On this episode, we're continuing our #SpreadtheTech series, co-hosted by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and Digital Charlotte.

Angela Siefer, NDIA, and Bruce Clark, Digital Charlotte, speak with Adam Echelman, Executive Director of Libraries Without Borders (LWB), and Angelika Kluna, Sr. Electronics Program Manager of Goodwill - San Antonio, about how LWB has adjusted to the challenges by COVID-19 and how partnerships with local org's. like Goodwill San Antonio supports those chan

On this episode, we're introducing a new series called #SpreadtheTech, co-hosted by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and Digital Charlotte. 

During this episode, Angela Siefer, Executive Director of NDIA, and Bruce Clark, Executive Director of Digital Charlotte speak with Amy Huffman, the Research and Policy Specialist for the Broadband Infrastructure Office in North Carolina about how North Carolina has adjusted and risen to the challenges brought on by COVID-19.

The team, with guest Angela Siefer, Executive Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), discuss NDIA’s role in the digital inclusion landscape and share their personal “why digital inclusion?” stories.

Along the way, they explain the concept of the “three-legged stool” and Bruce gets fired up about the importance of social capital as the fourth leg to that stool.

The team dives deep on the impact of E2D in Charlotte, engaging in a wide-ranging discussion with Executive Director Pat Millen.

The team dives deep on the impact of E2D in Charlotte, engaging in a wide-ranging discussion from E2D’s origin story to their new partnership with CMS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout the episode, Millen provides a valuable perspective on the challenges of getting devices to the families that need them the most and gives ways that people can engage with E2D.

The team discusses digital health literacy in the age of a global health crisis, driven by guest Dr. Zachary White’s in-depth and passionate input. They address a wide variety of digital health literacy topics before ending with a powerful takeaway from Dr. White.

As Digital Inclusion Exchange rolls on, Bruce, Andrew, and Maria, a current Knight School student, talk with special guest Rick Thames. Thames, former editor of the Charlotte Observer, is currently an Executive in Residence and Visiting Professor of Journalism at Queens University of Charlotte. 

The group discusses media literacy, with Thames providing valuable insight and advice about communication scholar Renee Hobbs’s five core concepts of media literacy: access, analyze/evaluate, create, reflect, and act. The COVID-19 pandemic, which Thames describes as the most impactful and “earth-shattering” event of his life, gives a valuable perspective to this conversation.

• 1:00 - COVID-19 pandemic from Thames’s journalistic perspective
• 14:20 - The importance of access to media literacy
• 20:43 - Thames shares best practices for analyzing, evaluating, and sharing news sources
• 28:45 - How technology connects us during quarantine and the digital divide this reveals
• 37:55 - Ways to take action in relation to media literacy
• 42:08 - Thames’s advice to students on learning from the COVID-19 situation and planning for the future

 

Check out Politifact.com, which Thames mentions as his go-to source for fact-checking news sources!

 

Follow us on social media at...

Twitter: twitter.com/@digCLT

Facebook: facebook.com/@DigitalCharlotte

LinkedIn: linkedin/company/Digital Charlotte

 

Interested in partnering with us, contacting us, or simply getting more information? Visit DigitalCharlotte.org/contact and reach out!

Episode edited and produced by: Maria Jimenez, Juliana Amos, Will Martin & Paula Azuaje

Welcome to Digital Inclusion Exchange!

Bruce and Andrew introduce their brand new podcast, putting in action an idea that has been tossed around the office for a long while. In this episode, they share their excitement for this new Digital Charlotte initiative and then reveal their “why” - Why Digital Charlotte? And, ultimately, why is the work of digital inclusion so important?

Interested in partnering, contacting us, or simply getting more information? Reach us at DigitalCharlotte.org/contact!