Handbook of Research on Comparative Approaches to the Digital Age Revolution in Europe and the Americas 9781466687400, 9781466687417

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Handbook of Research on Comparative Approaches to the Digital Age Revolution in Europe and the Americas Brasilina Passarelli School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo, Brazil Joseph Straubhaar The University of Texas at Austin, USA Aurora Cuevas-Cerveró Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

A volume in the Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development (AEGDDRD) Book Series

Managing Director: Managing Editor: Director of Intellectual Property & Contracts: Acquisitions Editor: Production Editor: Development Editor: Cover Design:

Lindsay Johnston Keith Greenberg Jan Travers Kayla Wolfe Christina Henning Courtney Tychinski Jason Mull

Published in the United States of America by Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global) 701 E. Chocolate Avenue Hershey PA, USA 17033 Tel: 717-533-8845 Fax: 717-533-8661 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.igi-global.com Copyright © 2016 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher. Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Handbook of research on comparative approaches to the digital age revolution in Europe and the Americas / Brasilina Passarelli, Joseph Straubhaar, and Aurora Cuevas-Cervero, editors. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4666-8740-0 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-8741-7 (ebook) 1. Social media--North America. 2. Social media--South America. 3. Social media--Europe. 4. Information technology--Economic aspects. 5. Information technology--Social aspects. 6. Internet--Social aspects. I. Passarelli, Brasilina, editor. II. Straubhaar, Joseph D., editor. III. CuevasCervero, Aurora, editor. HM742.H356 2015 302.23’1--dc23 2015019729 This book is published in the IGI Global book series Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development (AEGDDRD) (ISSN: 2326-9103; eISSN: 2326-9111) British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher. For electronic access to this publication, please contact: [email protected].

Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development (AEGDDRD) Book Series

Zaigham Mahmood University of Derby, UK & North West University, South Africa Mission

ISSN: 2326-9103 EISSN: 2326-9111

The successful use of digital technologies (including social media and mobile technologies) to provide public services and foster economic development has become an objective for governments around the world. The development towards electronic government (or e-government) not only affects the efficiency and effectiveness of public services, but also has the potential to transform the nature of government interactions with its citizens. Current research and practice on the adoption of electronic/digital government and the implementation in organizations around the world aims to emphasize the extensiveness of this growing field. The Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide & Regional Development (AEGDDRD) book series aims to publish authored, edited and case books encompassing the current and innovative research and practice discussing all aspects of electronic government development, implementation and adoption as well the effective use of the emerging technologies (including social media and mobile technologies) for a more effective electronic governance (or e-governance).

Coverage • • • • • • • • • •

Social Media, Web 2.0, and Mobile Technologies in E-Government ICT within Government and Public Sectors Public Information Management, Regional Planning, Rural Development Frameworks and Methodologies for E-Government Development Knowledge Divide, Digital Divide Electronic Government, Digital Democracy, Digital Government Citizens Participation and Adoption of E-Government Provision Adoption of Innovation with Respect to E-Government Case Studies and Practical Approaches to E-Government and E-Governance E-Government in Developing Countries and Technology Adoption

IGI Global is currently accepting manuscripts for publication within this series. To submit a proposal for a volume in this series, please contact our Acquisition Editors at [email protected] or visit: http://www.igi-global.com/publish/.

The Advances in Electronic Government, Digital Divide, and Regional Development (AEGDDRD) Book Series (ISSN 2326-9103) is published by IGI Global, 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, PA 17033-1240, USA, www.igi-global.com. This series is composed of titles available for purchase individually; each title is edited to be contextually exclusive from any other title within the series. For pricing and ordering information please visit http://www.igi-global.com/book-series/advances-electronic-government-digital-divide/37153. Postmaster: Send all address changes to above address. Copyright © 2016 IGI Global. All rights, including translation in other languages reserved by the publisher. No part of this series may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphics, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information and retrieval systems – without written permission from the publisher, except for non commercial, educational use, including classroom teaching purposes. The views expressed in this series are those of the authors, but not necessarily of IGI Global.

Titles in this Series

For a list of additional titles in this series, please visit: www.igi-global.com

Cloud Computing Technologies for Connected Government Zaigham Mahmood (University of Derby, UK & North West University, South Africa) Information Science Reference • copyright 2016 • 417pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466686298) • US $195.00 (our price) Promoting Social Change and Democracy through Information Technology Vikas Kumar (Asia-Pacific Institute of Management, India) and Jakob Svensson (Uppsala University, Sweden) Information Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 327pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466685024) • US $195.00 (our price) Digital Solutions for Contemporary Democracy and Government Kelvin Joseph Bwalya (University of Botswana, Botswana) and Stephen Mutula (University of Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa) Information Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 426pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466684300) • US $200.00 (our price) Cases on Grassroots Campaigns for Community Empowerment and Social Change Rebecca Nthogo Lekoko (University of Botswana, Botswana) Information Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 379pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466685680) • US $175.00 (our price) Handbook of Research on Democratic Strategies and Citizen-Centered E-Government Services Ćemal Dolićanin (State University of Novi Pazar, Serbia) Ejub Kajan (State University of Novi Pazar, Serbia) Dragan Randjelović (Academy for Criminalistic and Police Studies, Serbia) and Boban Stojanović (University of Niš, Serbia) Information Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 455pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466672666) • US $235.00 (our price) Revolutionizing the Interaction between State and Citizens through Digital Communications Sam B. Edwards III (Green Mountain College, USA) and Diogo Santos (Federal University of Maranhao, Brazil & Dom Bosco University, Brazil) Information Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 330pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466662926) • US $195.00 (our price) Emerging Issues and Prospects in African E-Government Inderjeet Singh Sodhi (St. Wilfred’s Post Graduate College–Jaipur, India) Information Science Reference • copyright 2015 • 331pp • H/C (ISBN: 9781466662964) • US $175.00 (our price)

701 E. Chocolate Ave., Hershey, PA 17033 Order online at www.igi-global.com or call 717-533-8845 x100 To place a standing order for titles released in this series, contact: [email protected] Mon-Fri 8:00 am - 5:00 pm (est) or fax 24 hours a day 717-533-8661

Editorial Advisory Board Fredric Michael Litto, University of São Paulo, Brazil Leland Emerson McCleary, University of São Paulo, Brazil Arlindo Ornelas Figueira Neto, University of São Paulo, Brazil Ismar de Oliveira Soares, University of São Paulo, Brazil Romero Tori, University of São Paulo, Brazil Waldomiro de Castro Santos Vergueiro, University of São Paulo, Brazil Evani de Carvalho Viotti, University of São Paulo, Brazil

List of Reviewers Alan César Belo Angeluci, University of São Paulo, Brazil Maria-Jesús Colmenero-Ruiz, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain Maria Teresa Fernández-Bajón, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain Rogério Henrique de Araújo Júnior, University of Brasília, Brazil Jorge Luis Morato Lara, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain Belén Pérez Lorenzo, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain Michaela Montesi, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain Benedito Medeiros Neto, University of Brasília, Brazil Francisco Carlos Paletta, University of São Paulo, Brazil Luis Fernando Ramos, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain Elmira Luzia Melo Soares Simeão, University of Brasília, Brazil Fabiana Grieco Cabral de Mello Vetritti, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain Rafael Yamaga, University of São Paulo, Brazil



List of Contributors

Angeluci, Alan César Belo / Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul, Brazil........................... 192 Bonami, Beatrice / University of São Paulo, Brazil............................................................................. 77 Botelho-Francisco, Rodrigo Eduardo / Federal University of Paraná, Brazil................................. 236 Canzani, Javier / University of the Republic, Uruguay...................................................................... 444 Castro, Cosette / University of Brasilia, Brazil.................................................................................. 202 Ceretta, María Gladys / University of the Republic, Uruguay.......................................................... 444 Colmenero-Ruiz, Maria-Jesús / Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain................................... 287,352 Cuevas-Cerveró, Aurora / Complutense University of Madrid, Spain................................................ 40 Davis, Stuart / Texas A&M International University, USA................................................................ 371 Eliasquevici, Marianne Kogut / Federal University of Pará, Brazil................................................. 264 Etienne, Julian / University of Texas at Austin, USA......................................................................... 371 Fernández-Bajón, Maria Teresa / Universidad Complutense, Spain............................................... 275 Filho, Francisco Machado / Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho,” Brazil.... 409 Freitas, Cristiana / Catholic University of Brasilia, Brazil................................................................ 202 Gobbi, Maria Cristina / Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho,” Brazil.......... 409 Gómez-Hernández, José-Antonio / University of Murcia, Spain..................................................... 315 Guzzi, Drica / University of São Paulo, Brazil................................................................................... 138 Huang, Gejun / University of Texas in Austin, USA........................................................................... 459 Junqueira, Antonio Hélio / University of São Paulo, Brazil............................................................. 216 Kalikoske, Andres / Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil................................................... 16 Lima Jr., Walter Teixeira / Methodist University of São Paulo, Brazil............................................. 124 Loureiro, Ana Claudia / University of São Paulo, Brazil.................................................................. 156 Magalhães, Waléria de Melo / Federal University of Pará, Brazil.................................................... 264 Marzal, Miguel Angel / Carlos III University, Spain......................................................................... 332 McConnell, Christopher / University of Texas at Austin, USA........................................................... 56 Miranda, Antonio / Universidade de Brasília, Brazil.......................................................................... 26 Mireles-Cárdenas, Celia / Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico................................ 385 Morato, Jorge / Carlos III University, Spain...................................................................................... 332 Neto, Benedito Medeiros / University of Brasilia, Brazil.................................................................. 101 Paletta, Francisco Carlos / University of São Paulo, Brazil.................................................................. 1 Palmer, Lucia / University of Texas at Austin, USA........................................................................... 371 Passarelli, Brasilina / University of São Paulo, Brazil.................................................................... 1,171 Pérez-Lorenzo, Belén / Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain........................................................ 287 Pinheiro Ferreira, Benedito de Jesus / Federal University of Pará, Brazil...................................... 264 Ruiz-Robles, Alejandro / University of Piura, Peru.......................................................................... 332  



Sanchez-Cuadrado, Sonia / Jot Internet Media, Spain..................................................................... 332 Saorín, Tomás / University of Murcia, Spain..................................................................................... 315 Simeão, Elmira Luzia / Universidade de Brasília, Brazil.................................................................... 26 Straubhaar, Joseph / University of Texas at Austin, USA............................................................. 56,459 Tarango, Javier / Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico..................................................... 385 Tubio, Maria Lujan / University of São Paulo, Brazil......................................................................... 77 Vergili, Rafael / University of São Paulo, Brazil................................................................................ 124 Vetritti, Fabiana Grieco Cabral de Mello / University of São Paulo, Brazil................................... 171 Villanueva-Mansilla, Eduardo / Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Peru............................ 428 Zukowsky-Tavares, Cristina / Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil............................................ 156

Table of Contents

Foreword............................................................................................................................................. xxii Acknowledgment............................................................................................................................... xxiv Introduction........................................................................................................................................ xxv Section 1 The Reconfiguration of Human Relations in the Connected Society: Thoughts and Ideas Chapter 1 Living inside the NET: The Primacy of Interactions and Processes....................................................... 1 Brasilina Passarelli, University of São Paulo, Brazil Francisco Carlos Paletta, University of São Paulo, Brazil Chapter 2 Critics about the Convergence Culture.................................................................................................. 16 Andres Kalikoske, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil Chapter 3 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)..................... 26 Antonio Miranda, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil Elmira Luzia Simeão, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil Chapter 4 Digital Inclusion: From Connectivity to the Development of Information Culture.............................. 40 Aurora Cuevas-Cerveró, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain Chapter 5 Why the Institutional Access Digital Divide Might Be More Significant than the Home Broadband Divide.................................................................................................................................. 56 Christopher McConnell, University of Texas at Austin, USA Joseph Straubhaar, University of Texas at Austin, USA

 



Section 2 Digital Inclusion Projects in Brazil Chapter 6 Digital Inclusion, Crowdfunding, and Crowdsourcing in Brazil: A Brief Review................................ 77 Beatrice Bonami, University of São Paulo, Brazil Maria Lujan Tubio, University of São Paulo, Brazil Chapter 7 From Information Society to Community Service: The Birth of E-Citizenship.................................. 101 Benedito Medeiros Neto, University of Brasilia, Brazil Chapter 8 Digital Inclusion and Computational Thinking: New Challenges and Opportunities for Media Professionals........................................................................................................................................ 124 Walter Teixeira Lima Jr., Methodist University of São Paulo, Brazil Rafael Vergili, University of São Paulo, Brazil Chapter 9 Digital Inclusion and Public Policies in Brazil.................................................................................... 138 Drica Guzzi, University of São Paulo, Brazil Chapter 10 E-Portfolios as Tools for Collaborative Learning on Digital Platforms.............................................. 156 Ana Claudia Loureiro, University of São Paulo, Brazil Cristina Zukowsky-Tavares, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil Chapter 11 #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research: Emerging Literacies in a Hyperconnected Society...................... 171 Brasilina Passarelli, University of São Paulo, Brazil Fabiana Grieco Cabral de Mello Vetritti, University of São Paulo, Brazil Chapter 12 “Stop Phubbing Me!”: A Case Study on Mobile Media and Social Relations.................................... 192 Alan César Belo Angeluci, Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul, Brazil Chapter 13 Brazil 4D: An Experience of Interactive Content Production for Free-to-Air Digital Television....... 202 Cosette Castro, University of Brasilia, Brazil Cristiana Freitas, Catholic University of Brasilia, Brazil Chapter 14 Digital Literacies in Teaching and Learning of Teachers.................................................................... 216 Antonio Hélio Junqueira, University of São Paulo, Brazil



Chapter 15 A Netnographic Approach on Digital Emerging Literacies in the Digital Inclusion Program AcessaSP - Brazil................................................................................................................................. 236 Rodrigo Eduardo Botelho-Francisco, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil Chapter 16 Critical Analysis of an Amazon Program of Digital Inclusion: Navegapará in the City of Belém..... 264 Waléria de Melo Magalhães, Federal University of Pará, Brazil Marianne Kogut Eliasquevici, Federal University of Pará, Brazil Benedito de Jesus Pinheiro Ferreira, Federal University of Pará, Brazil Section 3 Digital Inclusion Projects in Europe Chapter 17 Information Policies: Agenda for Digital Inclusion in the European Union........................................ 275 Maria Teresa Fernández-Bajón, Universidad Complutense, Spain Chapter 18 Institutional Policies for Digital Inclusion in Spain............................................................................. 287 Maria-Jesús Colmenero-Ruiz, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain Belén Pérez-Lorenzo, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain Chapter 19 Trends in Information Literacy Programmes to Empower People and Communities: Social Technologies Supporting New Citizen Needs..................................................................................... 315 José-Antonio Gómez-Hernández, University of Murcia, Spain Tomás Saorín, University of Murcia, Spain Chapter 20 Technologies for Digital Inclusion: Good Practices Dealing with Diversity....................................... 332 Jorge Morato, Carlos III University, Spain Alejandro Ruiz-Robles, University of Piura, Peru Sonia Sanchez-Cuadrado, Jot Internet Media, Spain Miguel Angel Marzal, Carlos III University, Spain Chapter 21 Discussion on Digital Inclusion Good Practices at Europe’s Libraries............................................... 352 Maria-Jesús Colmenero-Ruiz, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain



Section 4 Digital Inclusion Projects in Americas Chapter 22 The Geography of Digital Literacy: Mapping Communications Technology Training Programs in Austin, Texas........................................................................................................................................ 371 Stuart Davis, Texas A&M International University, USA Lucia Palmer, University of Texas at Austin, USA Julian Etienne, University of Texas at Austin, USA Chapter 23 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies in Mexico.............. 385 Javier Tarango, Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico Celia Mireles-Cárdenas, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico Chapter 24 Digital Revolution in Latin America beyond Technologies................................................................ 409 Maria Cristina Gobbi, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho,” Brazil Francisco Machado Filho, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho,” Brazil Chapter 25 Technological Illusions and Educational Resistances: The Public Discourse about OLPC in Peru and Its Policy Failure........................................................................................................................... 428 Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Peru Chapter 26 Digital Inclusion Programs in South America..................................................................................... 444 María Gladys Ceretta, University of the Republic, Uruguay Javier Canzani, University of the Republic, Uruguay Chapter 27 Comparative Approaches of the IGI-Global Collection...................................................................... 459 Joseph Straubhaar, University of Texas at Austin, USA Gejun Huang, University of Texas in Austin, USA Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 474 About the Contributors..................................................................................................................... 519 Index.................................................................................................................................................... 526

Detailed Table of Contents

Foreword............................................................................................................................................. xxii Acknowledgment............................................................................................................................... xxiv Introduction........................................................................................................................................ xxv Section 1 The Reconfiguration of Human Relations in the Connected Society: Thoughts and Ideas Chapter 1 Living inside the NET: The Primacy of Interactions and Processes....................................................... 1 Brasilina Passarelli, University of São Paulo, Brazil Francisco Carlos Paletta, University of São Paulo, Brazil Internet is one of the biggest revolutions throughout the history of mankind. It has been opening minds, flourishing new abilities and creating social inclusion chances, helping to lead people to economical growth and a feel of purpose. Internet and its branches also bring issues, inherent to the ways of production, share ability and copyright, empowerment and other new challenges. This paper aims to highlight some examples of researchers regarding their studies on literacy (and illiteracy) in the WEB, inviting readers to think about the creative usage of Internet, facing it as much more than a mere tool: as a rich and challenging part of our lives, questioning the thoughts that usually leads us to “on” and “offline” categories. This classification seems to do not answer today’s problems any longer, specially with the Internet of Things and Big Data reaching critical mass. Experiences with the School of the Future Research Laboratory – USP and more episodes are expounded, composing a peculiar landscape of the Internet as part of development of new skills and ways of thinking the world and mankind. Chapter 2 Critics about the Convergence Culture.................................................................................................. 16 Andres Kalikoske, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil In the ambit of Political Economy of Communication and Culture, the following article intends to problematize the convergence culture, comprising its complexity since the political, economic and social divergences that constitutes it. Therefore, it is offered a partial perspective of a “convergence society”. Four processes are especially explained, in order to make possible a critical diagnosis of the social rooting potential proposed by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in our time: the vigilance systems, the convergence multiple processes, the participation culture and the concurrence among consolidated media.

 



Chapter 3 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)..................... 26 Antonio Miranda, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil Elmira Luzia Simeão, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil AV3 consists of a type of language that is presented by means of technological convergence, complemented by hybridism of formats and records, that awakens a creative action which integrates the senses. This language has been empowering the composition of structures of information, making it more complex and eclectic in terms of content, and also, ever more “charming” and enticing not only to the “eye”, but to a unified perception of all the senses. The language of the combinatory AV3 engages the organization of compounds. It derived from conventional structures of text, image and sound in order to transform them into new structures, reconciling their differences in concrete possibilities of information and direction. Chapter 4 Digital Inclusion: From Connectivity to the Development of Information Culture.............................. 40 Aurora Cuevas-Cerveró, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain This chapter discusses digital inclusion from a social, educational and cultural dimension. The author considers concepts that have been of great importance in the historical development, such as culture, citizenship and education in the interest of raising an overview of the digital inclusion reflective and critical. Different perspectives of digital inclusion are described, from the perspective more socially oriented to eliminate the gap of digital access to the current perspective, the integration of the citizenship in a mediated society by the emergent information technologies with needs oriented towards the training in access, use, evaluation and communication of information. The chapter concludes by stressing the importance of information literacy to prevent social inequalities but proposes that training of citizenship is made from a humanistic perspective that transcends the merely instrumental and approaching what we call a culture of information, understood as a necessary prerequisite for integration of citizens in society. Chapter 5 Why the Institutional Access Digital Divide Might Be More Significant than the Home Broadband Divide.................................................................................................................................. 56 Christopher McConnell, University of Texas at Austin, USA Joseph Straubhaar, University of Texas at Austin, USA Digital-inclusion policy in the United States has historically emphasized home broadband access as both its policy priority and goal. Supplying households with broadband access may not do much to improve the ability of individuals to make meaningful use of the Internet, however, since it provides Internet access with little social context beyond the family. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of disposition, habitus, and multiple forms of capital, this paper endeavors to situate Internet use in its broader social context and explores the importance of institutional access, Internet use at work or school, in developing the dispositions and competencies needed to use the Internet in instrumental ways, such as applying for educational programs or communicating with governments. Through descriptive statistics, it identifies which segments of a US city lack institutional access, and, using multivariate analysis, it highlights the role institutional access plays in developing these abilities and its role in further inequality.



Section 2 Digital Inclusion Projects in Brazil Chapter 6 Digital Inclusion, Crowdfunding, and Crowdsourcing in Brazil: A Brief Review................................ 77 Beatrice Bonami, University of São Paulo, Brazil Maria Lujan Tubio, University of São Paulo, Brazil In the present chapter, we map and characterize crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platforms that promote social entrepreneurship in the online universe. We first analyze relevant theoretical concepts and the existing literature on entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, information and open culture, digital culture, and social technologies to better understand the genesis and development of initiatives that promote social entrepreneurship in the online universe. Then, we map and describe the platforms that tried to encourage this type of entrepreneurship around the world, especially in Brazil. Finally, we examine some important aspects of the panorama of crowdfunding in Brazil. By exploring the current development of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms at international level, we expect to contribute to the creation of new projects and policies that respond to the current demands of the network society. Chapter 7 From Information Society to Community Service: The Birth of E-Citizenship.................................. 101 Benedito Medeiros Neto, University of Brasilia, Brazil This chapter presents a perspective of a post-industrial society, through the development of the information society and its deployment, focusing on the possibilities of a service predominant society. The most important point of this exercise is that this approach did not happen as expected in form or time. In the past, the ICT tools were restricted to centers of competence or in organizations. Nowadays, their increasingly presence in individual lives, as well as in their human relationships, is changing social and commercial relations, the meaning of work and political participation of people in a compulsory way, unlike what had happened at the turn of agricultural to industrial Eras. New possibilities happen in a rapid manner in a society based on wealth concentration, when there is association of ICTs with the restlessness of social movements or collective protests demanding better living conditions of minority communities. The increasing information flows have led to the desire of knowledge. However, this search for the social welfare achievements has occurred in a superficial manner, leading to anxiety and depression of common and deprived citizens. A new Citizenship or, better defined, e-Citizenship emerges between their aspirations. Based on facts and observations of recent research on the impacts of ICTs in the last ten years, the approach of a community service changes the daily lives of individuals, despite its acceptance or perception, the presence of virtual media, the growing media innovation and agricultural, industrial and operational processes, as well as the claimed social movements.



Chapter 8 Digital Inclusion and Computational Thinking: New Challenges and Opportunities for Media Professionals........................................................................................................................................ 124 Walter Teixeira Lima Jr., Methodist University of São Paulo, Brazil Rafael Vergili, University of São Paulo, Brazil The Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) brought new players to an environment that subverts industrial logic of communication, visibility and representation. The issue of digital inclusion is still latent, especially in developing countries, such as Brazil. However, with initiatives that facilitate access to technological innovations and ever cheaper devices, possession, remixing and distribution of information are no longer exclusive to large companies or mass media vehicles. Anyone with network access and knowledge about certain topics can generate content for various parts of the world. In this context of constant change, the media professional is faced with new challenges and, in order to gain competitive advantage in the labor market or in the academic environment needs to more adequately understand the technological environment in which he/she is inserted, topics that are discussed under the prism of computational thinking and digital literacy concepts, possible foundations for new paths of his/her activities. Chapter 9 Digital Inclusion and Public Policies in Brazil.................................................................................... 138 Drica Guzzi, University of São Paulo, Brazil This chapter intends to discuss the development of public policies and new participation mechanisms that concern digital inclusion and education in Brazil. Since 2000, several changes have been done in this area to better comprehend the digital era phenomenon and how it affects all the Brazilian people. This study presents comparison between the brazilian regions, once the Southeast and the South are very engaged to the digital era, while the North, Northeast and Mid-West still face problems with access issues. Chapter 10 E-Portfolios as Tools for Collaborative Learning on Digital Platforms.............................................. 156 Ana Claudia Loureiro, University of São Paulo, Brazil Cristina Zukowsky-Tavares, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil In this chapter the authors discuss on the increasingly use of virtual learning environments - Learning Management Systems (LMS) - in university education. Analysis the potential of learning methodologies and more collaborative, problem-solving and dialogical assessment. The authors emphasize the concern with the concepts that underlie technology-enabled assessment processes such as the use of e-portfolio as a resource to monitoring the students’ performance, thus being redesigned upon the assessment process, mediated by an educational practice of individual and collective knowledge construction on digital platforms and mobile communication devices.



Chapter 11 #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research: Emerging Literacies in a Hyperconnected Society...................... 171 Brasilina Passarelli, University of São Paulo, Brazil Fabiana Grieco Cabral de Mello Vetritti, University of São Paulo, Brazil A new logic emerged in the hyperconnected contemporary society, contributing to a new kind of social agent. The emergence of social networks evolved to a diverse agents’ profile, especially among the connected youth. To understand better this context a study was conducted focusing the opportunities, changes and trends of Brazilian connected youth behavior in the digital age, considering four research areas: social attitudes, education, entrepreneurship and activism. Entitled #ConnectedYouthBrazil, the research is complex and innovative in multiple dimensions with a mix of extensive quantitative survey and qualitative methodological approach, which included Internet monitoring (E-Meter), in-depth interviews and focus groups. The main research results presented in this chapter can inspire further discussion on the connected youth. Chapter 12 “Stop Phubbing Me!”: A Case Study on Mobile Media and Social Relations.................................... 192 Alan César Belo Angeluci, Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul, Brazil In studies on mobile communication, a topic that has been of particular interest is the impact of increased adoption and use of mobile devices in everyday activities and in the context of interpersonal relationships. However, the ease of accessing digital content and connecting to people physically distant through the recent mobile communication technologies has shown barriers and opportunities in human interaction. Based on the theoretical approaches on identity and relational artifacts grounded in mobility and absent presence concepts, this paper describes some aspects among young people in Brazil in relation to the “phubbing” phenomenon. The term was coined to describe the act of ignoring someone due to the use of a smartphone. The results indicated effects on the level of attention and interaction, regarding not only the content of smartphone, but also the social protocol and the face-to-face communication. Chapter 13 Brazil 4D: An Experience of Interactive Content Production for Free-to-Air Digital Television....... 202 Cosette Castro, University of Brasilia, Brazil Cristiana Freitas, Catholic University of Brasilia, Brazil In this chapter, we will debate about the free-to-air model of interactive digital television (iTVD) developed in Brazil, about its characteristics, and the interactive digital audiovisual content produced for this type of television. In the Introduction, we reflect about different aspects of the social and economic uneven development of Latin America and Caribean, especially in Brazil. We also discuss about the concepts of innovation, strategic development, and how we believe that it is necessary to include communication, education and culture inside the debates about innovation and technology. After this, we show the Brazilian model of free-to-air digital television, a unique model in the world, because of its middleware Ginga, a Brazilian technology developed in open source, that permits free interactivity, mobility, interoperability, multiprogramming, accessibility and portability for everyone. In the third part, we focus on the BRAZIL 4D Project, developed by Communications Company Brazil (EBC), a public company, using free-toair interactive digital public television and telecommunications to offer information, fiction, and public services to low-income population through remote control. This Project contributes to the social and digital inclusion of Brazilian people without access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), about 14.5 million of families or 60 million of low-income people.



Chapter 14 Digital Literacies in Teaching and Learning of Teachers.................................................................... 216 Antonio Hélio Junqueira, University of São Paulo, Brazil This study was developed from the Programa Rede São Paulo de Formação Docente – Redefor, regarding the specific section of execution and management under the responsibility of the University of São Paulo (Redefor - USP). From the netnography approach, it seeks to understand how the self-perceptions of the enrolled participants are developed and established in the virtual educational context and its consequences in personal, family and school everyday environments. The aim is to observe their digital literacies, understood as components of an integrated, cohesive and holistic set of skills and expertise - in continuous process of acquisition and development - that allow the individual not only navigate and communicate in the Internet, but it also obtain, produce and distribute information, knowledge, meanings, narratives and representations of themselves and the world they live. Chapter 15 A Netnographic Approach on Digital Emerging Literacies in the Digital Inclusion Program AcessaSP - Brazil................................................................................................................................. 236 Rodrigo Eduardo Botelho-Francisco, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil This chapter presents survey made in one of the largest programs of Brazilian digital inclusion, AcessaSP, responsible for the provision of spaces for access and interact with information and communication technologies in virtually every city in the State of São Paulo. It is reported netnographic qualitative research with actors in network of telecentres and infocenters goers. The text is organized to discuss the digital inclusion from the perspective of interactivity and emergent literacies, affiliate concept of this work, we consider important to the understanding of skills, abilities and skills in appropriating digital. Completion of some topics considered vectors of digital inclusion for its apparent ability to conduct important experiments in the development of literacies of an autonomous process, can be inferred from including social networking, games, mobile, interpersonal communication, production multimedia and work and entrepreneurship. Chapter 16 Critical Analysis of an Amazon Program of Digital Inclusion: Navegapará in the City of Belém..... 264 Waléria de Melo Magalhães, Federal University of Pará, Brazil Marianne Kogut Eliasquevici, Federal University of Pará, Brazil Benedito de Jesus Pinheiro Ferreira, Federal University of Pará, Brazil This chapter aims to present a study of the digital inclusion program of the Government of the State of Pará, named Navegapará, particularly its educational components within Infocenters of Belém. During the period from March to September of 2012, 26 schools were selected, along with certain teachers and directors from the schools. A questionnaire was applied to better characterize the sample of schools visited, and it was possible to carry out a critical analysis of the data obtained and verify the potential of the program, as well as to show some points that must be reviewed, such as providing good training for teachers and ensuring that equipment is in good condition. These are still valid data in that they provide fundamental indicators for the appropriate development of digital inclusion and educational informatics within the schools.



Section 3 Digital Inclusion Projects in Europe Chapter 17 Information Policies: Agenda for Digital Inclusion in the European Union........................................ 275 Maria Teresa Fernández-Bajón, Universidad Complutense, Spain EU policies for digital inclusion outline strategies and action plans based around the implementation of a digitally inclusive society in its member countries. The governing principles of these policies are based on the concept of a knowledge society for everyone, with no place for digital divides that might threaten cohesion and prosperity in Europe and, as such, these policies must encourage greater use of the Internet, increase broadband coverage, promote digital literacy and uphold the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. In 2010, the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Regions Committee, publishes the Digital Agenda for Europe, (2010). A key document that outlines the European policy for ICTs and establishes the priorities of the EU in this area until 2020. The purpose of the Agenda is to outline a space that allows maximization of the economic and social potential of ICTs and specifically Internet as an essential support of society. Chapter 18 Institutional Policies for Digital Inclusion in Spain............................................................................. 287 Maria-Jesús Colmenero-Ruiz, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain Belén Pérez-Lorenzo, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain This chapter describes the evolution and results of the Spanish Policies of digital inclusion, since its inception in 2000 in the framework of the EU Lisbon Strategy (eEurope 2002) to the present, with special emphasis on cases of greater relevance. It reviews the different plans implemented at the country successively during that period of time. As a result of the Spanish political organization into Autonomous Communities, the direct application of these policies has corresponded to each of them, which adapted the outline to their interests and needs. So, it analyzes the situation in three of the Autonomous Communities, Catalonia, Andalusia and Extremadura, with different demographic and economic characteristics, providing recent indicators and the programs that are in development just now. Chapter 19 Trends in Information Literacy Programmes to Empower People and Communities: Social Technologies Supporting New Citizen Needs..................................................................................... 315 José-Antonio Gómez-Hernández, University of Murcia, Spain Tomás Saorín, University of Murcia, Spain It is explained how an understanding of information literacy programs should evolve to empower people and communities. These programmes, it is suggested, would serve as training in those types of social technologies that enhance the capability of self-organization, social and democratic influence, alternative systems of consumption and services, and so on. Keeping in mind the social and technological attempts to face situations of scarcity caused by the present European economic crisis, the framework of this approach is in the main documents of the European Union concerning citizenship skills, as well as in social demands on open government (transparency, participation and collaboration). Based on the absence or inadequacy of the issues in the syllabi of most information literacy programmes, guidelines are suggested in order that they may be promoted by library systems and other public networks of socioeducational action, emphasizing learning for social innovation.



Chapter 20 Technologies for Digital Inclusion: Good Practices Dealing with Diversity....................................... 332 Jorge Morato, Carlos III University, Spain Alejandro Ruiz-Robles, University of Piura, Peru Sonia Sanchez-Cuadrado, Jot Internet Media, Spain Miguel Angel Marzal, Carlos III University, Spain Digital inclusion proposals are oriented towards specific groups of people. These groups are excluded due to their qualities or lack of them, their attitude, socio-political factors, economic factors, or just by the geographic zone where they live. Since 1999 several strategies have been proposed, either related to educational or technological aspects. The lessons learned are collected with the aim of proposing an adapted model that allows defining a set of good practices. In order to know what technology is the most suited to promote the digital inclusion of each group, multiple variables are analysed. A higher number of variables allow better groups description regarding their context and the relevance of each variable for each group. In this work the authors discuss the dimensions of the group profiles, the factors affecting them, and the infrastructure and software solutions that can change the situation. Finally a simple graphic is proposed to show the dimensions of causes and user groups in order to improve their comparison. Chapter 21 Discussion on Digital Inclusion Good Practices at Europe’s Libraries............................................... 352 Maria-Jesús Colmenero-Ruiz, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain In this chapter the social role of digital libraries as agents to promote digital inclusion is discussed. It analyzes how European policies of promotion of the Information Society, aimed at digital inclusion were developed and incorporated by the European Libraries, mainly through projects and efforts for the dissemination of good practices. Assuming a broad concept of what good practice is, some experiences considered good practice for digital inclusion in the various stages of this process in European Libraries are shown. Dissemination of good practices has had uneven success without having established a stable formal and institutional channel that favors it. Section 4 Digital Inclusion Projects in Americas Chapter 22 The Geography of Digital Literacy: Mapping Communications Technology Training Programs in Austin, Texas........................................................................................................................................ 371 Stuart Davis, Texas A&M International University, USA Lucia Palmer, University of Texas at Austin, USA Julian Etienne, University of Texas at Austin, USA Building off of Straubhaar, Spence, Tufecki, and Lentz’s Inequity in the Technopolis: Race, Class, Gender, and the Digital Divide in Austin, TX (2013), a ten-year study of how social, cultural, and economic tensions in Austin have been buried under the city’s highly lauded model of technology-led development, this chapter discusses three programs that attempt to promote different forms of media and technology training within the city. Adapting a definition of “digital literacy” theorized by Jenkins (2009) that emphasizes competency, capacity, and empowerment, we examine how these programs present disparate yet potentially compatible approaches for harnessing the transformational potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within underrepresented, marginalized, or at-risk populations.



Chapter 23 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies in Mexico.............. 385 Javier Tarango, Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico Celia Mireles-Cárdenas, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico The social and digital inclusion, is currently one of the main concerns of developing countries and peripheral economies (as in the case of Mexico), whereas it is mainly characterized by low levels of information literacy of the general population, causing marked differences in digital, social and employment gaps. This chapter analyzes the problems of Mexico regarding the levels of use and access to information through ICT and its position as a country in relation to others. Furthermore, two fundamental questions of national development strategies in relation to information: a) the status of the general population (which indicates that only 43.5% have internet access) and b) the issues of low generation of knowledge and reliance on information consumption abroad. Finally studies the National Development Plan, questioning whether he truly believes inclusive and if alternative proposals have been raised only in the rhetoric of government documents. Chapter 24 Digital Revolution in Latin America beyond Technologies................................................................ 409 Maria Cristina Gobbi, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho,” Brazil Francisco Machado Filho, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho,” Brazil The challenge of interactive digital television (iDTV) in Latin America is to give opportunity of technological access and participation to a significant parcel of the population whose main information source is (still analog) television. The increase in connected device possession and system digitalization has been modifying consumption habits of audiovisual content. Television is still the home center, but now it divides the attention with mobile phones, smartphones, tablets and laptops, delineating a consumption that is multitasking, portable, mobile etc., but not always linked (independent devices use), there are multi-platform services and products that allow this interaction, though. Several externalities must be considered, either the different stages of digital signal development and application, or the cultural diversity, laws, technological unfolding, education, and even the economic aspects of each country. The paper aims to provide demands of how to digitally include these millions of citizens who don’t have internet access. Chapter 25 Technological Illusions and Educational Resistances: The Public Discourse about OLPC in Peru and Its Policy Failure........................................................................................................................... 428 Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Peru OLPC, the One Laptop Per Child initiative, was accepted by just a few countries, including Peru. The largest acquisition of computers has produced a fairly low impact in education and is now being quietly phased-out. Peru’s government decision to adopt the computers, back in 2007, was not contested or questioned by the political class, the media or even teachers, with just a rather small number of specialists arguing against it. This chapters discussed the political and argumentative processes that brought OLPC into the public sphere, through the use of a specific narrative, that of hackerism, i.e., the hacker attitude towards computers, and how social and political validation resulted in adoption. An assessment of the process of framing OLPC as a hacker product and the perils of such reasoning lead to discuss the need for a counter-narrative about the role of computers in society.



