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Connect the Whole Community: Leadership Gaps Drive the Digital Divide and Fuel Disaster and Social Vulnerabilities

Catherine Sandoval (School of Law, Santa Clara University, USA)

Patrick Lanthier (Rivera/Lanthier & Associates, USA)

Technology vs. Government: The Irresistible Force Meets the Immovable Object

ISBN: 978-1-83867-952-1, eISBN: 978-1-83867-951-4

Publication date: 19 March 2024

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the link between the digital divide, infrastructure regulation, and disaster planning and relief through a case study of the flood in San Jose, California triggered by the Anderson dam’s overtopping in February 2017 and an examination of communication failures during the 2018 wildfire in Paradise, California. This chapter theorizes that regulatory decisions construct social and disaster vulnerability. Rooted in the Whole Community approach to disaster planning and relief espoused by the United Nations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this chapter calls for leadership to end the digital divide. It highlights the imperative of understanding community information needs and argues for linking strategies to close the digital divide with infrastructure and emergency planning. As the Internet’s integration into society increases, the digital divide diminishes access to societal resources including disaster aid, and exacerbates wildfire, flood, pandemic, and other risks. To mitigate climate change, climate-induced disaster, protect access to social services and the economy, and safeguard democracy, it argues for digital inclusion strategies as a centerpiece of community-centered infrastructure regulation and disaster relief.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the CETF including CETF’s Executive Director, Sunne Wright McPeak, and Associate Vice President Gladys Palpallatoc, and to Paul Lamb, CETF’s Emerging Technology Working Group Co-Chair. Thanks to Santa Clara University School of Law for their support for Professor Sandoval’s research and service. Thanks to the Santa Clara University School of Engineering for the opportunity for Patrick Lanthier to collaborate on Flomosys flood sensor research to improve community safety. Special thanks to former California State Senator Lloyd Levine for his ongoing digital inclusion leadership.

Citation

Sandoval, C. and Lanthier, P. (2024), "Connect the Whole Community: Leadership Gaps Drive the Digital Divide and Fuel Disaster and Social Vulnerabilities", Levine, L. (Ed.) Technology vs. Government: The Irresistible Force Meets the Immovable Object (Studies in Media and Communications, Vol. 25), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 75-103. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2050-206020240000025003

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited