The event kicked off at 11:30 and was moderatded by award-winning journalist & NPR personality Ed Gordon. The panel opened up to a broad conversation about how we can play a more significant role in technology and the use and development of technology. Ed introduced the panelists and opened up the discussion.
Some of the suggestions that were made were:
In summary many panelists suggested that people have to take education more seriously and become more involved in the school board decisions on how technology is being used in our school systems. He said that we made some major advancements with the Erate program in '96 and that many schools were wired for internet accessability. However, many of these schools still don't have computers and if they have computers, the teachers aren't getting trained.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, spoke about the importance of this event and that these type of events will continue to happen. They are pushing for more influence on Washington DC. One important announcement made was that today is the Grand Opening of the Rainbow Push Coalitions new offices in DC at 727 15th st NW in Washington, DC. To further have impact they have also moved some of their folks from Chicago to DC.
His call to action was that he would like to have a National rollout of infrastructure that can really assist communities. He stated that in 1994 the first thing the Right wing administration did was that they got control of tax certificates which took power out of the opportunity for us to have and own media outlets.
All in all the event was well attended and very educational and informative. By the way their offices look great and they encourage more people to become involved. Also, their is a followup event in January its the 9th Annual Wall Street Project. This is a major event and I encourage you to go online to the website to find out more info:
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