Chapter 26 Digital Inclusion Programs in South America..................................................................................... 444 María Gladys Ceretta, University of the Republic, Uruguay Javier Canzani, University of the Republic, Uruguay This chapter aims to provide an overview of digital inclusion in Mercosur countries. It is particularly focused on the description of the Plan Ceibal in Uruguay which is considered a national public policy. It promotes the integration of Uruguayan citizens in a digital context, contributing to equity and democratization of information and knowledge. This plan is based on the experience promoted by Negroponte OLPC. It was adapted to the peculiarities and needs of Uruguay. It was implemented in stages, beginning with a geographical area of the country that served as a pilot one. There were delivered more than 350,000 laptops for children in all primary schools of the whole country. Currently, the Plan also applies to secondary education level. It is presented data on assessments and studies about the implementation of the Plan. Chapter 27 Comparative Approaches of the IGI-Global Collection...................................................................... 459 Joseph Straubhaar, University of Texas at Austin, USA Gejun Huang, University of Texas in Austin, USA This volume has surveyed a broad swath of the impacts of what is one of the largest technological transformations in human history, the Internet. The Internet has changed the way people communicate: among their friends and families, at school and work, and how they meet new people, within and across cultures. It has changed how companies conduct their business, and refocused many new companies on the business possibilities of the Internet itself, which despite the temporary bust in a number of dot. com businesses at the end of the 1990s, continues to expand with relatively long standing businesses like Amazon and Apple doing extremely well. Furthermore, new businesses like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are growing fast, becoming dominant in niches that were not imaginable 20 years ago. Compilation of References................................................................................................................ 474 About the Contributors..................................................................................................................... 519 Index.................................................................................................................................................... 526

xxii

Foreword

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities In a way, I think the words of Charles Dickens regarding the 18th century revolutionary period in France can be used to describe the moment we are living now, the spring of the digital age. It is a time of marvelous promises, but it is also a time of vailed threats. What will happen to freedom of thought? What will happen to privacy? What will happen to dialogue in the digital environment? I have no definitive answers. I have only hope that the digital age will represent a higher step in the development of the Humanity. Yes, optimism is my second name. And I am proud of it. But I am not naïve. I know – or at least I can surmise -, what represents leaving an analogical era to dive into the digital one. I seem to share this optimism with the several collaborators of the book “Comparative Approaches to the Digital Age Revolution in Europe and the Americas”. They know that the digital age is here. They know that no one can escape it. They know it is here to stay. And, however, they do not see it as some kind of catastrophe, like a colossal hurricane, a global tsunami or an invasion of zombies from Mars. Far from it. They see it as revolution. And a revolution it is. A revolution in communication. A revolution in the way people obtain and deal with information. A revolution in the manner people interact. A revolution in education and economy. A revolution that will affect, in short, all aspects of life in the postmodernity. A revolution unlike any other we have seen in the history of humankind. That is why it is necessary to talk about it, to discuss its consequences, its benefits, and its scope. That is why everybody need to understand that it will not happen in the same way around the world. The rhythm the different regions of the world will enter into the digital age will be distinct. Some will absorb it more easily; others will have to deal with political and structural problems before really entering it.

 

Foreword

That is the moto behind this book, or rather, to analyze and provide a panorama of the digital age in the different parts of the world. For that, a distinguished group of scholars, university professors and graduate students convened under the direction/supervision of Brasilina Passarelli, from Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil; Joseph Straubhaar, from University of Texas, United States; and Aurora Cuevas Cerveró, from Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. The result, in my opinion, could not be better. The first part of the book deals with the reconfiguration of human relations in the connected society. Regarding this, Brasilina Passarelli and Francisco Paletta, having in mind their experience with the Observatory of the Digital Culture at the School of the Future - USP, discuss how the digital age “has been opening minds, flourishing new abilities and creating social inclusion chances, helping to lead people to economical growth and a feel of purpose”. Andres Kalikoske describes the convergence culture, or rather, the interaction between old and new culture, proposing four processes to make possible a critical diagnosis of the digital age, while Antonio Miranda and Elmira Luzia Simeão resume the same subject, presenting AV3, a type of language related to the technological convergence. Chapters discussing theoretical aspects of the digital inclusion are also included, authored by Aurora Cuevas-Cerveró and Joseph Straubaar. The following divisions of the books reunite chapters that discuss specific projects of digital inclusion around the world: Brasil, Europe, and other American countries. In this aspect, I cannot help noticing the absence of projects dealing with digital inclusion in Africa and Asia. Certainly, they are not present due to the editors’ any lack of interest or knowledge about their existence. It is understandable that the inclusion of such projects would mean many more pages in the book, which would make it not viable. Perhaps a second volume can be organized in future, giving a special attention to these parts of the world. The digital is happening now. It is revolutionary, as it is changing the world as we know it. In some aspects, we are entering a brave new world where many communications barriers will cease to exist. I am sure that what we can see now is but a small fraction of it. But I believe – and that is my optimism getting the better of me again -, that what we can already see indicates that the future can be much larger than the past. It will be a future in which, as the Captain Kirk of the famous TV Series Star Trek would say, we will “boldly go where nobody has gone before”. Definitely, the dream is not over. Waldomiro Vergueiro School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo, Brazil

Waldomiro Vergueiro is a Full Professor in ECA - USP and Coordinator of the Observatory of Comics - USP. Author of several books and articles about Collection Development, Quality in Information Sciences, and Library Management.

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xxiv

Acknowledgment

We hereby acknowledge the following Organizations for their contributions to this book: Digital Culture Observatory of School of the Future Research Laboratory - USP Provost for Culture and Extension - USP School of Communication and Arts - ECA - USP Graduate Program for Communications - PPGCOM - ECA - USP Department of Library and Documentation of Universidad Complutense de Madrid International Programs of the Telecommunication and Information Policy Institute at the University of Texas - Austin Special thanks to Very Special People: Prof. Dr. Fredric Michael Litto Prof. Dr. Waldomiro de Castro Santos Vergueiro

 

xxv

Introduction

When the organizers of this collection of studies set out to defy the challenge of examining contemporary events while still in the making, they unfortunately and irresponsibly involved me in their adventure, extending an invitation to corral (and here I admit to not knowing whether I prefer the first or second definitions of this word [“An enclosure for confining livestock” vs. “An enclosure formed by a circle of wagons for defense against attack during an encampment”]. Nevertheless, I accepted the task, motivated by what was surely the same goal of the organizers: to not let pass an opportunity to make sense of what goes on around us here and now; that is, not allow readers to carry on into the terrifying and unforgiving world posited by T. S. Eliot: “We had the experience, but missed the meaning.” The twenty-odd studies which follow are attempts to bring before the reader concrete experiences of pioneering work in the introduction of digitally-based activities, and the evaluation of their reception and impact, in highly differing contexts, both cultural, geographical, and technological. In perusing them one cannot help but admire the social consciousness that drove these innovators, and other individuals that they describe: digitalization of knowledge and information, signifying the migration from a society of scarcity to one of abundance, and hence the creation and growth of “openness” as a philosophy; increasing access to knowledge and the certification of that knowledge to sectors of society hitherto unable to reach it; and the possibility of organizing interested individuals into “communities of learning” and of “practice,” as well as into groups to discover solutions for local problems, finance them, and to pressure governments to act with greater acumen and alacrity. Enormous benefits have been achieved as a result of digital applications throughout society in recent decades, particularly in the fields of medical diagnosis and treatment, robotics and automation in industry and commerce, reducing the necessity of human efforts in repetitive and uninteresting physical activities in the workplace, but also displacing workers and requiring them to seek new professions and occupations. This raises the issue of the extent to which the digital revolution has been fueled more by infatuation, hubris, and mammon than by other factors. While it is certainly true that with the employment of digital methods and tools, we are also able to complete older tasks with greater speed, greater precision and with greater power of convergence involving elements heretofore entirely quite separate. But the true test that will increasingly be applied to the new technologies of information and communication is: which of them has permitted us to execute tasks which were unimaginable until now, and which do not require us to abandon social values, principles if you wish, which we´ve held as beneficial and important for many generations. A very tough test, indeed. This brings to mind a phrase, quite overused and erroneously attributed to being an ancient Chinese curse, but which research has shown is neither ancient nor Chinese: “May you live in interesting times!” (which has the intention of wishing the cursed person “May you experience much disorder and trouble in your life!”). An overview of the impact of digital activities on modern culture produces conclusions at 

Introduction

great variance. Although I had the privilege of creating and directing for almost two decades a laboratory of research and development on ICTs and education at the University of São Paulo, I was consistently fascinated by my readings in an impressive collection of books dedicated to a relatively conservative, feet-on-the-ground, and humanistic view of the role, the promises, and the “quicksand” aspects of the digital world. The following titles give a taste of their focus: Martin Bauer´s Resistance to New Technology: Nuclear Power, Information Technology and Biotechnology; Edward Tenner´s Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences; Erik Davis´ Techgnosis: Myth, Magic + Mysticism in the Age of Information; Neil Postman´s Technopoly: the Surrender of Culture to Technology; Andrew Keen´s The Cult of the Amateur: How the Internet is Killing our Culture and The Internet is Not the Answer; Stephen L. Talbott´s The Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machine in Our Midst; David Shenk´s Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut; Clifford Stoll´s Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. If I had to stand on one foot while explaining what I learned from all these books, it would be essentially this: a “little bit” of resistance to technology is useful because it acts as a brake on silly or useless plans. To ignore the criticisms of the skeptics of the digital culture is to run the risk of falling into traps of varying kinds. The overwhelmingly positive results to be found in the international literature, and in the studies in this book, on the employment of ICTs for social betterment should be encouragement enough for researchers still early in their careers. Neither superficially nostalgic views nor prophetically futuristic promises should, by themselves, sway the reader one way or the other. For example, the success of telecenters to facilitate access to the web on the part of dispossessed and elderly persons in society, can be joined to the ideas of “libraries without books” and that of “the third space” of sociologist Ray Oldenberg, who recommends places with “universal access….where citizens are free to congregate and fraternize.” It cannot be denied that the advent of the computer, and the digital processing it requires, was one of the most important conquests made by humans—the first machine capable of executing more than one type of task, and, in its present stage of development, whether it is sitting on a table, held in the hand, worn on the body, or even adhering to one´s skin—conflating, as it does, the operations of a typewriter, a calculator, a telephone, a television, a phonograph, a modem, and a GPS. It supports one´s work, study, entertainment and social communication, and is increasingly ubiquitous. But, for all that, like many phenomena in the complex contemporary world, it brings with it both benefits and drawbacks. Seen principally in its manifestation permitting the operation of the World Wide Web, considered by many as a major public good, the critics of the web decry it as an “ecosystem” which falsely promises greater democracy. While applauded for increasing an “open culture” (see, for example, www.openculture. org), with considerable potential for the redistribution of power in society, digital culture, its detractors complain, tends increasingly to be closed and to concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few, not necessarily the same persons who repeatedly, in times past, were the most benefitted. The free availability of extensive informational resources on the web signifies potential growth in the number of individuals who can chose to study independently, shirking the route of formal schooling and training in favor of learning exactly what one wishes to study, and the manner in which to study it (for more on this, Google: “From Andragogy to Heutagogy”), and this is good. But not all societies permit or encourage such independence, which frequently is concomitant with cultural restrictions on innovation and entrepreneurship. Similarly, without adequate supervision, many young people attempt to “multitask,” simultaneously trying to study to meet their educational responsibilities while listening to music, chatting with friends on social media and inevitably failing to concentrate on the priority activity. xxvi

Introduction

The Internet, on the one hand, by its very efficiency and flexibility, destroys many occupations, makes thousands of individuals “redundant” and unnecessary in the workplace; but, on the other hand, it also creates new areas of human endeavor, heretofore unknown opportunities for innovation and the use of “imagination.” Certainly, the complexity of the contemporary workplace will require the development of a new class of professionals, “gatekeepers,” whose function will be to assist other professionals (such as in medicine, law, science and technology, among others) to accompany the appearance and evaluation of new ideas, information, programs, applications and ways of working. This also falls into the area of benefits which digital culture brings: the digital appliance which can serve as a non-human personal assistant, intelligent agent, or concierge. But here, too, we find critics who warn that the more intelligent the machines we build, and the better they get at learning, the greater the risks for humankind in general, principally the loss of our control. Though the Internet seems to provide us with infinite quantities and types of information, the rapidity and continuity with which this happens, and how we should deal with the ever-increasing obsolescence of data and opinions, and the technologies to store them, are problems still to be solved. When digital technologies began to reach into people´s residences, in the early 1980s, I foresaw a day when every voter in a democratic society could use his personal terminal to indicate to the legislator of his district his opinion, and that an impartial registry would collect and make public all such opinions, thus obliging legislators to follow through, when voting, with their community´s thoughts and hopes. Such a simple, inexpensive and useful tool to force true democracy on politicians—but it hasn´t yet come to pass, and I hope that others will take up the study of just why it hasn´t happened and how it could. While we can see, on the horizon of time, the incipient growth of global online courses offered by universities, companies, syndicates and professional associations, we have yet to study how to perfect the protocols for conducting such courses when participating learners come from different cultures, especially their pedagogical habits. For example, individuals from countries in the Far East are known to have absolute respect for course instructors, never questioning the issues presented or their authoritative sources; whereas learners from North America understand that the more they challenge the instructor´s affirmations, the more they demonstrate their agile and independent thinking, the better will be the grade they earn. And in this potpourri of differing pedagogical strategies we must also recall those from certain European countries which favor taking discussions to their utmost abstract, philosophic levels, while there are others who insist on minimizing an excess of theoretical discussion in order to deal, as much as possible, with pragmatic, real-life aspects of the issues under discussion. How to hold a class under such circumstances, especially when there might not be available the visual clues to indicate irony, sarcasm or disbelief, so important for a good discussion for learning? Participating in social media, voicing one´s opinions on a variety of topics, even those about which one has only superficial knowledge, may be helpful in reinforcing one´s self-esteem, but if assertions are not accompanied by convincing supporting evidence (which can only come from authentic knowledge), then the exchange of information is merely idle chatting of little enduring benefit. And the digital resources already available to us make it clear that while plagiarism may now be easier than before (merely a couple of mouse clicks), it is also easier to detect it and to confront the offender with the sources “borrowed.” The issue of greater opportunities for acts of espionage and surveillance when digital resources are employed by governments, entities of civil society, or individuals is a subject of ongoing concern, and will depend as much on differing cultural habits around the world regarding privacy as on the technical advances made to control it.

xxvii

Introduction

The research presented here by the respective authors should provoke the reader´s imagination with regard to the need for new research. For example, if the digital revolution is thrusting millions of individuals into new occupations which do not necessarily require a full day´s (eight hours) attention, how can we occupy the minds of such individuals, in their idle hours, through valuable online learning and entertainment activities? Likewise, considering that research shows that over fifty percent of university graduates in the last 50 years have changed professions five or six times during their economically-active careers—that is, they abandoned the careers for which they originally studied, and, being made redundant by the force of technology, or through attraction to other fields of work, have changed paths—what can digital means do to support and facilitate their “migrations”? Twenty years ago, the American scholar of communications Herbert I. Schiller asked: If, in the future, all of the contents of the courses of the very best universities become freely available on the web, what will we do with the other institutions? What digital answers can be uncovered through research on this issue? Yet another question requires investigation: considering the virtual avalanche of new scholarly information appearing each year, greatly displacing the knowledge held in textbooks used in schools and colleges, how can we justify copyright periods of seventy years on all books, when the useful life of knowledge used in education (science, humanities, and the professions) rarely extends beyond three to five years? Protection for seventy years should be attributable only to those works which will not change for seventy years, such as literary works, musical and dramatic compositions, and the cinema. For all the rest, three or five years should be the maximum protection. And yet another question which merits investigation with regard to ICTs in society: what are the personality-types that are attracted to certain professions (for example, technology-avoidance types or the opposite), and when the results are in, let us ask: is this good for the profession? There really is no end to the questioning that the subject of this “brave, new world” of the digital revolution obliges to ask. Going forward with controlled enthusiasm is probably the wisest advice that can be given. Avoid excessive expectations: when seeing exaggerated promises of digital resources permitting highly individualized services, remember anthropologist Margaret Mead´s warning: “Just remember that you are absolutely unique…just like everybody else.” Fredric M. Litto University of São Paulo, Brazil

Fredric Michael Litto has degree in Radio-Television by the University of California, Los Angeles (1960) and Doctorate in Theatre History by the Indiana University (1969). Current President of Brazilian Association of Distance Learning since 1995. Emeritus Professor of the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo. Member of the Board of Trustees of ICDE-International Council of Open and Distance Learning from 2013 to 2016; Member of Editorial Advisory Board of several scientific magazines.

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Section 1

The Reconfiguration of Human Relations in the Connected Society: Thoughts and Ideas

1

Chapter 1

Living inside the NET:

The Primacy of Interactions and Processes Brasilina Passarelli University of São Paulo, Brazil Francisco Carlos Paletta University of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT Internet is one of the biggest revolutions throughout the history of mankind. It has been opening minds, flourishing new abilities and creating social inclusion chances, helping to lead people to economical growth and a feel of purpose. Internet and its branches also bring issues, inherent to the ways of production, share ability and copyright, empowerment and other new challenges. This paper aims to highlight some examples of researchers regarding their studies on literacy (and illiteracy) in the WEB, inviting readers to think about the creative usage of Internet, facing it as much more than a mere tool: as a rich and challenging part of our lives, questioning the thoughts that usually leads us to “on” and “offline” categories. This classification seems to do not answer today’s problems any longer, specially with the Internet of Things and Big Data reaching critical mass. Experiences with the School of the Future Research Laboratory - USP and more episodes are expounded, composing a peculiar landscape of the Internet as part of development of new skills and ways of thinking the world and mankind.

INTRODUCTION Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding... – William Gibson, Neuromancer.

In an era of hyper connectivity (or continuous connectivity), of Internet of Things - IoT, of clothes and smart appliances and of Big Data, we experience the reconfiguration of social relationships and its power structures, of economy and education in a continuous flux and reflux of the information and communication mediation interfaces. Thereby, in this remixed culture, new logics, new semantics, and new laws emerge to cope with the new social order that forms and organizes itself on the interfaces (either as manXmachine

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch001

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 Living inside the NET

and machineXmachine) as social relationships mediation surfaces within the growing flow of the communication among the connected actors. From this broth of hyper connectivity, also emerges a new group of abilities and/or skills, formed after the usage of different technologies also called “digital literacies” and/or media literacy, reflecting a communicational reality that cannot handle any longer the process of mass communication reduced to the duality emitterreceptor from the past century. The new century brings in its DNA the concept of “new economy” presupposing new business models, the reciprocity of communicational actions and the hybridism of the traditional mass media as TV, cinema, radio and printed media with its younger brother – the digital media or new media. The previously scenario drawn in this introduction converges to the statements from the sociologist Derrik de Kerkhove, in a lecture at the Advanced Studies Institute of University of São Paulo – USP (Dourado, 2013) regarding the centrality of technology in contemporary life. Disciple of the Canadian theorist Marshal McLuhan (1911-1980), Kerckhove is considered one of the most important specialists in the studies of the relations between digital technologies and society. He is a professor at the University of Toronto, where he coordinated for more than 20 years the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology. For him, in the transition to the contemporary technological society, the concept of totemism is reflected in a continuum between the human mind and the machine, whose result is a deep and decisive change in the ways they constitute and build the new identities, sociabilities and sensitivities of individuals nowadays. Self and digital networks interpenetrate each other and create themselves in relations of mutual interdependence; machines and technologies become extensions of the body; electronic identities and avatars circulate in cyberspace building new ways of living and of existence in the world and the internet becomes

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fundamental track of production, circulation and sharing of expressions, emotions and social action itself. Passarelli (2012) researcher and coordinator of research-action projects on digital inclusion in environments of formal and non-formal education, recognizes two “waves” in the introduction of the Internet in Brazil. In the first “wave” that took place from the year 2000 when the commercial Internet began to be offered on a massive scale in the Brazilian context, the main focus was driven to access policies and infrastructure for the mitigation of the phenomena of digital exclusion and for the conquest of citizenship, aiming primarily the lowincome population. The second “wave”, intensified from 2006, came as a result of the accumulation of experiences and information arising from public and private sector initiatives, creating the foundations for the need to adopt new approaches and research perspectives. These emerged concerned with the consideration about the reality of everyday usage of new technologies and the construction of identities and narratives by the actors in network, in different socio-historical and cultural realities and disembogue in the adoption of the concept of MIL - Media and Information Literacy to qualify the new communication skills, information search and knowledge production of connected actors. In the context of empirical research, the author established in 2007, the Observatory of the Digital Culture at the School of the Future - USP as the locus for the development of empirical and theoretical-epistemological studies on the networked society, integrated by USP’s researchers; from other Brazilian institutions of education and research as well as by researchers from European and American institutions with which they have academic agreements signed. These researches have as their object both observe and describe the connections that maintain the “woof” of the network, as well as analyze its flexible, technical and socio-technical social axes, disproving a deterministic notion of the process, favoring the use of

 Living inside the NET

methods of virtual ethnography and netnography. “The academic production of the Observatory of the Digital Culture includes two international collections published by SENAC SP press; two innovative researches on the behavior of children and young Brazilians in the use of computers and mobile phones, carried out in partnership with IBOPE and financed by Telefônica Foundation - VIVO, in addition to articles in national and international indexed periodicals. Literacies and mediation are inseparable concepts. These statements may be strengthened by a small state-of-the-art shown as follows, whereas the evolution of the concept of mediation in the communication from the 70’s of the last century and its development until the Hyperconnected contemporary that we live today. The selective appropriation by chosen authors erects a polyphonic symphony from voices of thinkers of communication and information science, from the philosophy of information, as well as initiatives of politicalsocial character as is the case of the concept of MIL – Media and Information Literacy adopted by UNESCO and the European Comission (Grizzle & Calvo, 2013). These authors, their theories and the collective of the cited initiatives help to build a consistent and diversified landscape to understand mediation as a complex and fundamental process of communication man X man, man X machine and machine X machine. In the wake of the considerations presented as follows in topics 2, 3 and 4 about the importance of mediation both offline and online; of life reconfiguration in all its instances, facing the reality of hyper connected society and the proposal of governments (European Commission) and institutions such as UNESCO to establish the education for the MIL - Media and Information Literacy (literacy of media and information) at all levels of basic education as well as of the non-formal education, we reach topic 5 with the contemporary scenario of the Internet of Things, the Big Data and Smart Cities, reiterating the urgent need for development and implementation of actions and

public policies, aiming for the formation of human capital to disseminate, for all people, in all ages, the literacies in order to navigate and produce as 21st century citizens, without failing to consider both the theoretical and practical challenges that the emergence of this hyper connectivity shows us.

THE MEDIATION AND ITS APPROACHES: FROM THE 70s OF THE LAST CENTURY TO THE CONECTIVITY CONTINUUM OF TODAY We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not in the sense that our grandparents had a future, or thought they did. Fully imagined cultural futures were the luxury of another day, one in which ‘now’ was of some greater duration. For us, of course, things can change so abruptly, so violently, so profoundly, that futures like our grandparents’ have insufficient ‘now’ to stand on. We have no future because our present is too volatile. ... We have only risk management. The spinning of the given moment’s scenarios. Pattern recognition”. William Gibson, Pattern Recognition. Leah A. Lievrouw, professor at the Department of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, is a publisher, along with Sonia Livingstone of London School of Economics of a work in 4 volumes entitled New Media (2009) where they sport rich material covering historical, economical, social and behavioral aspects, in the wake of the emergence and development of the new media. Leah in particular studies the concept of mediation in communication seeking its origins in the 1970’s. In her work on the mediation and the digital media - also known as new media – she suggests that the concept of mediation was used as a bridge between two traditions from the earliest times of studies of new media

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in the decades of 1970 and 1980, having been more elaborated from the 1990s. She considers that the concept of mediation provides a reliable platform to address the conceptual challenges brought by communicative practices, technologies, and the social arrangements classifying them as inseparable and mutually determining in the communicational process. Leah argues that some thinkers in the beginning approached the digital media as additional channels of traditional media such as TV, radio, cinema and printed media. Thus, these authors attributed to the digital media the same characteristics of mass reproducibility, ignoring the participatory and interactive character that they bring in their DNA. From the first decade of the new century, new studies have been arising, especially among researchers that incorporate the interactional practices of search for information and self-expression through the platforms of WEB 2.0. In this context, proposals of participatory culture and networked communication emerge, going beyond the logic of reception and massive consumption of years 80 and 90 with fixed roles for emitter/receiver. (Jenkins, 2006). Inaugurating the polyphony of the mediation concepts from the year 2000, there is the exciting work of Professor of Telecom Paristech, Christien Licoppe (2004), sociologist and specialized in history and sociology of science and technology, which introduces the concept of “connected presence” as a result of the emergence of a new repertoire for managing social relationships in a society saturated by digital technology, with emphasis on the continuous flow of communication mainly via mobile technologies such as cellular, email, SMS. Also to be highlighted is professor Roger Silverstone who, in the period 1991-1998, taught at the University of Sussex, England, and has introduced the concept known as “domestication theory” featuring the ways in which people consume and appropriate the contents of digital

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media themselves in their daily lives and their practices, and how this appropriation resets the future developments of the digital technologies themselves. Always trying to understand media presence and power in everyday life his recent work (Silverstone, 2007) places the global media at the heart of the moral future of civilisation. He argues that the media (the press, broadcasting, the Internet and increasingly peer-to-peer technologies and networks) have a profound significance for the way in which theworld is understood by its citizens. Also he considers that without a clear understanding of that significance, and without a critique of the way in which the media go about their daily business, we are likely to see an erosion in the capacity of human beings to understand and respect each other, especially those whom they see and hear only in their mediation. He states that in a world of increasing polarisation and demonisation, the media have a powerful role to play. He also proposes that we live in a mediapolis - a moral space, a space of hospitality, responsibility, obligation and judgement. And questioning its present and future requires attention to issues of media justice, media literacy and media regulation. Parallel to the work of English author Silverstone, in the United States of America emerges another innovative proposal of conceptualization presented by Henry Jenkins (2006). As the founder and director of the Program of Comparative Media Studies of MIT, he has been analyzing the evolution of the media for decades, both the technologies of communication and the social label surrounding them, calling attention to the hybridism between them and introducing the concept of transmedia storytelling for the contents that broadcast through all media, in different segments and formats. In his book Culture of Convergence, he points the emergence of three vectors: media convergence; participatory culture and collective intelligence. ... The convergence does not occur by means of devices, by more sophisticated that will be. Convergence occurs within the brains of individual

 Living inside the NET

consumers and their social interactions with others. Each of us builds his or her personal mythology, from pieces and fragments of information extracted from the media flow and processed into resources through which we understand our daily life. Due to the fact of having more information about a specific subject than anyone is capable of saving in the head, there is an extra incentive so we talk among ourselves about the media we consume. These conversations generate a buzz increasingly valued by the market of the media. The consumption has become a collective process - and that is what this book realizes for collective intelligence, an expression coined by the French cyber theorist Pierre Levy. (JENKINS, 2006, p. 28) Sonia Livingstone (2008) is full professor at the Department of Media and Communication of the London School of Economics. She directs the project entitled Preparing for a Digital Future and in 2014 she was ennobled with the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her researches on children, security, and the Internet. She studies the concepts of mediation and similar terms in their etymological and historical roots. From a comparative, critical and contextualized perspective, her research work seeks answers to why and how the different mediation conditions are reconfiguring the practices of everyday life, and the changes in issues of identity and communication rights. Nicky Couldry (2008), also professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at the Department of Media and Communications of London School the Economics. As a sociologist of media and culture, he uses the perspective of symbolic power of mediatic institutions. His analysis of the media as “practice” has been widely used in studies in the areas of communication such as anthropology and ethics. He also shares the concepts of transmedia, remidiatization, among others, and asks for new terms to understand the intensification of media influence in contemporary

life where the subjects look for connectivity in an uninterrupted continuum mainly through mobile media - in Brazil by smartphones or mobile phones.

THE CONNECTED CONTEMPORARY AND THE RECONFIGURATION OF THE HUMAN REALITY: A PINCH OF PHILOSOPHY OF INFORMATION The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once said: The task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees. In one of his most famous works entitled The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality, contemporary philosopher Luciano Floridi (2014), Director of Research and Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the Oxford Internet Institute, considers the influence information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having on our world; he describes some of the latest developments in ICTs and their use in a range of fields; he argues that ICTs have become environmental forces that create and transform our realities and explores the impact of ICTs in a range of areas, from education and scientific research to social interaction, and even war. Who are we, and how do we relate to each other? constitute seminal questions as the boundaries between online and offline life break down, and we become seamlessly connected to each other and surrounded by smart, responsive objects, we are all becoming integrated into an “infosphere”. Floridi proposes that we are living a fourth revolution following those led by Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud. He coins the concept of “Onlife” which defines more and more our daily activity - the way we

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shop, work, learn, care for our health, entertain ourselves, conduct our relationships; the way we interact with the worlds of law, finance, and politics; even the way we conduct war. In every department of life, ICTs have become environmental forces that are creating and transforming our realities. How can we ensure that we shall reap their benefits? What are the implicit risks? Are our technologies going to enable and empower us, or constrain us? He argues that we must expand our ecological and ethical approach to cover both natural and man-made realities, putting the ‘e’ in an environmentalism that can deal successfully with the new challenges posed by our digital technologies and information society.

The Onlife Manifesto: Being Human in a Hyperconnected Era • • • •

What does it mean to be human in the computational era? How can we experience freedom and plurality in a hyperconnected reality? Is the public/private distinction still relevant? How can we endorse and attribute responsibilities in a world where artifacts become agents?

It is often thought that philosophy is the luxury of persons who enjoy the beauty of the world of ideas, only. However, answers to philosophical questions like the ones above have concrete and direct implications on the design of policy frameworks. The deployment and uptake of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have a radical impact on the human condition, insofar as they modify relationships to us, to others and to the world. In order to explore the policy-relevant consequences of the changes brought about by hyper connectivity, a group of scholars in anthropology, cognitive science, computer science, engineering,

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law, neuroscience, philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology initiated a collective thought exercise, the Onlife Initiative. The Manifesto was the outcome of this work of a group of scholars, organized by DG Connect, chaired by Floridi with participants as: Stefana Broadbent, Nicole Dewandre, Charles Ess, JeanGabriel Ganascia, Mireille Hildebrandt, Yiannis Laouris, Claire Lobet-Maris, Sarah Oates, Ugo Pagallo, Judith Simon, May Thorseth, and PeterPaul Verbeek. They decided to adopt the neologism “onlife” that was coined by Floridi in the past in order to refer to the new experience of a hyperconnected reality within which it is no longer sensible to ask whether one may be online or offline. Also thanks to a series of workshops organized by DG Connect, they had investigated the challenges brought about by the new digital technologies and the impact that ICTs are having on human life, and hence how one may re-engineer key concepts—such as attention, ownership, privacy, and responsibility—that are essential in order to gain the relevant and adequate framework within which our onlife experience may be understood and improved. In the course of their investigations, they soon realized that the output of their efforts would have been more fruitful by summarizing it in a short document—which soon became known as The Onlife Manifesto presented at an inaugural event represented the official opening of the public discussion of the mentioned work. Many more public meetings and international presentations followed.4 As a result, the book is actually a synthesis of the research done in 2012 and the feedback received in 2013. In terms of an overview of the book’s contents, authors argue that the development and widespread use of ICTs are having a radical impact on the human condition. More specifically, they believe (see the Preface that introduces The Manifesto) that ICTs are not mere tools but rather environ-

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mental forces that are increasingly affecting: (1) our self-conception (who we are); (2) our mutual interactions (how we socialize); (3) our conception of reality (our metaphysics); and (4) our interactions with reality (our agency). In each case, ICTs have a huge ethical, legal, and political significance, yet one with which we have begun to come to terms only recently. They are also convinced that the aforementioned impact exercised by ICTs is due to at least four major transformations: (a) the blurring of the distinction between reality and virtuality; (b) the blurring of the distinction between human, machine and nature; (c) the reversal from information scarcity to information abundance; and (d) the shift from the primacy of stand-alone things, properties, and binary relations, to the primacy of interactions, processes and networks. These scientists argue that the impact summarized in (1)–(4) and the transformations behind such an impact, listed in (a)–(d), are testing the foundations of our philosophy, in the following sense. Our perception and understanding of the realities surrounding us are necessarily mediated by concepts. These work like interfaces through which we experience, interact with, and semanticist (in the sense of making sense of, and giving meaning to), the world. In short, we grasp reality through concepts, so, when reality changes too quickly and dramatically, as it is happening nowadays because of ICTs, we are conceptually wrong-footed. It is a widespread impression that our current conceptual toolbox is no longer fitted to address new ICT-related challenges. This is not only a problem in itself. It is also a risk, because the lack of a clear conceptual grasp of our present time may easily lead to negative projections about the future: we fear and reject what we fail to semanticist. The goal of The Manifesto is therefore that of contributing to the update of our conceptual framework. It is a constructive goal. They do not intend to encourage a philosophy of mistrust. On

the contrary, the book is meant to be a positive contribution to rethink the philosophy on which policies are built in a hyperconnected world, so that we may have a better chance of understanding our ICT-related problems and solving them satisfactorily.

EUROPE GATHERS AROUND MIL – MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity. – Gustave Flaubert The anxieties of The Onlife Manifest also meets echo in organisms of the European Commission and UNESCO in recent years, converging to the completion, in 2014, of the first European Forum on MIL – Media and Information Literacy (Grizzle & Calvo, 2013). It aims to promote the expansion of literacy for the media to not-formal and informal education including underserved communities as well as people with disabilities. The event intends to create international platforms for collaboration as the European Chapter of the Global Alliance for Partners on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) and the European Media and Film Literacy Observatory among others. The convergence of concerns, approaches and researches on the hyperconnected contemporary presented up to now in this brief state of the art, enriches itself with the summary of the discussions that took place in the 1st European Media and Information Literacy Forum occurred in May, 27-28, 2014 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, organized by the European Commission and UNESCO and co-organized by EMEDUS Project and the Office of Comunicación y Educación of Open University of Barcelona. The forum brought together representatives of governments, experts, authorities of the audio-visual, teachers, profes-

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sionals in the media, representatives of industry, information professionals, librarians, researchers and NGOs, among others, with the objective to promote broad discussion in Europe about the importance of a education for media literacy in addition to the suggestion of policies and initiatives in transnational partnerships on the theme. Passarelli attended the forum as a Brazilian representative and USP researcher with papers published on the subject since 2007. Her main notes about the event indicate that the present researchers and the organizing authorities recognize that the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) are central to the development and have deep imbrication with areas such as research, evaluation and education. The online environments and online media are essential in contemporary education. In its precepts is mandatory, first, to recognize that digital technology is transversal to all media. Secondly, it is essential to realize that the MIL is not self-sustaining. And finally, the MIL is complementary. “New world, new literacies” was the primary call of the opening ceremony. The new world in the Digital Era is composed by its political, economic and cultural issues. Both sellers and consumers shall have access to the new literacies. It is necessary, however, to define how people behave in this new context of connected environments. But, what are the values of the new literacies? What are the values of contemporary information and media? It is important to have a media policy in order to enable children and young people to exercise their new acquired skills. Thereunto, it is interesting to insert, in a curricular level, disciplines about the MIL, and it becomes necessary to convince the government that this discipline is essential for the formation of contemporary citizens. At the opening ceremony, it was placed that equality, liberty and fraternity (principles of the French Republic) are also the main points of the Forum as a whole. They are not political or partisan brigades, they

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are, indeed, teachers, educators and people who love and care for teaching. The changes are for today and not for tomorrow. It is not a political issue, it’s a humanitarian one. The literacies in media and information are the brotherhood through communication. The Forum had its headquarters at UNESCO in Paris, because it represents a space of universal values and goodness. And this is MIL’ purposes: to promote, universally, the importance of literacies in media and information in education. This is the new context in which we must rehearse for the future, as there are no barriers to communication. Also important is to understand the information and more important, is to understand the political and social context immersed in the networked communication. The plenary sessions were emphatic on the need to involve people in the discussion of science. To understand the science it is necessary to understand the essence of human experience and its communication processes. The media is metaphorical, it changes all the time, and therefore, it is necessary to appeal to its essence. Still, it was emphasized that it is interesting to create a new paradigm of media and information literacies, with their new aggregated values. However, it is necessary to realize that 42% of children in the world are out of school, of those, 28 million are to be found in conflict areas. To solve this problem, we need the media, the information and the intercultural dialog. There is a gap, in the sense that some regions are more connected than others. Therefore, even in the digital age, the TV is still one of the main vehicles of communication. It is necessary to teach and educate people on how to use the information, for it is the main weapon against illiteracy and poverty in general. Only the intercultural dialog can reverse this situation. In thematic session “MIL and Intercultural Dialog” there has been a discussion with the representatives of nations such as Egypt, Mexico, United States of America,

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Qatar and Nigeria. It has come to the conclusion that the term Literacy is no longer defined as the alphabetization process. It should be considered as new skills acquired by different types of people in different contexts. The secret is not to teach people what to think, but how to think. In thematic session “Education, family and MIL” it was said that to deal with the MIL is dealing with the community, with its policies and peculiar relations. The family is an important node within this theme, because the literacies imply access to technology, and this access is directly proportional to the risks the actors in network are exposed, especially when it comes to children. In a meeting with representatives of Spain, Armenia, Greece, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands it was possible to see that the dialog among parents, students and teachers is the only solution for protection against online risks. It is important, not only to understand if there is a dialog, but also indeed, understand how it performs. It is necessary in addition to the conversation, campaigns to increase awareness to the parties involved. Plenary sessions highlighted the need to promote MIL: a curriculum that takes into account the new literacies in media and information; awareness of the existence of new skills to be developed; a new model of education for horizontal hierarchy; and access to specific media and technologies that truly promote the literacies. It was considered that the greatest challenge for MIL is to work on a triple system: regulation, education and policy of development. The main contribution of the Forum as a whole was the Statement of Policies that UNESCO made possible during the event. It is necessary, because it articulates the communication rights and multi-cultural domination. It is necessary to review contents and priorities in the ephemeral environment of media. MIL do not mean to educate people for the media only, but also to propose sustainable campaigns that can be replicated around the world in a continuum that emulates the contemporary complexity of the hyper connectivity of networked actors.

INTERNET OF THINGS: IoT, BIG DATA, AND SMART CITIES The recent social and technological development of the nations and regions have been mostly rooted in a culture of valorization of information, of innovation and education as elements for the promotion of economic growth, wealth generation and income distribution. In the last decades, technology has been increasingly based on science - with the choice of problems and the conduct of research frequently inspired by the needs of society - and in particular, on the relationship between the search for fundamental understanding, on the one hand, and the considerations for the use of another. It is obvious that the majority of basic secrets of nature were elucidated by men moved only by intellectual curiosity, who wanted to discover new knowledge for the knowledge itself. The application of knowledge normally comes later, often much later; it is also done by other men, with gifts and different interests (Stokes, 2005). Studies by the OECD (2012) carried out in 11 countries in 5 areas: energy, food, transport, waste and water, indicate that developing public policies and growth strategies that promote greener and sustainable lifestyles require a better understanding of the factors that affect the behavior of people regarding the environment. The Internet has been causing drastic changes in contemporary life, moving the interactions between people to the virtual world in different contexts passing through professional life and social relations. The emergence of Internet of Things -IoT has the potential to add a new dimension to this process through the communication and connection of and between smart objects, creating the concept of “anytime, anywhere, anymedia, anything”. Thus, the IoT must be considered as part of the Internet of the future, which must be very different from what we use today. The platform of the cur-

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rent Internet is built based on the communication host-to-host (server to server) and constitutes a limiter for its expansion. Today, the Internet is used mostly to publish and retrieve information and, this way, information shall be the focus of communications. Since 1994, a new paradigm has been studied and referred to as data-centric networks (networks focused on information). Another emerging paradigm in IoT is called Web Squared and it works with the integration of Web 2.0 with technologies of sensing to enrich the offered contents to explorers. However, the greatest challenges for the mass implementation of IoT still resides, according to researchers in the area, in scalability and efficiency. The connectivity of different devices through wireless connection runs through different areas of contemporary life, offering the possibility to measure and understand indicators of environment from delicate ecologies as also of better known ecologies as natural and urban resources. This way, the proliferation of these networked devices creates the so called Internet of Things, powered by a variety of connected technologies such as RFID tags, the IoT surpassed its childhood and represents the next technological revolution transforming the Internet into a fully integrated system. WEB’s timeline allows us to move from WWW (with static pages) through WEB2 (with emphasis on social networks), landing on the WEB3 (integration of devices on the Web). Thus IoT triggers, also, the need for large volumes of data processing - the Big Data. The concept of expanding the human connections has developed over the centuries, until the man be able to, through small portable devices, communicate with others, receive messages and entertainment with pictures, music, videos and games. But this stage of technological evolution has reached another level of maturity and now it is possible to think of interaction through the most diverse equipment and objects. No more the sky

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is the limit. Only the ability to connect, available energy and the potential for data analysis. We have all heard of the “connected home”, which includes a combination of applications, such as security, energy management, and medical follow-up or of well-being and entertainment. The concept is promoted by a variety of companies and industry associations of the sector. Increasingly, the user interface is an “app” accessible via smartphones and tablets, as well as personal computers, smarTVs, and so many other connectivity devices. Kitchens preparing shop lists, washing machines being turned on automatically when the power demand on the network is smaller, cars calling emergency when an accident happens, sensors monitoring and communicating important health signs - all this innovation and much more can be part of the IoT that will allow our homes, our cities and our lives to become more intelligent. Although the connected home is a new version of the “house of the future” - more a vision than a reality - the first real versions are starting to appear. Now, a concept much greater and much more complex is going on the agenda: the connected or smart city. If the connected home is a home for the near future, the connected or smart city is part of a future a little more distant where several technological challenges still need to be addressed as well as considering how to connect public and private organizations with their endless management and decision-making systems. In the center of this challenging scenario, the investment in smart cities is based on efficient management of infrastructure and urban services, which results on the reduction of public expenditure, on improving the quality of the services provided, on the democratization of citizens’ access to information and the on improvement of conditions for decision-making, both in private and public fields. In addition, the platform of smart cities itself favors the incubation of new businesses and ideas.

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We can explain the IoT in various ways, but the IoT is more commonly described as a technology ecosystem that monitors the condition of physical objects, capturing meaningful data, and communicates this information over IP networks for software and applications. The recurring themes in all the definitions about the IoT include smart objects, machine-to-machine communication, RF technologies, and a central hub of information. The IoT can then be defined as a networked connection of people, processes, data, and things sharing and using new information and allowing to obtain economic benefits for companies, better ways of educating and caring for people and better life quality.

The Social IoT Another development in the context of the IoT regards its integration to social networks creating the SIoT - Social Internet of Things. The SIoT joins the collective intelligence that emerges from social networks as a phenomenon that is being studied by scientists from different fields. In the context of communications and networking, for example, models are being proposed to exploit the similarity of interests between friends. In this vein there are also studies to detect levels of trust between friends and to develop security solutions and, at the same time, ensure the privacy of the network. The professional life is also changing. Globalization and other technological trends are transforming the workplace into a global arena where teams collaborate in all levels of the organization regardless of geographic boundaries. At the same time, social media and communication services are eliminating the boundaries between the private and the professional. The open innovation and the involvement of the masses behavior are also changing the mechanics of business development. The digitalization and the intense flow of information are allowing organizations to work new models of development and production. The

removals of time and location restrictions allow people to effectively carry out their activities in a global work environment.

Challenges and Asymmetries of the Hyperconnected Contemporary Society Despite the attraction nurtured by mankind towards digital technologies gadgets and environments many researchers are worried considering the urge of a NEW business model to sustain the growing development of information technological economy. Some proposals are focusing strongly on the denial of the concept on current connected society that information shall be free. They argue that information costs and people should be rewarded anytime they give some information that is useful. Authors as Jaron Lanier in his book Who Owns the Future? (2013) and Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee in The Second Machine Age (2014) discuss the economic impacts of the digital economy and its needs for urgent pattern changes to stop destroying jobs and the middle class besides exacerbate inequality. The abundance of data generated by the connected objects in IoT requires great data processing power and emphasizes the exponential development of the so-called Big Data - composed in part by structured data, correct, checked, but the biggest challenge in this context is represented by the treatment of unstructured data. In the Big Data’s DNA is the constant development of the algorithm. These calculations will allow that decisions are taken on the basis of the knowledge of almost 100% of the whole, and not as historically has happened, decisions are taken on the basis of partial knowledge: statistical, quantitative or qualitative phenomena to be studied. For many researchers, the Big Data will be as revolutionary for humanity as the discovery of fire or the beginning of agriculture, and their impacts are still incommensurable.

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Many believe that the future will bring more of the same: more smartphones, tablets and screens attached to any surface. Others observe that IoT is a technology that atomizes, combining with objects, it can transform the ecology of environments known up till now, providing new heights in interpersonal relations, in the perception of being and its connection with the ecosystem in which it is inserted, the longevity and creative processes. The complexity of the contemporary hyperconnected society has been briefly explored in this paper. We shall not forget that we have been experiencing, in the first two decades of this century, the parallel presence of rules and values of the modern society (second half of last decade) and the emergence of new mode of communication among people throughout the world mediated by intelligent machines. On the other hand we cannot say that this possibility is equally distributed. This asymmetry justifies the collection of papers presented on this book dealing more heavily with the present situation of digital inclusion programs in different geographies, with special focus to the ones in developing countries, but sometimes, as in this introduction paper, it is important to point out that that new levels of technological realities are already present in more advanced societies. We celebrate diversity and complexity because they are here to stay.

REFERENCES Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. (2014). The second machine age: work, progress and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologie. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. Couldry, N., Madianou, M., & Pinchevski, A. (Eds.). (2013). Ethics of Media. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave/MacMillan. doi:10.1057/9781137317513

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Dourado, F. (2013). A centralidade da tecnologia no mundo contemporâneo. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http://www.iea.usp.br/noticias/derrick-dekerckhove Floridi, L. (2010). Information – A Very Short Introduction. London: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/actrade/9780199551378.001.0001 Floridi, L. (2014). The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality. London: Oxford University Press. Floridi, L. (Ed.). (2015). The Onlife Manifesto: Being Human in a Hyperconnected Era. London: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-04093-6 Fundação Telefônica. (2014). Juventude Conectada. São Paulo: Fundação Telefônica. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http://educacaointegral.org.br/ wp-content/uploads/2014/08/juventude-conectada-online-1.pdf Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. New York: Penguin Putnam. Grizzle, A., & Calvo, M. C. T. (2013) Media and Information Literacy: Policy and Strategy Guidelines. Paris: UNESCO. Retrieved 06/17/2015 from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ images/0022/002256/225606e.pdf Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press. Kozinets, R. V. (2002). The Field Behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities. Journal of Marketing Research, 39, 61-72. Retrieved 06/17/2015 from http://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/methods/ netnography.pdf Lacey, K. (2007). Home, work and everyday life: Roger Silverstone at Sussex. International Journal of Communication, 1, 61-69.

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Lanier, J. (2013). Who owns the future. New York: Simon & Schuster. Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social – an introduction to Actor – Network Theory. London: Oxford University Press. Licoppe, C. (2004). Connected’ presence: The emergence of a new repertoire for managing social relationships in a changing communication technoscape. Environment and Planning. D, Society & Space, 22(1), 135–156. doi:10.1068/d323t Lievrouw, L. A., & Livingstone, S. (2009). New Media. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE. doi:10.4135/9781446262658 Lievrouw, L.A. & Livingstone, S. (2009). New Media, Mediation, and Communication Study. Information, Communication & Society, 12(3), 303-325. DOI: 10.1080/13691180802660651 Livingstone, S., & Bulger, M. E. (2014). A global research agenda for children’s rights in the digital age. Journal of Children and Media, 8(4), 317–335. doi:10.1080/17482798.2014.961496 OECD. (2012). Internet economy outlook 2012. Paris: OECD. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http:// www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/ oecd/science-and-technology/oecd-internet-economy-outlook-2012_9789264086463-en#page1 Passarelli, B. (2010). Literacias emergentes nas redes sociais: estado da arte e pesquisa qualitativa no observatório da cultura digital. In Atores em Rede: Olhares Luso-Brasileiros. São Paulo: Editora SENAC SP. Passarelli, B., & Angelucci, A. (2013). Interactive Generation Brazil Research: children and teenagers using computers, TV, games and mobile phones. In Rethinking the Conceptual Base for New Practical Applications in Information Value and Quality. IGI Global. doi:10.4018/9781-4666- 4562-2

Passarelli, B., & Azevedo, J. (Eds.). (2010). Atores em rede: olhares lusos- brasileiros. São Paulo: Editora SENAC SP. Passarelli, B., da Silva, A. M., & Ramos, F. (Eds.). (2014). e-Infocomunicação: estratégias e aplicações. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo. Passarelli, B., & Junqueira, A. H. (2012). Gerações interativas no Brasil: crianças e adolescentes diante das telas. São Paulo: Fundação Telefônica Brasil/Escola do Futuro (USP). Retrieved 06/18/2015 from: http://ccvap.futuro.usp.br/page. ef?node=noticias&tipo=a&load=News.view. ef?id=42 Passarelli, B., Junqueira, A. H., & Angeluci, A. C. (2014). Os Nativos Digitais no Brasil e seus comportamentos diante das telas. MATRIZes, 8(1), 159-178. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http:// www.revistas.usp.br/matrizes/article/view/82936 Silverstone, R. (2007). Media and Morality: On the Rise of the Mediapolis. Cambridge: Polity Press.

ADDITIONAL READING Junqueira, A. H., Passarelli, B., & Botelho, R. F. (2012). Literacias digitais nas escolas públicas brasileiras: uma abordagem do papel do professor à luz dos resultados da Pesquisa TIC Educação 2010. Proceedings of XXXV Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação – INTERCOM. Fortaleza, CE: Intercom. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http://www.intercom.org.br/papers/nacionais/2012/resumos/R7-2163-1.pdf Passarelli, B. (2007). Interfaces digitais na educação: @lucinações consentidas. São Paulo: SENAC SP - Editora da Escola do Futuro da USP.

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Passarelli, B. (2011). “School of the Future”Research Laboratory/USP: action research and emerging literacies studies in WEB 2.0 environments. The Journal of Community Informatics, vol 7 ns 2. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http://ci-journal. net/index.php/ciej/article/view/646 Passarelli, B., & Botelho, R. F. (2013). Literacias emergentes e Educação: relato de uma experiência com a integração dasTIC em escola públicas de uma cidade da grande São Paulo. Proceedings of XXXVI Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação – INTERCOM. Manaus, AM. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http://www.intercom.org. br/papers/nacionais/2013/resumos/R8-0181-1. pdf Passarelli, B., Guzzi, A. A., Angeluci, A. C., & Junqueira, A. H. (2014). The Impact of Mobility in Brazilian Info Centers: AcessaSP Case Study. American International Journal of Contemporary Research ISSN 2162- 139X (print) e ISSN 2162 – 142X (online) vol 4 n 3 March. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http://www.aijcrnet.com/journal/index/666 Passarelli, B., Junqueira, A. H., & Botelho-Francisco, R. (2011). Literacias digitais emergentes na web 2.0: uma abordagem da inclusão digital de idosos no Programa AcessaSP. Proceedings of XXXIV Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação – INTERCOM. Recife, PE: Intercom. Passarelli, B., Paletta, F. C., Angelucci, A., & Junqueira, A. H. (2013). Gestão do Conhecimento, Criatividade e Etica no Acesso e Uso da Informação. ISKO 2013. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto - OCS, I Congresso ISKO Espanha e Portugal / XI Congresso ISKO Espanha. Porto – Portugal. Resumo. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http://ocs.letras.up.pt/index.php/ ISKO/ISKO/paper/view/678

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Passarelli, B., Salla, T. M., & Tavernari, M. (2010). Literacias emergentes dos atores em rede: etnografia virtual com idosos no Programa de Inclusão Digital AcessaSP. Revista Prisma.com. v. 13. Retrieved 06/18/2015 from http://revistas. ua.pt/index.php/prismacom/article/view/789

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Big Data: Broad term for data sets so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, and information privacy. The term often refers simply to the use of predictive analytics or other certain advanced methods to extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set. Accuracy in big data may lead to more confident decision making. Domestication Theory: An approach in science and technology studies and media studies that describes the processes by which innovations, especially new technology is ‘tamed’ or appropriated by its users. First, technologies are integrated into everyday life and adapted to daily practices. Secondly, the user and its environment change and adapt accordingly. Thirdly, these adaptations feedback into innovation processes in industry, shaping the next generation of technologies and services. IoT (Internet of Things): Network of physical objects or “things” embedded with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity to enable it to achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with the manufacturer, operator and/or other connected. MIL - Media and Information Literacy: Recognizes the primary role of information and media in our everyday lives. It lies at the core of

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freedom of expression and information - since it empowers citizens to understand the functions of media and other information providers, to critically evaluate their content, and to make informed decisions as users and producer of information and media content. Information Literacy and Media Literacy are traditionally seen as separate and distinct fields. UNESCO’s strategy brings together these two fields as a combined set of competencies (knowledge, skills and attitude) necessary for life and work today. MIL considers all forms of media and other information providers such as libraries, archive, museums and Internet irrespective of technologies used. New Media: A 21st Century catchall term used to define all that is related to the internet and the interplay between technology, images and sound. In fact, the definition of new media changes daily, and will continue to do so. New media evolves and morphs continuously. Onlife: Defines more and more of our daily activity - the way we shop, work, learn, care for our health, entertain ourselves, conduct our relationships; the way we interact with the worlds of

law, finance, and politics; even the way we conduct war. In every department of life, ICTs have become environmental forces which are creating and transforming our realities. Smart Cities: Uses digital technologies or information and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance quality and performance of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption, and to engage more effectively and actively with its citizens. Social IoT: To keep separate the two levels of people and things; to allow objects to have their own social networks; to allow humans to impose rules to protect their privacy and only access the result of autonomous inter-object interactions occurring on the objects’ social network. Web Squared: Emerging paradigm in IoT. It works with the integration of Web 2.0 with technologies of sensing to enrich the offered contents to explorers. However, the greatest challenges for the mass implementation of IoT still resides, according to researchers in the area, in scalability and efficiency.

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Chapter 2

Critics about the Convergence Culture Andres Kalikoske Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil

ABSTRACT In the ambit of Political Economy of Communication and Culture, the following article intends to problematize the convergence culture, comprising its complexity since the political, economic and social divergences that constitutes it. Therefore, it is offered a partial perspective of a “convergence society”. Four processes are especially explained, in order to make possible a critical diagnosis of the social rooting potential proposed by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in our time: the vigilance systems, the convergence multiple processes, the participation culture and the concurrence among consolidated media.

INTRODUCTION Throughout the twentieth century, the technological development has been permeated by processes marked by global economies, upper countries and, as circumstance, the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), especially after the improvement of microelectronics. In a quick historical perspective, it was after the appearances of the valve, the transistors, the integrated circuits and the microprocessors, concurrently to the satellite launches and the implementation of optical fibers networks, that contemporary society started to emerge on what would be the most fruitful of informational revolutions. As well as in the nineteenth century the telegraph was the inaugural mark for instantly long distance communication,

the transistor, developed by the scientists William Shockley, Walter Brattain and John Bardeen, from Bell Laboratories, was the starting point for the microelectronics revolution on the twentieth century. The process began on the 1950s, when the miniaturization of this component culminates on the popularization of portable radios, enabling the production of even smaller, nimbler and affordable components. Sequentially, on the 1970s, the development of integrated circuits (microchips) started to confer dynamic and effective answers to electronic devices, also increasing its storage capacities. Recently, already on the 1980s, transnational electronic markets – especially guided by the Japanese companies Sony and Japan Victor Company (JVC) and by the Holland Philips – started to offer new consumption possibilities.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch002

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On the scope of domestic entertainment, also appeared the video home system (VHS), the compact discs (CDs) and the digital mobile devices and computers. When electronic impulses are transformed in bits, the consumption of information suffers abyssal changes on the ambits of storage, processing, transmission and access. Among its many possibilities, the digital breaks distances and eliminates structural limitations. Digitalization foments a shock into the macro-structural order, not just among consolidated media and digital media, but in its totality of production mechanisms and, consequently, covers the historical standards of cultural industries business. Digitalization speeds up an infinitude of convergences - far away from being exclusively technological; some are known and others are still being developed. On media, interactivity gradually changes the relationship between producers and older receptors (that, soon, start being producers of non-hegemonic contents). With reshaped notions of time and space, technologies roots into society. Individuals habituated to analogical operations now found themselves challenged to follow a new communication model, completely sustained by digital. It is a real behavioral revolution that allows a frenetic speeding of personal relationships, market transactions and information consumption, in a society now connected to digital systems. Thus, sustained by Political Economy of Communication and Culture, it is problematized the digitalization and the convergence, comprehending its complexities since the political, economic and social divergences that constitutes it. Thus, from punctual critics, it is presented a partial panorama of a “society in convergence”. There are especially four processes, hereafter explained, that enables a critical diagnosis of the social rooting potential proposed by ICT contemporarily: vigilance systems, convergence multiple processes, participation culture and consolidated media concurrence.

VIGILANCE SYSTEMS The first critic corresponds to the vigilance systems architected when digital technology was reaching its role as capitalism main character. During the 1980s, in the beginning of information digitalization project, Schiller alerts about the complexity of this question and the possible reorganization of the living standards – that come to reality -, after the combination of consolidated sections, like the economical, until the emergent like nanotechnology and biotechnology. Meanwhile, Schiller considers that a kind of informational manipulation could be designed, once “the architects of digital capitalism had a main goal in mind: to create a large economic network that would support the increasing projects happening inside the companies and the relationship among them” (Schiller, 2001, p. 21). Digital arrives to consumer, in the late 1990s, through “computers transmitters of audio, video, image and data signal, requiring a total change of regulation and structures of telecommunications in several countries” (Schiller, 2001, p. 21). This seductive multimedia proposal gradually becomes mediator of social life, role once performed by television. Schiller’s denunciative speech, that echoes alarmist among Communication researchers, finds breath in the reflections of Mattelart (Mattelart, 2009). In História da Sociedade da Informação, the researcher describes the establishment of the National Security Agency (NSA), idealized by The United States and its fourth partner countries (Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand), interested in “retracting the maximum of information about Soviet Union and its allies” (Mattelart, 2000, p. 147). NSA turns out to be a potent system of intelligence, safeguarding economic and safety interests of The United States. Even if it was incapable of preventing the September 11th attacks, especially because of the camouflage techniques (stenography) used by Osama Bin Laden and his followers, NSA counts

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on “planetary systems of communication wiretapping” and integrated spying-satellites, gifted with latest generation technology for capturing “15 centimeters precision images” (Mattelart, 2000, p. 148). After 2001, The United States security systems and prevention politics (alarmist and with terrorist connotations) began to hold principles of a democratic regime, the one current in the country. George Bush government, seeking for a popular upgrade, starts to legitimate the development of vigilance technologies, not lately obtaining privileged information about the most diverse sectors of social life. It is the beginning of a sort of reply for the vigilance systems, after a series of diplomatic information leak. In fact, the alerts of Schiller or the perspective of a surveilled world by Mattelart overtakes internet boundaries, reaching the civil society daily routine. The privacy rights gradually turn to be repealed: organizations, almost in its totality, starts to use biometric systems, which in The United States speech are the same as unfalsifiable systems; portable cameras are not only present in the big commercial establishments or wide access places, but incorporated to the urban planning, in all residences, avenues and streets, squares and parks in the biggest cities of the world; in computers, cookies of tracking begins to storage data in web browsers, mapping consumption patterns from users; and even digital images saved on the web can keep geographic elements, informing where they were taken, once last generation cellphones and cameras are designed with Global Positioning System (GPS) as an incorporated technology. Recently, it has been paved the way of a personalized camera: each person would be able to carry a non-perceptible camera, like glasses, following the proposal of Google Glass augmented reality. Likewise, Facebook rises in 2004, social network that counts more than 1 billion user registrations, placing Brazil among its top five users. The spontaneous information purveyance of Facebook soon makes it one of the most com-

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plete human being categorizers in the world. In the last few years, one of its business is to transfer information to third parties, once Facebook has incorporated in its platform several apps developed by outsourced technology companies. Once installed (download), the outsourced apps require the Facebook password, carrying an infinity of information spontaneously declared on this social media. In these cases, Privacy Policy, yet offered, is ambiguous and imprecise, not rarely confusing the users. At the same time, rises the comprehension that a satisfying use of internet, through security and privacy point of view, consists on the development of a common conscience, about the responsibility that lies on posted and shared information. However, it is an extremely complex dichotomy, once still remains the fake notion of anonymity. Circumscribes yet, problems like intellectual property, control or censure, pornography and violence, in a general way, as bullying, defamation and racism, these last three especially corresponding to social media. The procedures of social vigilance adopted by The United States are re-emphasized from 2006 on, with the emergence of Wikileaks. Settled in Sweden, the non-profit transnational organization begins to spread, via web, confidential diplomatic information provided by anonymous sources. The year of 2013 is emblematic, mainly after Edward Snowden, a former analyst from NSA, alerted the world, through the newspapers The Guardian and The Washington Post, about the massive digital vigilance program performed by NSA. In a letter interesting for Brazilians, Snowden refers to daily situations to explain the range of this massive vigilance programs. According to the ex-analyst, “if you carry a cellphone in São Paulo, NSA can track you wherever you are, and it does: it makes it 5 billion times a day with a hundred people in the world”; also, continues Snowden, when a person in Florianopolis visits a website, NSA keeps a record of when it happened and what have you searched on that site; or yet: if a mother in Porto Alegre calls her son to wish him luck on his Col-

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lege Application, NSA can keep the call records for five years or more; at last, he assures that, the agency also keeps registers of extramarital affairs or pornographic websites accesses, in case it needs to soil the reputation of its targets.

CONVERGENCES IN PROCESS The second critic considers the convergence from its multiple processes (technological, business, cooperative, cultural, among others), to the detriment of the simple notion of being a purely technological issue, impelled to the companies and civil society by the capitalist system. In fact, convergence comes from a technological process (digitalization), immediately subsidized by political interests and vigilance strategies. Despite, once established, has its use incorporated by companies and civil society, generating business, cultural and cooperative (inclusion) logics. Both processes find each other in a logic of interface, once the public power (politics), for example, will be responsible for determining directions and legal marks, at the same time that industry will be delegated to develop creative solutions, that can be culturally appropriated. The positioning of sectors that compose the productive chain of digital convergence are divergent, once “each of these convergence forms has a specific list of economic, political and technological delimitations, as well as social, political, economic and cultural impacts” (Santos, 2004, p. 249). Paradoxically, new connections are made, that contradictorily generate exclusions, departures and obstacles, at the same time opening fresh possibilities that trigger interactions and solutions, complexifying the phenomenon. In the current state-of-art of digital means, for example, internet seems to constitute itself, increasingly, as supermedia, meaning to encompass the consolidated ones. Almost completely, television contents find themselves available on web, opened, paid or exclusively (pay-per-view or

on demand). This phenomenon begins to ordinate a reorganization also in the conglomerated actions, that starts to increase their business by investing as much in television (schedule and contents) as on web (services and contents), fomenting the complex competition for the consumers attention. On the other side, as a consolidated media, television may look like an overpassed media for the ones raised on the convergence age, once its communication manner follows the massive logic of an issuer for multiple receptors. Accordingly, it is interesting the reference that Shirky establishes between TV and communication means preceding television. There is instability in television – if I have a TV channel and you have a television equipment, I can talk to you, but you can’t talk to me. Telephones, for its turn, are balanced; if you buy the consumption device, you automatically own the production system. When we buy a telephone, nobody asks if we want to just listen or if we also want to talk. Participation is inherent to the telephone, and the same happens to the computer. When we buy a machine that allows digital content consumption, we also buy a machine to produce it. Further, we can share material with friends and talk about what we consume, produce or share. It is not just about additional features; they are part of the basic pack (Shirky, 2011, p. 23). Thereafter, television comes up against to the interactivity issue, even if its industry tries to offer possibilities. The television industry, especially, looks for a conjugation with other digital media, which state-of-art offers “a world where public and private social communication are combined, that professional and amateur production confuse themselves and volunteer public participation goes from inexistent to fundamental” (Shirky, 2011, p. 162). Strategies to raise participation begin to be integrated to television formats, causing a fake impression of empowerment, that, apparently, leans to the discursive scope.

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Participation Culture With the advent of digital convergence, audiovisual industries begin to reshape their business patterns, trying to maximize advantages for their conglomerates; creating multiple forms to distribute contents to consumers and keep them, in a time when market fragmentation and increasing file exchange via internet threatens the old manners of constituting business (Jenkins, 2008, p. 325). The participation culture finds itself forcibly in the center of this processes, it means, there is an emergence not only in audiovisual companies, but also in the totality of communication systems that starts to look for, at least in the discursive order, bigger participation from their consumers. The problem is incipient, disordered, but evident. In a high level, “with a blurred border between production and consumption, as expression freedom and information flow on the network, with the simplification of production tools and the popularization of social networks and sites, it is possible to recognize an empowerment of people unlinked from media institutions” (Primo, 2010, p. 28). As participative processes are still emergent, they shall not be seen as a form of democratization of communication means. Utopians argue that there is a new media ecosystem, centered on participation culture as an impellent. Certainly, on the internet and its digital social networks, participation culture actualizes itself intensively. A wide example that allows disambiguation is in Pierre Levy’s concept of common intelligence, that became unanimous reference for cyberculture studies, which development has sustained especially studies about internet. In the researcher words, it is all about “an intelligence distributed everywhere, unceasingly valued, coordinated in real time, that results in an effective mobilization of competences” (Lévy, 2000, p. 28). In his “achievable utopia”, Levy offers to the internet the status of social development propeller. He comprehends that members of deterritorialized communities,

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connected in the network, can establish synergy of competences, constituting a collective of knowhows, based on the shared trust among users (social capital) immersed on a new orb of space and time (cyberspace). The participants of this dynamic, plural and mutant web must be aware of the meaning of their participation. Once facilitated, the knowledge sources can act to instigate the search for new knowledge (hypertext). This is a constant dialogue, where users can interact and modify information. News posted on web are increasingly susceptible to contradictions. “Today, when a journalist publishes an online text, it can be contested, completed or debated, about many subjects, by a crowd of netizen as much as or more qualified than the author” (Ramonet, 2013, p. 86). As in real life world, nothing is changeable, static or inflexible. However, for the common intelligence to be established, it is necessary to be reciprocal, it means, not only it must be available to the members of the community, but also sharing information (interactivity). Notwithstanding, in audiovisual industry, hardly any effective participation has been concretized. In entertainment, what have been confused with participation are subversions of the media capital that turns followers (or fans) into unpaid divulgers. Since the second half of 2000 decade, the possibility of bits manipulation has instigated followers, especially via internet, to the appropriation and transformation of the audiovisual products they are fans. Especially on the fiction area, an omnipresent place of media offer is emerging, where “media producers and consumers are now, many times, the same person”, once “professional and amateur productions are not distant, but intimately overlapping areas of the same large spectrum” (Couldry, 2010, p. 52). What begins with websites creation on internet, with the purpose of cultivating determined audiovisual product ends up with the emergence of new products, like fan fictions (or fiction created by fans), narratives with particular development, that incorporates diverse elements from original hege-

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monic products. Even if it infringes copyrights, this new ambient has been ruled “by economic interests and not by a mission to delegate power to the public” (Jenkins, 2008, p. 325). Journalism, through the angle of participation strategies, also finds itself overrunning this pseudo-inviting ambient, yet, in the routine of professional newsrooms, some sort of amateur collaboration has always been part of the job (to mention amateur cameraman, who provide images to TV news; security cameras, when given by thirds; or, recently, citizens armed with mobile devices with cameras that spots relevant facts and send it to TV stations). Historically, the journalist activity began to change in the 1990s, in spite of happening in an incipient way, with the advent of the personal computer, which offers autonomy facilitating the production of handouts, banners and domestically printed “newspapers”. Recently, with the advent of internet and its possibilities of publishing on websites and blogs, begins the process that today we know as participative culture, also rising the called citizen journalism or participative journalism. These models, strongly engaged to the continuum flow of news available on the internet, start to be incorporated by notoriously respected news, such as El País (Yo, Periodista), O Glogo (Eu, Repórter) or CNN (iReport). About the participation on internet, Ramonet analyses that: From middle 1980s on, we have lived two substitutions. First, the continuous and quicker information on TV, has taken place of information offered by written press. This conduces to a fierce concurrence among media, in a velocity rush on which there is less time to verify information. After the second part of the 1990s and, particularly in the last few years, with the expansion of internet, the “neojournalists” have emerged, who are watching-witnesses of the facts – and became a source of information extremely required by traditional media” (Ramonet, 2013, p. 86).

Even that, in many cases, the question remains in the order of speech, gradually becomes legitimate the collaboration of consumers in the most distinct phases of news making, providing opportunities of conversations between media and audience, to the detriment of the old “monologue”, consolidated by printed periodic (Gillmor, 2005). This new situation considers the hypothesis that, in first place, a collective of consumerscitizens can aggregate more knowledge to news than journalists. Besides, this new environment where newspapers from all over the world close their doors can incentivize the qualification of the journalism itself, once only the “few newspapers that keep a strict line, basing their analyses on researches and act with seriousness, originality and great writing” (Ramonet, 2013, p. 89) must survive. It is all about the exclusive characteristic of concurrence that is essential to the capitalism. In second place, there is an opening of participation possibility, logically not effective, but from the providing of information, image sharing, audiovisual and other digital registers. Yet, even that participation of consumer-citizens foment an ambient of informational multiplicity, it is contestable the hypothesis that the breaking of oligopolies is effective, as suggests Gillmor. On the other hand of Gillmor’s proposition, it is considered that, what has been called collaboration, are unbelievable reports of happenings, that need to be investigated; purveyance of audiovisual material captured by mobile devices, that need assurance about its legitimacy; or informs of social problems sent to the TV stations by anonymous citizens, that equally need journalistic verification, but end up guiding newsroom production. Yet, enthusiasts as Gillmor do not consider that the inflammation of amateurs in noticeable audiovisual products could unchain a journalistic credibility crisis, once “the [so-called] citizenjournalists simply don’t have the necessary sources for bringing reliable news. They have a lack not only on expertise and education, but

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also on relations and access to the information” (Keen, 2009, p. 49). Other issue that has been pointed is the dismissing of professionals, not only because of the difficulty on finding business standards as effective as publicity was for consolidated media, but because amateur are, on their own way, developing parts of professional journalists work. On television, some examples are the live participation of citizen-journalists on news, relating facts of their communities or the presentation of amateur images, both cases cluttering the displacement of teams capable to professionally report the real conditions of facts. What closely comes to Gillmor’s hypothesis seems to be the indignation of social mobilizations. Even if there isn’t democratization or oligopoly structure breaking, social mobilizations started to raise problems that were latent and marginalized by the hegemonic media, because of their specific interests, and cannot be ignored anymore. Castells calls mass self communication the nonhegemonic information produced and distributed on web 2.0 common environments and cellphone apps (Castells, 2013). This process was also explained by Recuero, when she considered that social interaction technologies began to provoke transformations on the manners people socialize, and gradually became mediated by digital devices. Thus, emerges an environment where users can find themselves permanently connected, sending and receiving information with the intention to cultivate social bonds with their real life connections and, in a smaller range, establish new contacts based on thematic groups (communities) (Recuero, 2009). In the way pointed by Castells, mobilizations that appeared on the internet, after the digital social networks, are what end up changing the media environment flow, with strong impact on television journalistic coverage. Accordingly, it is reinforced the hypothesis of convergence culture, once this social appropriation of technology did not happened randomly, but was being developed for several years before. In a first moment, after

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conversation softwares in the second half of 1990s; and, then, from the constitutive ambient of what is called internet 2.0 (Rother, 2013). Among the online chat devices that conquered global visibility are the mIRC, a popular Internet Relay Chat (ICR) client for Windows operational system users; instant communication softwares as I Seek You (ICQ), Messenger (MSN); short messages service (SMS) for cellphones, among others. For its turn, the constitutive ambient of internet 2.0 is fulfilled through blogs (Blogger and Wordpress); microblogs (Twitter and Pounce); social networks (Orkut, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace); events (Upcoming); wiki collaboration (Wikipedia); websites aggregators (StumbleUpon); news (Digg, Reddit, EuCurti and Rec6); live transmission (Justin.tv); music/audio (imeen, Last.fm and Jamendo) and general entertainment (Second Life, Habbo, Miniclip.com and Massively Multiplayer Online Game – MMO).

TELEVISION AND INTERNET: CONVERGENCE OR CONCURRENCE? Jenkins disseminates the idea that convergence must not be understood as “a technological process that unites multiple functions inside the same apparels”, but from its cultural transformations; these changes are constraints, “as consumers are incentivized to search for new information and make connections among disperse media contents” (Jenkins, 2008, p. 29). Vertical or horizontal convergences can co-exist, either via company’s interest on reducing production costs, through the optimization of information flow or through network intercourse, or especially via virtual social networks. Yet, according to the researcher, convergence also concerns “to the cooperation among multiple media markets and the migratory behavior of media publics, who go almost anywhere looking for the entertainment experiences they wish” (Jenkins, 2008, p. 29).

