Category: Digital Inclusion - Immigration & Settlement

Research which took place in Saskatoon during COVID-19 school closures, found that immigrant parents in particular were affected in four ways: parent-teacher communication was hindered; children’s second language acquisition was delayed; schooling was neglected in favour of supporting well-being; and, parents relied on their own communities.

Recently I presented a "lightening talk" at the Future of Good's Dismantling Digital Barriers Summit. The Summit sought to understand "what is digital equity? Who is left behind? And how do we close that gap?" It's a topic that has taken on increased importance in our sector. I thought I'd share my speaking notes.

You’ve probably seen people post about the latest AI media darling, the AI chatbot ChatGPT. AI is here, is coming, will impact our work, all of that. So it makes sense to try things out from time to time, to see how they can actually help our work. I’ve done that previously. And, when I saw Andrew Griffith try it out on immigration and citizenship questions, with good responses, I decided to try it out on digital inclusion questions.

This Techsoup Canada webinar session explores how the differences between the medical and social models of disability can impact the ways in which organizations can create equitable online, hybrid, and instructor training that blends the principles of universal design for learning and trauma-informed care.

Hosted by Civic Tech Toronto, City of Toronto staff who work in technology services share an overview of some of City Council’s priorities, providing an update on Toronto's Digital Infrastructure Strategic Framework.

In this session, the speakers provided an overview of digital divide research and engagement to date in Calgary and highlighted the barriers and challenges that have emerged. They highlighted current small projects underway and engage participants in a conversation on their perceptions of potential solutions to address and mitigate barriers to digital access for those most impacted.

I was invited to be part of an Access Alliance Fireside Chat about Digital Inclusion during their staff professional development day. I was honoured to speak and discuss with Ibukun Abejirinde who is doing super interesting research on virtual care and Newcomers, and Jay Shaw, who is also doing super interesting and relevant work and research on virtual care technologies and new models of integrated care. These are my speaking notes.

Inclusion is the foundation upon which responsible technology and policy development must be built.

Why does this feel like such a provocative statement? I mean, it should be true, but it doesn't feel true, does it? How many of us feel like we have any control over the technologies we use in our daily and work lives? I'd suggest very few of us feel like we have control. So how do we get that control?