The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: I’m coming for your gig.
For my reflection of the Chris Gilliard and Hugh Culik article Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy, I attempted to make a rap. I decided to take the key points of the article on access issues of digital redlining and rewrite the lyrics to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air-theme song. To be honest, I regretted this decision when it came down to filming part of the process (I’ll explain more about that later). I have since realized two things: 1) I have no chance at a future career in rap and 2) this process is much more lengthy than I anticipated.
The experience of reading the article and opening my eyes to such a prevalent issue was pretty incredible. I had no idea that such a policy existed once upon a time and that it would carry such weight in the digital world years later. I have never really taken a moment to question the online resources that I may or may not have had access to in my education. I do recall having certain applications blocked in high school when using the school Wi-Fi such as Snapchat and YouTube, but I never really thought it blocked my limit to learning. In my undergraduate degree, I found that often there was a lack of resources available online. I cannot even recall the number of times I had to go to the library to pull out extremely old books to get the information needed for French literature assignments, but I’m not really sure that it was a question of access issues.
The belief that underprivileged communities are still facing access to a fair and equitable education makes me quite angry honestly. The fact that there is not more awareness being spread about this issue is shocking. Before I read this article, I really had no idea that digital redlining was a thing. The whole article gave me new information on the history of redlining and how it still impacts our society to this day. Even though many do not see post-secondary access issues as viable, it completely is. I am interested to see how this message will be spread in the future.
What I have learned about this issue truly only comes from this assignment. I created each verse to reflect on a main message of the article. I wrote the lyrics from the perspective of someone who is aware of access issues in a participatory world and who comes from a group that is discriminated against. The first large verse focuses on the history of redlining policy in Detroit, and the second half of that large verse focuses on the limits that digital redlining places on this student’s education. The final large verse then moves into what needs to be done in order to have fair education. Essentially, the rap takes us through a story that goes from having a completely unfair education to having great changes made where digital redlining is no longer an issue that exists (which I sincerely hope happens sometime soon).
When filming and editing my rap, I realized that my resources to do so were pretty limited. I ended up having my mom film me on my iPhone which was just embarrassing and awkward even though my mom is my biggest fan. I just knew the quality was not going to be where I wanted it. I’m not thrilled with the outcome of the video itself, but I sincerely tried my hardest with what I had. Unfortunately, it seems that the University of Windsor lacks applications for editing videos and any tools for students needing to film. This is something I probably would not have noticed had I not just thoroughly read and reflected on the Gilliard/Culik article. Although I love our university, I do question the amount of resources we have access to. Which fields have more resources than others? Why does the French department have to put books on course reserve while chemistry students have access to everything online? Are certain departments prioritized over others? My research is just beginning on this topic.
I have come to realization that one common message was brought forth in this article: equality and fairness has not yet been achieved in education. Those with a greater social capital are privileged in ways that we often do not often see.
While watching my video, I hope you focus on the words that I am saying because I believe it summarizes and adds clarity to the issues that the article brought forth. I am most proud of the lyrics I came up with for this reflection. I hope that opening up this conversation will allow us to further understand how we can change to ensure fair access to online resources across schools.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzmsMsXwuas
Digital redlining: #UWinDig is here to expose you.
*mic drop*
– Amy