diff --git a/scholarships/2020/cnib/index.md b/scholarships/2020/cnib/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..092238f --- /dev/null +++ b/scholarships/2020/cnib/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ +--- +layout: simple +title: "CNIB Scholarship Essay 2020" +--- +# CNIB Scholarship Essay + +### Abstract +*Question:* +How will this scholarship change what it is to be blind for you as you pursue your post-secondary education? + +*Answer:* +I have taken every opportunity of my short life refusing to be defined solely by any disability. +This essay will focus more on my educational goals on their own merit. + +I would love your support in accomplishing these goals! + +## Goals + +My current educational path involves finishing a diploma program then transfering to +a Bachelor's of Technology program in cybersecurity and digital forensics at BCIT. + +Cybersecurity was not an overnight choice. +It became interesting to me over time as I saw ordinary people give up their privacy because they wanted their phone to tell them the weather---or some such other minor life enhancment. + +Of course, it is a exaggeration to say that this is the reason people give up privacy, +but consider the extreme case: +You have your phone location on at all times; +you have a Alexa listening to everything you say at home; +you text other using a company of service that is *openly* collecting all your message contents. + +Would you want every text you have ever sent to be on the front page of the newspaper? +What about every thing you have said in the privacy of your own home? +Do you want just anyone to know where you were today? + +If any one person had access to all this information about you, it would likely make you uneasy. +I know it makes me a bit nervous at least. + +One of my goals of my career is to build tools that would empower the individual. +Tools that make the individual *more* independent, not less. +These tools must be for the average consumer. +They must appeal to a mass market without compromising the secure, private foundations. +This is my goal: +Allow normal people, non-techies and techies alike, to just be able to send a text message without the world watching over their shoulder. + +The second goal I have is to make this technology accessible to everyone. +Secuirty-focused apps need to be fast so they will run on less expensive phones. +They need to be simple so that screenreaders can process them correctly. + +These are not hard things to do. +In fact, I would argue that designing software this way: independent of third parties, simple, able to run on cheap devices---is actually easier than designing it the way large companies seem to design software. + +## Conclusion + +I have a vision for how to build open, secure, private and accessible applications. +Your help in moving that goal forward would be much appreciated. + +Without you I can do it. + +With you I can do it better. +