Challenging "passwords" as "gateway experiences"
I recently came across an exchange of scholarly emails which raised an important enquiry on how the use of passwords and other 'virtual gates' marginalise and other certain sectors of our society - the physically disabled, the illiterate and the digitally deprived. Apart from the social segmentation, the issue of knowledge participation and creation is reflected on how passwords are generally perceived as barriers, rather than enablers to acquire and achieve knowledge and information.
Password protection, an act which signifies 'protection' of an enclosed universe of knowledge in an already complex universe is something worth investigating.
The discourse invites us to explore and reimagine how these gated experiences could be more inclusive rather than alienate and exclude the people who deserve to receive and appreciate the knowledge they rightfully deserve.
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