GYoung Digital Blog

This week, we had an in-class activity where we looked at some digital issues of the day, and as a small group, we put together a mock-conference that focuses on today’s digital divide.

In case any of my wonderful readers out there aren’t familiar, “digital divide” is basically a term that describes the gap between people who use digital services, such as the internet, and those who don’t. Of course, that’s an extremely simple way of putting it; the issue is much larger. It has much to do with entire communities, and demographics, who do not use digital services for whatever reason. It could be personal reasons, or it could be financial reasons, which is a major issue; there are many areas in cities, and in rural areas that don’t have internet access, and don’t have access to digital services.

So, as a group, we came together to create conferences for the digital divide. Basically, if we had an event where we brought together world leaders and experts, what would we talk about when we talk about trying to fix the issues of the digital divide?

Well, I want try again, so here goes:

Morning, 9am – 10am

Introduction to Digital Divide, how did we get here?

This is where we talk about the history and evolution of the digital divide, and the issues that come along with it. This will be more of a historical survey of the digital culture, how the digital culture has impacted our modern economy for the good and for the bad, who it’s benefiting, and who it’s damaging. This will include discussions on the rise of Amazon, the fall of brick and mortar stores, social media, and the rise in homeless populations in various cities.

10:30am – 11:30am

Global Issues: Why people around the globe don’t have access to internet, or computers, from financial inequality, to government and corporate interference

This talk will be an extension of the previous talk, but it will be hyper focused on the people that are effected, and the various reasons why they’re effected. This will focus on the wealth divide, the digital haves and the have-nots, as well as the difference between digital natives, and digital immigrants. Also, this will focus on the various governments that have a strangle hold on their internet information, as well as the issues relating to Net Neutrality, why it was in place, and why some want to get rid of it.

12pm – 1pm

Zero Marginal Cost Society – Jeremy Rifkin speaks on The Third Industrial Revolution, and the Green New Deal

This will be a special talk that’s delivered specifically from Jeremy Rifkin, an author and economist who specializes in changing technologies, and he’s a firm advocate of the digital economy, as well as an environmental advocate. He see’s the digital culture as an evolution of human kind, but he thinks it needs to go further; while everything in the world has gone digital, from dating, to shopping, to writing books, to arts, and stock trading, there’s one thing the internet hasn’t touched, which is energy supply. This talk will focus on closing the digital divide, and how it could greatly benefit our culture even further.  

1:30pm – 2:30pm

3pm – 4pm

Moving Forward: Predictions, initiatives in place, what to expect, and what we can.

The title of this speech is self-explanatory; it’s a look to the future.

One Last Thing:

Jeremy Rifkin was mentioned above, and he once gave a talk that was filmed and distributed from Vice Documentary Films. Here it is, for your viewing pleasure: