SLS-9c1c Digital Leadership for a More Equitable World

The realities in the field in places such as rural Rwanda and Cambodia challenge us in so many ways.  In a world that is so dependent on technology such as the Internet, what do the people there need in order to survive, let alone to succeed?  Should computers be provided?  How can computers be run where there is no electricity?  Should Internet access be provided?  How?  Wired networks?  Wireless networks?  SIM cards? Paid subscriptions?  What software should be provided?  Software applications widely used in the developed countries can be prohibitively expensive.  Open source software can be inexpensive, with limited applicability.  Who can provide the training?  Support and Maintenance?  How can students from overseas, local students, village youths, and other community members work together to tackle these challenges? These are only the more immediate issues. 

What about the electricity needed to access the digital world?  Solar panels sounds like an appropriate technology.  But how?  Small systems are less expensive but also less efficient.  On the other hand, they are easier to learn and maintain.  How should such a system be operated for sustainability?  How can the technology be transferred to empower the community?  Can the electricity and the information technology be used to address other issues such as health and education?  

Digital Leadership is often taught and discussed in the context of the use of digital technology for business objectives.  We believe we should broaden the scope of digital leadership to include the society as a whole, and particularly those who are disadvantaged. 

Technology is generally developed for those who can afford the privilege to purchase and use them.  Hence they come with functions and characteristics tuned to the needs of the privileged.  The disadvantaged cannot afford the new technology to start with. Even when the disadvantaged gain access, they often find that the technology does not address their needs, which may be quite different from those of the privileged.  For example, popular hardware and software are often loaded with features that are seldom used, which makes the technology very expensive.  The privileged can afford to pay extra for features that they don’t use.  But the poor can ill afford it.  Exposure to these realities through service-learning in the field challenges the students to learn to be leaders in the digital world.  How should these technologies be developed and deployed for a more equitable world? 

Our focus remains service-learning.  We are not aiming to offer a comprehensive program on digital leadership. At least, not yet. Through the experience of service-learning, however, we can offer a direct, personal - indeed intimate - perspective of digital leadership.  As opposed to a theoretical, academic perspective.  And a perspective  of unmet human needs, beyond the common business profit perspective.  Through first person experiences of the challenges, possibilities, action, immediate and longer term impact of technology (particularly digital technology), we hope to provide students with a constructive venture into digital leadership for a more equitable world.