Relavanti and a Dream to Erase the Digital Divide
The “digital divide” is a mostly invisible line between those who have meaningful access to digital technology and those who don’t. Call it perhaps “the other side of the digital tracks”. By meaningful, we mean the use of digital technology to better the lives of those using the technology; to provide for education, research, advancement and improvement in income on a continual basis. Just because access to the internet is available to many underprivileged people – on the phone, at home, at school or the local public library – does not mean they actually make full use of the digital technology to empower themselves and make their lives better.
The “Digital Divide” can run between areas, countries or even neighborhoods in a city. My little company, Scopia LLC, through the online platform Relavanti, has an opportunity to become a catalyzing force in erasing the digital divide in Milwaukee’s underprivileged neighborhoods, simply because of the nature of the business.
The algorithms running in the background of the Relavanti software are designed to create holistic relevance by searching and utilizing data from many different sources, such as static databases and API's. And, when you have lots of data, you are bound to also have lots of errors in the data. Because yes, even data isn't perfect. This is especially true with geographic coordinates in data. To provide relevant and correct solutions to those searching this website or Relavanti-powered tools, the locations need to be constantly checked and rechecked for accuracy.
And it is with this in mind that I hope one day, when Relavanti starts to bring in revenues, to hire people in low-income neighborhoods in Milwaukee, for data vetting. It seems to me not much will be needed for such a project. The employees will need a computer, connection to the internet and some basic training to look for - and correct - data anomalies. And there's an added bonus that comes with checking travel-related data: It is quite educational. Through data corrections about airports, seaports or other nodes and modes of transportation, one can learn a lot about where things are on our big planet. You start feeling like a true citizen of the world after a couple of spreadsheets.
My hope is that, through such a project, Relavanti can help in erasing the digital divide in Milwaukee and around the world.nFind out more about the digital divide.
Image: Ms. Fitria Wahid is the Geographic Information System Specialist of USAID Indonesia who maps project locations across Indonesia. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons