Researchers urge big tech to help close ‘digital divide’

A professor at Waterloo Engineering and one of her graduate students make a case in a column published today that big technology companies must help bridge a “deep digital divide” in Canada.

Catherine Rosenberg, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and Canada Research Chair in the Future Internet, and Andrew Lappalainen, a master’s student, collaborated on the article, which appears on The Conversation website and was also recently published in The Hill Times.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the extent to which we all rely on the internet in our day-to-day lives,” the column begins. “It’s also highlighted the unfortunate fact that many Canadians in remote northern communities cannot depend on reliable internet for essential tasks such as downloading homework or conducting business meetings by video, or for leisure activities like watching Netflix and keeping up with friends on Facebook.”

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