October 21, 2024 to provide 

sufficient time for Board review. Written 

comments received after the deadline 

will be distributed to the Board, but may 

not be reviewed prior to the meeting 

date. 

Special Accommodations: The Board 

meeting is virtually accessible to people 

with disabilities. Requests for sign 

language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to Ms. 

Donna Brown by Monday, October 21, 

2024. 

The Board, which consists of a 

balanced representation from academia, 

industry, state government and citizens 

groups, was established in 1976 by 

section 209 of the Sea Grant 

Improvement Act (Pub. L. 94–461, 33 

U.S.C. 1128). The Board advises the 

Secretary of Commerce and the Director 

of the National Sea Grant College 

Program with respect to operations 

under the Act, and such other matters 

as the Secretary refers to them for 

review and advice. 

Matters To Be Considered: Board 

members will discuss and vote on 

membership for the Mission Support 

Committee as well as approve and 

accept the ‘‘State of Sea Grant’’ Biennial 

Report to Congress. https://

seagrant.noaa.gov/About/AdvisoryBoard. 

David Holst, 

Chief Financial Officer/Administrative 

Officer, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20693 Filed 9–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–KA–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Telecommunications and 

Information Administration 

[Docket No. 240906–0233] 

RIN 0660–XC063 

Request for Comment on Local 

Estimates of internet Adoption 

AGENCY: National Telecommunications 

and Information Administration (NTIA), 

U.S. Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice, request for public 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The National 

Telecommunications and Information 

Administration (NTIA) is seeking 

comments and recommendations 

regarding the project entitled, ‘‘Local 

Estimates of internet Adoption’’ (Project 

LEIA). Project LEIA is a new joint 

project of NTIA and the United States 

Census Bureau (Census Bureau) to 

develop model-based estimates of 

internet adoption for smaller 

populations than would typically be 

possible using survey data alone. We 

request input about potential uses of 

these estimates. We are also seeking 

suggestions for potential future 

improvements to the initial 

experimental model, as well as what 

additional sub-state geographies, small 

populations, indicators, or methods 

should be considered as future 

directions for Project LEIA. 

DATES: Interested persons are invited to 

submit comments on or before October 

15, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: All electronic public 

comments on this action, identified by 

Regulations.gov docket number NTIA– 

2024–0003, may be submitted through 

the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal at 

www.regulations.gov. Click the 

‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, complete the 

required fields, and enter or attach your 

comments. Please do not include 

information of a confidential nature, 

such as sensitive personal information 

or proprietary information, in your 

comments. All comments received are a 

part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to 

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All personal identifying information 

(e.g., name, address) voluntarily 

submitted by the commenter may be 

publicly accessible. Information 

obtained as a result of this notice may 

be used by the Federal Government for 

program planning on a non-attribution 

basis. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Please direct questions regarding this 

Request for Comment to Rafi Goldberg, 

Senior Policy Advisor, Digital Equity, 

NTIA, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, 

Suite 4725, Washington, DC 20230, at 

(202) 482–4375 or rgoldberg@ntia.gov. 

Please direct media inquiries to NTIA’s 

Office of Public Affairs, at (202) 482– 

7002 or press@ntia.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For thirty 

years, NTIA and the Census Bureau 

have partnered to produce valuable data 

on computer and internet use in the 

United States. These data enable 

policymakers, researchers, and 

advocates to better understand 

challenges to achieving digital equity 

and other internet policy issues. The 

most enduring example of this is the 

NTIA internet Use Survey, which is 

administered as a supplement to the 

Census Bureau’s Current Population 

Survey. The most recent edition of this 

survey was fielded in November 2023.1

Since 1994, the survey has served as the 

premier Federal data source for in-depth 

information on who uses the internet, 

what technologies they use, and what 

challenges still prevent far too many 

Americans from fully realizing the 

benefits of modern information 

technologies. The relationship between 

NTIA and the Census Bureau has also 

expanded over time, facilitating the 

creation of additional data products that 

further improve the state of knowledge 

on internet use. In 2008, the Broadband 

Data Improvement Act directed the 

Census Bureau to add questions to the 

American Community Survey (ACS) 

about household computer use and 

internet subscribership.2 NTIA and the 

Federal Communications Commission 

(FCC) staff worked with our Census 

Bureau counterparts on implementation 

of these questions. More recently, NTIA 

collaborated with Census Bureau teams 

to create estimates of the Covered 

Populations, as defined by the Digital 

Equity Act.3 We also collaborated to 

launch the ACCESS BROADBAND 

Dashboard, which visualizes internet 

adoption across the United States.4

While these data products have 

enabled a great deal of important 

research and policy analysis, some 

significant gaps remain in our 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 177 / Thursday, September 12, 2024 / Notices 74221 

5See ACS ‘‘Areas Published,’’ available at https:// 

www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/geographyacs/areas-published.html. 

6See, e.g., U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area 

Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) Program, 

available at https://www.census.gov/programssurveys/saipe.html. 

7Specifically, the metric being modeled is 

households reporting a subscription to ‘‘broadband 

(high speed) internet service such as cable, fiber 

optic, or DSL service installed in this household.’’ 

While dial-up internet service—which by definition 

is also a ‘‘wired’’ internet service—is not included 

here (and falls under a different answer choice in 

the relevant ACS question), it was an extremely 

uncommon type of internet service by 2022. 

According to the 2022 ACS, approximately 0.1 

percent of households used only a dial-up internet 

service. See 2022 American Community Survey 

questionnaire at 9, available at https://

www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/ 

methodology/questionnaires/2022/quest22.pdf; 

Census Bureau Table S2801, available at https://

data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2022.S2801. 

