The following Voice Thread presentation concerns the digital divide and how it affects students in our modern society. In a previous assignments I discussed the demographic and unique situation that exists at my school. I chose to expand my focus to address issues affecting larger communities and the nation as a whole. My school does a great deal to accommodate students with financial hardships. But that is a sliver of the local population. I would like to see a practical campaign sponsored by local governments and school districts. Here you will find my Google slide show.
Every major city in California has been affected by the tech boom in the San Francisco Bay Area. Housing prices have shot upwards even in Sacramento (75 miles away from the bay area). Yet, wages and salaries for the majority of the state’s citizens have not increased equally. And given record profits for companies effecting this trend and the insistence that technology is the way of the future, I believe companies should be partnering with school districts and governments to create an availability of devices to especially young people and their families. The innovative and tech savvy communities can become the more successful they will be. The computer can be young people’s portal outside a world of poverty, crime or despair. As fellow EdTech student, Art Schultz, mentioned in his Research Assignment, devices can be used to treat feelings of alienation. Why can’t they also give students homework, information and self-help resources in areas that need it the most?
Michio Kaku keeps celebrating that fact that soon enough it will cheap enough to paint entire walls with lcd computer screens (Physics of the Future). Why can’t we provide internet, devices and tech education to communities that use it most? I would like to see more people address this issue in the coming years as technology become more and more an essential aspects of our changing world. 
Julian A. Elorduy, MET, MA 