Save the World with Clicks – How Can Youth use VR Technology to Envision Better Worlds? (Special opportunity to meet activist)
This
year the United Nations will celebrate International Youth Day on 12th
August 2024. Their theme is titled: From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development. The theme relates to how youth can use
various technologies to create pathways for global sustainability. Youth are
encouraged to input their own ideas on what a “sustainable” world looks like.
Azure Beach Library has a responsibility in the global sustainability goals. This year 12th August 2024 Azure Beach Library will host an event for youth aged 12-18 years old. It will be at 5 pm at the Azure Room.
What’s
at stake? Understanding sustainable development
The United Nations has outlined
17 sustainable development goals
1. Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good health and
Well-being
4. Quality education
5. Gender Equality
And many more goals that the UN is working towards improving.
Azure Beach youths are
encouraged to be critical of how they could provide realistic and lasting
change on the local and global fields, using the beneficial features of
technology.
The UN’s call to action invites
you to answer two specific questions: what needs to change in the world? And how
and which technologies can assist you as a youth to make that change?
So, how can a headset and
virtual world possibly help solve real-world problems? Let’s break it down:
Imagine being able to
witness life in a refugee camp, tonnes of plastic polluting islands, or the
destruction after a natural disaster? Seeing leads to emphasising as youth are
more clearly able to recognise what is wrong around the globe.
In turn, the use of Virtual
Reality is not only to be an onlooker, but also to design solutions that can result
in solutions and improvements in local and global sustainability. This can be
in the form of making Virtual models such as experimenting with everything from
sustainable farming practices to sustainable building infrastructures to benefit
natural disaster prone countries.
There will also be an opportunity for a meet and greet
to meet with innovative thinker Ruha Benjamin. Benjamin is an American
sociologist whose work addresses the intersection of race, technology, and
social justice. She focuses on how algorithms, AI, and other technologies can
perpetuate racial inequalities and proposes ways to design more inclusive and
equitable systems. She is an advocate for design justice, which means creating
technologies that are developed and implemented with consideration for equity,
fairness, and inclusion.
Benjamin's work is focused
on ensuring that technology works in ways that promote justice and reduce bias,
particularly in areas like policing, education, and employment. She advocates
for community-driven tech design, ensuring that marginalized voices are
involved in shaping the tech that impacts their lives. Her goal is to help
create a world where technology can be a tool for justice and equality, not
oppression. To join the opportunity of meeting Ruha Benjamin, follow Azure
Beach on Azure Beach social media where updates on this event will be posted.
Applications to register for the event open 10th July 2024, through the Eventbrite link.
