Race and the Digital: Racial Formation and 21st Century Technologies

Minority Women-Technology & the Digital Divide

This was an enjoyable blog to read, as have been the previous, because they all address problems we sort-of are aware of but perhaps don’t really spend the time to gage them. I really liked how the outside article connected to the assigned reading article. All of this made me think about my own educational journey and how I deviated away from STEM sort of careers, not because I wasn’t particularly interested but because they seemed so out of reach. Taking a wider approach, with political minority groups and their access to higher education, I find a connection within the articles and my story. A particularly striking quote that I read was:
“When young Black women engineers and technologists were asked how to increase the number of African American women in their respective fields, the broad answers were to have mentors and role models, have outreach activities, introduce young students early to engineering careers, and emphasize the importance of math and science at an early age.” The reasons that I was able to apply, get admitted, and attend UCLA with a full scholarship, was because I had most of these elements. Except, instead of the emphasis being on science at an early age, it was the emphasis of the narrative whispered in my ear that it was important to get a college education, that a college education was my ticket out. Along the same lines, even though I actively sought out these types of resources, I could not have control over what was emphasized in my life as I was growing up. Thus, I think that the key lies in early education and early exposure.

In connecting this to the digital divide, I think we can add another facet to this idea of division. We can think of how the things mentioned in the quote above, are actually lacking. It is hard to attempt to break the cycle that keeps on repeating itself because there are so few that can lead by example; however, it is possible to break that cycle. And, it is those who break that cycle that have a civic duty to share with others their stories and their membership.

Contents of this reply: