Title:
Technology as a Tool for Community Building
Bart Decrem, Plugged In

Abstract:

We'll give an overview of Plugged In: a community technology access program in East Palo Alto, CA. Our mission is to bridge the technology gap between East Palo Alto and the Silicon Valley. In many ways, technology is a tool that is further stratifying our society and allowing us to interact only with people just like us. At Plugged In, we're trying to use technology to build social spaces, both physical and virtual, where people from different backgrounds come together and build community. We'll discuss what Plugged In is trying to do, and demonstrate some of the activities we are involved in on the Web.