Digital Destitution: A Mechanism of and for Inequality

ABSTRACT
The result of not preparing people and places to manipulate the productive function of network technology is ‘digital destitution’. As the ability to access the Internet becomes more crucial in daily life, those Americans who are not prepared to function with this technology are excluded and do find themselves in a state of disconnection from the vital economic, social, political, cultural and institutional processes that depend on broadband technology. In this presentation, Dr. Blanca Gordo will outline and ground her theoretical conceptual framework for understanding the impact of being offline.

SPEAKER BIO
Blanca Gordo, Ph.D., is a visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues at the University of California at Berkeley where she is writing her book, Digital Destitution in the Digital Age. Most recently, she was the Academic Coordinator for the Center for Latino Policy Research at the University of California at Berkeley, where she directed public policy initiatives, program development, and the Technology and Development Research Group. Dr. Gordo holds a doctorate in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. She specializes in regional-local economic development, urban poverty, local technology development processes, organizational analysis and development, public policy, ethnic populations (African Americans and Latinos), demographics, and social inequality structures