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61 lines
2.6 KiB
61 lines
2.6 KiB
---
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layout: simple
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title: "CNIB Scholarship Essay 2020"
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---
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# CNIB Scholarship Essay
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### Intro
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*Question:*
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How will this scholarship change what it is to be blind for you as you pursue your post-secondary education?
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*Answer:*
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I have taken every opportunity of my short life to deny being defined solely by any disability.
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This essay will focus more on my educational goals and career aspirations on their own merit.
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I would love your support in accomplishing these goals!
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## Goals
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My current educational path involves finishing a diploma program,
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then transfering to a Bachelor's of Technology program in cybersecurity and digital forensics at BCIT.
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Cybersecurity was not an overnight choice.
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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 enhancement.
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Of course, it is a exaggeration to say that this is the reason people give up privacy,
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but consider the extreme case:
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You have your phone location on at all times;
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you own an Alexa which listens to everything you say at home;
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you text and call others using a service that *openly* collects the contents of your messages.
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Would you want every single text you have sent to appear on the front page of the newspaper?
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What about every thing you have said in the privacy of your own home?
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Do you want just anyone to know where you were today?
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If any one person had access to all this information about you, it would likely make you uneasy.
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I know it makes me a bit nervous at least.
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One of the primary goals of my career is to build tools that empower the individual.
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Tools that make the individual *more* independent, not less.
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These tools must be for the average consumer.
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They must appeal to a mass market without compromising the secure, private foundations.
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This is my goal:
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Allow normal people, non-techies and techies alike, to just be able to send a text message without the world watching over their shoulder.
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The second goal I have is to make this technology accessible to everyone.
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Security-focused apps need to be fast so they will run on less expensive phones.
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They need to be simple so that screen readers can process them correctly.
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These are not hard things to do.
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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.
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## Conclusion
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I have a vision for how to build open, secure, private and accessible applications.
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Your help in moving that goal forward would be much appreciated.
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Without you I can do it.
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With you I can do it better.
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