The global challenge of technological deisenfranchisement

As computer graphics educators we are able to collect and manipulate data in ways that only a few years ago would have been considered science fiction. With the dawn of every day there appears new programs and strategies for retrieving, storing, and editing our precious data in new and exciting ways. However, this world of information abundance is not available to all that might wish to tap the resources that are just suspended in cyberspace waiting to be harvested. As strange as it may seem to those who thrive on the acquisition of information, there exist "technologically immature" nations and societies that still long to be ushered into the ranks of technological adulthood. Many seem destined to remain in a sort of perpetual simplistic childhood of technological innocence not knowing how to find their way among their more technologically sophisticated neighbours. What is causing these groups to postpone their entrance into "technological adulthood"? This presentation will examine the causes for technological disenfranchisement, and explain why there are members within every community - even within the "technologically progressive nations" - who seem destined to remain in a world that is passing them by