 Critics about the Convergence Culture

However, there is fragility on Jenkins conception. Considering the concurrence among entertainment markets, that concentrate television and internet, it is delicate to accept the pacific connotation proposed by the scientist, who disregards the intermedia struggle. Because there is not any cooperation, but clashes among multiple and scattered markets now somehow obligated to join forces to supply new consumers requests. The apparent superposition of characteristics is not limited to the language or a techno and esthetic patterns, but emanates the concurrence between the consolidated and the new ones. The concept of remediation, proposed by Bolter and Grusin, (Bolter, 2000), consideres that there is a gradual transference of characteristics from consolidated media to new media, where appropriation and updating processes are constant. This process of “courtesy and rivalry” happens, actually, from a recursive struggle among technologies, once “not only new media are debtors of its previous means, but these also transform themselves because of the popularization of the others” (PRIMO, 2010, p. 23). Igarza also exemplify that, since the digitalization, cultural products began to be amend with new contents: DVDs incorporate extra features; television updates content on the internet, inviting spectators to consume extensions of their products online; radio news are available textually on internet, as well as press gains proper sonority on web radios (Igarza, 2008, p. 41). This is how television and internet begin to act as infected media (CARLÓN, 2009). Scolari well defines this moment considering internet as a metamedium, that provides new communication practices and long distance information flow, at the same time owning the “capacity to infect traditional media and constitute a virtual surrounding as a living environment, for exchange and experience” (Alzamora, 2011, p. 84). Once the internet has been an engine for social debates, many times coming from the civil society, it is possible to

assure the existence of some kind of reciprocal and constant contamination, conjugating crossed speeches in different media. On the other hand of technological determinism, Jost suggests the existence of a media hierarchy inversion, it means, the transformation of the concurrence environment since the advent of broadband internet. Throughout, “the health of the chain [of television value] would be on the production and not on the diffusion, which is, however, its basic business”. Thus, “it must be questioned if the internet, that has the function of diffusion, can assume, in the future, the production” (JOST, 2013, p. 97). Audiovisual reorganize itself, in one hand, because sites begin to offer television products and contents exclusively designed for netizen consumption; on the other hand, sharing sites appear (like Youtube) and on demand audiovisual, that makes possible an hybrid consumption, on the selfsame internet, on television or any other platform capable of receiving wireless connection or high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) (JOST, 2013, p. 95). However, this hierarchy alteration cannot be completely harmful for television. The consumption in front of the television equipment is dissolved, weakening the power of television stations, but keeps existing with other habits, in other spaces. Broadband internet amplifies the access of refractory consumers to television products, reaching especially students and consumers that occasionally watch TV. Yet, internet has put teenagers back in touch with television, once these users “don’t play TV’s game anymore, which is to respect a program schedule, the basis of spectator fidelity because of the settled day and time” (JOST, 2013, p. 95). In fact, recent researches concluded that the habit of watching television implies on the decrease of hours that would be filled by other entertainment means, friends and family socialization and sleeping time (Derrick; Gabriel; Hugenbergc, 2009). This metamorphosis has been impelled by

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 Critics about the Convergence Culture

young spectators that now reject the one for many model and begin to consume different contents, including audiovisual, via internet. It is a worldwide trend, as emphasizes Igarza. Consuming television in front of the television equipment becomes gradually less common, with even 20% decrease of this practice. People under 18 years old, especially, begin to dedicate their time at social media instead of hours in front of the TV. In 2006, 14 weekly hours are dedicated to new media, 12 to television, 6 to radio and 2.5 hours to press. For its turn, people older than 55 years old dedicate only eight hours for digital media (Igarza, 2008. p. 48). The meaningful analysis of this environment is that, since the worldwide senescence of population, the television equipment may leave its status of indispensable appliance, being substituted by the audiovisual consumption via network platforms. The gradual substitution of consolidated television for the personalized consumption of television products via internet seems to rely on the fact that, on the position of social replacer, TV eliminates the possibility of connection among people. On the other side, internet, after the emergence of social networks, potentiate social bonds at the same time that offers audiovisual contents (Shirky, 2011, p. 16). The presupposition is that, contemporarily, the citizen extra time seems to turn to digital media, time that, in the past, has been occupied by television. However, this deduction does not consider that these same citizens are watching less television, but on the contrary, they are watching it in other devices.

Bolter, J. D. & Grusin, R. (2000). Remediation: understanding new media. MIT. Carlón, M., & Scolari, C. A. (2009). El fin de los medios masivos: el comienzo de un debate. Buenos Aires: La Crujía. Castells, M. (2013). Redes de indignação e esperança: movimentos sociais na era da internet. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar. Couldry, N. (2010). A mídia tem futuro? Matrizes, 4(1), 51-64. Derrick, J., Gabriel, S., & Hugenbergc, K. (2009). Social surrogacy: how favored television programs provide the experience of belonging, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Gillmor, D. (2005). Nós, os media. Lisboa: Presença. Igarza, R. (2008). Nuevos medios: estrategias de convergencia. Buenos Aires: La Crujía. Jenkins, H. (2008). Cultura da convergência. São Paulo: Aleph. Jost, F. (2013). Novos comportamentos para antigas mídias ou antigos comportamentos para novas mídias? Matrizes, 4(2), 93-109. Keen, A. (2009). O culto do amador. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar. Lévy, P. (2000). A inteligência coletiva: por uma antropologia do ciberespaço. São Paulo: Loyola. Mattelart, A. (2009). Un mundo vigilado. Barcelona: Paidós.

REFERENCES

Mattelart, A. (2000). História da sociedade da informação. São Paulo: Loyola.

Alzamora, G. (2011). Entre a TV e a internet: mediações sobrepostas em iReport for CNN. In Jornalismo digital: audiovisual, convergência e colaboração. Santa Cruz do Sul: Edunisc.

Primo, A. (2010). Crítica da cultura da convergência: participação ou cooptação? In Convergências midiáticas: produção ficcional – RBS TV. Porto Alegre: Sulina.

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Ramonet, I. (2013). A explosão do jornalismo na era digital. In Mídia, poder e contrapoder: da concentração monopólica à democratização da informação. São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro: Boitempo/ FAPERJ.

Santos, S. (2004). Uma convergência divergente: a centralidade da TV aberta no setor audiovisual brasileiro. Tese (Doutorado em Comunicação e Informação). Universidade Federal da Bahia. Salvador, Brasil: UFBA.

Recuero, R. (2009). Redes sociais na internet. Porto Alegre: Sulina.

Schiller, D. (2001). A globalização e as novas tecnologias. Lisboa: Presença.

Rother, C. (2013). Social Media: mudou o comportamento. Mas e o consumo de mídia, mudou? São Paulo: Ibope.

Shirky, C. (2011). A cultura da participação: criatividade e generosidade no mundo conectado. São Paulo: Zahar.

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Chapter 3

The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3) Antonio Miranda Universidade de Brasília, Brazil Elmira Luzia Simeão Universidade de Brasília, Brazil

ABSTRACT AV3 consists of a type of language that is presented by means of technological convergence, complemented by hybridism of formats and records, that awakens a creative action which integrates the senses. This language has been empowering the composition of structures of information, making it more complex and eclectic in terms of content, and also, ever more “charming” and enticing not only to the “eye”, but to a unified perception of all the senses. The language of the combinatory AV3 engages the organization of compounds. It derived from conventional structures of text, image and sound in order to transform them into new structures, reconciling their differences in concrete possibilities of information and direction.

AV3, HYBRIDISM, AND TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE The verbal losing the gravity, would become iconic, and the write draw... – Decio Pignatari, on the back cover of the book Unbridled summary of the work of Edgar Braga, pioneer of verbivisualidade in Brazil.

The most recent theories in the fields of information and communication call for, in this new century, what has already been foreshadowed in philosophy and mathematics: human evolution is also the understanding of the different stages of development of combined possibilities of devices (in this case, those related to communication). In other words, it is the improvement of our percep-

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch003

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 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

tion of the different possibilities of combinations among the elements (records). Mathematics studies abstract objects (numbers, figures, functions) and the relationships that exist between them, by applying deductive methods; and philosophy investigates the essential and ontological dimension of the real world (Houaiss). Whether in wavelike motions or as a function of multiple energies, in communication, records arise from harmonic, and sometimes chaotic compositions, now differentiated by the possibility of “animaverbivocovisualidade”, or by the phenomenon here defended, AV3. AV3 appears in telematics networks and from their mechanisms and our perception will search for, on a prismatic network of ideas, a possible combination of their multiple formats. In the process of communication in AV3, authors will combine cognitively content along with form, and may process records and communicate them in a multidimensional architecture. Finally, (a) AV3 consists of a type of language that is presented by means of technological convergence, complemented by hybridism of formats and records, that awakens a creative action which integrates the senses. This language has been empowering the composition of structures of information, making it more complex and eclectic in terms of content, and also, ever more “charming” and enticing not only to the “eye”, but to a unified perception of all the senses. The language of the combinatory AV3 engages the organization of compounds. It derived from conventional structures of text, image and sound in order to transform them into new structures, reconciling their differences in concrete possibilities of information and direction. This is not something unusual. Martin-Barbero, as he analyzes the context of developments in communication, emphasizes its repercussion in the acquisition of knowledge to cause the rupture of some borders:

Radicalizing the experience of uprooting produced by modernity, technology would dislocate knowledge, modifying both cognitive status, as the institutional conditions of knowledge and figures of reason ..., which is leading to a strong erasure of borders between reason and imagination, knowledge and information, nature and artifice, art and science, experiential knowledge and profane experience (Martin-Barbero, 2006, p. 54). And he proceeds: ... Since the invention of writing and logical speech, that is, to the world of sounds and images relegated the scope of emotions and expressions. When working interactively with sounds, images and written text, hypertext (G. Landow, R. Laufer) hybridizes to symbolic density with the numerical abstraction, making the two parts of the brain, until now “opposite”, rediscovered (Martin-Barbero, 2006, p.74). What is the difference between our understanding today and our understanding prior to the 21st century? Previously, we had the intention of “integration of arts” (Bauhaus) and the fragmentation of science. However, the technology was limited, as was the case in the interrelation of text, sound and image. The “verbivocovisualidade” of the concretist poets is an example of this limitation. Merging text, sound and illustration, the text suggested or formed the image - the verse’s geometric form and its analytical method, but the sound was “imaginary”, that is to say, due to the silent reading of the reader, because the concrete poetry was not meant to be recited, though viewed. For other artists and poets, there was definitely a space of multimedia integration. Philadelpho Menezes in his “Sound Poetry” (1997), for example, has integrated his poems to other authors, seeking for a “poem sound” by mixing with other media and languages: space, gestures, videos

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 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

and computer graphics in interaction with the public. Philadelpho Menezes stated that all of these elements must be addressed by the project of the poem sound which is part of a process of assembly, inserted relation, interactive media (not just attachment, but multimedia).1 In the 21st century, this activity of “amalgamate” elements seems easier. You can even bring text, sound and image by the technological convergence of the digital process. Also, if a creator(s) and author(s) know how to avail themselves of this feature, they can reach the “ânima” (dynamism), i.e. the (double) relation of “poiesis” (aesthetic element, creative) and the “animation” of the elements of the composition through the technology. We could venture to say that, in a sense, the term animates like the soul2 of this “ intersígnica” relationship. In the planning of the message elements amalgamated comprise a “architexture”, i.e. a combination of “animaverbivocovisual” elements. The “architexture” is understood finally as a tasteful combination of creative elements, moved in “anima” (animate), the “architexture” information composing a single message, defining the organization and the synchrony between the technological devices and their features, the relationship “intersígnica”, defended by Philadelpho: The poem “intersignos” (thus I have previously called this poetic in exhibitions of 1985 and 1998), which highlights the significance of the image outside of the word, seeks to break the inattention and automation that we have in the observation of visual information, predominant in the contemporary world. (Meneses, P. 1998) The hypermodernism marks a new era in communication and access to information, whereas the post-modernism ended in the last century and took old methods of organization and processing of information, be they applied to as scientific or artistic context, or in literature and in creative

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practice still without a planning of amalgams in multi-sensorial “architexture” here announced. The poet inscribes, shapes, “geometrizes”, diagrams on the flat surface of a page, the walls, the screen or part for more extensive supports such as the soundtrack, cinema and video to the digital publishing, with multimedia and holographic capabilities ... now anything goes in the process of creation and expression ... (Miranda, 2013). Some “animaverbivocovisuais” artists and scientists go further and use the processes of “urban intervention”. They use projections (of light from their virtual creations on computers) and launch their creations on buildings, monuments, etc. In other words, through the use of artistic movement of formats on concrete structures, they provoke the collective subconscious through images projected on public facilities in the cities. In some cases taking advantage of the asymmetries in the architecture or landscape itself, the space of the real is combined with performance using the human body and/or other elements that interact in “intersígnica” relation, creating simulations and alternatives of communication outside of conventional standards, in order to more holistically stimulate the human senses. In these situations, it is necessary to train the eye and our perception for assimilation of the contents. PEIRCE provides the foundations for an effective understanding of the various codes (or “semias”: systems of signs) and their relationships. Always on the basis of the icon, the banner of creative activity, be artistic or scientific. In semiology the iconicity is the property that has the iconic sign to represent in the real world (the greater the degree of iconicity of a sign, the smaller the degree of abstraction or scheduling). It is not surprising that scientific language can, along with art, share conviviality with the analogy and the axis of similarity ... (Peirce)

 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

Observing interference of technology in the museums’ rooms and languages used in it, for instance, Rocha says that new forms of interaction, more entertaining and interactive, tend to bring more people to the museum. More options in “verbivocovisual” language are stimulus for a more creative drawing in “expografia” and in the organization of the collections and their iconicity. Rocha recalls that Sevcenko (2001) as he describes the technological development identifying a process of amendment of the perception and sensitivity which, although not new, is central to understanding the changes that have been occurring in function of “animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3): (...) the acceleration of the rhythms of daily life, in line with the invasion of technological implements, and the extension of the role of vision as a source of guidance and interpretation of fast flows and of creatures, human and mechanical, jumping around - will bring about a profound change in sensitivity and in forms of sensory perception of metropolitan populations. ... ... The overvaluation of the gaze as soon as marked and intensified by the spread of advertising techniques, would affect, especially, the refinement of its ability to capture the movement, instead of focus, as was the habit upon objects and static contexts. ... The great adaptive gain, in terms of sensory and cultural, is exactly to establish links with immediate dynamic flows (Sevcenko, 2001, p. 65). Someone that goes ahead with the discussion about the interrelation required between art and science, trying to stimulate the academy thinking in its creative process, is the physicist Roland de Azevedo Campos. Convinced that there is no science without the use of art and there should be no art without the support of science and technology, in the book “Arteciencia - Turnout of Signs Co-

Moventes” (2003), the author takes the reader to scroll through these spaces of convergence scientific-poetic-musician-pictorial. It is not surprising that the scientific language can, along with the art, share of conviviality with the analogy and the axis of similarity (Azeredo, R). According to Campos, this is what occurs when ideas/formulas physic-mathematical coparticipate in poems, or when poetic images travel and inspire topics of physics. This “transemiose” (transfusion) oxygenates and thickens the content. Campos (2003) shows that the advances in knowledge and the major revolutions of science and technology of the 20th century, end up by joining the spaces of creation “sígnica” convergences with poetic, noise, musical, pictorial. In short, the hypermodernism gives the poet, the writer and the scientist, as given to the authors in general, the possibility of creating and taking advantage of “animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3). They can spread their creations by web, through blogs and social networks, editing their own work, on an individual or collective feature. Freire (2004) sees in the science of information a fertile field for the understanding of the changes driven by technology. To observe the context of scientific communication, it is clear that living in a society that extends the web of their network to the four corners of the world, the information scientists should add to the recognized role of “mediators” to “facilitators” of knowledge communication: Because even though the information has always been a powerful force for transformation, the capital, the technology, the proliferation of mass media and its influence on socialization of individuals gave a new dimension to this potential. This increases the possibilities of being created instruments for effective transfer of information and knowledge, in order to support the activities that are part of the very core of transformation of

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 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

society. Which leads us to agree with Araujo (1994, p. 82) when he says that ” ... if the information is the most powerful force for transforming man[o] power of information, combined with the modern means of mass communication, has unlimited ability to transform culturally man, society and humanity itself as a whole”. (Freire, 2004)

THE AV3 AND THE THEORY OF OBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF POPPER We must invoke the Theory of Objective Knowledge, Karl R. Popper, to understand the space of AV3. Popper, in his theory, he identified three worlds: 1 - the physical world, that “distinguished bodies in animate and inanimate and that also contains states and special events, such as voltages, movements, forces, fields of force”; 2 - the metaphysical world, of “experiences consciousness and, presumably, of unconscious experiences”; and 3 - the world of recorded knowledge, “the objective products of the human spirit, originating in the action of the world 2 “. In other words, it is the materialization or reification of knowledge upon their enrollment (e.g. books) “which consists of linguistic acts, which are also physical things, processes that take place in the world 1 “. We reiterate that, in this case, there is always a physical basis - which we call support - and the message prepared in the communicative process. The digitized knowledge, in the last century, only began its virtualization by computing, to a certain extent limited to letters and numbers, signs and symbols of representation, the conventional process of registration. Currently, however, the technological advances allow the amalgam of texts, images and sounds through the technological convergence and its algorithmization. The AV3, as we intend, allows the “poiesis” and “virtua”, the creation and its virtualization, combining aesthetic and ethical factors in hybrid

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compositions of unlimited scope in expressive terms: the “animaverbivocovisualidade”; that happens in digital field, but that can also be associated with physical elements, as we have already mentioned, artistic and scientific expressions. In a more advanced step in his exposition, Popper (p. 39) considers “the immaterial part, the immaterial side of the world 3 “, recognizing an impact on our conscience. In other words, he meant the creation of another reality, which is the product of creativity and sensitivity. Now with more resources available to artists and scientists, and even to any person wishing to join in the creative process, which is open for the democratization of the means of information and communication. From the concepts of Pierre Levy, the virtual is not opposed to the real thing. The virtual is always a power, a possibility of being, the organization conceived in world 2, and prior to the implementation in world 3. Likewise, the record in the world of objective knowledge requires resources and capabilities of enrollment, which resources have been expanding with the advancement of theories, methodologies and technologies within the reach of the creators. Nevertheless, that also depends on their intellectual capacity (world 2). The virtualization process being a “heterogenetic, a becoming another, host process of otherness”, understanding heterogeneity as the variation in design and expression, that is, the different ways of expressing an idea. In short, the enrollment depends on the anima (soul) of the creator and of the resources at its disposal in the creative process (poiesis), or an idea can be expressed in different ways, more or less efficient as the faculties and conditions of creator, subject to criticism and rebuttal and transformations.

AV3 AND ITS DIMENSIONS All this diversity of possibilities creates a mechanism that breaks with the traditional model of creation and communication, awakens an integrative

 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

perception of senses highlighting the complexity of language AV3. These transformations in the communicative process have already been worked on and recorded as a phenomenon of extensive communication (Simeao, 2006): ... It is also a transient communication, a network of connections foretelling the end of hierarchies and the beginning of an informational order that has authority as the free space of negotiation and common sense (Simeao, 2006). It is now a question of perceived changes in the context of content creation themselves. Another important aspect is that the work of creation opens up more space for the cooperation of ideas and passes to be multivocal (created by several people in person or by electronic means of communication - i.e. by interactivity); may be ubiquitous (the ubiquity afforded by the internet), and may be associated with other records by means of links (the hypertextuality). They can also be updated and processed where the author(s) consider(s) should be, that is to say, using (oriented or pressed) the “hiperatualização.” Another important aspect of the new approach to the AV3 is the ubiquity, that also means that the record will be available anywhere, which transforms the availability of documents, i.e. the record of knowledge stored in virtual resource, but accessible from anywhere. As of now, we have mobile access - smart phones, tablets, etc. which also leverage the mobility of these means of communication. The book about “Practices of reading” (organized by Chartier and Guglielmo Cavallo with the collaboration of Pierre Bourdieu, Francois Bresson, Robert Darnton, Daniel Fabre, JeanMarie Goulemot, Jean Hebrard, Louis Marin and Daniel Roche), scholars from diverse disciplines that attempt to elucidate the models and effects, the history and the contemporary situation of a cultural practice that is the foundation for all

human knowledge: reading. Reading understood as an act which arises from the mediation, act to decipher signs that translate a language. This is not only to understand (read) the world through the prism of an author (or authors), but to also capture the language which is expressed by means of signs (records) and that can make the communicative action smoother. Reading is also seen as a dynamic learning process, built by the definition of standards and codes. Still, pointed by Chartier, an intimate relationship that is established, many times, between the solitary reader and the book (open space for the imagination), between readers and their daily newspaper (with its modern online versions). This intimacy of player now incorporates an area of “virtual coexistence” where the surfers and their peers share experiences and knowledge in addition to the conventional spaces. The extensive communication is a process that moves with the exploitation of open systems, cooperative and data-sharing: This is mediation with horizontal flow that has as its objective the solution to a problem that affects interpreters’ and producers’ communities of contents with a strong influence of technical gadgets. Communication is without predefined rules, without a fixed pattern, without borders or permanent control. It is the interaction of transmitters and receivers with a hypertextual logical, timely and objective in its goals, but ephemeral, without inventories and in constant change. Timely and accurate is also mediation transient. It is a weaving of people and ideas in complex systems that seek to respond synchronously to the demands of its users (Simeon, 2006). Any Integrated Communication strategy is to consider an analysis of technological situation and the possibility of production of multidimensional content having as objective the interactivity between distinct public, and hypertextuality offered

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 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

in a technological platform that is attentive to social networks in an extensive and open system ”all-all” (“ Todos-Todos”). Knowledge of skills in information in the context of the AV3 helps the holistic formation of individuals, preparing them for the challenges of the new language.

To identify indicators of this process, in addition to the profile characteristics and contexts of products available on the WEB, there are elements of analysis that were framed in three possible characteristics, also associated with the new language:

Competence in Information is known as a set of abilities and skills, developed in a disciplined manner and coherence, capable of making a person more autonomous in the search and use of information. In other words, within a complete cycle of actions, the subject should realize their limitations and needs, the context where they enter, for a second time to initiate the search for information that meets their needs (Simeon, 2012).

AV3 And Hypertextuality

The search stage should understand the different types of options and choose the appropriate documents and information, noting the relevance and other factors. In one of the last skills of the cycle, the subject will show in fact his/her autonomy if he/she is able to communicate on the subject searched. Already in the field of technical and communicative skills, he/she will become capable of dealing with the information, and then will be able to edit it in AV3. The computer and the virtual networks become usual instruments of mediation in science, in art: they are fast, allowing for the exchange of a large volume of data on a global scale and location. In this way, the communication in AV3 becomes the module for almost all forms of production of documents that overlaps in the common area of a global network by integrating sound, images and texts. As a model, the extensive communication could be easily represented as a network of connections standalone, but interconnected, foretelling the end of hierarchies and the beginning of an informational order that has as a paradigm the free space of the negotiation and the freedom of expression, diversity of doings and methods (Simeon, 2006).

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Hypertextuality, according to Simeao (2006) can be understood as the possibility of interconnection of lots of contents. A language that meets the information needs of the user, leading to construction of a custom speech and, in many cases, one and only. The main characteristic of this indicator is the routing intertextual built through conceptual links.

AV3 and Hypermediation The hypermediation is the combination of information in its multiple dimensions. Text, picture and audio are used in the construction of the content in a discursive non-linear logic that obeys the commands of the user. There is, in fact, operationally, an aesthetics concern of construction, however it is distinguished from the previous focus by its ability to promote the construction of content in meta-textual databases.

AV3 and Interactivity Understood as the possibility of dialog between the user (interpreter) and systems; and users among themselves by means of systems with tools to promote a temporary or permanent contact, in response to questions about the system and its use, its information products and services (Simeao, 2006). The main characteristic of this indicator is the interaction of the system with its users, be they transmitters or receivers. In many programs this relationship is explored through interfaces that trigger procedures normally used by the user, which can expedite actions.

 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

Algorithmization vs. Calibration as a Permanent Need for Linking Content to a Computational Logic Although intelligent systems suggest, in the case of modeling of prognosis, a predominance of inductive inferences in basing the prediction, there are uses of technology for discovery of new patterns, in which the system is invited to contribute with the first parameters of information. It is in this sense that it is worth asking whether the boundaries between the human and the machine-like,, since these parameters interfere in order of human decisions (Edmond, 2012). In this context, science has progressed because there is a permanent dialogical complex (E. Morin) and the adjustment is achieved through dialog. This relationship also includes the idea that the antagonisms can be stimulators and regulators.

AV3 and Hyper Updatization To update is to change, change to add value. This is the main objective of the updates in automated systems that process the current information. But the permanent search of information, in systems programed to do so, or as a result of the revival of authors/users that add complementary aspects to records that become public, can be a result of a predefined schedule designed as hyper updatization This process of renewal is called hyper updatization when, on a persistent basis, it adds value, generating not only the “innovation”, but also, in the opposite direction, a mismatch between supply and demand, which is in relation to the time of the provision of new information, or the interest in acquiring that part of the record. Hyperupdatization without control allows an intense modification of ideas that are multiplying in content and form. This persistent search of “values” is revealed to be contradictory, or even puts the information into disrepute, causing acceleration of obsolescence of the original record or its disposal. In each new

version changes are made not only in the contents of the records, but in its aesthetic and conformation: We call hyper updatization in tablets the update in real time, in the form of the internet, for all of the content available and with high frequency throughout the day. (Button, 2013) For example, print journalism and their migration to electronic versions, is the diligent effort to launch new versions that update the content already available in printed and older editions,to keep their internet users (readers) informed on the topics and news of their interest (Botao, 2013). It can be highlighted that this edition may be increased with possibilities of integrating different users in the process. Newspapers, now combined with other media, instant intermedia, many of them in a cooperative manner, have the advantage of starting with the collaboration of individuals that photographing, comment and cede their records for companies. Butao affirms that unlike printed editions, the reprint are “real-time”, a euphemism for the effort to update that always refers to a f(act) that has already happened. The continuous effort of television journalism, social networks, from tweeters and bloggers’ accompanying events or discusses and interprets situations, synchronies or make assumptions or foresee of its unfolding. This discussion transposed to cyberspace is an exercise that is still in progress - that comes by encouraging researchers to think about social memory as a compound movement, away from the direction of accumulation characteristic of societies in writing. (Dodebei & Gouveia, 2008) The authors claim, from the theoretical positioning of Henri Bergson and Maurice Halbwachs that social memory is migrating to an individual design for a collective composition, modeled by digital technologies. This memory revolves a vir-

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 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

tuality (“memory pure” or virtual) interior to the exomatic virtuality of its objective record, with the possibility of trade between the two states. Also, hyperupdatization as a constant relationship between past-present-future, a come-to-be perennial that invokes the known and projected new dimensions in the process of interpretation of the phenomena under observation and the consequent construction of content for public memory and communication. In the vision of Maurice Halbwachs, collective memory arises from social interaction. Halbwachs observed how the collective representations of the world, including those of the past, had their origins in the interaction of collective entities since the beginning. This is why the individual contributions to one’s social group or to others could not be reduced.

AV3 and Mobility Mobility is the ability to transmit and receive content on portable devices and also easily adjusted to the profile and context of use, through tools to applications (APPs). These “APPs” are configured by the user and which extends and adds value to the device (mobile). In Education, complementing the concept of e-learning, m-learning, as a clear sign that technology is made for the construction of content of distance education, aligns to the devices of the new generations, requiring differentiated pedagogical strategies and technological resources. The same phenomenon happens today in the processes of mass communication, with the possibility of interoperability of systems and equipment, and the advantages of different ergonomic possibilities of each device. According to Butao, on a typical day, 61% of Americans read their news online. This leaves the internet behind only to television as a source of news and ahead of printed newspapers. In addition, more than a quarter of adults today commonly accesses the internet from their phones,

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constantly moving, adding a new layer of change in the relationship of the consumer with the news, more ephemeral and instantaneous. The propagation of tablets as devices to family, day by day in society, begins to take the traditional internet traffic, that five years ago I could not even have imagined: one originating in mobile devices. (Butao, 2013). (Pew Research Center, 2010, cited by Button, 2013) In the case of arts and literature, we are witnessing the development of new records, constructed from formats adapted to media’s models. It is the case of the 140 ringtones characters poem, a new poetic style, popularized by mobile devices. The Award OCD 140 is a literary challenge launched in FLIPORTO (Festival of Brazilian Poetry), fitting the molds of the digital age. That award goes to the authors of the best poems edited written in a maximum 140 characters on Twitter. This is a motivation that instigates the creative movement quick in appropriate format to the device and also in the tool’s time (TW). Remember that in addition to different possibilities, the limitations of each type of media constitute a challenge for the creative process embedded in the technology. Another example in the field of arts is the use of projections in the scenarios of theater pieces, in urban interventions and performances. Text, images and sounds are integrated by technology to the work (creation), causing different reactions from conventional products. Recently, campaigns to fight AIDS and breast cancer were made popular by projections. The 2014 World Cup used projections, especially the green and yellow color of lights on public monuments in many Brazilian cities. Andre Lemos (2008, p. 98) presents three types of mobility: physical/spatial (locomotion, transportation) mobility,cognitive/imaginary (thoughts, religion, dreams) mobility and virtual/

 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

informational mobility. The author understands the media, both the mass and the post-mass(the invention of the alphabet up to the Internet), as artifacts of informational mobility in space and time. We read that the compression of space-time increases in the same way as physical, imaginary, virtual mobility. They also may increase and combine with one another. It is assumed that the production or recording of information (content), collection, organization, retrieval, interpretation, processing and transmission of information are being significantly affected by the possibility of communication on the move. There is the approximation of the universalization of cellular phones, much faster than the computer and this has encouraged experiments of creative movement. In contrast to what occurs with the use of a computer, a mobile phone, a device that allows for mobility, is also an artifact in condition of ubiquity - of being in all places or almost all -, and increasingly individual or custom, making it, at the same time and even more similar to a computer. The desire to communicate is magnified with possibilities brought with the mobility.

AV3 and Ubiquity Ubiquity in theology is the divine faculty of being concurrently present in everywhere (HOUAISS). With this perspective, and with the support of technology, we also have the divine power to be or exist concurrently in all places, people. Also, one can note the great rapidity with which it dominates an area, either by monitoring or even the possibility of incorporating it as domain. The ethnologist and French anthropologist Marc Auge in his book “Non-places” of 1995, coined the term “non-place” to refer to transitional places that do not have enough significance to be defined as “a place”, for example, a hotel room, an airport or grocery store, a moving plane, etc. Effectively, we are seeing a shift from the old concept of documentary availability, designed as an effort by the organization of records to put it

at the accessibility of users - to a new dimension, thanks to technology. The available was physically limited to the place of storage, while in the digital world the available becomes ubiquitous and multiple, accessible from anywhere, dependent on the resources and skills of users. In other words, we left the cramped universe of “few to few”, in which specialists produce for a few players, we move on to the stage of “many to many”. Thanks to the universalization of education, research and extension and the dissemination of knowledge. Currently, reaching a wide audience, with multidimensional information, we are now in the direction of an integrated communication “of all to all”, an interactive society, and to virulent, that appears in the synergy of the creative process. As predicted Ioneji Masuda, a pioneer in the Information society, the communicative processes incorporate productive processes hybrids, ubiquitous and in constant update (Mendonca, 2007).

AV3 and Multiple Voices (All - All) Echoing the ideas of Karl Popper, the construction of knowledge is an ongoing process of updating world 3, through the experience of world 2, to get to the concept of multiple voices. Barreto explains it: Knowing is an act of individual interpretation, or an appropriation of the meaning of the content mental structures of each subject. The generation of knowledge is a mental reconstruction of the individual’s structures, which is accomplished through their cognitive skills; it is a change in mental stock of accumulated knowledge, resulting from an interaction with a structure of information. Knowledge takes place only in the receptor’s consciousness and, therefore, is subjective and relative to each individual. (World 2) The manifestation of the records, however, is always an experience of collective, experienced (even individually) and that expands through

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 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

technologies that enable the process of shared construction, dependent on the collaboration of many experts. This multiplicity of skills, associated with quality and expertise of professionals who have skills for teamwork, creating distinct products in content and form. In the context of networks, by means of the navigation, with a set of links, external and internal, generates a communication mechanism that triggers various discourses, becoming a polyphonic communication device. According to Miranda and Simao “These Multiple voices are, in essence, what methodologies (pedagogically speaking) should better explore, thus conforming to the expectations of many theories and studies that attest to the possibility of the exploitation of speeches hybrids and a collective intelligence”. The sociologist Pierre Levy, French philosopher of virtual contemporary culture defends the existence of a collective intelligence. The collective knowledge is constructed (via ICT) in databases Inter and transdisciplinary, a Multiple voices of authorship, which invites us to think, in addition to the impact of technology on society, in terms of design. Levy claims that the current communication structure enables what he has always postulated: put in common knowledge. An unprecedented social form; “where the collective intelligence can invent a ‘democracy in real time’, an ethic of hospitality, aesthetics of invention, an economy of human qualities”. The author is the project of collective intelligence in an anthropological perspective of long duration. After having been founded in the relationship with the cosmos and insertion in the economic process, the people’s identity and the social bond could expand on the exchange of knowledge. In general, a collective intelligence is promoted by multiple voices, i.e. the possibility of intellectual work is prepared from contributions of multiple agents. But, the technologies, even the

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most advanced, are not able to build their own new ways of knowing and of collective intelligence. It also depends on the ability of those who use them. Then there are: computational power, ubiquitous communication over the internet and the almost infinite capacity to store information ... With these three aspects we have a new communication environment, and this is the technical basis for the development of a new type of collective intelligence. With these three tools, a strong environment of communication that allows us to develop the collective intelligence automatically develops. The holding or the use of this ability depends on each individual and not the tools. (Levy, interview for Magazine “ComCiencia” (with Science) - online version ISSN 1519-7654.” ComCiencia” in. 131 Campinas 2011). This intertextual creation gathers them in a production chain in which authors can come from different areas. What counts is the complementarity of ideas in the creative process. A concept of “network” is already advocated by Castells. Levy is a follower of the ideas of Michel Serres and Cornelius Castoriadis and coin the term “collective intelligence” giving more coverage to the idea of collective network of knowledge and creation, the ideal space of “multi vocalities”. To analyze and explain the interactions between the Internet and Society, a concept of network has developed, along with Michel Authier de Sisgaud, known as Arbres of book preservation like (Tree of Knowledge). The new technologies are tools too powerful for the transmission of knowledge, being that the transmitter and are the receiver very active in this process, especially when one considers the size of contemporary memory and also the ability to process information. I am speaking of computational power. The biggest problem we have now

 The Extensive Communication to Hybridism and “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3)

is the ability to use it correctly, or refine these new tools. I emphasize here that the World Wide Web emerged only a generation ago. There is very little on the scale of cultural evolution. It willill probably take ... I don’t know ... three, four, five generations until we have developed a culture to use these tools in the best possible way”. (Levy, interview for Magazine “ComCiencia” - online version ISSN 1519-7654. “ComCiencia” in. 131 Campinas 2011). The researcher Andre Lemos reports the importance of the interactive process and its many possibilities threats, both from the point of view of technology, and the implementation of content. After all, it is possible to relate themes and theories in several ways, without prejudices or any barrier, always prioritizing speech polyphonic, “multivocal”; This Multiple voices are defined by Lemos et alli as a technique to bind various speeches and even contradictory ones. For these authors, the technique should be exploited in experiences of online education, because it allows a more complete knowledge (and complex). Also, that could expose additional versions of a theme, leaving students with the possibility of making their own summaries and combinations. The association of concepts and the search for strategies to promote interdisciplinary actions are part of the philosophy of “mestizo” that will guide the actions taken in this “architecture of complexities”. Levy warns that one of the main goals of formal education is to provide young cognitive discipline, without which it is not anything. If we use these new tools with a strong cognitive discipline, focusing on priorities, on the more important things, using encyclopedias and dictionaries, contacting people who know more than us about a particular subject, with the ability to collaborate and create something collectively, it is fantastic”. .You must also keep track of your own mind. If we do not do this, it will not be the

computer that does it for us. (Levy, interview for Magazine “ComCiencia” - online version ISSN 1519-7654. “ComCiencia” no.131 Campinas 2011) In general, multiple voices can be understood, according to some Miranda and Simeao (2006) as the possibility of a text (or any other intellectual work) is drawn up from contributions of multiple agents that take the possibility of complementarity as a guiding principle of this production activity. The volume of information and the unfolding of qualitative research possibilities generate a wealth unattainable in conventional processes of creation.

