This Nigerian School is Bridging Digital Gender Gap in Northern Nigeria

A digital literacy training program in Nigeria, the Gina Mata, Gina Al'umma, is bridging the country’s technology gender gap by teaching women and girls about the gig economy, STEM, graphic design, storytelling, and how to sell products online.

The city of Detroit is offering business services to entrepreneurs who want to bring their business online in the aftermath of the pandemic. Digital Detroit is the name of the program offering content creation and website development completely free of charge for a variety of businesses. Over 100 businesses were selected for the five-week program, helping the entrepreneurs to move their services online, creating, and launching websites as well as establishing social media presence, all of which has gone a long way in increasing sales and profits.

Within hours of a massive explosion that left 300,000 people homeless, residents in and around Beirut opened their doors to house those impacted by the destruction. Thawramap, which normally identifies locations of peaceful protests, posted a map online showing where housing was available in private homes, hotels, and shelters. Six hours after the explosion 42 locations were available on the map to accommodate thousands, with more offers on social media using the hashtag #ourhomesareopen. Despite intense political polarization that often divides people in Lebanon, residents are displaying great solidarity.

Teaching people about the harmful impacts of social media and tech addiction are a crucial first step in mitigating its consequences. The Center for Human Technology (CHT) has partnered with Common Sense Media to launch the Truth About Tech campaign, which calls for a shift in values surrounding technology and tech companies. The organizations accomplish this through a curricula designed to teach awareness and mindfulness about tech use beginning at an early age. By high school, students are introduced to ethical design principles.

Indianapolis Public Libraries are teaching residents computer literacy and providing access to computers and wifi to help bridge the digital divide for those who don’t have access to their own.

Online volunteer assistance efforts in New York have played a crucial role in the dissemination of the COVID-19 vaccine, while city and state appointment systems have caused confusion or created barriers for many. Although these efforts can't address all barriers, such as lack of computer access or literacy, they have been used by thousands of people each day to find available appointment times.

A collective for Brazilian women artisans named Rede Asta provides training, production networks, links to consumers, and an online market to empower them to make a livable income. The group is also environmentally-conscious, focusing on creative waste reuse solutions that result in upcycled products. There are challenges as the collective grows, but they have supported more than 1,500 artisan women since opening.

For many refugees living in camps and on the move, mobile phones can be a life line to families and the outside world. Phones can help organize political activities, arrange medical supplies, and so much more. But although SIM cards are fairly cheap now, data can be expensive. To address this, a Facebook group called Phone Credit for Refugees and Displaced People, or PC4R, raises funds for refugees to top up their mobile phones to support free and dignified communication.

JamieSue Goodman, an employee at Google, was part of the team that developed an Applied Digital Skills curriculum that teaches students how to use technology to accomplish real-world tasks. Available for educators worldwide, 360,000 students have used the materials since its launch and 50,000 teachers have registered on the site. Students and teachers alike attest to how fun, engaging, and useful the education is.

Correcting "data voids," which provide the space for conspiracies to flourish online, requires online platforms to take active measures against misinformation. In the face of digital marketing incentive structures and biases in search algorithms, scientific journals can’t produce enough content to dispel assumptions of false equivalency between science and propaganda, creating a data gap. Pinterest is currently one of the few companies trying to correct this imbalance between settled science and misinformation campaigns characteristic of many online social media platforms.