The Digital Divide is a three-stage economic issue regarding the internet’s potential use in regards to access to lower economies, usability, and relatability. The divide, which consists of economic, usability, and empowerment, affects the reach of companies and showcases a growing amount of unreached and potential viewers. Stage one, the economic divide, showcases how computers and internet are not readily available and affordable, denying access to resources for populations of people. The usability divide addresses the complexity of the internet’s language and inability to fully comprehend the resources from the parts of the world were literacy rates are low. The empowerment divide speaks on how many features of the internet are not fully accessed due to lack of sufficient information and knowledge on how it works, leading to users being "at the mercy of other people’s decisions”(nngroup.com)
Fashion for a cause, that would be the purpose of the mobile app that I would design. The app would encourage users in wealthier areas to donate usable clothing to different kiosks in poverty areas and each accepted donatable item will equate to points which equal prizes. In the poverty areas there will be cameras set up where people who receive the clothes can see the users that donated them as a way of saying thank you. At the kiosk there will also be free water bottles given to each dirty item returned to the kiosk to be washed. The purpose of this app would to be to encourage cleanliness and available resources for lower economic areas in the world, and this photo and video based app would allow this to manifest.
The app’s design would include bring, vibrant pictures describing what is accepted and what is not, a live video stream of the kiosks showing the daily impact. I would also include multiple versions of the site available in different languages to encourage global participation. Through the app users would be able to upload pics to the site of the item and they will receive a text once it has been accepted and giving a confirmation that the box for shipment has been sent out. Users would sign up for the site and include the sizes that they would most commonly send, and when there are certain needs in different areas a notification would be sent out to those users who would generally donate that type/size of clothing and offering incentive and bonus points for donating during peak seasons. I would promote the app through social media by having paid advertisements on Instagram, twitter, and Facebook. I would also reach out to online magazines and clothing boutiques and notify them of the organization’s purpose and possibly establish business partnerships. The app would have Instagram, twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and google + and all would include vibrant photos and videos of current happenings and new projects.
This project would take quite a bit of funding, but would be very beneficial.
Digital Divide: The 3 Stages. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2017, from https://www.nngroup.com/