CONCLUSION With the possibility of bringing together formats, contents and themes from the most diverse areas of knowledge in different situations, a scenario of interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary is created in conjunction with any type of support and information, on the basis of technological convergence. We returned to AV3 and the hybridism, hybridizing multiple, with various levels of reality, between the textual, visual and audible signs that circulate on all sides: In the same way, since the industrial revolution in the world of language, the newspaper emerged, followed by the cinema, radio and television, the tendency of the media has been the increasing hybridization of languages, in a direction that the digital revolution is increasingly exploring within the limits of its possibilities. (Santaella 2010, p. 95) In this case, there is a clear tendency for the integration in the various natural and social sciences. This brings back the general theory of Systems to develop unifying principles that vertically cross the individual universes from the various sciences involved. That brings us the

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goal of the unity of science and this can lead to the necessary integration of science education. The complexity of Morin learned at school. It is relevant to recall that complex thinking (Morin) is not limited to academic context: overflows for the various sectors of society. With this, one can question all forms of thought--unilateral, dogmatic, unilaterally quantitative or instrumental. In this context, it is necessary to think openly, uncertain, creative. According to Morin, this is a challenge to democracy itself, because the uncertainty is part of the paradigm of complexity, as an opening of horizons, and not as a principle which immobilizes thought. This is the path of complex thinking, a path which, although it has several principles, from antiquity, modernity, post-modernity and hypermodernity, it is a path that charts its own way, its own making and rethinking continuously.

Castells, M., Fernandez-Ardevol, M., Linchuan, Qiu, J., & Sey, A. (2012). Comunicación Móvil y Sociedad: Una perspectiva global. Available at http://www.eumed.net/libros/2007c/indice.htm

REFERENCES

Levy, P. (2011). Interview for Magazine ComCiencia - online version. ComCiencia.

Araujo, V. M. R. H. (1994). Systems of information retrieval: new approach theoretical-conceptual. Rio de Janeiro: School of Communication of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Barreto, A. (2013). Frontiers of science information. An analysis of the importance and the urgency of control of content in digital format on the Internet. Academic Press. Braga, E. (1984) Unbridled. Academic Press. Button. (2012). Alexander the Great Saints. The news at your fingertips - the multitasking that construct the digital journalism in mobile devices. (Master’s Thesis). Brasilia: School of Communication, University of Brasilia. Campos, R. de A. (2003). Arteciencia - turnout of signs co-moving. Academic Press.

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Cavallo, G., & Chartier, R. (Eds.). (1998). History of reading in the western world. Academic Press. Chartier, R. (2001). Navigation is a must. Available at: http://babel.no.com.br Dodebei, V., & Gouveia, A. (2008). Memory of the future in cyberspace: between remember and forget. DataGramaZero - Journal of Information Science, 9. Freire, I. M. (2004). The social responsibility of Science Information from the perspective of consciousness possible. DataGramaZero - Journal of Information Science, 5. Levy, P. (1996). What is the virtual?. Academic Press.

Martin-Barbero, J. (2006). Technicalities, identities, alterities: changes and opacities of communication in the new century. Rio de Janeiro: Society Mediated Communication. Masuda, I. (1982). The Information society as postindustrial society. Rio de Janeiro: Academic Press. Mendonca, V. (2007). The communication processes and the model “all-All”: a possible link with the family health program. Brasilia: CID/UnB/ Nesp. Retrieved from http://issuu.com/antoniomiranda/docs/o_processo_de_comunicacao_e_o_ modelo_todos_todos Menezes, P. (1998). Roadmap of Reading: Concrete Poetry and Visual. Academic Press. Miranda, A., & Simeon, E. (2003). Information Science: Theory and Methodology of an expanding area. Brasilia: Thesaurus.

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Miranda, A., & Simeon, E. (2003). Extensive Communication and the visual language of documents across the network. Representation and Organization of Knowledge: Series Advanced Studies in Information Science. Brasilia: UnB / CID. Miranda, A. (2014). Creativity and poiesis: Visual poetry and “animaverbivocovisualidade” - The technological convergence in digital field. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/j3ks-w7swktn/ criatividade-e-poiesis/ Morin, E. (1997). Mass Culture in the 20th century: neurosis (The spirit of the times) (9th ed.). Rio de Janeiro: Academic Press. Morin, E. (1998). The ideas - Habitat, life, morals, organization. Methods (San Diego, Calif.), 4. Popper, K. (2006). Em busca de um mundo melhor. Academic Press. Rocha, C. (2007). Museu Vivo: espetáculo e reencantamento pela técnica. Em questão, 13(2). Available at http://seer.ufrgs.br/EmQuestao/article/view/2221/2036#martin2006v Santaella, L. (2007). Net Languages in the age of mobility. Academic Press.

Santaella, L. (2010). The ecology of pluralistic communication connectivity, mobility, ubiquity. Academic Press. Serres, M. (1992). Philosophy mestizo. Academic Press. Sevcenko, N. (2001). A Corrida para o século XXI: no loop da montanha-russa. São Paulo. Simeao, E. (2003). Communication Extend and the format of the scientific journal in network. Brasilia. (Thesis Doctorate in Information Science). Department of Information Science and Documentation, University of Brasilia.

ENDNOTES

1



2

Check “performance poética” at http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=4zomK1_Y8XE. In the psychology animates is part of the psyche in touch with the unconscious person, unconscious individual independent of the half environment, what does all the sense for the impact in the individual perception.

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Chapter 4

Digital Inclusion:

From Connectivity to the Development of Information Culture Aurora Cuevas-Cerveró Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT This chapter discusses digital inclusion from a social, educational and cultural dimension. The author considers concepts that have been of great importance in the historical development, such as culture, citizenship and education in the interest of raising an overview of the digital inclusion reflective and critical. Different perspectives of digital inclusion are described, from the perspective more socially oriented to eliminate the gap of digital access to the current perspective, the integration of the citizenship in a mediated society by the emergent information technologies with needs oriented towards the training in access, use, evaluation and communication of information. The chapter concludes by stressing the importance of information literacy to prevent social inequalities but proposes that training of citizenship is made from a humanistic perspective that transcends the merely instrumental and approaching what we call a culture of information, understood as a necessary prerequisite for integration of citizens in society.

INTRODUCTION Major theorists of the XX century were determined to name the society in which we live. The American sociologist Daniel Bell (1973, 1991 and 2001), raised one of the concepts that have been more successful in Western discourse, Information Society, trying to highlight the strategic value and great social, economic, political and cultural impact that information has had on advanced industrial societies. In the early nine-

ties, this concept was complemented by a new notion, Knowledge Society (Drucker, 1993) that took root in the European Community policy and international institutions such as UNESCO (2005). During the Lisbon European Council in 2000, heads of State and Government marked a common goal for Europe: the effort to become a more competitive knowledge economy and, simultaneously, in a more inclusive knowledge society. It was argued that in this new economic and social structure, knowledge would be one of

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch004

Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

 Digital Inclusion

the main causes of growth together with capital investment o resources and employment. Therefore, the production of knowledge-intensive products was highly relevant as well as services based in knowledge, and the importance of education and training processes were emphasized, both in their educational and initial training dimension as well as throughout life. Other scholars have referred to our society with a surprisingly variety of terms: learning society (Hutchins, 1970, UNESCO, 2005) network society and information era (Castells 1999, 2001) global village (McLuhan, 1996), postindustrial society, third wave society (Toffler, 1986), “telepolis” (Echeverría, 1999), surveillance society (Lyon, 1995 y 2001), interconnected society (Martin, 1980), interconnected intelligence society (Tapscott, 1996), digital society (Mercier, 1980; Terceiro, 1986; Negroponte, 2000), cyber culture or virtual culture (Levy, 2001; Picistelli, 2002). When the different approaches and theories, or the results from the indicators or methods for measuring the information society, are analyzed in depth; and when the policies that drive public or private national and international institutions that operate in this area are examined, the picture drawn is neither homogeneous nor encouraging, and is subject to a variety of interpretations and perspectives. At the end of the last century it was stated that a post-industrial revolution was beginning, advocated by the information and communication technologies, and encouraged by its extraordinary power of expansion and its ability to generate business earnings, especially for major international companies. At the same time many countries and organisms showed a great interest on the topic of digital inclusion, visible in initiatives and national and international programs of great wingspan promoted among others by the European Union, Latin America and the United States such as: The European Initiative i2010 for digital inclusion, in the V European Union (EU)- Latin America and

Caribbean (LAC) Ministerial Forum on Information Society or the UNESCO’s IFAP (information for all) Throughout those years there have been critical voices that, as Roszak (1988), warned of the dangers of the cult to information. The truth is that such revolution of which so much has been theorized has not reached to everyone. We have a massive production and mass consumption of technology and information. The technological and informational omnipresence and the social inequality that characterize today’s world make education and culture become pressing needs because through them human beings can give direction to their life and find their place as citizens. Education and culture today are in transition but at a much slower pace than THE social needs demand. Never before has so much information been circulating as today, we feel overwhelmed, infoxicated1, and sometimes quite lost and unable to find just what we need. This information is only valuable if we know where it is, we are able to access it, if we know how to select what we need and above all, if we understand it and apply it to the decisions we make in our life, work, and our environment. The power of information resides in its tremendous potential, a potential that not everyone has the opportunity to update, and this is a big problem because information is a vital element in many ways, one of them being, and not the least, the participation of citizens in the institutions and the consolidation of a true democracy. During the past decades, an overestimation of technology has occurred against cognitive processes that must follow any digital inclusion processes. In these pages we will discuss digital inclusion from a more social, educational and cultural point of view rather than a technological or political one. We will consider some concepts that have had a great importance on historic becoming, such as culture, citizenship and education in order to lay out a digital inclusion panorama that is reflexive and critical.

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 Digital Inclusion

DIGITAL INCLUSION AS SOCIAL INCLUSION The digital inclusion focuses first on the incorporation of all people in the technological society, specially those collectives who have more difficulties to access ICTs, either physically or facilitating the access by implementing standards and accessibility guidelines; but always through training and education. This is the kind of social inclusion that has acquired greater importance in the context of THE capitalist development. Digital inclusion is more than a buzzword; it does not consist, as it is mistakenly understood, on pressing a keyboard, accessing the Internet and using certain computer programs. The society in which we live in depends on a complex technological infrastructure that even though seems necessary it could terrify citizens. However, in order to find the meaning of this technology and not to turn into mere tools, we have to be able to interact with it, benefit from it, turn it into our ally. It is not easy, we depend on the ability of incorporating a series of skills associated with its use, on the possibility of access and also on the disposition that implies appropriation; empowerment. Digital inclusion understood as a social inclusion factor is characterized by an attitude change that includes digital and informational competences, education, knowledge, but also attitudes and social compromise. Therefore it is an authentic social inclusion because this type of presence implies also social impact, a transformation that pretends to improve life conditions of those who are less fortunate. The ethical dimension is inseparable from the concept itself of digital inclusion, so that it has to assume a critical theoretical approach, an approach that allows contemplating people as active and autonomous critical subjects, not mere consumers of technologies and digital contents. The technological and informational, production and massive consumption omnipresence, and often the uncritical technology and information; and the

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social injustice and inequality that characterize the actual world make it necessary to revise the initial approaches on the benefits of this new era and demand the formulation of inclusive public policies.

Digital Inclusion: From Access to Participation European policies bet since inception, in the 1980s, on the impulse of Technologic and Information Society. The ESPRIT (in the Information Technology area) and the RACE program (Advanced Telecommunication Technologies) joined the firsts actions in the ICT field. The Green Book, published in 1987, led to the liberalization of telecommunications. Since then, all relevant programs, from The White Book, in 1993 to Europe 20202, integrate ICTs as key objectives to create Europe’s information society and therefore to produce an economy based on the most competitive knowledge. The goal of Europe 2020 presents a series of actions articulated in a triple growth: the intelligent one (education, investigation and innovation), the sustainable one (environment) and the integrating one (social) centered on five important goals that, even though they are not, that new ones, they are actions that need to be taken, such as: employment, R&D, climate and energetic change, education and struggle against poverty and social exclusion. The European Commission declared in 2010 that a plan had been contrived to “sketch prosperity and European wellness” (EU, 2010): the Digital Agenda. This plan was not only a proposal on ICTs, but included economic and social content. The 2012 Digital Agenda corresponds to one of the first actions of Europe 2020. The Europe 2020 Strategy promotes the development of a sustainable economy to generate employment, productivity and a greater social cohesion among member states of the Union. Under this initiative, ICTs take on a special role as a factor to take into

 Digital Inclusion

account on the economic and productive model of the future. The European Digital Agenda3 reflects this idea and aims to develop a roadmap to achieve a common digital market in the EU The goals of the Digital Agenda are applied nationally. In the case of the Spain they are made effective through the National Observatory of Telecommunications (ONTSI) under the Ministry of Industry, an organization that has published the main indicators of the ICT sector, the information society as the Digital Agenda for Europe 2020 required meeting the following objectives: 1. Encourage the deployment of services and networks to ensure the digital connection 2. Boost the digital economy in Spanish companies, to improve growth, competitiveness and internationalization 3. Improve public services (e-Government) and digital solutions thereof 4. That the digital scope guarantees privacy, security and confidence 5. A research, development and innovation (R + D + I) in the field of Information Technology and Communication (ICT) boost 6. And, finally, the promotion of the formation of new ICT professionals, as well as training for digital. The challenge is not to make ICTs the goal but the means through which the citizen is part of his environment. The economic crisis that Europe is suffering, especially some Southern countries among which Spain has delayed the implementation of the digital agenda. Socially we are experiencing a difficult situation: social discomfort. The so-called economic crisis is not just financial; it is a systemic crisis that has generated deep changes in citizenship. The political discredit that has been caused by the constant corruption cases, economic cuts and the loss of jobs and social rights have led to a public debate on the efficiency and effectiveness of governments and public administrations and encouraged greater

participation of citizens in the public life. In this growing citizen activism, the access to information through ICTs, especially Internet and social networks, is gaining importance, becoming one of the main scenarios of citizen socialization. We have moved from focusing on a technological level to a communicative, social and participatory one. Citizen participation is a value in itself because it facilitates that the collective interest is privileged to individual interests. So that THE citizen participation can be exercised, tools and opportunities for participation to make it effective, rather than laws, require public policies. The authorities in recent years have formulated laws on information access for citizens but public policy is not the exclusive production of standards that should be complied, it implies greater democratic legitimacy of the authorities, to build new social relationships, establish mechanisms for enforcing the rules and in the case of public policy governing the right of access to information means in particular the challenge of establishing changes in the relationship between the citizen and the state and a higher level of education of citizens .

CULTURE OF INFORMATION The term culture is associated with a great number of definitions and disciplines that throughout history been woven and with the different visions that have been modeled. In an intense synthesis we could gather them in two groups (Alsina, 2010): 1. The humanistic conception, which understands culture linking it with everything that refers to the production, as music, arts and writing, among other things. 2. The anthropological conception, understands it in a sense linked to social practices, manners of being and traditions of communities, that is, in a sense of civilization.

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These ways of understanding culture, with their differences, complicate the topic and transform it in a difficult term to understand or to limit. They pretend to embrace the totality of THE reality in its attempt to construct something universal that is explanatory and at the same time justifies any human manifestation. The term culture has a literal, etymological acceptation, that makes a reference directly to the farming or cultivating, to the growth of land, and another extensive meaning that alludes to the growth of the qualities and skills of the human being. This is the metaphorical sense that corresponds to the training or education. In relation to this meaning a well-bred person will be therefore well informed (o educated). Therefore, what means to be a cultured person, that is, a person trained in the society of information and knowledge? The total cycle of information and knowledge, according to Michel Menou (2004), depends on culture and at the same time contributes to its evolution. It could be said that well informed cultured person nowadays, would be capable of dominating the material and intellectual instruments of their time, moment of big technological development, the overabundance of information and the omnipresence of communication, including the capability of adaptation to continuous technological changes but also to cognitive, communicative and axiological capabilities. This could be acknowledged, and it is possible that in a few years it is strongly confirmed, but at present we would be untruthful because we would be falling in a cultural reductionism in which we would exclude more than one generation of educated people in the traditional way and because in essence we have not reached the levels of integration of citizenship in the so often aforementioned information and knowledge society, which is more of a hybrid society, a mixture of different conceptions, of understandings that try to coexist. It is indeed, therefore, hard to define an information culture, if we deal with the double conception that we have stated as humanistic and

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anthropological, we could not talk about more than one approach,, since it involves lots of factors, some of them subject to constant changes and in constant construction. In the last decade of the last century and since the very beginning of 2000 we find some analysis related to the culture of information within the specialized scientific literature: Alfons Cornella (1998) understood the information culture as an institution previous to the Information Society, his analysis points to the over dimension that was granted to the information economy and points to investments in information technologies as the main cause of this process. Information economy and information society are elements that should not be confused, although its clear that informational culture of citizens is necessary to obtain a real information society. The information culture is not something that is only obtained with the establishment of policies and actions, it is something deeper; it requires an evolution in society. Information culture is understood as a prerequisite for the integration of citizenship in society. Likewise Ramirez Leyva (2002) understood it in the document prepared by instructions of the UNESCO, the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the National Forum on Information Literacy, for the use of the experts on literacy in the informative reunion in Prague, that defends that one of the greatest challenges of the Information Society is extending the Information Literacy to all citizens with the goal of reducing the enormous differences that exist between nations and within the pale of lots of them, in matters relative to the competence of reading, accessing and using information. According to this author it is essential to outline policies that guarantee the responsibility of governments regarding the encouragement of reading, availability and access to the documentary resources necessary to understand the information, education and social necessities of citizenship. The purpose is, therefore, to be able to generate policies oriented to the development

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of information culture to avoid that this culture ends up being reduced to the laws of consumption and the instrumentalization of citizens. This author, as others (Bernhard, 2002; Gómez Hernández, Liceas de Arenas, 2002; Ponjuán, 2002) refer to the information culture in an educational sense, as a concept very proximate to literacy in information. The topic seems to rise in the beginning of the second decade of 2000, when information literacy as a librarian discipline and practice is more than consolidated, as shown by the great interest that the principal librarian and educational institutions show, like UNESCO, IFLA and ALA. Abid (2012) defines the information culture as a combination of values, attitudes, behaviors, knowledge and skills that conduct not only to an intelligent use of external information, but also contributes to the diffusion and correct use of information external and internally as well, produced or reconfigured by itself. It is a culture of collective exchange and enrichment of citizenship that is lying in the intersection between the information, communication, and education and computing sciences. This new call for attention about the information culture results specially interesting because analyzing information culture is a unavoidable necessity in a moment where the survival of the person goes through its capability of adaptation to the changes ofour time, a hybrid time, in which past and future are necessarily obliged to coexist (very well represented with the idea of print and digital). In this unusual context, the capitalist way of life, that has tightly embraced THE net society, has turned us into an avidly consumer culture and to that consumer desire information is not subtracted. Our ravenous desire of receiving and sharing information seems as if it has no limits, and so things, communication, with its new social paradigms, and education, with its emerging models of literacy, have transformed into the essential allies for the integration of citizenship into the information culture.

Citizen Integration in the Information Culture The term citizenship, that has regained validation since the decade of 1990, has evolved and increased its semantic load. In a similar way, the concept of literacy has been interpreted in many ways, linked to politic or social priorities and associated with reading and writing skills generally. Citizenship implies a social and judicial recognition by which a person has rights and obligations that link their to a community (Cuevas-Cerveró 2009). Citizens are essentially linked to a political framework. As Aristotle thought, this peculiarity humanizes us. The human being is a political animal, a being with the ability to rationalize and express himself verbally and who can only reach happiness and intellectual perfection inside a political community maximum aspiration of the human was to a citizen for him, that is the highest level that a man could reach. With the category that citizenship grants, the individual can demand and also build a public space where he can participate and exchange. Education is essential for this participation and exchange. The Education can help humans to develop an active and critical conscience to confront the challenges of their time. Citizenship is not innate to humans. On the contrary, it is a historical conquest associated with the struggle for the acknowledgement of rights that are really substantial to the human being. The concept of citizenship, as well as the literacy, are historically constructed, they are enriched or impoverished if they don’t evolve enough. In our current society it is necessary to reformulate these concepts considering this new perspective. This revision is necessary due to many factors that are associated, different models such as the negative aspects of the economical globalization, the loss of rights associated to the global economic crisis and the overwhelming presence of technology in every level of our lives that generate and increase the inequity and provoke the denominated digital gap.

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The name of citizenship usually delimitates the differences between those who are inside, those who are “citizens”, same as in the old polis, and that are therefore with rights, and those who are outside, either in a true or in a secondary sense, “excluded”, that is, the slaves in the Athenian democracy, those whose rights are not recognized, who are not members of the polis, those who are not citizens and therefore can not enjoy any right. The same happens with citizens who are not digitally and informationally included, who turn into the slaves of our time. This digital and informational inclusion does not only refer to a digital literacy of citizens, without entering ethical, axiological or political questions, but rather to what some authors have called digital citizenship or cyber citizenship and e-citizenship, linked to the regulation of human rights and obligations of citizens of the information society. Samek and López (2010) revise the classification of human rights and they frame the digital inclusion as “cutting edge” human right, derived from the rights that proceed from the Information and Communication Technologies. they defend the digital inclusion as one of the emerging human rights of the XXI century as long as it is considered a right tightly attached to the human rights already articulated, which are in continuous expansion. Bustamante (2007, 2010) defends the necessity of establishing SOME fourth generation human rights that should be adapted to the changes that Information and Communication Technologies have originated. these should be integrated in the rights of past generations. Bustamante says that two opposed scenarios can coexist: the digital hipocitizenship, or the gradual suppression of citizen conscience that implies a superficial use of ICTs and the increase of social control of the product of computing expansion through property standards and the monopolization of hardware, software and communication protocols. The other scenario would be the digital hipercitizenship, grounded on the social appropriation of technology, with the use of ICTs for citizen participation,

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FOR THE in promotion of social inclusion policies, the defense of the common good concept, the defense of free software and THE fourth generation human rights linked to ICTs.

EDUCATION: SOMETHING MORE THAN READING AND WRITING SKILLS Nobody doubts nowadays that one of the first citizen rights is the right to an education. In fact, the indicators of literacy of countries represent a significant point of reference over its development levels. A long way has been traveled In the aspiration to full literacy, from the superstition to the enlightment, up to reaching the objective of global schooling into one of the pillars of the modern state of the XXI century. Nevertheless, we cannot deny a certain instrumentalization of the educational systems, sprung mostly in the context of the construction of THE nation-states; education has been used as a privileged instrument in the set-up of A political system and as an instrument of control (Fernández, 2002). An increasingly more complex task IS Covering the basic need of citizen literacy is, bearing in mind the higher educational levels required in modern societies as well as the transformation of the same literacy process that today has to include the dimensions related to technology, information and communication. We should be careful and avoid falling into the error of instrumentalizing citizens in literacy process, understanding this helps us to plan a better training without forgetting that we are attending the necessity of citizens in a democratic framework and not a demand of the market and the globalized economy. These two opposed visions are exposed by Area (2012) clearly: it is intended to digitally alphabetize workers with the goal that they can adequately perform new tasks that imply their jobs of the globalized economy. Nevertheless the comprehensive training of a citizen nowadays should be oriented to

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the domain of all the codes and technologies of culture so they can fully exercise their civil rights. It is necessary to instruct consumers so they can buy and use all the new digital products, forgetting that mere technology and consumption are not as relevant as their intellectual, social and ethical use. An instruction of instrumental nature is offered, intended to learn how to use hardware and software while the emphasis should lay only in the instrumental part of technology, but also on the development of its cognitive, emotional, attitudinal and axiological aspects. The digital literacy is understood as a condition necessary for competitiveness and economic growth, forgetting sometimes that it is an individual right, a necessity for democratic progress to avoid new social inequalities. Following an assignment of the UNESCO century Morin wrote, a book At the end of last THAT WAS titled The seven necessary knowledge for the education of the future. He showed the basic knowledge a citizen should have in the XXI century, a period characterized by the complexity and instability of knowledge. in this essay Morin stated that education has always tended to show definitive or less questionable knowledge. Nevertheless, our period is characterized precisely by the opposite, knowledge is ephemeral and changing. Therefore, Morin proposes the necessity of reorienting education towards the training of people to know how to live and confront the uncertainty of knowledge, In a changing and complex world, those who adapt to changes and develop necessary competences and knowledge to resolve problematic situations are more likely to succeed. A training that promotes autonomy and stimulates the development of competences that allow the individual to learn by himself throughout his whole life is then imposed. In the last decades the term literacy has increased its significance with a wide range of nuances and meanings: digital, informational, audiovisual and multimedia literacy, among others, turning into a metaphor of a wide range of com-

petences. Some theorists talk about multiliteracy, a concept formulated by the New London Group in the 90s, defending that a multimode society should qualify alumni in face of multiple media and languages of culture with an integrated approach of different literacies, or transliteracy, A term coined during the discussions of the Trans literacy Research Group of the Montfort University. that according to Sue Thomas; Chris Joseph, Jess Laccetti and others (2007) this implies the ability to read, write and interact through a wide range of platforms, tools and mass media, from oral tradition and writing, through print, television, radio and cinema, up to digital technology in social networks. But beyond the semantic debate, all these have a common aspiration: contributing to provide a new skill to people that make their reading and writing an increasingly complex language easier and that allows them a full social integration. Reading and writing activity has evolved turning into a polymorphic, crosscutting and dynamic activity that opposes and completes texts, images, sounds and networks. The skills that we should cultivate have been established by the main educational and librarian institutions which agree on the necessity of encouraging skills to access, select, use and value information so that these can be transformed into knowledge. This set of skills have been called information literacy as well as informative skills or information competences since the 70s The Literacy in the use of Information and Communication Technologies requires an integral model that contains five scopes or dimensions. These have to unfold simultaneously in the person that is learning, Area (2012): •

Instrumental Dimension: It incorporates the technical dominance of technological tools and the way they are used. It is a matter of acquiring skills for the use of hardware and software.

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•

•

•

•

Cognitive-Intellectual Dimension: It includes the acquisition of skills related to specific knowledge that allows research, selection, treatment and production of information provided by technologies and communication among people through the networks. It is a matter of learning how to use technology smartly and effectively, BY putting into use our abilities for the cognitive and critical analysis that will allow the recreation and production of a new knowledge. Sociocommunicational Dimension: It refers to the growth of competences linked to the creation of different contents of diverse nature, hyper textual, expanding them through different languages and being able to communicate with other people through technology. It also implies the acquisition of rules of conduct that mean a positive social attitude towards others: the respect and ability for collaborative work in social networks. Axiological Dimension: It takes into account that Information and Communication Technologies are not neutral, furthermore that they can influence significantly upon the political and cultural environment of our society. It is also linked with the ethical and democratic formation, related to the use of information and technology and the rejection of attitudes contrary to these precepts. Emotional Dimension: It refers to feelings and emotions aroused in digital scenarios like videogames or social networks. Emotional literacy has to do with the abilities of self-control of negative emotions, empathy and of constructing a digital identity that is balanced affectively and personally.

Given the panorama that theorists present to us, it is difficult to take sides. But what is THE

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most important? Technological and informatics abilities, informational competences, social network knowledge, critical analysis of political and ethical implications of technologies and its uses, or communicative and social competences? The Technology has defined the literacy historically (González 2012). Firstly, the oral tradition established literacy, the capability to convey ideas and thoughts verbally; later print defined the linearity of speech. At present, the center of interest changes again in a world saturated with media, where Information and Communication Technologies perform as main characters of the big changes occurred in our society. The last institutional reports and theoretical works regarding literacy show that an competences relative to communication and media are emphasized. The report coordinated by the director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Henry Jenkins (2008), intended to change the primary focus of attention about the digital gap. It turns away from technologic access questions and gets close to the opportunities of participating and developing the necessary cultural competences and social abilities needed for full participation. Educational institutions have taken a long time to react to the emergence of a new culture very much committed to participation. The biggest opportunity for a change can be found far away from formal educational programs. It is centered on informal learning communities. Schools should devote more attention to encouraging the so-called literacy in mass media: a group of cultural competences and social abilities that people need in the new media field. Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy of individual expression to the community. This new literacy implies social abilities developed throughout collaboration and networking skills, but it is necessary to build over traditional literacy foundations, over investigation skills, technical knowledge and critical analysis skills that are taught in formal contexts.

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The Social skills and cultural competences that should be encouraged and exercised, according to this author, are: • • • • • • • • • • •

Play: Ability to experiment with the environment as a way of learning to resolve problems. Representation: Ability to adopt different identities with the purpose of improvisation and discovery. Simulation: Ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real world processes. Appropriation: Ability to reinterpret and remix media content. Multitask: Ability to examine one’s environment and center attention on significant details when needed. Distributed Thinking: Ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities. Collective Intelligence: Ability to add knowledge and compare it to other people based on a common goal. Judgment, Criteria: Ability to assess the reliability and credibility of different information sources. Trans Media Navigation: Ability to follow the flow of contents? and information across different media. Networking: Ability to find, synthesize and disseminate information. Negotiation: Ability to travel across diverse communities, perceiving and respecting multiple perspectives, and understanding and following alternative standards.

The UNESCO has followed very closely the educational transformations, and understood that the concept of illiteracy has changed over time because of the growing demands that society imposes to the individual. Literacy is no longer

sufficient but neither is mastering the technology tools and focusing only on information skills. At this time WE need to include the most communicative, social and participatory aspects of literacy. Media literacy and information literacy have been traditionally considered by UNESCO as separate fields, although currently it joins these two areas as a combined set of skills necessary for life and work which includes many literacies as technological, digital, in libraries, Internet and news among others. Media and Informational Literacy, MIL reaches all types of mass media and other information providers such as libraries, archives, museums and the Internet, regardless of the technologies used. The media and information literacy, as stated on the website of UNESCO recognizes the fundamental role of information and media in our daily lives, they are a central part to freedom of expression and information; empowering citizens to understand the functions of media and information, to critically evaluate content and make thoughtful decisions as users and producers of information and media content4. Based on the same Project, the UNESCO and the United Nations Alliance of civilizations (UNAOC) created UNESCO UNITWIN UNAOC, a network of Universities for the media and informational Literacy and the multicultural dialogue (UACMILID). The Chair of UNESCO-UNAOC MILID UNITWIN arose after the signing of the agreement “Network of Universities on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue” (MILID) 5 , signed by eight universities in Fez, Morocco, in June 2011. The agreement, has a term of five years, and it is centered on strategic lines like the promotion of the Media and Information Literacy Teachers Training development in the world, the intercultural dialogue, integration and joint work between universities that comprise the Chair, the businesses, the media and civil society organizations. Media and Information Literacy is the key to reach the Chair’s goals such as joint research,

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allowing joined efforts between academic institutions and civil development; the promotion of common curricula to facilitate the exchange of students, as well as promote outreach programs for the community and youth conferences.

CONCLUSION We are living in an era that is highly mediated by technology that makes citizenship’s digital inclusion an obvious necessity, people has to be educated for an efficient use of technologies. It is true that digital or technological literacy has been conceived as a necessary condition for competitiveness and economic growth, although people have forgotten that it is an individual right, a necessity for democratic progress and a necessity to avoid new social inequalities. For that matter, in this sense, it seems relevant that citizen training should be made from a humanistic perspective, that transcends what is a purely instrumental approach and embraces what we have called culture of information, understood as a necessary condition for the citizens integration in their society. The culture of information goes far beyond the purely technological or digital culture because it demands the development of means and methods that have to do with the interaction with information and knowledge, very close to what the UNESCO has called MIL, Media and Information Literacy. Paulo Freire, the great Brazilian educator, understood that literacy is related to the critical capacity and autonomy to use intelligent instruments and democratic forms of culture. Today this is still our challenge, although, as we have explained in these pages, reading and writing skills are far from be enough to determine if someone is literate. From this perspective, literacy involves a different path, a non- linear path where media can converge mixing images, words, sounds in a multimodal speech; a path that must be necessarily inclusive.

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The skills to access, use, evaluate and communicate information must be reinforced, with the purpose of training persons with the critical capacity and the autonomy to use wisely and truly democratically the tools of culture. This is the big challenge for education in the knowledge society, a multidisciplinary task with a great political and human responsibility.

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Ström, N. (2005). Turning the public library into a learning resource centre – old traditions and new demands. Annual Conference Riga, Metropolitan Libraries Section of IFLA (formerly INTAMEL) Libraries and Lifelong Learning: Inspiring Users and Staff. Retrieved from: www.ifla.org/VII/ s46/index.htm Suaiden, E., & Leite, C. (2009). El acceso y la comprensión de la información como factores básicos para la inclusión social. Educación y Biblioteca. Cuevas-Cerveró, A. Dossier Inclusión Digital y Bibliotecas, 21(23), 58–62. Sutherland, S. (2003). The Public Library as a Learning Organisation. World Library and Information Congress: 69th IFLA General Conference and Council. Retrieved from: http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Bibliofile/2003/IFLAPaper.pdf Thompson, J. (1974). Library power: a new philosophy of librarianship. London: Clive Bingley. Thompson, J. (1977). A history of the principles of librarianship. London: Clive Bingley. Thorhauge, J. (2004). Nuevas demandas, viejas habilidades: una estrategia para salvar la brecha competencial. World Library and Information Congress: 70th IFLA General Conference and Council: Creando competencias en un contexto de trabajo diario. Retrieved from: http://www.ifla. org/IV/ifla70/papers/053s_trans-Thorhauge.pdf UNESCO. (1949). Manifiesto de la Unesco sobre la biblioteca pública 1949. Retrieved from: http:// www.fundaciongsr.es/documentos/manifiestos/ mani49.htm UNESCO. (1994). Manifiesto de la Unesco sobre la biblioteca pública 1994. Retrieved from: http:// www.fundaciongsr.es/documentos/manifiestos/ mani94es.htm

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Vives y Gracia, J. (2009). Acciones para el impulso de la formación digital a través de las bibliotecas públicas de Cataluña. Educación y Biblioteca. Dossier Inclusión Digital y Bibliotecas, 21(23), 85–91. Webb, J., & Powis, C. (2005). Teaching and information skills theory and practice. London: Facet Publishing.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Citizen: Citizenship implies a social and judicial recognition by which a person has rights and obligations that link their to a communit. Citizenship is not innate to humans. On the contrary, it is a historical conquest associated with the struggle for the acknowledgement of rights that are really substantial to the human being. The concept of citizenship, as well as the literacy, are historically constructed, they are enriched or impoverished if they don’t evolve enough. Culture: The term culture has a literal, etymological acceptation, that makes a reference directly to the farming or cultivating, to the growth of land, and another extensive meaning that alludes to the growth of the qualities and skills of the human being. This is the metaphorical sense that corresponds to the training or education. In relation to this meaning a well-bred person will be therefore well informed (or educated). Digital Inclusion: The digital inclusion focuses on the incorporation of all people in the information and technological society, specially those collectives who have more difficulties to access ICTs, either physically or facilitating the access by implementing standards and accessibility guidelines; but always through training and education.

 Digital Inclusion

Information Culture: It is a combination of values, attitudes, behaviors, knowledge and skills that conduct to an intelligent use of external information and contributes to the diffusion and correct use of information. It is a culture of collective exchange and enrichment of citizenship that is lying in the intersection between the information, communication, and education and computing sciences. Information Literacy: It is to acquire the ability to know when and why you need information, where to find and how to evaluate, use and communicate ethically. It is considered a prerequisite for effective participation in the Information Society and is part of the basic rights of humanity for lifelong learning. Media and Information Literacy: Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is an approach recently developed by UNESCO that take into consideration the new cultures emerging from the Information Society. Some prefer the terms Media Literacy, News Literacy, Digital Literacy, Information Literacy and Media Studies. Researchers and librarians world-wide are also contributing to the development of these educational initiatives.

ENDNOTES

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5

European Commision (COM (2010) 2020). Europe 2020. A strategy for an intelligent, sutainable and integrating growth. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/news/documents/pdf/20100303_1_es.pdf COMISIÓN EUROPEA (COM (2010) 245 final/2). A Digital Agenda for Europe. Retrieved from: http://eur-lex. europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ. do?uri=COM:2010:0245:FIN:ES:PDF Retrieved from:http://www.unesco.org/ new/es/communication-and-information/ media-development/media-literacy/mil-ascomposite-concept/ It can be consulted in the MILID 2013 Yearbook. [Carlsson, U. and S. H. Culver (2013). [e-Book] Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue: MILID Yearbook 2013. Göteborg, University of Gothenburg, 2013]. In this publication a wider range of MILID projects is displayed from different perspectives of authors of diverse countries and contexts and offers a glimpse of different experiences in media literacy that helps the implication of young people in processes of media production.

Alfons Cornellá coined the term “Infoxication” to define the intoxication of informaton we suffer nowadays.

