It is difficult for most of us to even remember what our lives looked like before the Internet and cell phones. These technologies have become completely integrated into the operation of our daily live. However, across the planet, not everyone is as connected as we are. There are still 4.6 billion people who live without Internet access, which practically means that there are 68% of the world’s population lives without the resources accessible through the Internet.
NYU Professor, Clay Shirky hypothesizes that the question future generations will ask as they look back at us, are the ways that we used technology to make the world better and improve people’s lives. Organizations like One Laptop Per Child are aiming to do just that by bringing the resources and knowledge, accessible through the Internet, to places that had been previously disconnected.
One Laptop per Child gives durable, inexpensive laptops to entire classrooms of children in remote and impoverished communities. They believe that through connecting to resources online, economies improve, democracy can emerge, and educational opportunities expand exponentially. By simply increasing the percentage of the population with Internet access by 10%, a country’s GDP increases by 1.28-2.5%.
WEB, is an award-winning film that follows families in rural Peru as they receive laptops and get connected to the Internet for the first time. Interspersed between the touching stories is commentary from leaders in the tech space, who discuss the impact that technology has on our society and our interconnected world.
Join us for a screening of the film and discussion with the filmmakers, Hosted by A Human Right, at SMW NYC!
Featured image courtesy of Knight Foundation