As a member of the Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Lab, I spend much of my time thinking about how technology, learning, and community realities intersect, especially in rural and underserved settings. This year, I had the opportunity to share a part of my work at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology in Washington, DC.
My presentation, Beyond Technology First Narratives, Reframing Rural Educators as Information Professionals, is one piece of my research on understanding and highlighting the real conditions that shape educational technology use in rural Nigeria. In many national conversations, technology is framed as the solution to educational challenges, but the day-to-day work of rural educators tells a different story. They not only function as teachers, but they have taken up roles that place them to function as information professionals. They function as trusted information guides, curriculum interpreters, community advocates, and local knowledge organizers. These roles look a lot like the work done by information professionals, even though they are rarely recognized as such.
Sharing this at ASIS&T gave me the chance to highlight the importance of my work. When we view rural educators as information actors, it alters our perspective on technology design and policy. Instead of still imposing tools that assume urban or Western conditions, systems that reflect the lived realities of rural communities would be built. This perspective reframes global conversations on digital equity toward approaches that value local knowledge rather than overwrite it.
Although this work focuses on Nigeria, the issues connect to rural communities worldwide. Lots of regions face similar challenges in terms of infrastructure, language, and access to relevant information. By highlighting the people who already support learning in these contexts, my research contributes to broader conversations about how we can design more inclusive educational technologies and policies.
If you’d like to see the poster I presented, you can access it here.
My work aligns with global efforts to create more inclusive, community-driven approaches to technology and education, inviting researchers, policymakers, and EdTech designers to recognize that meaningful digital equity begins with understanding the people who shape learning every day. I look forward to the next phases of this project, which will involve deeper community-based research and international collaboration.