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Chapter 5

Why the Institutional Access Digital Divide Might Be More Significant than the Home Broadband Divide Christopher McConnell University of Texas at Austin, USA Joseph Straubhaar University of Texas at Austin, USA

ABSTRACT Digital-inclusion policy in the United States has historically emphasized home broadband access as both its policy priority and goal. Supplying households with broadband access may not do much to improve the ability of individuals to make meaningful use of the Internet, however, since it provides Internet access with little social context beyond the family. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of disposition, habitus, and multiple forms of capital, this paper endeavors to situate Internet use in its broader social context and explores the importance of institutional access, Internet use at work or school, in developing the dispositions and competencies needed to use the Internet in instrumental ways, such as applying for educational programs or communicating with governments. Through descriptive statistics, it identifies which segments of a US city lack institutional access, and, using multivariate analysis, it highlights the role institutional access plays in developing these abilities and its role in further inequality.

INTRODUCTION One of the long-running debates in research about the digital divide is what is more important, material access to the Internet or access to opportunities to gain the dispositions, knowledge,

and competencies necessary to make meaningful use of the Internet. (van Dijk, 2005) In the 1990s, much of the discussion centered on what van Dijk (2005) terms “material access.” Later employment and educational opportunities were once routinely cited in concerns about inequali-

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch005

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ties in Internet access, (Federal Communication Commission, 2010; DiMaggio & Hargittai, 2001; National Telecommmunications and Information Administration, 1995, 1998, 1999), but policy discussions in the United States today continue to emphasize broadband access to the home as both the primary policy solution and outcome. This paper proposes to interrogate and problematize this current emphasis on home broadband access by examining the importance of the role of the context where an individual accesses the Internet. In some contexts, individuals have greater opportunities to acquire the dispositions and competencies used to make meaningful use of the Internet. Since President Clinton made good on a promise to wire every classroom in the United States, (Clinton, 1997) access to the Internet at school and in the workplace has received little attention even though jobs and education are typically cited as policy rationalizations for efforts to “bridge the digital divide” and broaden digital inclusion. As discussion of the digital divide moved past material access in the early 2000s, many scholars began to focus on potential computer and Internet users’ habits, including Bourdieu’s notion of a group habitus (Bourdieu 1984), acquisition of skills, aptitudes and attitudes (Van Dijk 2005) or dispositions (Bourdieu 1984). Many of these dispositions, habits, skills, aptitudes, and attitudes that enable people to take advantage of Internet access are acquired at institutional sites like school or work. This paper compares broadband access in the home to Internet access at institutional sites such as schools and workplaces. It first identifies groups who may be excluded from full participation in the information society since they do not use the Internet in places where informational capital (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) is cultivated. It then compares the relative influence of social factors, including home broadband and institutional access, on the ability to make meaningful use of the Internet. It aims to make a step toward a full accounting of differences in access in US society. It also aims

to examine the implications of differences in access for the acquisition of skills and habits that make access most useful and empowering through the concept of techno-capital, which extends Bourdieu’s notion of multiple forms of capital, particularly informational capital. (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Brock, Kvasny, & Hales, 2010; Lentz et al., 2012; Rojas et al., 2012; J. Straubhaar, Tufecki, Rojas, & Spence, 2012) As Internet use becomes an increasingly core part of life in the contemporary US and much of the informationalized West, (Castells, 2000) it becomes more important to situate Internet use in its broader social context, identifying how it permeates – or does not permeate – daily life for many of its users. This paper aims to further complicate binary formulations of access by comparing two broad categories of access, broadband access in the home and access at institutional sites such as school and work. It uses results from a city-wide survey conducted in 2010 to see at what rates members of various demographic categories are able to access the Internet in these contexts. It then examines the influence of institutional access in cultivating the dispositions and competencies needed to make meaningful use of the Internet.

Internet Access and Social Inequality Almost as soon as the Internet gained mainstream use in the 1990s, concerns were raised about how the Internet may aggravate existing social inequalities. These studies and reports suggested that groups already excluded from economic and educational opportunities would be further excluded because of the relative cost and complexity of Internet use. (DiMaggio & Hargittai, 2001; National Telecommmunications and Information Administration, 1995, 1998, 1999) These studies tended to construct access in a binary fashion: individuals either had some form of access or they did not. After efforts to reach otherwise excluded individuals through community technology centers had mixed results, (Lentz et al., 2012;

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Servon & Nelson, 2001; Strover, 2004) attention turned to domestic access to the Internet, particularly home broadband (Federal Communications Commission, 2010; Dutton, Gillett, McKnight, & Peltu, 2004; Grubesic, 2008). Because the United States lags behind many OECD nations in home broadband access, home broadband continues to be the primary policy emphasis today. Further efforts to understand the stratifying implications of widespread Internet use noted that simply because individuals or households have access to the Internet does not mean that users can make effective use of the Internet. Some studies began to explore the role of skills in making meaningful use of the Internet and how some segments of society often lacked resources to develop those skills. (DiMaggio & Hargittai, 2001; Hargittai, 2002; Hargittai & Shafer, 2006; Hargittai & Walejko, 2008) Later studies framed the ability to make meaningful use of the Internet as a form of literacy, comparable to reading and writing or the later notion of computer literacy. (Livingstone, 2007; Livingstone & Helsper, 2009; Livingstone, 2004) Although the literacy framing complicated notions of digital exclusion based on material access to a connection or digital skills, to some extent, it took Internet use out of its broader context of use. Another strain of digital-inclusion research carries forward earlier research that situated Internet use in its broader social context. (Clement & Shade, 2000; Gandy, 2002; Warschauer, 2003a, 2003b) These efforts complicate notions of access by formulating it as multi-layered phenomena influenced by technology, education, social networks, and the culture of the community. (Mueller & Lentz, 2004; van Dijk, 2005, 2006; van Dijk & Hacker, 2003) One particular strand of this research frames Internet use in Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of habitus, disposition, and multiple forms of capital. (Brock et al., 2010; Kvasny, 2006b; Robinson, 2009, 2011; Rojas et al., 2012; Schradie, 2012; Tufecki, 2012) In this

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view, Internet use is shaped by the social milieu of an individual, which influences their dispositions toward technology in general, and computers and the Internet in particular. That may encourage or discourage him or her from developing an interest in Internet use. Furthermore, in their social milieu, social support may or may not be available when an individual encounters challenges using the Internet, but support is more likely found at school or work. Of course, connectivity may be available at school or in the workplace, offering sustained access to the Internet integrated into daily life. Working from the assumption that access in multiple contexts better integrates internet use into an individual’s habitus – or durable set of experiences and dispositions (Bourdieu 1984) – and creates multiple opportunities for an individual to use the internet to achieve life goals and develop a deep set of resources for solving problems on and offline, this paper argues that inequalities of access to the Internet at work and school constitutes a major form of inequality that may have more impact on potential internet users than inequalities of access at home. The city-wide survey on which this study is based found that a small, but statistically significant, percentage of those who had broadband at home were not using it, reinforcing the notion that potential users need more than simple material access to use the Internet. The opportunities afforded by institutional access may be needed by many potential users to learn the dispositions, skills, and capabilities to be able to use home broadband and see its value. Using data from that same survey, this paper argues that while access at the home reflects digital divides in age, education, and racial/ethnic categories, differences in institutional access become even starker and point to deeper inequalities in technology use and access. Specifically, we argue that divides by age, education and ethnicity are even graver precisely in those institutional locations, school and work, where attitudes, skills and capabilities

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are best developed, leaving many with home access they do not necessarily know how to use to their own advantage.

Access outside the Home As noted above, studies into the availability of Internet connections in contexts outside the home are few and far between. Hassani (2006) makes this comparison in a complex multivariate analysis, concluding that social differences in the access context are distinct issues. This paper extends this analysis by situating the access context within the concept of habitus, arguing that while access at the home is often divided by familiar social divisions such as age, education, and racial/ethnic categories, when the broader range of access contexts are examined, these differences become even more stark. Specifically, this paper argues that differences in access at work and school are perhaps more significant than differences of access at home because less access at work and school means less access to significant resources like training, skills development, and peer help, as well as environments which shape dispositions, attitudes and habits. (Bourdieu, 1984; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Kvasny, 2006b; Rojas et al., 2012) All of these are important in reshaping the habitus of potential users who may not have learned much about the internet in their homes or neighborhoods, or among their early peers (Kvasny 2005). They are also powerful in reducing the digital divides of knowledge, skill, capabilities and attitudes that extend beyond simple access itself (Van Dijk 2005).

METHODS This study relies on data collected from a survey administered by the municipal government of a mid-sized city in the US Sun Belt. The survey instrument was sent by mail to 15,000 homes in the city limits. The core sample was 12,000 ad-

dresses, and in an effort to ensure that Hispanic households were represented in the data set, an additional 3000 surveys were sent to homes in ZIP codes identified as having a high concentration of Hispanic households. The survey was distributed in both English and Spanish. To reach more Hispanics, survey participation was promoted in a public-service announcement on the local Univision affiliate, a Spanish-language TV station. The survey was administered in November 2010, and households received a postcard alerting residents to the survey two weeks before the survey arrived. As an incentive, respondents could enter a drawing to receive a netbook computer. Out of the 15,000 recipients, 1,701 responded to the survey and returned a completed instrument. The simple response rate was 11.3%. Compared to Census 2010 data, the survey did not perfectly represent the demographics of the city: respondents were better educated, older and more likely to be women or white. As a result the initial team weighted the survey data to better reflect the population of the. Particular care was taken to see that members of ethnic minorities such as Hispanics and African-Americans were represented in the data set. Although the response rate of the survey was low, it was within established expectations for contemporary survey response rates. Although the response rate for the survey was at an acceptable level, the demographics of the respondents were not an accurate match for the demographics of the city. A greater proportion of the respondents were women, older, and white than the real city population. For statistical analysis, a faculty member of the research team weighted the survey. The weights were based on census data provided by the city’s demographer. Weighting the data allows for statistical results that will more accurately reflect the realities of Internet use in the city. The weighting was performed on the basis of four factors: gender, ethnicity, age, and education. Table 1 provides an overview of the weighting of the survey data.

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The items on the survey were developed to get a broad understanding of technology use among residents and how technology is integrated into their lives. In addition to general questions about whether respondents owned computing devices and had Internet service, questions dug deeper into two areas, use of technology related to government services and issues of social capital. The survey questionnaire has 105 questions that range from asking, “Do you have a cell phone?” to asking whether the respondent’s father was born in United States. In aggregate, these questions can paint a fairly detailed picture of the respondents’ cultural background and use of technology. The demographic variables used in this study were assessed with typical survey items. For example, the survey asked respondents in which year they were born; this was used to compute the age of the respondent. Respondents were asked to identify with typical racial/ethnic categories such as “white,” “African-American,” and “Hispanic,” and indicated their educational attainment on a scale that ranged from less than high school to graduate or professional degree. The survey also asked respondents to indicate their confidence with the following computer task on a 1-5 scale. • • • • • • •

Uploading content (ex videos, photos, music) to a website Blocking spam or unwanted content Adjusting my privacy settings on a website Bookmarking a website or adding a website to my list of favorites Comparing different sites to verify the accuracy of information Creating and managing my personal profile on a social network site Creating and managing my own personal website.

These ratings likely indicate the respondent’s broader ability to make meaningful use of the Internet, so the self-ratings of respondents were

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averaged to create a techno-capital index. (Rojas et al., 2012; J. Straubhaar et al., 2012) Although respondents could use a variety of approaches to make a personal web page, these ratings likely reflect the ability of the respondent to achieve life goals using technology.

Data Analysis This paper investigates Internet use in different contexts, emphasizing internet use in homes, which is often privileged in policy discussions related to the “digital divide,” and Internet use in workplaces and schools, which is often implicated in discussions of the information society and the “knowledge economy.” (Bar, 2006; Castells, 2000; J. Dijk, 2005) This paper aggregates DSL and cable modem in the home, the two broadband technologies available in the city at the time of the survey, as “home broadband.” Two other variables used in this study, “institutional access” and “techno-capital,” have somewhat more complex constructions. The “institutional access” variable also aggregates two somewhat distinct – but linked – use contexts: use in the workplace and use at school. The primary motivation for aggregating these two contexts is to address the relative mutual exclusivity of workplace use and school use for adults. The city studied in this paper is home to a handful of colleges and universities (one of which is a very large flagship state institution,) so much of the city’s adult population are students. At least among undergraduates, it would be expected that the majority of these students would not have jobs that involve Internet use. (For example, students may be waiting tables while pursuing a degree.) The theoretical framing of this study also motivates this aggregation of workplace and school Internet use. This variable is labeled as “institutional” since it relates to Internet access provided to a facility such as a workplace or school for presumably work-related purposes. Both white-collar workplaces and post-secondary education have

 The Institutional Access Digital Divide

relatively high barriers to access. For workplaces where Internet access is prevalent, workers need resources such as cultural capital, embodied in educational credentials and the knowledge of middle-class social codes, and, often, social capital, interpersonal connections to learn about open positions and how to land them. (Bourdieu, 1984, 2002; Rodino-Colocino, 2006; Tufecki, 2012) Post-secondary schooling, whether it is at a flagship university or a community college offering technical training, also requires a modicum of cultural capital, such as a high-school diploma and the ability to manage the work, economic capital to pay or borrow for tuition, and social capital is often helpful in school success. (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Perna & Titus, 2005) Another one of Bourdieu’s core concepts, habitus, is also at the core of this analysis. By identifying use contexts for the Internet, this study endeavors to roughly approximate the role of habitus, the set of lived experiences and dispositions, in technology use. (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Calhoun, 1993; Kvasny, 2006b; Pizanias, 2000) Using the Internet in the home is substantively different than using the Internet in a workplace or educational setting. Use in the workplace or school likely emphasizes instrumental purposes such as business communication, research for projects, and coordination related to schoolwork. Although, as the rise of telecommuting shows, these tasks can be accomplished in the home, domestic use may largely emphasize leisure and entertainment uses or personal business such as shopping and personal communication. (Robinson, 2009, 2011) Moreover, institutional use is largely situated in a social context, where peers and supervisors are also using the Internet, and may both be offering informal computer support and tacit expectations of online behavior, further enhancing the cultural capital – and techno-capital – of workers and students. Finally, many individuals who use the Internet at work have persistent exposure to the system, turning to it to find information throughout

the day; this persistent exposure may lead them to further develop information-retrieval skills and strategies that enhance their ability to use the Internet in their personal lives. It is likely that workplace or school Internet use greatly enhances the ability for individuals to make meaningful use of the Internet to achieve life goals. By identifying differences between home and institutional Internet access among demographic groups, the project attempts to highlight how an emphasis on home broadband elides inequalities in access in broader life. Although expanding access to households that would otherwise lack any connection to the internet at all certainly makes steps toward alleviating information inequality, (Schiller, 1996) domestic access is only one part of a broader range of access contexts in contemporary society.

RESEARCH QUESTION This study broadly compares access in domestic contexts with access at institutional sites such as schools and workplaces. It investigates how some members of society may have different degrees of access in their daily lives, basing the analysis on standard demographic categories such as race/ ethnicity, educational attainment, and age. It asks how does institutional access differ among demographic groups and how does it compare to domestic access among the same groups? This study first hypothesizes about which groups have home broadband and institutional access at work or school. It then turns to a regression analysis to identify which demographic and access factors that are most significant for techno-capital. This study tests the following hypotheses. H1: Whites and Asian-Americans have home broadband (H1a) and institutional access (H1b) at greater rates than African-Americans and Hispanics.

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H2: Younger people have home broadband (H2a) and institutional access (H2b) at greater rates than older people. H3: People with greater educational attainment have home broadband (H3a) and institutional access (H3b) at greater rates than people with less educational attainment. H4: People with institutional access have greater techno-capital than people who do not. H5: Institutional access has a statistically significant influence on techno-capital when access and demographic characteristics are compared.

RESULTS Analysis largely indicated that differences in institutional access were statistically significant, while differences in home broadband were not, or negligible. The descriptive statistics comparing rates in institutional access will be presented first, followed by a simple linear regression indicating the relationship between demographics, access contexts, and techno-capital.

Racial/Ethnic Categories and Access Contexts (H1a and H2b) Results for racial/ethnic category were statistically significant, indicating that whites (and AsianAmericans) do have home broadband at greater rates than African-Americans and Hispanics. While 70.6% of whites and 83.5% of AsianAmericans have cable modem or DSL access at home, only 40.3% of African-Americans and 58.4% of Hispanics have home broadband. (Table 2) These results are statistically significant where p < 0.05, confirming the hypothesis, and validating concerns of groups like the FCC (2010) that home broadband service does not reach many disadvantaged communities. When examining institutional access, there is more contrast in the differences in access among

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racial/ethnic groups. Table 3 shows that 69.5% of whites and 74.8% of Asian-Americans have access to the Internet at work or school, but only 31.3% of African-Americans and 38.9% of Hispanics use the Internet at work or school. These results are statistically significant where p < .001, confirming hypothesis H1b. Since fewer than half of African-Americans and Hispanics are able to use the Internet at work or school, they may lack the opportunity to develop the attitudes, skills, and strategies needed to make meaningful use of the Internet. It also suggests members of these groups face barriers to educational opportunities and jobs where Internet and computer use are common. Because these groups are excluded from or face barriers to contexts where the Internet is commonly used, they may lack experience using the Internet for instrumental purposes such as applying for educational programs, finding health insurance, or achieving life goals. Marginalized people of color may indeed face greater challenges in achieving these life goals. As Table 4 indicates, whites have a higher average techno-capital index than African-Americans or Hispanics. The average techno-capital index for whites is 4.08 out of 5, while it is only 3.53 for African-Americans and 3.76 for Hispanics. These results are statistically significant where p < 0.001, indicating a strong difference between these racial/ethnic categories. Although the differences in home broadband by these categories were not statistically significant, the differences in institutional access were both dramatic and statistically significant, suggesting a link between institutional access differences and differences in techno-capital among these groups.

Age and Access Contexts (H2a and H2b) Research has long indicated older people face barriers to Internet use. (Fox & Pew Internet & American Life Project., 2004; National Telecommmunications and Information Administration,

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1995, 1998, 1999; Wyatt, 2005) In addition, the “digital natives” hypothesis suggests that technology is central to the lives of younger people, affording them the ability to develop aptitude with using the Internet. (Vaidhyanathan, 2008) With this in mind, it is hypothesized that younger people have greater access to home broadband and access to the Internet at work or school. Results for home broadband indicate there are no statistically significant differences by age to home broadband access, although older persons seem to be less likely to have cable modem or DSL service at home. H2a is not supported by this analysis. (Table 5) In contrast, institutional access does appear to be more common among younger people than among older people. Table 6 presents access rates by typical age categories. The youngest age category, 18-24 year olds, actually has a low rate of access to the Internet, 40.8%, which is lower than all other age groups, except for those older than 65, the typical retirement age in the United States. The institutional access variable specifically included use at school to account for university-age adults who may not yet have office or other jobs that typically involve use of the Internet. In contrast, institutional access declines with age among other categories of working-age adults, with only 47.2% of 55-64 year olds accessing the Internet at work or school. These results are statistically significant where p < 0.001, confirming hypothesis H2b. The low rate of institutional access among the youngest adults may affect their ability to form techno-capital, if they are not exposed to social contexts where Internet use is common. Table 7 shows that the techno-capital mean among this 18-24 age group is lower than that of 25-34 year olds and 35-44 year olds, suggesting their lack of exposure limits their techno-capital.

Education and Access (H3a and H3b) In Bourdieu’s theory, school is an important site of social reproduction where social capital and cultural capital is cultivated. (Bourdieu, 1984;

Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) At school, the values of dominant classes are transmitted to students and students gain knowledge and social connections among peers. This paper contends that, in today’s society, the ability to make meaningful use of the Internet is an important subset of what Bourdieu terms “informational capital,” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) and school and the workplace are an important site of developing this techno-capital. It is also expected, then, that persons with greater educational attainment will access the Internet at home, as well as institutions such as work or school at greater rates than persons with less educational attainment. Results for home broadband by educational attainment were not statistically significant, as Table 8 indicates, although the results suggest that home broadband is indeed more common among households with greater educational attainment. In contrast, institutional access at work or school is significantly more common among persons with more educational attainment. Over three quarters of people with a bachelor’s degree or better use the Internet at work or school, as Table 9 shows, but only 16.7% of people who did not finish high school and a third of high-school graduates use the Internet at work or school. To an extent, this may be mutually constitutive: persons with low educational attainment lack the skills and credentials to find work in places where the Internet is in use. However, only the youngest workers may have had instruction in school specifically about how to use the Internet. The less educated workers may be restricted in what kinds of access to technology they have at the workplace because of their employment history, rather than a lack of formal training in Internet use. A lack of institutional access may compound the barriers less-educated persons face in developing techno-capital. As Table 10 indicates, techno-capital generally increases with education, up to a bachelor’s degree. Although completing an educational program may provide students with dispositions and skills that may have helped them 63

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learn to use the Internet, it is also likely that using the Internet at work or school for tasks played a substantive role in forming techno-capital since students and office workers can turn to peers for support and use the Internet to complete dayto-day tasks such as communicating by email. This may account for much of the difference by educational attainment.

Institutional Access and Techno-Capital (H4) This paper argues that institutional access, using the Internet at work or school has a substantive role in forming techno-capital. Table 11 compares the mean techno-capital indices of persons with institutional access to the Internet with those who do not. The average index for people who do use the Internet at work or school is 4.24 while the average for people who do not have institutional access is 3.45. These results are statistically significant where p < 0.001, confirming the hypothesis that techno-capital is greater among institutional users of the Internet. (Comparable results for home broadband were not statistically significant.) Although to some extent it may be the case that individuals who lack techno-capital are unable to find work or schooling in environments where the Internet is used, these results suggest that using the Internet in social spaces among peers nurtures the dispositions and aptitudes needed to make meaningful use of the Internet. Moreover, because marginalized people of color, older people (and very young people,) and less educated people lack access to the Internet at work or school, it may be the case that the exclusion of these groups from institutional access severely impedes their ability to learn how to use the Internet to achieve life goals.

Factors Contributing to Techno-Capital (H5) As the descriptive statistics above suggest, marginalized people of color, older people, and less

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educated people are less likely to access the Internet at work or school. The differences between this institutional access and home broadband access, which is typically the emphasis of national digital-inclusion policy, are much greater between the demographic factors analyzed in this study. These differences also appear to track with differences in techno-capital, raising the question of to what extent institutional access contributes to the ability to make meaningful use of the Internet. To understand how institutional access might affect techno-capital, multivariate regression analysis was used to compare the effects of both demographic and access factors on technocapital. In this analysis, the demographic factors discussed above and access factors were treated as independent variables for the dependent variable, the techno-capital index. In addition to institutional access and home broadband access, a binary variable indicating Internet use at the city’s public library system was also included, but it was not statistically significant in this analysis and discarded. Table 12 shows correlations between the demographic variables and access variables used in this study. As one might expect, education, home broadband access, and public access all have positive correlations with institutional access, since people who use the Internet at work are likely to be educated and have an interest in using the Internet. Turning to demographic factors, institutional access has a statistically significant negative correlation with both African-American identity and age. African-Americans and Hispanics both have negative correlations with education, suggesting that these groups face significant barriers to education in this city and region. These marginalized groups also have a negative correlation with home broadband access. The regression analysis indicates that institutional access does indeed have a statistically significant influence on techno-capital. In addition to the variable indicating public-access use in the local library system, the dummy variable

 The Institutional Access Digital Divide

indicating African-Americans was not statistically significant. Table 13 shows the results of the regression analysis with independent variables ordered by effect size. As the table indicates, institutional access, home broadband access, age, educational attainment, and Hispanic identity were all significant factors affecting techno-capital. Although home broadband access is often a policy priority for “bridging the digital divide,” institutional access has nearly three times the effect size (0.508) of home broadband access (0.173.) It is notable that African-American identity is not a statistically significant factor in techno-capital when education is included in this analysis, but Hispanic identity is. Differences in educational attainment (and institutional access) account for much of the effect of African-American identity in this analysis. For Hispanic identity, this may be a latent variable for language differences since this survey did not adequately assess the primary language of respondents. In addition to institutional access, educational attainment also stands out as a significant factor in the acquisition of techno-capital. Although most adults would have received little schooling on how to use the Internet, its link with techno-capital suggests that educational attainment and techno-capital both likely emerge from the same class habitus that emphasizes learning, reading, and an affinity toward technology. The same people who are disposed to educational attainment are likely disposed toward learning how to use the Internet. Moreover, these people are likely to find work or educational opportunities in contexts where Internet use is prevalent. While barriers to access are manifold and intersectional, the barrier to institutional access appears to be the most critical in this analysis. Using the Internet in contexts where the Internet used to complete daily tasks and peers provide an opportunity for informal learning may be what divides people who have some exposure to the Internet with people who are able to use it significantly to achieve life goals.

DISCUSSION The analysis presented above indicates that there are significant inequalities in institutional access, Internet use at work or school, and institutional access is a strong predictor of techno-capital. It is likely that using the Internet in social contexts for directed purposes greatly contributes to the formation of techno-capital, since environments like education and workplaces offer social support for learning how to perform Internet-related tasks and also call on students and workers to use the Internet to accomplish goals. People who do not work or study in contexts where Internet use is prevalent may lack exposure to peers who use the Internet, even if they have broadband or other material access at home. Although African-American or Hispanic identity did not have strong effects on techno-capital, these groups appear to be excluded from institutional access in the city studied. Bourdieu’s body of theory places a heavy emphasis on the role of the social environment in cultivating dispositions and forms of capital individuals may use to achieve life goals. (Bourdieu, 1984; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) Persons who work or study in environments where the Internet is used to solve problems or find information may develop positive dispositions toward technology use and decide to incorporate Internet use into their habitus. As Table 14 indicates, over three quarters of people with institutional access also have home broadband access while slightly fewer than half of those without institutional access have broadband access at the home. While the decision to subscribe to home broadband service is overdetermined – cost, existing techno-capital, and location may all be factors – it is likely many home broadband subscribers initially decided to get service after using the Internet at work or school. Using the Internet in these contexts likely gives potential users confidence and interest in integrating it further into their lives.

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 The Institutional Access Digital Divide

Digital inclusion policy in the United States has historically emphasized home broadband as a concrete policy goal, an emphasis that continues to this day. (Federal Communications Commission, 2010) This paper defines digital inclusion more broadly than just material access, contending that examining the broader social context of Internet use is necessary to understand its role in perpetuating social inequality. (Clement & Shade, 2000; J. Dijk, 2005; Robinson, 2009; J. Straubhaar et al., 2012) By examining who has access to the Internet at work and school, this study identifies how digital exclusion extends beyond the home. Moreover, institutional access appears to play a much stronger role in cultivating the resources necessary to make meaningful use of the Internet. Although home broadband may be a way to get Internet access to households who would otherwise have little exposure to the Internet, it is unclear that simply increasing home broadband subscriptions improves the ability of marginalized groups to use the Internet to achieve life goals and improve life chances. The presence of the Internet in the home offers no guarantee that subscribers will have access to the kinds of social support and reinforcement many potential users may need to develop techno-capital. Moreover, home broadband may be used primarily for entertainment purposes, such as streaming video or multiplayer gaming, that do not cultivate the strategies necessary for completing tasks like applying for federal financial aid, filing taxes, or participating in community forums. A decade ago, community technology centers (CTCs) gained considerable attention as an approach for “bridging the digital divide.” (Servon & Nelson, 2001; Strover, 2004) However, these social spaces for technology use seem to have fallen by the wayside as home Internet subscriptions

66

have risen and policy has shifted toward making home broadband affordable. Some computer and Internet training programs for lower-income and marginalized populations still exist around the country, but they may not address the needs of their clients appropriately (Kvasny, 2006a, 2006b) and may not be accessible to many of the people who could potentially benefit from them. Policymakers concerned about digital inclusion may perhaps want to turn to looking at the role social support and social context plays in developing techno-capital when designing and implementing interventions. Digital inclusion is not simply a matter of providing low-income or marginalized groups with a fast pipe. Internet use is a social practice integrated into the lives and communities of the people who use it. This paper has examined the importance of using the Internet in contexts where it is used to accomplish goals in the company of other Internet users. Institutional access, using the Internet at work or school, appears have an important substantive role in developing abilities, attitudes, and strategies necessary for accomplishing goals online. People of color and less-educated people are often excluded from employment and educational opportunities where they have the opportunity to develop this techno-capital, raising concerns that these segments of the population are being further excluded from broader participation in society. As governments, employers, and educational institutions increasingly turn to the Internet to save costs, improve outreach, and find efficiencies, these disadvantaged groups may be further marginalized. Ignoring the social context where the Internet is used may lead to policy prescriptions that do little to advance the goal of improving the ability of all members of society to participate and contribute.

 The Institutional Access Digital Divide

TABLES Table 1. Statistical Weights Used for This Study Parameter

Unweighted

Weighted

Race and Ethnicity 18+ White

53.60%

75.75%

53.65%

African American

7.50%

5.97%

7.51%

Hispanic

30.60%

12.13%

30.63%

Asian

6.40%

3.17%

6.41%

Other

1.80%

2.99%

1.80%

Male

52.41%

41.68%

52.40%

Female

47.59%

58.32%

47.36%

1.49%

15.98%

Gender

Educational Attainment 25+ Less than high school

16.00%

High school

16.90%

11.82%

16.88%

Some college

23.30%

20.16%

23.28%

BA

28.20%

38.21%

28.17%

Postgraduate

15.70%

28.31%

15.68%

1.50%

14.70%

Age 18 Plus 18-24

14.70%

25-34

31.70%

16.85%

31.70%

35-44

19.10%

22.32%

19.10%

45-54

15.30%

19.45%

15.30%

55-64

10.60%

20.88%

10.60%

65+

8.60%

19.00%

8.60%

Table 2. Home Broadband Connections by Racial/Ethnic Category Home Broadband No

Yes

Row Total

White

29.42%

70.58%

100.00%

African-American

59.71%

40.29%

100.00%

Hispanic

41.64%

58.36%

100.00%

Asian-American

16.51%

83.49%

100.00%

other

20.87%

79.13%

100.00%

Total

34.46%

65.54%

100.00%

Uncorrected chi2(4) = 65.6556 Design-based F(2.71, 3957.96)= 3.3453 P = 0.0222

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 The Institutional Access Digital Divide

Table 3. Institutional Internet Use and Racial/Ethnic Category Institutional Internet Use No

Yes

Row Total

White

30.53%

69.47%

100.00%

African-American

68.75%

31.25%

100.00%

Hispanic

61.08%

38.92%

100.00%

Asian-American

25.16%

74.84%

100.00%

other

20.71%

79.29%

100.00%

Total

42.24%

57.76%

100.00%

Uncorrected chi2(4) = 157.3096 Design-based F(2.64, 3855.39)= 8.9699 P = 0.0000

Table 4. Techno-capital Means by Racial/Ethnic Category Mean

Std. Err.

95% Confidence Interval

White

4.079874

0.0357148

4.009809

4.149939

African-American

3.533128

0.1954744

3.149649

3.916607

Hispanic

3.757375

0.1348907

3.492748

4.022001

Asian-American

3.880352

0.3071776

3.277736

4.482969

Other

4.515517

0.1132831

4.29328

4.737754

Overall Average

3.944982

0.0531121

3.840788

4.049177

F( 4, 1301) = 7.17 Prob > F = 0.0000

Table 5. Home Broadband Access by Age Group Domestic Internet Use Age

No

Yes

Row Total

18-24

30.73%

69.27%

100.00%

25-34

40.46%

59.54%

100.00%

35-44

25.71%

74.29%

100.00%

45-54

31.70%

68.30%

100.00%

55-64

33.60%

66.40%

100.00%

65+

44.14%

55.86%

100.00%

Total

34.46%

65.54%

100.00%

Uncorrected chi2(5) = 24.2582 Design-based F(2.33, 3407.04)= 0.9106 P = 0.4149

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 The Institutional Access Digital Divide

Table 6. Institutional Internet Use and Age Range Institutional Internet Use Age

No

Yes

Row Total

18-24

59.24%

40.76%

100.00%

25-34

30.07%

69.93%

100.00%

35-44

23.88%

76.12%

100.00%

45-54

42.38%

57.62%

100.00%

55-64

52.76%

47.24%

100.00%

65+

85.67%

14.33%

100.00%

Total

42.24%

57.76%

100.00%

Uncorrected chi2(5) = 196.7072 Design-based F(2.17, 3172.13)= 7.1503 P = 0.0005

Table 7. Techno-Capital Averages by Age Group Mean

Std. Err.

95% Confidence Interval

18-24

3.923947

0.1936551

3.544037

4.303856

25-34

4.286783

0.0762734

4.137151

4.436414

35-44

4.162311

0.0471695

4.069774

4.254847

45-54

3.713229

0.0787664

3.558707

3.867752

55-64

3.479435

0.1395256

3.205716

3.753154

65+

2.87996

0.185548

2.515955

3.243966

Overall Average

3.944982

0.0531121

3.840788

4.049177

F( 5, 1300) = 17.85 Prob > F = 0.0000

Table 8. Home Broadband Access by Educational Attainment Domestic Internet Use No

Yes

Row Total

Less than High School

43.95%

56.05%

100.00%

High School

50.53%

49.47%

100.00%

Technical/Some College

28.47%

71.53%

100.00%

4-year University

30.21%

69.79%

100.00%

Graduate/Professional

24.00%

76.00%

100.00%

Total

34.46%

65.54%

100.00%

Uncorrected chi2(4) = 57.4480 Design-based F(1.73, 2526.38)= 1.9741 P = 0.1457

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 The Institutional Access Digital Divide

Table 9. Educational Attainment and Institutional Internet Use Institutional Internet Use No

Yes

Row Total

Less than High School

83.32%

16.68%

100.00%

High School

66.97%

33.03%

100.00%

Technical/Some College

35.27%

64.73%

100.00%

4-year University

22.06%

77.94%

100.00%

Graduate/Professional

20.32%

79.68%

100.00%

Total

42.24%

57.76%

100.00%

Uncorrected chi2(4) = 344.8370 Design-based F(1.54, 2246.74)= 11.9032 P = 0.0001

Table 10. Mean Techno-Capital by Educational Attainment Mean

Std. Err.

95% Confidence Interval

Less Than High School

3.452679

0.2966606

2.870695

4.034663

High School

3.636972

0.0970618

3.446558

3.827387

Technical School/Some College

4.000967

0.0846215

3.834958

4.166976

4-year university

4.201914

0.0448434

4.113941

4.289887

Graduate/Professional

4.08625

0.0486792

3.990752

4.181749

Overall Average

3.944982

0.0531121

3.840788

4.049177

F( 1, 1304) = 11.77 Prob > F = 0.0006

Table 11. Techno-capital Means by Institutional Access Mean

Std. Err.

No Institutional Access

3.452

0.0801

3.295531

3.609977

Uses Internet at Work or School

4.241

0.0397

4.163642

4.319245

Overall Average

3.944

0.0531

3.840788

4.049177

F( 1, 1304) = 77.80 Prob > F = 0.0000

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95% Confidence Interval

 The Institutional Access Digital Divide

Table 12. Correlations of Variables Used in this Study Institutional Access Institutional Access

Home Broadband

Education

Hispanics

Age

AfricanAmericans

1

Home Broadband

0.222***

1

Age

-0.416***

-0.049

1

Education

0.248***

0.151***

-0.068**

1

Hispanics

-0.008

-0.059*

-0.138***

-0.220***

1

AfricanAmericans

-0.111***

-0.116***

0.0761**

-0.165***

-0.090***

1

Table 13. Multivariate Regression for Techno-Capital Coef.

Std. Err.

Institutional Access

0.5080255

0.0970575

5.23

0

0.3176195

0.6984315

Hispanics

-0.2179124

0.1027032

-2.12

0.034

-0.419394

-0.0164307

Home Broadband

0.1731037

0.0811675

2.13

0.033

0.0138706

0.3323369

Education

0.1103227

0.0431672

2.56

0.011

0.0256378

0.1950075

Age

-0.0249101

0.0028444

-8.76

0

-0.0304902

-0.0193299

4.187284

0.1656455

25.28

0

3.862323

4.512244

_cons

t

P>t

95% Confidence Interval

Number of obs = 1305 Population size = 1501.0578 Design df = 1304 F( 5, 1300) = 34.31 Prob > F = 0.0000 R-squared = 0.3299

Table 14. Home Broadband Access by Institutional Access Home Broadband No

Yes

Row Total

No Institutional Access

50.03%

49.97%

100.00%

Institutional Access

23.07%

76.93%

100.00%

Total

34.46%

65.54%

100.00%

Uncorrected chi2(1) = 114.9181 Design-based F(1, 1463) = 16.4989 P = 0.0001

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Broadband: For the purposes of this paper, broadband is any always-on Internet connection offering higher speeds than dial-up access. Cultural Capital: Following Bourdieu, is an individual knowledge of the dominant culture’s symbolic systems, including literature, music, and food. Individuals can assert cultural capital for social advantage. In later work, Bourdieu suggests that cultural capital is a subset of broader informational capital. Disposition: An individual’s attitude, based on life experience and socialization toward social institutions or social practices, such as education or using technology. Economic Capital: Bourdieu describes access to money for purchasing goods and services as economic capital.

