The articles, “Connection at Ewiiaapaayp Mountain: Indigenous Internet Infrastructure” by Christian Sandvig and “New Voices on the Net: The Digital Journalism Divide and the Costs of Network Exclusion” by Ernest J. Wilson III and Sasha Costanza-Chock, focused mainly on the topic of accessibility of the Internet and media to minority populations and how that affects the entirety of the American population. Sandvig’s article focuses on bring the Internet to Native Americans in Southern California. In contrast, Wilson and Costanza-Chock’s article focuses on the lack of minorities in America holding careers in the areas of technology and media production. What makes these articles intertwine is the idea of how accessibility can lead to the inclusion of minorities in developing media industries.
Sandvig’s article spoke about the dilemma of Native Americans not having access to things that everyone else around them could use on a daily basis. The fact that many American Indian reservations were without paved roads, telephone, cable, and the Internet put the living situations of these people into perspective. These indigenous people are stuck in a time warp that really wasn’t moving forward. The government neglects them often and thus, the American Indians that live on reservations like the Kumeyaay and Cupeño, don’t have access to some of the basic necessities that many Americans have. Without the aid of outreach programs and grants from the government, the Native Americans would not have access to the Internet or computers. The aid that they receive is crucial with keeping these people up to date with what is going on in the world around them. By introducing the people that live on Native American reservations to technology, they may be encouraged to finish high school and learn more than what limits them by their culture.
Wilson and Costanza-Chock’s article goes hand in hand with the idea that bringing technology to minority communities can help make minority populations make bigger strides in the workforce—specifically in media. Today’s media and technology professionals mostly consist of White Americans who dominate the industry. Many minorities that work in this field are limited to constraints of this white dominated industry because most minorities do not own media businesses. The problem that this brings up is how do minorities get their stories to larger audience if they are constrained?
The issue that both of these problems seem to tie in to is how do minorities remain culturally distinct in the age of technology and media? Anyone can go online and create a blog or start a website, but how can minorities maintain their identities? The answer to these questions is hard to answer because many minorities are in fact low and middle class. They cannot access certain tools or the knowledge required to make their story a part of the American story. The purpose of media is to inform, but it should also mirror the population that it serves because the minorities are becoming more and more important to the essence of democracy and what it means to be American.
Sandvig’s article spoke about the dilemma of Native Americans not having access to things that everyone else around them could use on a daily basis. The fact that many American Indian reservations were without paved roads, telephone, cable, and the Internet put the living situations of these people into perspective. These indigenous people are stuck in a time warp that really wasn’t moving forward. The government neglects them often and thus, the American Indians that live on reservations like the Kumeyaay and Cupeño, don’t have access to some of the basic necessities that many Americans have. Without the aid of outreach programs and grants from the government, the Native Americans would not have access to the Internet or computers. The aid that they receive is crucial with keeping these people up to date with what is going on in the world around them. By introducing the people that live on Native American reservations to technology, they may be encouraged to finish high school and learn more than what limits them by their culture.
Wilson and Costanza-Chock’s article goes hand in hand with the idea that bringing technology to minority communities can help make minority populations make bigger strides in the workforce—specifically in media. Today’s media and technology professionals mostly consist of White Americans who dominate the industry. Many minorities that work in this field are limited to constraints of this white dominated industry because most minorities do not own media businesses. The problem that this brings up is how do minorities get their stories to larger audience if they are constrained?
The issue that both of these problems seem to tie in to is how do minorities remain culturally distinct in the age of technology and media? Anyone can go online and create a blog or start a website, but how can minorities maintain their identities? The answer to these questions is hard to answer because many minorities are in fact low and middle class. They cannot access certain tools or the knowledge required to make their story a part of the American story. The purpose of media is to inform, but it should also mirror the population that it serves because the minorities are becoming more and more important to the essence of democracy and what it means to be American.