Digital Equity – Meaning…?
By Amanda Ong
What is Digital Equity?
Our Studio Elements course with Dr. Dharma Daily this quarter was surrounded by “Digital Equity” and all efforts regarding it. So what is digital equity?
On the first day of class, we were given paper and pencil and prompted to use this media in whichever way we wanted to define what we believe “Digital Equity” to be. I had no idea what it meant, but given that I had 10 minutes to brainstorm before presenting to my new classmates, I decided to give it my best shot so I wouldn’t look dumb.
I first tried breaking it down. Digital = electronic formats, easy enough. Equity = Business equities? (As a business major student, this made the most sense to me). Putting it together, Digital + Equity = business equities in electronic formats. That was the best I could do, yet it was far far away from the actual definition.
According to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, “Digital equity is a condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy”. In simpler terms, digital equity is when everyone in a community has equal access to the technological resources that can allow them to strive.
As a student coming from a privileged school district, I assumed that technological resources were only for those who could afford them. Those who couldn’t, didn’t. While speaking to Digital Equity Advocates Bre Urness-Straight and Nancy Chang, I learned that there’s much more to it. Government figures and entire organizations have been making efforts over the past few years to close the digital divide - especially with the pandemic making everyone go virtual.
The Double Diamond Figure
A concept that we explored in class was the double diamond figure, as shown below:
The double diamond figure is a structured design approach in the creative problem-solving process. As seen above, the main four phases include: Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver. The overall shape of the figure conveys the different approaches used in each stage: divergent (open, exploratory) or convergent (narrowing, decisive). The figure below breaks that down a lot better:
So What?
After reflecting on the digital equity work we’ve done, I kept seeing the double diamond process pop up. It’s not every day that you can actually apply what you’ve learned in a classroom! In our digital equity advocacy projects, we were constantly thrown into new teams and given ambiguous project instructions. The best way we tackled them was through the double diamond project. We would try to make sense of the prompt, do some research, define, develop, get feedback, and deliver!
I think this process can also be seen in the newer digital equity organizations since digital equity is a relatively new term. With the pandemic bringing its own issues with technological resources, advocates and organizations have definitely been using the double diamond process to try to create solutions for the digital divide.
