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Prompt:
Using at least one article from this semesters readings, discuss how this film fits with our readings this semester. Limit your responses to two pages.
The movie we watched in class on Tuesday relates too many of the readings and topics we've discussed in class so far this year. Most specifically I believe it clearly shows how the digital divide is leaving some people behind while others coast on the back of technologies. This was further illustrated by the video because it showed East Palo Alto, a city located in the near dead center of Silicone Valley. While one might think with the high end technical business opportunities and high paying jobs of the area would be evenly distributed, or at least evenly available, it is quite different in East Palo Alto.
The movie focused heavily on a NPO called Plugged In, that helps local East Palo Alto residents (especially children) have access to computers in order to complete their day to day tasks. While the wealth of the area is quite high, the wealth of East Palo Alto is shockingly low by comparison. According to Plugged In's website, citizens of East Palo Alto only pull in about "38.2% of the per capita income of San Mateo County" and only about "36% of students graduate" high school on time. For an area that's leading the country in many aspects of technology, and leading the world in a few, you'd expect the trickle effect to be far more prevalent then it has. However, as the video notes, it is partially the success that has caused this staggering economic wall between the cities.
In order for a company to create a product that will turn massive profits, technical or not, being able to cut out costs by reducing the pay of workers is generally an easy way to do it. In turn, when you're not paying your workforce a large amount, they still need a place to stay within reason of their employment, which creates vast differences in living conditions within small areas.
Even in an affluent area (for the most part), with large companies sponsoring Plugged In, and keeping them in service to "more than 500 community members each week," East Palo Alto is still a poor area in the shadow of great success. This contradicts what Kevin Maney says in his USA Today article about the $100 laptop. He states that the "world's poor is a winner" with setups like this. A great concept backed by large corporations to provide technologies to those in need. If anything however, as I think Plugged In has proved, even by helping in this manner (throwing money on technologies and handing them out), places like East Palo Alto haven't really changed. In fact, as the video points out, the only thing really changing in East Palo Alto is that the land is being bought out from under the current residents to make way for more affluent residents, because the current residents can no longer afford to keep the land they're on.
While groups like Plugged In do a valuable work for the community, I think they only slightly reduce the distance of the digital divide, instead of curing it in any way. Some people have access to computers if they're willing to take the opportunity because of groups like this, but it is not unlimited access like those on the other side would have. This keeps those at the "bottom" at a disadvantage. I do however believe that groups like Plugged In do far more than the $100 laptop program will do, considering that all that program has been so far is a way for large companies to drop their names as charitable in the right circles, and has produced no results. Only time will tell if East Palo Alto will be brought up by programs like Plugged In and cheaper laptops, or if it will just be bought out from underneath them and it will have all been to late.