Advancing with Technology

To discover the impacts the emergence of AI is having on higher education like college and university, I conducted an intervention with my friend Aaron who is studying and working in the software engineering industry where AI is having one of the biggest impacts. I asked my interviewee questions like how he feels about it, how he's used it, how it's impacting him and those around him in school, and how it's affecting his industry. I had heard a lot about AI taking people's jobs and how insures like computer engineering and computer science were being affected by it, and me being curious to learn more I chose Aaron as my candidate. It was interesting to compare what I had heard about the effects of AI on software engineering versus someone in the industry's experiences with it, especially when its popularity has been rising in other industries as well. The take away was that AI can be harmful if used incorrectly.

 This week required us to design a concept app that would benefit people with accessibility needs, further reflecting on how identity, power, and privilege affect different groups of people. We had to design an app that would address certain issues that negatively affect people with accessibility needs, how the app would be designed/operated and how it would benefit people. I chose to focus on deaf individuals and attempted to solve the issue of communication between deaf and non deaf individuals. Last week we  talked about how certain people don't have easy access to the internet or the technology needed to access  it for various reasons This made me reflect on how I myself am privileged to have the technology to reflect on the material this week and make a project on it without ease.

  I've always been well aware of how identity plays into power and privilege. I grew up lower class and went to high school with other lower class minority students. Luckily enough for me, my community has done the best they could to provide us with opportunities like a high school that provides dual enrollment and AP courses, as well as a library that provides use with computers and WiFi. One thing I have noticed growing up is that many things like institutions and technology aren't really build for handicapped people. It makes me wonder what they have to do to do simple things like accessing a computer, watching a movie or even going to the bathroom. One of my peers in high school was paralyzed from the waist down so she was in a wheel chair, fortunately my school had an elevator that allowed her to access the first and second floor of the school but the elevator often broke. I hope in the future that we can help fund more research or projects that will make technology more a...