AoIR 2022. Gwyneth Marie Vasquez from the Ateneo de Davao University (left) with fellow presenters Aikaterini Mniestri from the University of Amsterdam (center) and Abel Guerra from the London School of Economics (right).
DUBLIN, IRELAND–An undergraduate anthropology student at the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) was one of the 226 researchers to present a paper at the Association of Internet Researchers Conference (AoIR) on November 2 to 5, 2022.
Fourth-year student Gwyneth Marie M. Vasquez researches the digital divide in Mindanao. For her presentation at AoIR titled “Between Haves and Have-nots: The Invention of Global and Local Digital Divides in the Age of American Imperialism,” Vasquez argues that “the ‘digital divide,’ simplistically conceived as the gap between those who have and do not have access to the internet and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) more broadly, is a historical extension of the Western development discourse often found in telecommunication policy and government initiatives.”
AoIR is one of the premier international academic associations in internet studies. Out of 642 paper and panel submissions, only 50% (226) of the papers and 89% (24) of the panels were accepted for presentation at the conference.
The said conference was held at Technological University Dublin’s Grangegorman Campus, with the theme “Decolonizing the internet.” Most of the conference registrants were PhD students, early career researchers, and established academics from different universities worldwide.
The conference participants hailed from 38 countries across six continents around the globe. However, Vasquez was the only participant from a university in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, and one of the few undergraduates who made it to the conference.
She presented her paper in a panel themed “Technocolonialism,” alongside Prof. Mirca Madianou from Goldsmiths, University of London, Prof. Meghan Grosse from Washington College, and Researcher Kelly Lewis from Monash University’s School of Media, Film, and Journalism.
Vasquez’s paper was based on a chapter from her undergraduate thesis, which she recently completed.
Photos by Ms. Gwyneth Marie M. Vasquez
