The Digital Divide | Oscar A. Lopez III | TEDxUTAustin скачать в хорошем качестве

The Digital Divide | Oscar A. Lopez III | TEDxUTAustin

With the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent transition to online learning and working from home, access to the Internet has become a necessity. Oscar, a native of Laredo, TX, which ranked as the worst-connected city in the United States in 2017, discusses how the digital divide has served as a barrier to education and entrepreneurial opportunity, affordable/accessible healthcare, and social mobility for communities that are unable to afford broadband access well before the pandemic began. Oscar Armando Lopez III is a digital equity advocate, and an undergraduate student studying Government and Business Honors at the University of Texas at Austin. In early 2020, Oscar was a Public Policy Fellow at Next Century Cities where he led research on the economic and public health benefits of expanding broadband access during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, Oscar served as the youngest participant of the Google Public Policy Fellowship. As a Fellow, he worked with Public Knowledge and the National Hispanic Media Coalition on issues concerning broadband access, data privacy, and the future of artificial intelligence. His work led up to him authoring a filing, submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, detailing the need to improve nationwide broadband data collection. As a student, Oscar serves as a Representative of the College of Liberal Arts within the 114th Student Government Assembly where he holds the position of Chair of the Rules and Regulations Committee and Speaker Pro Tempore of the Assembly. He currently holds a seat on the Campus Climate Advisory Board, and previously held a seat on the Student Services Budget Committee which is tasked with advising university administration on the type and level of compulsory fees for student services and the allocation of the $41 million student services budget. Dedicated to improving his hometown and school communities, Oscar is a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow and is a recipient of the Texas Exes President’s Leadership Award. A Laredo, Texas native, Oscar is proud to be from the U.S.-Mexico border. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx