The disenfranchised

There are two types of disenfranchised : the voluntary and the involuntary. Unfortunately the digital ecosystem does not benefit all. Some stay on the fence and others leave the ecosystem. Let’s look at these two types of disenfranchised.

I find the voluntary disenfranchised particularly interesting. If you reach some level of activity in the digital ecosystem you no doubt have met (physically not virtually) some of them. They are often experts in the digital ecosystem, geeks, developers, cyber security engineers who fully understand the implications of the technology.  Due to this in-depth understanding and exposure to the risks they have developed a digital paranoia. They know that accepting cookies means giving an open book to your identity and tracing all your on-line activities. These disenfranchised stay away from the social networks, you will not find their pictures, they try as much as possible to wipe any digital trace and records. They will send email with special encryption, using their safe network barricaded with dedicated firewalls. Nevertheless they are very technically savvy, informed of the latest innovation and use great creativity to live on the fence of the ecosystem. The paradox is they can also be futurist or activists.

The majority of the disenfranchised are the digital illiterate who do not have access to electricity in emerging countries,  no or limited access to internet, or cannot afford paying the internet connection. Using SMS and text messages on basic phones enable transactions within the digital ecosystem. Banking in India and Africa  has benefited from this simple technology. The involuntary disenfranchised are located in the pauperised areas of the Western world worsened by the 2008 crisis. These areas accelerate the disenfranchising due to schools not able to provide the skills and abilities to engage in the digital ecosystem to the future generations further excluding them from this essential transformation.