I chose to read the article “Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy” by Chris Gilliard and Hugh Culik. Within this article, Gillard discusses the term ‘Digital Redlining’ and the restrictions it can place on a students education. Gilliard basically suggests that when researching topics or certain information on the internet your search may be restricted. Digital redlining walls off certain information based on the I.T policies of the institution or organization which is providing the internet service. Gillard continues to suggest that this can put implications on student learning because most researchers are unaware of these restrictions; therefore, they may believe certain information does not exist when it fact it may just be invisible to them depending on their internet source. For multiple students who come from varying socioeconomic backgrounds this can place significant limitations on their education. Some students rely solely on the internet from their school since they can not access internet any where else; however, digital redlining can be restricting their access to certain information. Digital redlining can limit what kind of access students have to certain information, which can ultimately place them at a disadvantage compared to those who have been using internet services without restrictions.
Prior to reading this article I was unaware of the term redlining, let alone the term digital redlining. It seems in today’s generation there is already so much concern regarding technology that digital redlining just seems to be adding fuel to the fire. I personally believe that it is unfair for an organization or institution to make decisions about what they believe is appropriate for their students to be researching. If I was a student attending a university or college that was redlining what information I had access to, I would be furious. First of all, we are paying customers and invest into our education through the price of tuition, which is already expensive enough, therefore if I found out my research information was being restriction I would not be a happy customer.
For my Multimedia Reflection I decided to attempt a Powtoon. When I began the Powtoon video it took me approximately 2 hours to finish 2 slides. I was super close to giving up and going back into my comfort zone to do a sketch note but I decided to push through and attempt a couple more slides. After playing around with the site for a bit, I began to get the hang of it and ended up completing a full Powtoon video. I’m super proud of myself for completing this and I’m happy I went outside my comfort zone for this particular assignment. While I was completing my video, I found an ironic connection to Gillard’s article. Within Powtoon there are certain restrictions placed on users depending on whether you have paid for a ‘pro’ account or not. Since I was using the site under free terms, I was restricted with various animations that I could place into my video (there were less available to me compared to those who have pro) and my video was required to be under 3 minutes long. It was very similar to the article written by Gillard since I was being restricted to information that was present on the site based on their policies and procedures. If I was compare my Powtoon video to someone who pays for Powtoon Pro, I’m sure there would be significant differences. This would be a very similar situation for two students who complete a research article but one student is being digitally redlined and the other student has complete freedom!
Below is a link to my Powtoon video, I hope you guys like it and I really hope the link works!
Enjoy!
https://www.powtoon.com/c/g94E5llwtoO/1/m
Alaina Mancina 🙂