8U.S. Census Bureau, Local Estimates of internet 

Adoption: Feasibility Report, available at https://

www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/ 

local-estimates-of-internet-adoption.html. 

understanding of internet use. Notably, 

we have limited ability to reliably 

estimate variables like internet adoption 

for individual counties or other smaller 

geographies and populations. Data from 

the NTIA internet Use Survey can be 

used to estimate internet use at the 

national and state levels and for a range 

of demographic groups. However, it 

cannot provide estimates for counties, 

census tracts, or other small areas. The 

ACS comes closer to fulfilling this 

task—at least for the indicators enabled 

by the three computer and internet use 

questions it contains—but can only shed 

light on less populous areas by 

aggregating five consecutive years’ 

worth of survey responses.5 While 

invaluable for many purposes, a fiveyear time scale is not ideal for tasks like 

conducting yearly program evaluation 

or studying the impacts of relatively 

sudden changes. 

Last year, NTIA and the Census 

Bureau began an experimental project to 

study the feasibility of—and ultimately 

to produce—estimates of internet 

adoption for small, sub-state areas 

during a single year to address this 

knowledge gap and better serve the 

policymaking process. Using techniques 

that have been successfully employed in 

other data products,6 Census Bureau 

experts are combining existing data 

from key household surveys with 

auxiliary data that are known to 

correlate with internet adoption rates. 

By using a predictive model, the Census 

Bureau team can produce estimates for 

less populous geographies or groups 

that have both smaller margins of error 

than equivalent estimates based on 

survey data alone and reduced risk that 

such estimates can be used to identify 

individual respondents. Those two 

features of small area modeling make it 

possible to publish more granular 

estimates than would otherwise be 

permissible or recommended for 

estimates generated entirely from survey 

data. 

For this first phase of Project LEIA, 

the Census Bureau team produced an 

experimental model to estimate the 

proportion of households in each U.S. 

county that subscribed to wired internet 

service in 2022.7 To accomplish this, 

Census used the direct survey estimates 

for wired internet adoption from the 

2022 ACS in combination with several 

variables related to subscribership 

levels, including each county’s median 

household income, educational 

attainment level, and availability of 

fixed broadband services offering at 

least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps 

upload speeds. A complete feasibility 

report detailing the methodology used 

in this model, as well as the 

experimental estimates themselves and 

related materials, is available at https:// 

www.census.gov/data/experimentaldata-products/local-estimates-ofinternet-adoption.html. 

As we prepare to continue this 

important collaboration with the Census 

Bureau, NTIA invites all suggestions for 

improvements to the initial 

experimental model. We also welcome 

suggestions about how to prioritize 

future expansion of Project LEIA’s 

scope. The following questions serve as 

a non-exhaustive guide to some of the 

issues commenters may wish to address: 

1. Should NTIA be aware of any 

potential applications where Project 

LEIA could make a particularly 

substantial contribution to policy 

research or development? Would any 

future work on Project LEIA help 

improve or expand these contributions? 

2. In the feasibility report,8 the 

Census Bureau describes the 

methodology it used in the experimental 

model and lists a number of potential 

predictor variables it tested before 

selecting the ones used in these initial 

estimates. Are there additional variables 

or data sources that should be 

considered to improve the model’s 

predictive power? Should we consider 

any methodological refinements or 

modifications to this model to improve 

its performance? 

3. While the current experimental 

model only produces estimates at the 

county level, the same principles can 

potentially be applied for other small 

geographies and populations. During the 

next phase of Project LEIA, NTIA and 

the Census Bureau intend to experiment 

with creating census tract-level 

estimates. Are there other small 

geographies or populations for which 

model-based estimates of internet 

adoption might be beneficial? What 

relevant data sources at that level could 

be considered to help generate these 

estimates? 

4. In this first phase, we decided to 

analyze the percentage of households 

subscribed to wired internet services. 

We did this because (a) the variable is 

useful for policymaking and (b) 

sufficient data were available to 

accurately fit a model. However, this is 

not the only metric that possibly could 

be modeled through future work. In 

addition to considering other variables 

from the ACS questions on computer 

and internet use, we are also interested 

in applying small area modeling to more 

detailed questions from the NTIA 

internet Use Survey. What metrics from 

either survey could we prioritize for 

future work under Project LEIA? 

5. Is there anything else NTIA should 

take into consideration when 

contemplating the further development 

of Project LEIA? 

Stephanie Weiner, 

Chief Counsel, National Telecommunications 

and Information Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20645 Filed 9–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–60–P 

COMMISSION OF FINE ARTS 

Notice of Meeting 

Per 45 CFR chapter XXI 2102.3, the 

next meeting of the U.S. Commission of 

Fine Arts is scheduled for September 

19, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. and will be held 

via online videoconference. Items of 

discussion may include buildings, 

infrastructure, parks, memorials, and 

public art. 

Draft agendas, the link to register for 

the online public meeting, and 

additional information regarding the 

Commission are available on our 

website: www.cfa.gov. Inquiries 

regarding the agenda, as well as any 

public testimony, should be addressed 

to Thomas Luebke, Secretary, U.S. 

Commission of Fine Arts, at the above 

address; by emailing cfastaff@cfa.gov; or 

by calling 202–504–2200. Individuals 

requiring sign language interpretation 

for the hearing impaired should contact 

the Secretary at least 10 days before the 

meeting date. 

Dated: September 6, 2024 in Washington, 

DC. 

Zakiya N. Walters, 

Administrative Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20627 Filed 9–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6330–01–P 


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