#socialinnovation

The COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing measures put in place here in Australia and in many places across the globe to stop its spread, has not only highlighted the digital divide that exists in many countries, but in many instances, exacerbated it.

With school children forced to learn from home and many of us forced to work remotely, we have been required to be more digitally connected than ever. However - of course not everyone has the access, ability or affordability to use online technologies effectively.

It raises many critical questions, including how do we bring those individuals and communities who are ‘digitally excluded’ online and how do we prevent the digital divide from becoming even greater, now and in a post-covid world?

In this episode we discuss these all-important questions with a panel of digital inclusion experts –Professor Julian Thomas, Director, ARC (Australian Research Council) Centre of Excellence at RMIT; Lucie Taurines, Capgemini’s Group Head of Digital Inclusion; and David Spriggs, CEO of Infoxhange.

The recent weeks have seen a rise in anti-racism rallies and online advocacy on #BlackLivesMatter - igniting in the United States and now here in Australia. 'Same Story, Different Soil' has been an ongoing mantra when considering the anti-racism movement in an Australian context - we have a conversation with Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson and Assoc. Professor Marta Poblet to discuss the history of the movement, where we are now, the digital tools we have and how we can better use these tools for a positive impact.

About our speakers:

Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson is a Goenpul woman of the Quandamooka people and is Professor of Indigenous Research at RMIT University. She was Australia’s first Indigenous Distinguished Professor in 2016 and was a founding member of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA). Professor Moreton-Robinson was elected as a member of the American Academy of Art and Sciences in 2020. She is the author of Talkin’ Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism (UQP); The White Possessive: Property, Power and Indigenous Sovereignty (Minnesota Press); and the editor of several books, including Critical Indigenous Studies: Engagements in First World Locations (The University of Arizona Press).

Marta Poblet is an Associate Professor at RMIT University’s Graduate School of Business and Law. She is one of the co-founders of the Institute of Law and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and past researcher at ICREA (Catalonia). She holds a JSD in law (Stanford University 2002) and a Master in International Legal Studies (Stanford University 2000). Her research interests cover different areas at the intersection of law, political sciences, and technology. She is also interested in the connections between technology developments (AI, distributed technologies, human-computer interaction) and the different theories of democracy and citizenship. She has been the PI of a number of national and international research projects and has published over 80 scientific articles and book chapters on these topics.