Reflection Series: Digital Access and Inclusion

Welcome to the last bit of the CDLC001course - Digital Access and Inclusion.

In this topic, we discussed two terms “subjectivity” and “discourse” in order to understand how to reflect critically and represent a subject critically. Next, we got to know “Internet on the Outstation” and the history of the First Nations People in Australia that relates to digital literacy, as well as discovering the impact of digital exclusion in some communities in Australia through Rennie et al. 's reading.

According to Barker (2012), the concept of subjectivity and identity is similar to each other, which both are formed and impacted by the society and culture that is able to change throughout the period of time. Subjectivity is personal because it is shaped through one’s experience and how we grow up as a person, while a discourse has a larger scale that a person projects their subjectivity or critical point of view about an aspect, and others within the culture or in a similar situation can change the discourse based on different ideas that they are holding. Personally, I would say this is the most challenging concept among those that we have learnt for the past weeks.

Continuing with the topic, the next main idea that we have learnt about is ‘Internet on the Outstation’, which we were introduced to the Australian First Nations’ maps and the accessibility to digital tools of different communities within Australia border. The term ‘digital divide’ is brought up to explain that there are differences between people who got access and advantages from the internet, and those who do not have access to the internet. From the reading of Rennie et al. (2016), we knew that the largest digital divide is between the Indigenous people and the non-Indigenous people within the same residential, which is related to the discrimination and unfavoured in policy because of the digital exclusion for the community.

Reference:

1. Barker, C. (2012). Issues of Subjectivity and Identity. Cultural Studies, Theory and Practice, 1-13. Sage.

2. Rennie, E., Hogan, E., Gregory, R. Crouch, R., Wright, A. & Thomas, J. (2016). Internet on the Outstation: The Digital Divide and Remote Aboriginal Communities, pp.13-27.