Discuss the broader digital media and social justice topic, issue or cause that your social action project will respond to? What is the ethical, historical and/or political significance of this topic, issue or cause?

           

            Internet access is a vital and necessary tool in today’s society.  This is the Internet Age, where information is king and you can find anything online.  But many people are trapped by this wealth of information because they have no way to access it.  Internet access is taken for granted by many, but imagine how difficult simply going to high school is in this day and age without it, or starting and managing a small business, or taking a high level position anywhere without access to valuable online resources.  There is no historical precedent for this, however.  The easiest way to access the Internet currently seems to be through the mobile phone.  Even if we could provide more low-income families with a mobile phone and low cost data plans it would go a long way in evening the Internet access gap that divides middle and lower class families.

Describe the type of social action project that you have identified.  Offer examples of how it has been used in the past. Why does this type of project form an appropriate response to the specific topic, issue or cause introduced above?

I would like to start a campaign to have people donate their old cell phones so that they may be recycled: not for parts, but resold to people cheaply and effectively to low-income families.  That would go a long way to solving two problems: the Internet access gap that divides this country and the growing amount of e-waste that pollutes foreign countries as a result of the United States’ inability to reduce its carbon footprint.  The idea is simple, get the message out via posters and word of mouth that there are boxes set up around campus specifically for old cell phones to be recycled.  We then team up with a local charity to provide local underprivileged parents, young adults, and teenagers with access to the World Wide Web through their newly acquired smart phones.