Habitus: According to Bourdieu, is a durable set of dispositions formed through life experience. Individuals and groups may have different habitus based on education, family life, and socialization in their communities. Material Access: Is access to an Internetconnected device in an individual’s area. Some individuals may lack Internet connections in rural areas while others may lack the economic means to acquire Internet access and hardware or visit a facility with Internet-connected machines are available to the public. Social Capital: Is an individual or group’s set of interpersonal relationships. Techno-Capital: Is the ability to use networked computers systems for social advantage.

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Section 2

Digital Inclusion Projects in Brazil

77

Chapter 6

Digital Inclusion, Crowdfunding, and Crowdsourcing in Brazil: A Brief Review Beatrice Bonami University of São Paulo, Brazil Maria Lujan Tubio University of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT In the present chapter, we map and characterize crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platforms that promote social entrepreneurship in the online universe. We first analyze relevant theoretical concepts and the existing literature on entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, information and open culture, digital culture, and social technologies to better understand the genesis and development of initiatives that promote social entrepreneurship in the online universe. Then, we map and describe the platforms that tried to encourage this type of entrepreneurship around the world, especially in Brazil. Finally, we examine some important aspects of the panorama of crowdfunding in Brazil. By exploring the current development of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms at international level, we expect to contribute to the creation of new projects and policies that respond to the current demands of the network society.

INTRODUCTION The use of information communication technologies (ICTs) around the world has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. ICTs affect all aspects of everyday life. They allow users to access, store, transmit, manipulate, produce, and publish information, thus providing a wide array of opportunities for education, professional development, and lifelong learning.

According to Cardoso (in Passarelli & Azevedo, 2010), the world is not only going through financial, political, and environmental crises but also through a communication crisis. This phenomenon, as Cardoso (2010) explains, can be seen in a series of events and habit changes. It can be seen at the sharp fall in newspaper sales; the proliferation of P2P audiovisual content distribution; the increase in Internet advertising; the role of social networks in the daily coverage of

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch006

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events; the Open Access, Open Source, and Open Science models; or the case of media production destined to online sharing. The communication crisis transforms, or at least questions, all dimensions of information production, distribution, and consumption. It also affects the way we approach entertainment and knowledge. As Cardoso points out, we moved from a system of schemes and matrices of mass-communication based media to a model based on networked communication. This new model coincides with the emergence of a new set of skills, attitudes, and behaviors that are necessary to participate in today’s network society. Passarelli (2007) explains in Interfaces digitais na educação: @lucinações consentidas (Digital interfaces in education: consensual hallucination), the globalized world is typified by intense capital, product and information flows and has started to require new competencies from its citizens. These competencies are what we call today “emerging digital literacies” (2007, pp. 40). Digital literacies are a new set of habits, attitudes, and behaviors that are necessary for full participation in today’s media-saturated society. They affect the way people learn, work, socialize, and use their free time. They also increase their access to education, employment, entertainment, and health. Their development constitutes a necessary step to adapt to the fast-changing world of information and communications technology. In 1997, Gilster (1997) coined the term “digital literacy.” According to Gilster, digital literacy is a “logical extension of literacy itself, just as hypertext is an extension of the traditional reading experience” (pp. 230). The author defines digital literacy as “the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers” (pp. 1), and he sheds new light on the concept by stating that “digital literacy is equally about context” (pp.35). Warschauer (2003) later developed a concept of literacy to address the various social, economic, human and digital resources that affect

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the “effective use of ICTs to access, adapt, and create knowledge” (pp. 47). Jones-Kavalier and Flanningan (2008) argued that literacy is characterized by the ability to use information effectively and creatively. Finally, Jenkins (2008) discussed the emergence of a media convergence culture, characterized by nonlinearity and interactivity. In recent years, the development of ICTs and the emergence of new digital literacies have opened up opportunities that used to be restricted to a very privileged sector of society. In fact, ICTs have favored the genesis of an online social entrepreneurship phenomenon that has led to the creation of online platforms that attempt to develop a taste for entrepreneurship in its users. These platforms help people to identify opportunities that can be transformed into projects to promote community development. The objective of this type of platforms is simple but challenging: to make entrepreneurship accessible to everyone. The initiative “Social Good Brasil” is a notable example of this recent trend. The present chapter examines the development of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms and explores their key role as catalysts for social inclusion. In order to contextualize the development of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms, the chapter first provides important background information on digital inclusion and its link to social inclusion. Then, it looks at three key concepts: collective intelligence, Hacker ethics, and social entrepreneurship. Finally, it examines the current state of development of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms in Brazil and around the world.

BACKGROUND 1. Digital Inclusion To better understand the role of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms as catalysts for social

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inclusion, it is necessary to comprehend first what digital inclusion is and how it has contributed to promote social inclusion. Gaps in access to ICTs or digital illiteracy continue to deepen the digital divide. The term digital divide is used to describe disparities in access to ICTs, which are often associated with race, gender, age, income, education, physical and mental ability, and spatial location as the authors Hoffman and Novak (2000), Norris (2001), Ragnedda and Muschert (2013), Servon (2002), pointed out. According to Ragnedda (2014), the digital divide is, inevitably tied with the concept of social inequalities. That is, each society exhibits inequalities among individuals and groups, and as these are the sedimentation of social history, this give rise to social strata in the practice of social relations, notably regarding access to social rewards such as money, prestige and power. People who have access to ICTs and the necessary skills to use the Internet have many advantages over those who do not. They are more successful financially and educationally, and more likely to show political and civic engagement. In addition, DiMaggio et al. (2004), Mossberger et al (2003), Oden (2004) argue that Internet use increases access to education, employment, and health, and it provides new spaces for political discussion and direct access to the government. As such, the Internet plays a very important role in reducing inequality, which DiMaggio et al. (2004) examine in the following manner: We call attention to five broad forms of inequality. The first is variation in the technical means (hardware, software, and connections) by which people access the Internet. The second is variation in the extent to which people exercise autonomy in using the Web---for example, whether they access it from work or from home, whether their use is monitored or unmonitored, whether they must compete with other users for time online. The third is inequality in the skill that people bring to their use of the medium. The fourth is inequality

in the social support on which Internet users can draw. The fifth is variation in the purposes for which people use technology. We view each type of inequality as likely to shape significantly the experience that users have online, the uses to which they can put the Internet and the satisfactions they draw from it, and their returns to Internet use in the form of such outcomes as earnings or political efficacy. (pp. 376) Some authors as Al-Jaghoub et al. (2009), Cuevas-Cerveró and Simeão (2011), Notley (2009), Passarelli (2010) (2011) Selwyn and Facer (2007) (2012), Straubhaar (2011), and Warschauer (2003), has shown a high degree of correlation between digital inclusion and social inclusion. Digital inclusion “is broadly understood as a phenomenon whereby marginalized people are able to access and meaningfully participate in the same learning, employment, social and citizenship activities as others, through access to and use of digital technologies such as computers” Seale (2010, pp. 445). Digital inclusion programs are public or private (or both) initiatives that seek to provide access to ICTs and/or build the necessary skills to use them so that disadvantaged individuals and groups can enjoy the benefits of information society. In 2006, the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) stated the need to promote universal, ubiquitous, equitable and affordable access to ICTs. The goal was to ensure that the “benefits are more evenly distributed between and within societies, and to bridge the digital divide in order to create digital opportunities for all and benefit from the potential offered by ICTs for development” (2006). With this goal in mind, many countries have developed and implemented digital inclusion programs that target the elderly population, people with low incomes and/or low levels of education, and those who live in geographically remote areas where ICTs access is limited or nonexistent.

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According to Passarelli (2010), digital inclusion programs in the last two decades of network society can be divided into two waves. The first wave focuses on policies, digital inclusion programs, and related concerns; the second one, on the different forms of ownership and knowledge production on the web. In Brazil and around the world, many digital inclusion programs have been implemented in an attempt to both reduce the digital divide in terms of technology access and map and understand emerging digital literacies. Canadian and American programs have targeted minority groups and people from rural areas. In Latin America, where the level of socioeconomic inequalities has improved but remains high, most programs have focused on many disadvantaged sectors of the population, such as the unemployed, low-income families, public school teachers and students, indigenous groups, and the elderly. In fact, developing countries have the greatest need for digital inclusion programs since digital literacy constitutes a key step in the race for social inclusion. In Brazil, numerous public and private initiatives have targeted the development of emerging digital literacies and the reduction of the digital divide. Programs such as “Digitando o Futuro” (Typing the Future), “Pirai Digital”(Go Crazy in Digital), “Ideias” (Ideas) and “AcessaSP” (Access São Paulo) have made significant contributions to promote the development of digital literacy and social inclusion in the country. In fact, the AcessaSP program, which was developed by our research team at the School of the Future (University of São Paulo), recently received the prestigious “2013 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Award” for Best Digital Inclusion Program, after competing with 300 programs from 56 countries. Research on digital inclusion has mostly focused on people’s increasing access to technologies and the practical skills that are necessary to use them, as Selwyn and Facer (2007) points out. Selwyn, Gorard and Williams (2001) studies have focused on broader issues, such as connectivity,

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the types of hardware and software that people can use. As also detected by Abbott (2007), the content and information that is delivered through technology are as important as digital literacies or general literacy in a broader sense, as sharped by Passarelli (2012) and Wessels (2008). Aiming to map and understand contemporary emerging literacies, our team at the School of the Future – USP Collective has sought to explore the cross media context of WEB 2.0 non-linear narratives and the emerging protagonism of digital collectives over individual authoring, among other topics. For instance, Passarelli and Junqueira (2012) most recent book, Gerações Interativas – Crianças e adolescentes diante das telas (Interactive Generations - Children and adolescents in front of the screens) examines the set of skills that children and teenagers need in order to interact and select content when confronted with different types of screens, such as TVs, video games, computers, and cell phones. Conversely, Passarelli and Azevedo (2009) edited volume Atores em rede: Olhares luso-brasileiros (Network Stakeholders: Luso-Brazilian Perspectives), discusses methodological approaches to analyze virtual communities and the digitization of cultural flows and hierarchical restructuring of knowledge production, while looking at successful programs from Brazil and Portugal (such as AcessaSP and Second Life). It is also important to mention Pinheiro and Márquez (2013) recent study, “A cúpula mundial sobre a sociedade da informação: foco nas políticas de informação” (The world summit on the information society: focus on information policies), which evaluates the level of achievement of the objectives set by WSIS in 2006. Their work is based on the information published on the WSIS database, which provides a record of activities carried out by the governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, and other entities. In this article, Pinheiro and Márquez conclude that “indicators/statistical data of digital inclusion help in the measurement and

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investigation processes of the WSIS outcomes, as well as help in the process of establishing information policies that meet the demands of the Information Society” (pp. 128). Also, although the WSIS “has counted with the participation of more than 170 countries and has undertaken great effort and financial investment [it] has not yet reached its goals” (pp.129). Pinheiro & Márquez’s study constitutes a significant first step in mapping the progress each country has made towards achieving the proposed objectives. However, many major and significant programs are not included in the WSIS database, which calls for the need for a more comprehensive and in-depth examination.

1.2 Collective Intelligence, Hacker Ethics, and Social Entrepreneurship To comprehend the contemporary society’s arrangement is necessary to understand the concept of cyberculture developed in the last 20 years. To define cyberculture, we need to consider its conception in a contemporary space and has neither center nor guidelines. A multiple content accepts all individuals and subjects at the same time because anyone in the network can become a producer or a new information transmitter. According to Manovich (2003), cyberculture involves, The study of various social phenomena associated with Internet and other new forms of network communication. Examples of what falls under cyberculture studies are online communities, online multi-player gaming, the issue of online identity, the sociology and the ethnography of email usage, cell phone usage in various communities; the issues of gender and ethnicity in Internet usage; and so on. [...] To summarize: cyberculture is focused on the social and on networking; new media is focused on the cultural and computing (pp 16).

Cyberculture arises from the disconnection of social workers (abstract machines): universality and “totalization”. These two concepts have been engaged in the invention of writing, as writing does not only determines the universal, but also the context where people are immersed. Virtually all posts conveyed on the web are dipped into a boiling communicational bath of life (including people themselves) from which the cyberspace gradually emerges. The cyberspace is thus the result of a genuine social movement where three guiding principles predominate: interconnection, virtual communities, and collective intelligence. Virtual communities’ configuration is primarily as learning communities on the Web using Distance Learning (DL). The need to know and learn at the lowest possible cost has led institutions and companies to reorganize themselves to provide online learning. As for social networks, they are increasingly used on a regular basis because the necessity to communicate and learn has led millions of people to explore multiple communication interfaces. Communications platforms have evolved in such a way that they have gone from simple textual communication to communication with real-time images and sound. Cyberculture is as a central element in collective intelligence, a concept that was examined at length not only by Lévy (2007) but also by Jenkins (2008) and De Kerckhove (2009). Collective intelligence describes a type of shared intelligence that emerges from the collaboration of many diverse individuals. It is a “distributed intelligence”, as Lévy (1997) describes it, “constantly enhanced, coordinated in real time, and resulting in the effective mobilization of skills” (pp.13), in which all knowledge comes from humanity, since no one knows everything but every person knows something. The term appears in socio-biology, political science, and in specific contexts such as peer review and dynamic crowdsourcing applications. This broader definition involves processes

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such as building intellectual and human capital. Different actions, from a political party to an entry in Wikipedia, can be described as a form of collective intelligence. Collective intelligence can also be seen as an emergent characteristic in people and ways of processing information. According to Lévy (2007) and De Kerckhove (2009), the term refers to the possibility of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve the collective pool of social knowledge while expanding the range of human interactions. This concept contributes strongly to shifting knowledge and power from the individual to the collective. In a similar way, media theorist Jenkins (2008) examines collective intelligence as a site in which each viewer builds his/her own mythology from scattered fragments available in the media. From the grouping of these fragments, collective intelligence emerges, arising as an alternative power. According to Jenkins, this alternative is currently being used for recreational purposes (virtual communities on Facebook, for example), but in the future it might be employed in more important contexts such as religion, education, law, politics, advertising, and perhaps even the military. Collective intelligence, thus, arises from knowledge communities that form around common intellectual interests. The concept of collective intelligence according to Jenkins is a source of interactive media power that is closely related to the culture of convergence. Both Jenkins and Lévy support the claim that collective intelligence is important for the process of democratization as it is intertwined with culture based on knowledge. It is also sustained by the collective sharing of ideas, thus contributing to a better understanding of our diverse society and its different actors. Thus, we can say that the convergence of various media leads to a cultural change. With the collision between new and old media, the interaction between the power of media and consumers often produces unpredictable results.

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The current situation implies a more active and direct participation of consumers, forcing large industries to shift their strategies in a direction that converges to the current needs of individuals. The convergence process is complex and constantly changing as it depends on the relationship between technology and culture. Technology plays a secondary role, and cultural change is what will dictate content. Behind the decisions of content is individual knowledge. Today, people holding such knowledge appear as micro-hits that supply in massive way the new formulations of the content available on the Web 2.0. The cyberculture, associated with collective intelligence, with anonymous people and production tools that are available at no cost on the Internet, has changed the parameter of contemporary market relations as a new reigning logic of thinking about the relations established by the connected environment. One example is the note released by the Cluetrain Manifesto in 2000 in which it is claimed that, a powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter and faster than most companies are. According to the official website of the Manifesto, through the Internet, people are “discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinded speed.” As a direct consequence, “markets are getting smarter--and getting smarter faster than most companies.” The term market is a “set of conversations.” Their members casually communicate with informal and natural language. However, once their members are in a business context, they adopt a one-sided and monotonous language. Consequently, people served by these companies refuse to talk or communicate with these entities with “boring” language, which hinders the economic processes that depend on communication between individuals and companies. According to Anderson (2006), the set of masstalks has undergone a transformation and began

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to market a few hits for numerous market niches and micro-hits. The market is dealing with a huge community of fans and followers governed by personal and independent blogs, and this interferes with the market’s logic, since until recently, followers and fans were financial contributors who were buying records and CDs. According to Anderson, “When the tools of production are available to everyone, everyone becomes a producer” (pp. 73). This is so due to the democratization of the acquisition of production tools that does not annul the sale and purchase of other tools. For example, Smartphone and multifunctional devices democratized sharing and access to social networks. However, the proliferation of these devices does not completely nullify the buying and selling of CDs of musicians for more than the sales rate of those items approximates to zero (examples as Wikipedia and Netflix illustrate this reality). Today the goal of producers exceeded the extrinsic motivation of financial and material gain and part of an intrinsic motivation to do something big and recognized. Plenty of deals on the internet offer thousands of options for products in bulk. The huge mass markets are turning millions of small niche markets that accompany virtual communities of relationship such as social networks and blogs. Blogs are a consequence of the democratization of production tools: software and the advent of simple and inexpensive services that facilitate online publishing to such an extent that they become accessible to everyone. With lower costs of production and distribution, Anderson (2006) argues that the era of “one size” is ending and in its place appears the market of varieties. This suggests that, according to websites, amateurs and professionals are competing on equal terms because the Internet makes it cheaper to reach people. This is evident when considered the increased use of Web 2.0 social networks. In the wireless era, social networks had the highest growth in the history of media and followed the development of youth culture and public

policies that encourage individual expression. In Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective, Castells (2009) discusses an unprecedented expansion of mobile communication and the adoption of technology in the background of different economies, policies, and new logics of thinking about the social impacts and cultural. When examining the differences among continents, the rate of inclusion appears more significant in Asia Pacific (41%), Europe (32%), the Americas (21%), Africa (4%) and Oceania (1%). In Brazil, the penetration of new technology reached 36% being considered an exception in Latin America, next to Chile’s rate (approximately 50% of access). Through data analysis, was also observed that mobile communication is a means of pervasive communication, mediating social practice in all spheres of human life. Mobile communication extends technologies and shapes the logic of social practices in all places and contexts, as “the technology of wireless communication has powerful social effects to generalize and extend the logic network, which defines the human experience today” Castells (2009, pp. 334). The study is far from completed, and its development in many different societies and contexts does not exclude the underdeveloped and developing societies. In the future, everything individuals need will be available in technology platforms and connected in a networked society. We can make this prediction because in a society of overconsumption, the need for mobility and visibility is increasing, triggering a constant reshaping of identities as ways of ensuring the principles of inclusion / exclusion drawn up by the market. New ways of thinking about both consumer goods and means of production are also triggered. Twenty-first century entrepreneurship requires a new logic of behavior and treatment for members of the communicational dive. An example is the Hacker’s Ethic, which rocked the pragmatic structure of production and suggests a new way of working.

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The Hacker’s Worldview shows how to neutralize some of the inhuman consequences of the networked society. According to Himanen (2001), the hacker ethic is, … a new work ethic that challenges the attitude toward work that has held us in its thrall for so long, the Protestant work ethic, as explicated in Max Weber’s classic The Protestant Ethic and the spirit of Capitalism (...) But first and foremost the hacker ethic is a challenge to our society and to each of our lives. Besides the work ethic, the second important level of this challenge is the hacker money ethic - a level that Weber defined as the other main component of the Protestant ethic. Clearly, the ‘information sharing’ mentioned in the hacker-ethic definition cited above is not the dominant way of making money in our time; on the contrary, money is mostly made by ‘information owning. (pp. 09) The Hacker Ethics argues that flexible hours, creativity, and good sense are essential both for the employer and for the employee. The philosophy embraces a multimedia line of thought, based on the values ​​of play, excitement, sharing and creativity. Those values have the potential to improve production and competitiveness both in individual and corporate contexts. The notion of vertical communication was replaced by equality between the actors. The current media are horizontal, which eliminates the hierarchy of existing discourses. That is why the Hacker’s World View encourages flexibility of labor policies in order to promote the creation of new solutions to issues raised by network society. This incentive is part of mechanisms that support collective intelligence, which triggers a new way of thinking activism and activities in a connected world; it means that at all times we deal with contributors and developers of content, anywhere on the planet.

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This new logic of thinking about social practices is reflected on the market (or set of conversations) that constitute new skills through democratic means of production and network activities. Understanding this setting is essential because a new way of thinking about the world and its interrelationships arises when looking at such practices in a global context. This is the first step toward the construction of connected digital platforms and toward democratic access to the media. In Brazil and in the world, entrepreneurship is of paramount importance not only for the growth of individuals, but also for the development of society. The origin of the term entrepreneurship is to “do or perform”. The enterprising individual has a new look on the world as he/she witnesses the evolution of his/her time and context, valuing experiences and making decisions. He/she opens up new trails and explores new knowledge. There are several definitions and applications of the term entrepreneurship, but in the context of the present chapter, we are interested in examining it from a behavioral perspective. One of the first authors to show interest in the term was Weber (1972). Weber identified entrepreneurship as a system, which is the key element for the explanation of entrepreneurial behavior. As innovators, entrepreneurs are independent people, intelligent and emotionally potential creators who are in changing the present. However, the more accepted definition of entrepreneurship is, according to the economist Schumpeter (1950), a central element of his theory of creative destruction. According to Schumpeter, the versatile entrepreneur is someone who has the technical skills to produce knowledge. Schumpeter defines entrepreneurship as a study focused on the development of skills and abilities related to creation. He is constantly looking for new ways and new solutions that respect the concept of literacy. The enterprising individual has a new look

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on the world as he/she witnesses the evolution of his/her time and context, valuing experiences and making decisions. As such, entrepreneurship opens new trails and explores new knowledge. When looking at it from a behavioral perspective, it is necessary to bring attention to the concept of “intellectual capital,” which is nothing more than knowledge, experience, and expertise. The focus is on people and their knowledge and ability to generate new ideas. In this book chapter, the focus is taking on new skills that are necessary in the network society. Social entrepreneurship is a means to develop a community, city, or region. Drayton (2010) to address the existence of individuals that can make profound changes, to solve social and environmental problems, coined the term “social entrepreneur”. Through its activities, social entrepreneurs accelerate the process of change in society and inspire others to engage around a common cause. According to Byers et al. (2014), entrepreneurship links with social good: “Entrepreneurs strive to make a difference in our world and to contribute to its betterment. They identify opportunities, mobilize resources, and relentlessly execute on their visions” (pp.3). Furthermore, entrepreneurship “is more than the creation of a business and the wealth associated with it. It is focused on the creation of a new enterprise that serves society and makes a positive change” (pp. 4). In the world of social entrepreneurship, social innovation plays a very important role. According to Godin (2012) social innovation occurs when presenting a new idea, or when interest in an idea is presented as new or relatively new (pp. 5). As a concept, it “would necessarily have appeared after that of technological innovation” (pp. 6). At the beginning of the 20th century, social innovation meant socialism or social reform (economic and political context in Europe and North America in the 20th century). As Godin explains, it “owes its origin to socialism, and its resurrection (in the twenty-first Century) to technological innova-

tion” (pp. 43.) At present, there is no consensus regarding the meaning of social innovation; its meaning changes depending on the context in which it is discussed. According to Mulgan apud Godin (2012), social innovation is about “new ideas that work in meeting social needs or, more specifically, innovative activities and services that are motivated by the goal of meeting a social need and that are predominantly developed and diffused through organisations whose primary purposes are social” (pp. 37). At the same time, “social innovation is concerned with anything ‘social’, whatever it may be.” (pp. 39). Also, according to Murray et al. apud Godin (2012) Social innovation may be defined as [...] a goal and/or its form/type. To many present day researchers, the source is necessarily the community, the goal is anything and social innovation is “alternatives” to current ways of doing things. By contrast, to early writers the ‘social’ of social innovation refers simply to (diverse) changes introduced into society by individuals, groups and organizations (pp. 40). In a context of social entrepreneurship, the crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms are becoming an interesting alternative to the achievement of projects and to the pursuing of money without intermediaries. We describe how these platforms work and discuss its potential to democratize access to capital and resources.

2. Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding What Is Being Done and How It Arranges the Now Economy (Means of Production) and Digital Inclusion Actions According to González-Ladrón-de-Guevara (2012) crowdsourcing is a relatively recent concept that encompasses many practices. This diversity

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leads to the “blurring of the limits of crowdsourcing that may be identified virtually with any type of internet-based collaborative activity, such as co-creation or user innovation” (pp. 3) Howe (2009) was the first author to examine the world of crowdsourcing. He defined crowdsourcing as the practice of obtaining services, ideas, or content through contributions from a large group of people online instead of traditional employees or suppliers. As such, crowdsourcing combines the efforts of many participants who decide independently to take the initiative to contribute to an existing project. According to Howe (2009), the community or crowd has a power and intelligence to create innovative and high quality things or activities. There are numerous successful projects and Open Source initiatives such as Wikipedia. Other examples abound. Communities have the autonomy and capacity to analyze up patents such as the Project Peer-to-Patent. Of course, not everything in the online universe contributes to knowledge or even content, but there are certainly high quality examples for one simple reason: a small percentage of a high number is still a high number. Such is the case of Youtube, which hosts about 100 million videos. If we consider that 1% of them offer high quality content, then Youtube has 1 million outstanding videos. No television or radio broadcaster has the potential to offer as much high quality content. Much as the different types of media are already saturated with so much material that is produced minute by minute by online users, the process of collecting this material only accelerates because producing and distributing content is becoming easier and cheaper. Costs are decreasing due to the democratization of the means of production and the access to the internet, which is available in many primary schools and used by children at a very early age. Regarding digital natives, Ragnedda (2013) points that in the U.S. show

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that 93% of Americans between 12 and 17 years old are regular users of the Internet and of these, 64% create content. In a context of democratization of access to digital technologies, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding are changing not only the logic of connected behavior, but also the market structure and labor. Companies will not stop existing. Neither will professional expertise. Capital and a production line will always be necessary to generate a physical product like a plane, a refrigerator or a car. However, businesses built on top of intangible capital (intellectual capital) will be organized in different companies in the industrial world order. In light of these changes, it is interesting to explore the power of communities such as the ones created by the company TopCoder. It builds communities using software generated in programming competitions and codes that produces high quality programs, with a mean of 0,98/1.000 bugs LOC. Another interesting example is uTest, which uses the power of the community to test software. This is the result of the Theorem of Diversity Overcoming Capacity, which suggests that innovation comes from diversity and not homogeneity. Communities are heterogeneous by nature, even when centered on common interests. As the etymology of the term crowdsourcing suggests, crowdsourcing combines the words “crowd” and “outsourcing”. It is different from regular outsourcing as an undefined public as opposed to perform work requested from a specific group of individuals. Successful examples of crowdsourcing show how the power of the many can be used to accomplish various goals for the common good. It also shows the emergence of amateurism as a transformative force in the online world. At present, there are different types of crowdsourcing models around the world. The main platforms allow to: 1) hire specific services through different a pool of applicants, or, 2) conduct

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projects with the participation of volunteers. In the first case, the crowdsourcing platform functions as a kind of administrator that offers job opportunities aimed at specific groups of professionals (designers, copywriters, etc). Individuals offer their services but only one of them can be chosen to do the proposed job. For example, Design Crowd, allows crowd source designers to create different types of objects (web, logo, business cards, etc). The second type of crowdsourcing initiative is closer to the concept of social entrepreneurship as it seeks to get people to contribute to the development of a social project for the common good (e.g projects related to the environment, the protection of animals or the creation of a music school). Internationally, one of the most famous crowdsourcing platforms is Catchafire. This website, which acts as a mediator between NGOs and social enterprises and qualified volunteers, however, charges a fee for its mediation. Other platforms, conversely, allow organizers and volunteers to contact each other directly, without charging a fee. DoSomething.org, platform whose slogan is “to make the world suck less” is a great example of a non-profit crowdsourcing platform. The largest NGO for young people and social change, with 2.5 million members, tackles campaigns that affect every cause (from poverty to violence, to the environment, to literally everything else). 1% Club, Goteo and Fandyu are also very interesting initiatives, as they offer both crowdfunding and crowdsourcing services to find financial aid and volunteers at the same time. The term crowdfunding refers to online fundraising through multiple funding sources, which are generally individuals and entities that are interested in the proposed projects. The term talks about donations or “kitties/goodies” made​​ online. In the current global economic crisis, small businesses are struggling more than ever to survive, and entrepreneurs are finding very few opportunities to get investors and other sources of funding. Crowdfunding offers these people a

possibility to share their ideas and projects with the entire world and get the funding that they need. There are numerous crowdfunding platforms where individuals can ask for or donate money. Kickstarter, Indiegogo, RocketHub, or Catarse in Brazil are among the most popular ones. While each site offers a unique spin of its own, the general concept is more or less the same. Project creators can create a profile typically containing a short video, an introduction to their project, a list of rewards per donation, and some images to draw attention. The idea is to create a compelling message that readers will access. Projects that use crowdfunding generally have a monetary goal for the project to be feasible. If the raised amount does not meet the goal, the money is given back to the donors. This operation is called “all or nothing.” According to Inc.com, potential investors are more inclined to support “all-or-nothing” (AON strategy) initiatives, which typically provide more detailed information on the campaigns. Other crowdfunding initiatives allow people to keep the money they raised even if they did not reach the proposed goal. In such cases, platforms tend to charge a higher administrative fee. It is interesting to point out that even if virtually all crowdfunding platforms charge an administrative fee and deduct it, there are a few sites that do not charge any administration or transactions fees to the donor. Some crowdfunding are focus on charity fundraising (e.g. buying food after natural disasters, shipping medical supplies, etc.) Other platforms also help to achieve personal goals of all types (eg, affording a trip across Europe, university costs, the purchase of a cell phone). One example is the platform Go Get Funding, an English-based fundraising site to raise money for anything: from paying for a pet’s medical bills, to creating a short film. There is yet a different type of crowdfunding initiatives, which seek to help entrepreneurs find investors for their projects or start-ups. They are

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the “investment/equity crowdfunding” platforms. Equity-based crowdfunding is the collective effort of individuals to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations through the provision of finance in the form of equity. These initiatives allow investors to support entrepreneurial projects and gain equity. At present, Crowdfunder is one of the most successful equity crowdfunding platforms in the world. This platform blends donationbased and investment crowdfunding models, and encourages online and offline crowdfunding and collaboration.

2.1 Crowdfunding in Brazil A Panorama of National Resources Crowdfunding is a global phenomenon that has brought about much success in many parts of the world. In Brazil, it could not be any different. One of the most famous Brazilian platforms is Catarse. me, an Open-Source crowdfunding site that seeks to help finance creative projects. Individuals who back Catarse.me projects wins tangible rewards and special experiences in exchange for their pledges. At present, Catarse.me is one of the most famous (if not the most famous) crowdfunding platform in Brazil. In 2013, Catarse.me conducted a survey to get to know the profile of people who make collective funding happen in Brazil. Also to understand the behaviors, motivations and reasons why people support a project, and analyze the current scenario of collective funding in the country. Finally, the survey shares the perspective of project developers who have used the Catarse platform” (catarse.me). 3336 people answered a survey between July and August 2013. Below, we present a few graphs that will help us understand the current panorama of crowdfunding in Brazil. As we can see, according to the survey conducted by Catarse.me, the general trend in most Brazilian regions shows a correlation between the Brazilian population and participation in collec-

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tive financing. In the North and Northeast of the country, where Internet access is more limited, there is less participation (9% in the northeast, 7% in Midwest and 1% in the North). In the Southeast and South, where access to the Internet is significantly higher, participation is also higher (20% in the South and 63% in the Southeast). This percentage reflects the fact that most users have access to the Internet in their own homes. In addition, State governments provide a large number of public Internet access points. For example, the AcessaSP, Digital Inclusion Program, run by the state of São Paulo (South East Brazil), offers at present more than 760 infocenters in the state of São Paulo and is in the process of opening 190 more. In the world of crowdfunding in Brazil, the age of the surveyed participants corresponds to the national working-age population. As we can see, 97% of them are between 18-60 years of age, and the most representative age group is that of 25-30 years (31%). This age group corresponds to the digital immigrants group, that is, people who have been born in the analog era and transitioned to the world of digital technologies. According to Passarelli (2007), this group still needs to develop media, digital, and information literacies. Figure 2 also shows that 74% of the people who participated in crowdfunding campaigns have completed university studies (undergraduate or graduate). Interestingly, 35% of them have completed a postgraduate program, which highlights the importance of higher education for the development of digital literacies. Finally, there is a significant difference in terms of gender, 59% of participants are male, while 41% are female. Before commenting Figure 3, it is important to clarify that the minimum wage in Brazil is 724 reais (which is approximately 320 USD). It is very unlikely that individuals with this monthly income participate in crowdfunding projects for various reasons, the main one being their limited access to information and technologies. Table 3 shows that

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Figure 1. Distribution of people who participated in a crowdfunding initiative in Brazil. Portrait of Crowdfunding in Brazil. Source: Catarse.me (Own translation)

Figure 2. Gender, Age, and Education. Portrait of Crowdfunding in Brazil. Source: Catarse.me (Own translation)

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Figure 3. Monthly Income. Portrait of Crowdfunding in Brazil. Source: Catarse.me (Own translation)

the majority (54%) of the surveyed participants has a monthly income of up to 6000 reais (3000 USD, based on the current exchange rate). About 29% earn between 3000 and 6000 reais (1300 to 2600 USD), when 24% earn between 1500 and 3000 reais (650 to 1300 USD), and 21% have a very low income of up to 1500 reais (about 650 USD). The low participation of individuals with higher income might be related to an easier access to bank loans. It is also important to consider that crowdfunding initiatives play a key role in configuring a new way to create employment and foster financial inclusion. Crowdfunding, then, may signal a change in patterns of economic behavior. Bauman (2008) sees a relationship between the state versus the individual and autonomous production. He says that these initiatives are interrelated and are a consequence of each other: if an individual does not succeed by means of government or public initiatives, he/she looks for private and / or autonomous initiatives, and vice versa. However, in this context, the market remains at the center, even when crowdfunding and crowdsourcing are involved as economic initiatives. Figure 4 shows areas of interest for project development and also the areas where participants perceive that there is a lack of relevant

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projects. According to the surveyed participants, the category where there is greater opportunity to get funding, considering people’s interests and the lack of relevant projects, is mobility and transportation. In general, projects that intend to contribute to improve the community and society are well funded all over the world. In countries such as Brazil, where government funding to support social and creative projects is very limited, crowdfunding emerges as an increasingly popular means to finance projects. The two areas that incite least interest are fashion and carnival. The lack of interest could be explained by the fact that Brazilians tend to perceive fashion and carnival as leisure activities despite the cultural component that both possess. Education, environment, community, science and technology, social businesses, and architecture and urbanism are also sectors that raise interest and have a significant lack of relevant projects. Music, cinema and video, cartoons, literature, photography, design, theater, games and fine arts raise interest but already constitute popular categories for project development. Very often, projects that contemplate a huge social change are difficult to be completed. However, practical good causes that have a direct impact on society are more likely to get support and receive funding.

