The topic 3 readings got me thinking more about the concept of âDigital Redliningâ and the affect that has on how accessible educational resources are to you and how it begets the possibility of discrimination occurring based on how these resources are prevented from being accessed. Digital Redlining essentially creates boundaries/limitations on the knowledge that is made available to students due to organizational policies put in place by administration at learning institutions. These arbitrary boundaries are seemingly predatory as the article examined the inequities that occur between community colleges and other post-secondary institutions. Namely how âDigital Redliningâ reinforces class boundaries as information that may be readily available at a university with more prestige can be hidden entirely in the context of a community college due to filters blocking the online access of those materials.
This introduces the danger of perpetuating misinformation and discrimination based on socioeconomic/demographic factors. This can also guide a studentâs knowledge and educational journey unbeknownst to them as they are unaware of the information that is inaccessible; meaning that to them that source of information on a topic essentially does not exist. This is an ironic practice in the sense that an institution that is dedicated to educating the masses at the same time places limitations on how much education they are able to receive. It places a glass ceiling on the upper limits of learning and stifles a studentsâ creative processes by pigeonholing their access to âopenâ educational resources available on the internet. This also begs the question of how much are you willing to spend in order to get a formal education that is free from outside controlling factors?
Reference:
Gilliard, C., & Culik, H. (2016, May 24). Digital Redlining, Access, and Privacy. Common Sense Education.
Hi Gurbir,
thanks for sharing your post for this week’s topic. Digital Redlining is an interesting topic for sure as it almost seems absurd to set boundaries and limitations on the Internet, which is somewhat known for having few to none. Yet they still exist, preventing certain groups from access to knowledge, which I agree to be an elitist or unfair advantage for differing groups with/without access. Establishing boundaries does seem disingenuous to the principles of education and learning, and can seem almost a little too blatant of an attempt to stratify different groups of people. On the other hand, this may lead to individuals wanting to spend more money to ensure a liberal, open learning experience not limited to control by whatever forces can exert it.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.
Allen
Hi Gurbir,
Thanks for sharing the discussion of this week!
âDigital Redliningâ is a serious problem that I noticed this week too. It limited the learning resources, which caused the problem of gender and race. I agreed with you the idea that âDigital Redliningâ provides a sense of irony. Because open resources are kind of encouraging learners to get resources in a more convenient and easier way, and âDigital Redliningâ sets a border that the resources outside the border are hard to get.