Hampton will be the speaker at this year’s Hotelling lecture at Lawrence Tech University will focus on digital inequality and the effects it has on students on a local and national level.
Hampton will speak at Lawrence Tech’s annual Harold Hotelling Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
He said the first issue is to correct the perception that only a small segment of people lacks Internet and broadband access.
“The Federal Communications Commission had vastly under-recorded the level of connectivity in Michigan and across the United States,” said Hampton. “Their estimates are that in 2019 there were less than a million people in Michigan who could access the Internet, but really it is really closer to five million.”
Hampton said the next step is to evaluate how students without Internet access move forward in researching post-secondary education, STEM careers and also deal with self-esteem issues.
“Access is the first condition, but it does not solve the problem in and of itself,” said Hampton. “We need to find out what the effects are outside the classroom and in a home environment. Once access is gained, how is it used?”
He contends improved outcomes are dependent on addressing access inequalities, augmenting the environment created by parents and teachers to create better opportunities and fewer constraints on young people’s use of digital media.
“The goal is to raise awareness of what happens next,” said Hampton. “Once we solve the access issue, what do we need to focus on to make digital inequality a thing of the past and move everyone forward together?”
Hampton teaches courses in social network analysis, technology and society, and research methods at MSU.
The lecture is free and open to the public. It begins at 7 p.m. in the Mary E. Marburger Science and Engineering Auditorium, room S100 in Building 7 on the LTU campus in Southfield.
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