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Figure 4. Areas of Interest and Lack of Relevant Projects. Portrait of crowdfunding in Brazil. Source: Catarse.me (Own translation)

2.2 Crowdfunding and Crowdsourcing around the World As a part of a research project sponsored by the AcessaSP program - Scientific Connections (2014), we mapped and described crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platforms that seek to promote social entrepreneurship around the world. We used the following criteria to select the platforms: 1. The main goal of the crowdsourcing platforms should not be hiring specific services but supporting social entrepreneurship projects that require working as a team; 2. Crowdfunding platforms should not be aimed solely at developing charity projects or achieving personal goals (e.g. go on a trip, go to college, pay a medical bills etc.); and 3. The platforms should not be investment / equity crowdfunding websites. At present, crowdsourcing websites are the most innovative crowd solving tools. They provide updated information about what is taking place in every region of the planet, and connect potential

change makers with people who need help in order to crowd solve very important issues. In addition, crowdsourcing websites provide access to very creative tools, useful information, and contacts to reach organizations that are already contributing to alleviating important social issues. As such, they allow associations and project developers to scale or duplicate their past efforts in new areas and inspire new users to create projects or adapt existing projects to address the needs of their respective communities. We found only 6 platforms that offer the service of crowdsourcing based on the criteria mentioned above: Project Free World, Catchafire, Do something, 1% Club, Goteo, Fandyu. The Project Free World believes that “collectively, humanity has no limits on time, money, or resources. People have created these problems together. So there’s no reason they can’t be solved together.” Another great example is Catchafire, a “community of individuals striving to push the social good sector forward by focusing on efficient and effective ways to give back.” One way Catchafire does this is by “matching professionals with nonprofits based on their skills, cause interest and time availability.” They are committed to providing

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transformational volunteer experiences, to do so, they make sure that all of that nonprofits that are included in their platform have demonstrable impact, strong leadership and are aligned to the platform’s proposed mission. The platform’s goal is to “provide a significant return on investment for the partners and save them time, money and resources in finding talented and passionate individuals who have the potential to become long term advocates.” We found 61 platforms that offer crowdfunding services in Brazil and around the world, based on the chosen criteria. Some of them are: 1% Club; 100 days; Benfeitoria (Well Done Factory); Biayda; Bicharia (Animaly); Catarse; Causa Coletiva (Common Caude); Change Heroes; Clube do Financiamento Coletivo (Collective Financing Club); ComeçAki (Starts Here); Crowdonomatic; Crowdrise; Doare; Embolacha; Eppela; Eu Patrocino (I Fund); Eu Socio (Me Partner); Fandyu; Fundit; Fundrazr; Garupa (On the Road); GoFundMe; GoGetFunding; Goteo; Guigoo; Ideame; Ignite Intent; Impulso (Impulse); Indiegogo; JumpStarter; Juntos (Together); KickStarter; Kickante; Kiva; Kolmea; Mimoona; Mobilize; Moola Hoop; Muito Nós (Lots of Nodes); Music Raiser; Opote; Pantreon; Partio; Peerbackers; Pifworld; Pledgeme; PPL CrowdFunding Portugal; Quero Incentivar (I Wanna Fund); Rocket Club; Salve Sport (Save Sport); Sibite; Startando (Getting Started); Starteed; StartSomeGood; Ulule; Vakinha ; Variavel 5; Verkami; We Make It; When You Wish Brasil; and Zarpante. All the selected platforms seek to offer online funding possibilities to support impactful and creative initiatives around the world. The names of some of the platform already suggest their goals, as in, for example: Jump Starter, ComeçAki - that in English means “Starts here”, and KickStarter. Other platform names show the area they focus on, as in: Music Raiser - which supports projects related to music; Salve Sport (Save Sport) - which

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supports projects related to sports and health; and Bicharia - which supports projects to help animals and pets. Another good example of creative names associated with the goal of the platform is the crowdfunding initiative “Juntos”, which would be equivalent to the term “Together”. This kind of platform name conveys in a very simple but effective way the idea of getting both supporters and entrepreneurs to collaborate in a common project. In addition, there are various categories that are included in all the listed platforms (crowdfunding and crowdsourcing). The categories are based on the key-words provided in the selected websites. They are as follows: General (it allows projects from all areas to participate to be funded or recruit volunteers). Arts and Culture (it contemplates projects about music, fine arts, festival, book production, etc.). Social and Education (it addresses projects that seek to improve the lives of individuals from a specific community or promote education). Entrepreneurship (for business, entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship initiatives). Creativity, Technology and Innovation (very similar to the Art and Culture category, but it focuses on projects that are centered on technologies and innovation). Environment and Sustainability (for projects that seek to find sustainable solutions for environmental problems). Animals and Nature (for projects that seek to save or help animals in risk areas, improve the lives of animals, etc.). Sports and Tourism (for initiatives that intend to develop sports programs, disseminate knowledge about a touristic destination, etc.) Internationally, two of the most famous and popular reward-based crowdfunding platforms are KickStarter and Indiegogo. According to Forbes contributor Schroter (2014), the most successful business crowdfunding campaigns can be found on Kickstarter, Fundable, and IndieGoGo. Schroter elaborate a list of “top 10 business crowdfunding campaigns of all time”, which includes the following three crowdfunding campaigns: the Pebble

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E-Paper Watch, which raised $10,266,845 in 37 days and seemed to create the first affordable smartwatch in the market. The Ouya open-source game console, which raised over $8.5 million in 29 days. And Pono, which raised over $6 million raised in 30 days and promises to deliver a music listening experience that allows users to hear music as the artist intended. These are just some examples of successful crowdfunding campaigns that have had a high impact in an entrepreneurial context. Next, we examine important data based on the crowdfunding platforms that were selected and included in the mapping, elaborated for the Scientific Connections (2014) research project. 2.2.1 Social Media Followers: Facebook and Twitter The most important social network where crowdfunding platforms find followers is Facebook. 32.5% of the crowdfunding platforms have a very low number of followers on Twitter (up to 1000). The “Not applicable” category (18.2%) corresponds to platforms that have no Twitter account or have an almost nonexistent number of followers. This means that 50.7% of the platforms

Figure 5. Number of Followers on Facebook Source: Scientific Connections 2014

do not use Twitter to get followers. In contrast, 58.5% of the platforms have Facebook pages with more than 5000 followers. 2.2.2 Rewards On most platforms, reward are an incentive (55.7%). Platforms included in the “Does Not Apply” category (36.7%) usually do not give the possibility to offer rewards or do not have clear policies regarding the rewards. Based on the instructions and tips that are on the platforms, it seems that rewards are key factors for project success. It is noteworthy that the rewards/goodies of the platforms surveyed are of varied types and values. The platforms do not encourage project developers to offer cash as rewards. Some even determine “everything but money” (like the platforms Moola Hoop and Impulso). The key is to make a commitment that can be fulfilled, so perks can be objects, acknowledgements, thankyou notes, services, events, or “anything that does not violate our Terms of Service” (as specified in Indiegogo). It can also be a copy of what is being produced (CD, DVD, book), a discount in stores (Bicharia offers 50% off). Figure 6. Number of Followers on Twitter Source: Scientific Connections 2014

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Figure 7. Rewards

Source: Scientific Connections 2014

money that raises even if the monetary goal is not met, but they charge a higher administrative fee in such cases. 3.3.4 Citizenship Restrictions 72.5% of the platforms have no citizenship-based restrictions. The global trend is to allow the participation of all people who can open a PayPal or MoIP account. However, the linguistic factor probably affects how people choose a platform. Even when platforms translate into English and other languages ​​and have no citizenship-based restriction, most of them show projects in only one language.

3.4 Social Entrepreneurship / Social Technology Prizes 3.3.3 All or Nothing System vs. Partial Earnings Most platforms only use the “all or nothing” system (47.4%). Many of them explain in their terms of service that they only use this system because only projects that achieve their monetary goals are able to complete projects and deliver the promised rewards. Other platforms accept to transfer the Figure 8. All or Nothing System / Partial Source: Scientific Connections 2014

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As a complement to the Conexões Cientificas 2014 research project, we also looked at the important elements when awarding prizes to social entrepreneurship/social technology projects. Prize criteria are a good means of understanding what makes a project successful and impactful in a crowdfunding context. We selected the following social entrepreneurship / social project awards to elaborate a list of with the most common criteria:

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1. Google Global Impact; 2. Pasha Fund - P@SHA Social Innovation Fund; 3. Gründer-Garage (Google sponsored); 4. Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition; 5. Prize Kopf schlägt Kapital, Stiftung Entrepreneurship; 6. Do Something; 7. Unreasonable Institute; 8. Echoing Green; 9. The Social Entrepreneur of the Year Competition (Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship); Below, we present a summary with the description of the most common criteria: 1. Technology: Projects must use technology to add value to a specific community or solve a problem that is affecting society in general. 2. Innovation: Projects must propose a creative and innovative solution to a clearly identified problem (or a major contribution to society). 3. Feasibility: Projects should identify a concrete problem and propose a realistic and feasible solution. They should anticipate possible difficulties and explain how these difficulties would be addressed, or explain which challenges might stand in the way and how they will be overcome. Team members must be clearly identified and be capable of performing the proposed actions (it is important to demonstrate that they have prior experience in their proposed roles). Projects must explain how the prize money will be used and how the plan will be executed. 4. User Centered: Proposed solutions must be user focused. 5. Sustainability: The solution must be sustainable once the prize money has been invested. 6. Scalability: The project should be able to be replicated / multiplied elsewhere or by others.

7. Representation: Prize recipients should be willing and able to become ambassadors that represent and contribute to the growth of the organizing association. Many crowdfunding platforms also take these criteria into consideration when choosing or curating projects. They also offer assistance and helpful information to make sure projects are sustainable. Sustainability is a key aspect in a crowdfunding context because campaigns are not ongoing; they are a one-time experience that means to help people kick-start a project. That is why projects should be able to continue after the raised money is used up. According to The Social Entrepreneur of the Year Competition (Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship), the potential for social change is also key. They seek projects that achieve transformative social and/or environmental change through the application of innovative and practical approaches to benefit society in general, with an emphasis on underserved populations. The innovation can take the any form in everywhere. Scalability and the possibility to replicate a project are also important as crowdfunding platforms are building a project database that works as a source of inspiration for new, experienced and inexperienced project creators. In the article “The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study,” Mollick (2014) also examines key aspects that lead to project success in a context of crowdfunding. His research seeks “to develop initial evidence about the nature of crowdfunding and its role in entrepreneurship research” (pp. 4) and “examine the key issues around crowdfunding from the perspective of entrepreneurship: its links to existing theory, the effects of a new form of fundraising, and the success or failure of the process” (pp. 4). According to Mollick, Projects generally succeed by small margins, or fail by large ones. Social capital and preparedness are associated with an increased chance of

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project success, suggesting that quality signals play a role in project outcomes. Geography also appears to be linked to the nature and success rates of projects. Finally, the vast majority of founders attempt to deliver products promised to funders, but relatively few do so in a timely manner, a problem exacerbated in large or overfunded projects (pp.13). As we can see once again, social capital and preparedness, which are directly related to project feasibility, also emerge as key elements. Interestingly, the ability to deliver the promised rewards also constitutes a key factor, which is why many crowdfunding platforms offer extensive information on how to create low-cost and quality incentives.

4. Final Considerations This chapter aimed to analyze the development of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms in Brazil and around the world, exploring its key role as a catalyst for social inclusion. We presented relevant information about digital inclusion and its connection with social inclusion. Three essential key concepts were collective intelligence, hacker ethics, and social entrepreneurship. Finally, we examined the current state of development of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms in Brazil and around the world through an extensive mapping of the various platforms. Through the graphs from Catarse.me and the Scientific Connections 2014 Research Project (sponsored by Digital Inclusion Program Access São Paulo), it was possible to produce a socio-economic overview of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing activities, as well as an analysis of important data based on the guidelines and rules that platforms employ to increase the projects’ success rate. Through this analysis, it is possible to envision that crowdfunding is opening new possibilities to provide democratic access to funding and to

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create new opportunities to promote online social entrepreneurship, both in Brazil and around the world. According to Mollick (2014), “Increasingly, [...] crowdfunding appears to be a viable source for entrepreneurial seed capital, allowing entrepreneurs to raise the initial money required to start their new venture. For example, of the fifty highest funded projects through 2012 on Kickstarter, the premier crowdfunding site, 45 have turned into ongoing entrepreneurial firms” (pp. 3). As such, crowdfunding is proving that it has the potential to take the place of bank loans in a context of start-up creation / accelerator. Investment / equity crowdfunding, in a similar way, could become an interesting alternative to the stock market, eliminating commissions and intermediaries and allowing people with no prior experience in investment to support and become involved in a start-up of their choice. In Brazil, crowdfunding is not yet widely known by the population, but it is growing at a very fast pace. The number of crowdfunding platforms that exists in Brazil and in the world increases every day. For example, according to Catarse.me data (available on the blog.catarse. me) in 2011, the best project of the year on the platform had 285 supporters, raising over 25.000 R$ (approximately 11.000 USD based on the current exchange rate). This year’s (2014) best project had 3200 supporters and raised over 206.000 R$ (about 91.200 USD based on the current exchange rate). Unfortunately, many project still are unsuccessful and end up closing down. Some of them keep appearing in search engines, even if they are not updated, which can create confusion among users and potential supporters. Crowdsourcing as a tool to promote social entrepreneurship is less developed than crowdfunding, both in nationally and internationally. In fact, in Brazil, there is no platform to promote collaborative work in a context of social entrepreneurship. However, many crowdsourcing websites offer job opportunities, which means

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that crowdsourcing is becoming an interesting job alternative and is changing the way companies and individuals hire people. This means that a completely new scenario is being created based on crowdsourcing initiatives. A new economic perspective is arising, leading to new hiring and funding processes. Crowdsourcing platforms are also offering new possibilities to develop ideas and projects (mainly in social, cultural and environmental issues) that before were not feasible. Finally, both crowdfunding and crowdsourcing, are becoming key factors to encourage people to develop their entrepreneurial projects in a context of digital and social inclusion. Also enables the awareness that we are not alone and that a collective effort can be successful. Social entrepreneurship preaches it, and adds the collective as an alternative to “make, prepare and think”. The collective sense denotes not only the fact that people help each other, but also the fact that anyone can be a protagonist and can also be able to create your own initiative in the Web Universe. As we have seen, not only are they are democratizing access to capital and resources, but also they are also bringing the world of entrepreneurship into everyone’s homes. Provide discussion of the overall coverage of the chapter and concluding remarks.

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Oden, M. (2004). Beyond the Digital Access Divide, Developing Meaningful Measures of Information and Communications Technology Gaps. Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin Press. Passarelli, B. (2007). Digital Interfaces in Education: consensual halucinations. São Paulo, Brazil: School of the Future. Passarelli, B. & Angelucci. (2013). Interactive Generation Brazil Research: Children and Teenagers Using Computers, TV, Games and Mobile Phones. In Rethinking the Conceptual Base for New Practical Applications in Information Value and Quality. IGI Global. Passarelli, B. (2013). “School of the Future”Research Laboratory/USP: action research and emerging literacies studies in WEB 2.0 environments (2010-2011). The Journal of Community Informatics, 7(1). Retrieved from: http://ci-journal. net/index.php/ciej/article/view/646 Passarelli, B., & Azevedo, J. (2010). Atores em rede: olhares lusos-brasileiros. São Paulo, Brazil: SENAC. Passarelli, B., Guzzi, D., & Dimantas, H. (2009). Program AccessSP. PONLINE, 2008. São Paulo, Brazil: School of the Future. Passarelli, B., & Junqueira, A. H. (2012). Interactive Generations Brazil: kids and teenagers in front of screens. São Paulo, Brazil: Telefônica Vivo Foundation. Passarelli, B., Junqueira, A. H., & Botelho-Francisco, R. (2011). Emerging Literacies on WEB 2.0: a digital inclusion approach on elderly in AccessSP Program. São Paulo, Brazil: University of São Paulo.

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Ragnedda, M. (2014). Social stratification and digital divide: a weberian approach. Retrieved from: http://mragnedda.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/ social-stratification-and-digital-divide-a-weberian-approach-ica-conference-seattle-may-22/ Ragnedda, M., & Muschert, G. (2013). The Digital Divide: The Internet and Social Inequality in International Perspective. New York: Routledge. Schroter, W. (2014). Top 10 Business Crowdfunding Campaigns of All Time. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/wilschroter/2014/04/16/top-10-business-crowdfundingcampaigns-of-all-time/ Schumpeter, J. (1950). Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (3rd ed.). New York: Harper and Row. Seale, J. & Wald, M. (2010). Digital Agility and Digital Decision‐making: Conceptualizing Digital Inclusion in the Context of Disabled Learners in Higher Education. Studies in Higher Education, 35 (4), 445-461. Selwyn, N., & Facer, K. (2007). Beyond the Digital Divide: Rethinking Digital Inclusion for the Twenty First Century. Bristol, UK: Futurelab. Straubhaar, J. (2011). The Persistence of Inequity in the Technopolis: Race, Class and the Digital Divide in Austin, Texas. Houston, TX: University of Texas Press. Warschauer, M. (2003). Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide. Boston: MIT Press. Weber, M. (1972). Economy and Comprehensive Society. Brasília, Brazil: Editora UNB. Wessels, B. (2008). Creating a regional agency to foster eInclusion: The case of South Yorkshire, UK. European Journal of ePractice, 3 (6), 1-11. World Summit on the Information Society Stocktaking. (2014) Retrieved from:

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Crowdfunding: Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. One early-stage equity expert described it as the practice of raising funds from two or more people over the internet towards a common Service, Project, Product, Investment, Cause, and Experience. Three types of actors fuel the crowdfunding model: the project initiator who proposes the idea and/or project to be funded; individuals or groups who support the idea; and a moderating organization (the “platform”) that brings the parties together to launch the idea. Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing is the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers. This process is often used to subdivide tedious work or to fund-raise startup companies and charities. It combines the efforts of numerous self-identified volunteers or part-time workers, where each contributor of their own initiative adds a small portion to the greater result. The term “crowdsourcing” is a portmanteau of “crowd” and “outsourcing”; it is distinguished from outsourcing in that the work comes from an undefined public rather than being commissioned from a specific, named group. Digital Inclusion: Digital inclusion is commonly defined as the incorporation of information technologies into the community in order to promote education and improve the quality of life. Means of Production: In economics and sociology, the means of production refers to physical, non-human inputs used in production; that is, the “means of production” includes capital assets used to produce wealth, such as machinery, tools and factories, including both infrastructural capital and natural capital. This includes the “factors of production” described in classical economics minus financial capital and minus human capital.

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They include two broad categories of objects: instruments of labor (tools, factories, infrastructure, etc.) and subjects of labor (natural resources and raw materials). If creating a good, people operate on the subjects of labor, using the instruments of labor, to create a product; or, stated another way; labor acting on the means of production creates a good. Social Entrepreneurship: Social entrepreneurship is the process of pursuing innovative solutions to social problems. More specifically, social entrepreneurs adopt a mission to create and sustain social value. They draw upon appropriate thinking in both the business and nonprofit worlds and operate in a variety of organizations: large and small; new and old; religious and secular; nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid. Business entrepreneurs typically measure performance in profit and return, but social entrepreneurs also take into account a positive return to society. Social entrepreneurship typically furthers broad social, cultural, and environmental goals and is commonly associated with the voluntary and not-for-profit sectors. Profit can at times also be a consideration

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for certain companies or other social enterprises. Social entrepreneurship practiced in a world or international context is called international social entrepreneurship. Social Inclusion: Social inclusion aims to empower poor and marginalized people to take advantage of burgeoning global opportunities. It ensures that people have a voice in decisions which affect their lives and that they enjoy equal access to markets, services and political, social and physical spaces. Social Technology: “Social technology” is defined as applying the use of social science theories and methods implementing related technologies for specific purposes especially social ones: to ease social procedures via social software and social hardware, which might include the use of computers and information technology for governmental procedures. It has historically referred to two meanings: as a term related to social engineering, a meaning that began in the 19th century, and as a description of social software, a meaning that began in the early 21st century.

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Chapter 7

From Information Society to Community Service: The Birth of E-Citizenship Benedito Medeiros Neto University of Brasilia, Brazil

ABSTRACT This chapter presents a perspective of a post-industrial society, through the development of the information society and its deployment, focusing on the possibilities of a service predominant society. The most important point of this exercise is that this approach did not happen as expected in form or time. In the past, the ICT tools were restricted to centers of competence or in organizations. Nowadays, their increasingly presence in individual lives, as well as in their human relationships, is changing social and commercial relations, the meaning of work and political participation of people in a compulsory way, unlike what had happened at the turn of agricultural to industrial Eras. New possibilities happen in a rapid manner in a society based on wealth concentration, when there is association of ICTs with the restlessness of social movements or collective protests demanding better living conditions of minority communities. The increasing information flows have led to the desire of knowledge. However, this search for the social welfare achievements has occurred in a superficial manner, leading to anxiety and depression of common and deprived citizens. A new Citizenship or, better defined, e-Citizenship emerges between their aspirations. Based on facts and observations of recent research on the impacts of ICTs in the last ten years, the approach of a community service changes the daily lives of individuals, despite its acceptance or perception, the presence of virtual media, the growing media innovation and agricultural, industrial and operational processes, as well as the claimed social movements.

1. INTRODUCTION1 Around the 40s and 50s, it was said that in the countries where industrial revolution had followed its course, the tertiary sector would gain strength and at that time it seemed very natural and, with

the rise of liberal professions, the more qualified professionals had better jobs and factories replaced by quiet rooms. This matter shall be deeply analyzed while trying to find reasons to a change in the initial expectation based on society’s new boundary conditions. People do not live on

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch007

Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

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by technology and seek for survival, but by the accomplishment of new rights and citizenship. This chapter goes beyond the reflection of social impact results. It also seeks to understand disappointments and what has been achieved in the fight for better life quality in the way to a new citizenship. Researchers of computer science, communication and society fields have warned a few times about technological development and a possible planetary “cyberdemocracy” that will put the individual “in the vertigo of the future and in the urge of the present, therefore creating utopia and dystopia” (Lemos & Lévy, 2010). Arrangements and productive structures and social relations receive a certain impact due to more accessible convergent technology, transactional information, oblique communication, access to information and knowledge anywhere at any given time and the new forms of internet connection. These changes or transformations shall lead to a more transactional and interactive 21st Century Society in comparison to what was expected. The progress the last century to 21st century was followed by profound changes in the oriental and occidental societies, differently what was observed before, with economic, social and political transformations occurring simultaneously, including education for all life, ecologic issue, search citizenship, among several other preoccupations. The citizen, its community2 and society are guided to create new behaviors, while leaving others behind, due to new needs. He can adapt based on the access to an enormous volume of information, on the use of information technology and in the growth of services provided. A reader can verify those facts simply by looking around. It is not the purpose of this chapter to analyze the background of Industrial Era and the beginning of Modernity, as well as the reasons of the supply of goods and services’ growth in the 70 or 80 decades of last century, or to survey the multiplicity of ways or how simple it is to access information and communication in the first de-

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cades of 21st century, but, to explore the unfolding of the information society and the possibilities of seeking new citizenship in Community Service.

2. THE 21ST CENTURY SOCIETY AND ITS BACKGROUND At the beginning of the second half of the 20th Century, Daniel Bell, a sociologist from Harvard, defender of postindustrial theory, especially exposed in his famous book “The Coming of Post-Industrial Society” (1973, 1991, 2001), envisioned overcoming the number of industry employees by the tertiary sector, in 1956, as the beginning of the post-industrial era. He grounded his view on the concept of post-industrial society. The post-industrialism theory gained strength, dissemination and popularity, with the work of Peter Drucker (1993), “The Age of Discontinuity” (1969). Other scholars have called our society with a surprising variety of terms, including knowledge society (UNESCO, 2005), age of information and network society (Castells, 1999, 2001) global village (McLuhan, 1996), telépolis (Echeverría, 1999), surveillance society (Lyon, 1995 and 2001), interconnected society (Martin, 1980), interconnected intelligence society (Tapscott, 1996). But it was due to Alvin Toffler (1986), with his work Future Shock, to do an alert to the academy, inviting readers to prepare for a transition so different from what was the transition from agrarian to industrial society (Kumur, 2006), pointing, essentially, changes in the social structure, the transformations taking place in the economic life and career structure, and finally, the new relationships established between theory and experimental practice, between science, technology and the social. The basic idea of post-industrial society, then mentioned as postmodern, was based not only on the strength of hand labor, but understood as the rapid growth opportunity for professionals

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and individuals of technical level, making new economic and organizational arrangements (Kumur, 2006), but, for Domenico de Masi (2013), an optimistic which says the progressive increase of democratic countries and the dissemination of information and education. The transformation process still has a certain impulse, which justifies a quick glance at the background that leads us to be more “connected” or alienate as an option or imposition as well as an individual position or not regarding the future. It can either be on the side of access to technology or enhance use of technology and information access. It is important to say that these opportunities can lead an individual to turn into virtual and in person activisties, be it a conscious decision or not. The perception of exclusion takes the same individual to the need of being permanently included in the digital world, for interactivity is a growing part of human and organizational relations to a large portion of society.

2.1. The Development after Industrial Era It is important to have a perspective on current technological innovation and in the universalization of telecommunication services such as Internet connection and cell phones, data treating in metropolis and capitals and the growing number of cloud information sharing. The expansion of computer net is also a part of the analysis, for technology and interactivity are still growing. All of this makes researchers look ahead and visualize possible impacts those changes can have in different areas that were previously unchanged. According to Manuel Castells (2012), current social movement undertook by technological society ends up as an unexpected example, exposing fundamental contradictions in our world and potencializing a new way of living in a community. The scenario in Latin and Central America in the 90s was one of inequality regarding information access and in the opportunity of using ICTs.

The truth is that having access to the globalized world and its integrating markets has become a constant challenge. Inequality in the first decade 21st century has diminished, however it is easier to spot them, due to the fact that some people do not have access to essential goods and services or due to social conditions. Nevertheless, these conditions were already considered relevant in the information society in the 90s (Sorj, 2003). From now on, acquisition differences regarding goods is not as important as citizens right to access services offered by the market or Government, such as education, communication3 channel, health and security. Even matters such as environmental sustainability can gain strength with a support of Information and Communication Technology – ICT. Unlike before, those necessities have become important factors in the daily life. It is also possible to see that, when it comes to technology, a more qualified individual will participate more and demand solutions and public policies. These are some reasons why both matters should be investigated (Medeiros Neto & Moreno, 2013). Costa Santos & Carvalho (2009, p. 52) affirm that this discussion should permeate the participation of any individual in Information Society and in the use of ICT as long as the individual is able to use information in his favor and in favor of society. “With that, is it possible to exist boosters in the economic, cultural and social sectors, otherwise we are threatened of being excluded,” which means that, above all. Content production by the citizen is much more important to his personal and collective interests. The impact of ICTs happens in different ways in numerous countries. Although the focus of this study is in Latin America and the Caribbean, it is possible to see attempts in the construction of technological structures and communication services, implementation of rules and formulation of policies to reduce inequality regarding the use of ICTs in other countries. With the growth of Internet, other telecommunication channels, and the converging technology that has been hap-

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pening for more than two decades, it is possible to foreseeing a new momentum in information technology due to the empowerment it brings to countries and globalized markets. The implantation of Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean happens in many different ways. In most cases, they reacted to ICTs impact in formulation of public policies in the past fifteen years, as stated in CEPAL4 ‘s observatory.

2.2. Brazil in the Information Society By focusing on a case of information society of a country, it should be taken in account several differences in behavior that occur among them, such as if the country is federal or not, small or large, and even the size of its economy. For example, in the case of Brazil, at the end of the last century, it was realized a necessity of a government policy formulation for an Information Society, that resulted in a development of guidelines and policies. In the Brazilian case, it was chosen a study space, and not a model that should be followed, to show the impacts of ICT and its consequences on post-industrial society. The formulation of Brazilian public politics was structured based on three stages: 1) Preparation of the Green Book; discussion of it with the society; and then drafting the White Book; 2) Implementation of operational activities for the triennium 2001-2003; 3) Consolidation, including overall program evaluation; developing a set of proposals and actions related to federal government agencies. So, the program that had as its task to formulate the Brazilian public policy, drafted the Green Book as the first stage of the response, containing all the guidelines, goals and actions, built with the cooperation of a number of invited agencies. The discussion with the society was postponed to draft the White Book. Yet, the most important part, the distribution of the operational activities execution, did

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not receive the necessary attention, leading this challenge to the hands of the Ministry of Science and Technology (Brazil, 2000).

White Book for the Information Society The White5 Book was structured into four core sections. This assessment takes into account the risks and opportunities associated with economic and technological changes at that time, the early years of Century 21. Web 2.0 brought interactivity, collaboration, the appearance of the first application (APP) for mobile phones, and also the incipient information systems for e-gov. The emergence of virtual learning communities (CAV) was yet incipient, at the same time that Internet was becoming the main platform for services in the US and some European countries. However, the major focus of the Brazilian coaches and managers of the program was to examine the key challenges for the consolidation of a National System of Science, Technology and Innovation for Brazil, and develop the conditions necessary for sustainable development. Today, a simple analysis leads us to realize that the aspirations expressed in the ideals of the Society “Information” and “Knowledge”, targeted for education as well as for innovation, were only produced for books and documents, due the fact that the objectives and goals of the Brazilian program were not implemented. So, to contribute to the present analysis, we decided to present a review of the specific goals stated in the White Book, with few comments: 1. To induce a favorable ambient for a permanent learning. Few tentatives had success, only experiences of large corporations, centers of competency and large universities; 2. To diffuse the scientific and technologic culture in the society. Although lately, new medias were developed;

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3. To amplify the conditions to access and use of ICT by distinct society segments. The observation of this deficiency directed to better attention among actions of the following govern, translated into projects and programs for digital inclusion; 4. To stimulate the use of ICT in the access universalization to scientific and technologic education. This issue was not well accomplish, but it was improved with late actions from Govern and market; 5. To encourage the involvement of the media in covering topic of CT&I, in some Latin America and Caribbean Countries. This objective did not achieve yet a significative economic and social development. In Brazil, it goes through the amplification of telecommunication nets, the universalization of cellphones and computers. But, it was observed some economic advances in relation to CIT in the market as well in part of the Govern. Several point that the privatization of telephonic operators as a solution for reprised demand for phones and services; 6. To contribute to modernize and improve the science education. A goal that staid behind the expected, even in relation to the volume of resources directed to high school and universities. The lack of management and training of teachers and mediators, was observed, even though the significative amount of equipments release to schools and public universities, contrary what was observed in big private universities; 7. To promote and to support the implementation of museums and expositions of C&T. It was only observed in big centers or among higher social classes, and an advance with that policy regulation by the Ministry of Culture (Brazil, 2000 & Brazil, 2002, p. 36). The lack of articulation of the Ministry of Science and Technology in the Program conduction is identified today as a failure, once that the

White Book released with delay did not considered important parts of the Green Book. The next government was contemplated with all ideas and good intentions. Nevertheless, all documentation of this project is an opportunity, as well as a gain, to evaluate the Brazilian Program, using books or governmental actions, although few, that were implemented (Brazil, 2002).

Setbacks and Advances in the Access and Use of Information in Brazil There is no motivation for implement an inventory of setbacks and advances of the Latin America countries entrance in the Information Society, and even organisms, such as OEA and CEPAL did not see such preoccupation, and were more interested in producing follow up indicators. There actual actions were focused in promotion of means that may offer paths for that associated countries may suppress their barriers and inequalities of access to ICT, based on a digital inclusion more systematic, with actions for education, health, and electronic government as a way to improve their citizens’ competency in information. So, it is important to verify the setbacks and advances of the Brazilian project. In the opinion of some critics, the document elaborated for the Brazilian Program that indicated the country entry in the Information Society had lack of strength, were not profound, as well as lack of scientific subsidies for discussions. For example, in the conception of the Green Book, several issues were treated as a only technological issues, and only lately, there was a social and economic approach. It reflected in the lack of actions in several activity fields from government or marked agents, during the implementation process of the Information Society in Brazil. The low political articulation could be perceived and identified in the elaboration of the White Book, once it was not only released with delay in 2002, also it was not applied or included much of the Green Book. That manner, the federal government that had finished

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in 2002, left for the next government the difficulties to implement the Information Society. It took some time for that matter became again an issue for the next government. Only some actions, such as Digital Inclusion and Electronic Government, were implemented early with a social approach. There was little emphasis to stress that, in an “Information Society”, the use of information is the key for citizen to turn himself in a active agent inside the society as a net. The fact is that the actions for an electronic government and for a Digital Inclusion were the ones that most had success with some results of the Program, although a little late. The consolidation of the proposition that information is, at the same time, “a social necessity and a essential element in the plain exercise of human rights” is defended by Placida and Ângela, and addressed in this chapter (2009, p. 52). We know nowadays that citizens, when producing or absorbing new contents, may induce communities to create their own contents that may feed the informational cycle, transferring information between actors, as well as technological appropriation and knowledge formulation, according to Barreto (2012). Nevertheless, what it was observed in Brazil, during this 10 years of implementation of Information Society, considering information use and preoccupation with citizenship, was below expectations, although an accelerated market exploitation of personal communication by telecommunication providers, after the sector privatization in South and Central Americas, with a slowly utilization of ICT by individuals living outside of big enterprises or governmental organizations, or living in unattractive regions in economic terms. The studies and researches in South America about social and economic inequalities, with exception for Brazil, have shown a stabilized in the distance between literate rich and vulnerable poorer (Sorj, 2003, 2007), using individual or familiar income. Although income is still an important indicator to express social inequality, it

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probably better reflected inequalities in industrial era where people required more material goods, and, in the contemporary era, individuals request more information, knowledge, and services, and they understand better the barrier when their desires stay far or restrict. The abysm that is open in front of them scares, because they do not know their distances and they may think they are incapable to cross them, in addition of other possible successive barriers before never imagined (Medeiros Neto & Miranda, 2009).

2.3. Technology and Labour, Information and Inequality Matters as employability and social inclusion have changed in the past two decades. Antunes (2001, p.13) said that the center of the category referred to as labour is centered in the “contemporary society formation”, from which new ways of producing are capable of reshape labour organization and, thereafter, an individual social occupation. According to the history, social occupation provides strength so that the individual can promote changes in cyberspace and show results against social exclusion. Labour, as known for a large portion of workers, requires a new transformation in its traditional role as responsible for occupation and sustainability. This means considering social and cultural insertion is extremely necessary to adequate to new policies and labour market regulation. The relationship between Information and Communications Technology – ICT, and its users with their jobs is linked to sociocultural and economic aspects and individuals policies, among other things. This relationship is a demand from users that are digitally included in cyberspace, which is understood as a migration from real world to a virtual world. At the same time, technology and information access becomes more relevant when someone seeks for a job opportunity. This shows how using computers and mobile device is essential

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in a worker’s life, especially considering how economical it can be. Therefore, digital inclusion programs can go beyond simply having access to a computer and Internet connection, it can create transformation and economic growth that goes beyond a worker’s social and cultural space. Overall, access to ICTs gives more opportunity in the post-modern society. The bad side is that it jeopardizes those without access to information and services (Becker, 2009). On the other side, the critical use of ICTs with social and economic actions in order to promote equality can take the society to full implementation of its citizenship, even in a utopia. Nevertheless, before transformations occur, it is necessary to promote a political-social participation and access to education that goes beyond responsibilities regarding occupation and making a living. To Becker (2009, p.55) “understanding the relationship between less privileged people and labour is fundamental to understand the relationship between labour, technology – especially regarding Internet connection – knowledge, world and society. Subjects connected to citizenship and labour or economy requires deep analysis. Considering that in the past this was an obvious statement, in this decade it has become an inseparable reality, however, “this perspective of citizenship as belonging to labour and production is fading and becoming a concept linked to consumption” (Becker, 2009, p. 63) when factors such as loss of freedom and crisis happen. Aspects related to citizenship and labour have a a third factor due to new technology that soon will be directed towards capital reduction, production control increase and the creation of new services facilities as a consequence of informational revolution created by the presence of ICTs in work spaces. The promotion of such facilities associated with mobility and ubiquity inserted in the informational capitalism and services amplification require that those individuals left at the margin of society overcome illiteracy and their needed digital literacies (Passarelli, 2010) so that they can participate and

demand their rights and citizenship. After all, the same thing that alienates can promote changes. The central issues, when discussing social inequality, are lack of basic public services, economic sustainability, and new citizenship always may have favorable impacts through technological support over the social and productive structure. The presence of such actions supported by technology makes it possible to see a perspective of a more evident citizenship. The opportunities created by social inclusion can change the socioeconomic situation of an individual, taking him to indirectly contribute to an active citizenship, either due to the participation in politics and public decisions or due to a greater interactivity, not using the patriotic speech of digital inclusion (Sorg, 2007.)

2.4. Digital Inclusion and Still Little Information Literacy Expansion data regarding telecommunication services and investments are abundant, however, governmental and NGOs initiatives are still low, especially in the social inequality demand, accessibility for handicaps, and citizenship improvement. Nevertheless, the numbers are a motive of joy to the International Telecommunication Union – ITU6. Even though numbers are still low, private initiatives to support training, education and technology to fight against social exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean have been happening for the past ten years. Despite public and private efforts by providing support programs, through providing computers, access to broad band in public schools, Wi-Fi in public squares, the use of ICTs in sectors as health, security and Internet governance still have not changed the inequality picture. Many countries of Latin America and Caribbean provide computer science and technology policies so digital inclusion can be a permanent act. The lack of proper education, librarians, facilitators etc. in public facilities is a recurrent event.

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Even in countries as Chile, Brazil7 and Argentina, optical fiber does not reach everybody, prices are still high and the number of facilities for the less privileged is still low in most of Latin America countries. The reason is that areas with lower social standards and small population have lower access to technology and telecommunication; and in border areas, despite the higher costs, satellite technology is the only access to Internet connection and technology. Nowadays, data has become more precise, and cellphone users have developed better informational competence due to a greatest need, with or without help from coworkers or family members in order to achieve more than a simple voice communication (Pieniz & Silveira, 2011). A new concept has risen in the field of Information, Communication and Computer Science regarding digital inclusion called Information Literacy (Varela & Farias, 2012), which transcends all three fields of knowledge. It must be considered a booster factor to citizenship insofar as it fills the gaps in knowledge appropriation, making the individual more independent as long as he stimulates his informational competence. This is true both in critical evaluation and in his ability to participate in political actions as a citizen (Pieniz & Silveira, 2011). Digital inclusion can promote participation in cyberspace, however, the Information Literacy can further improves participation in decisions in the public sphere and may facilitate the search of citizenship (Cybersociety). Jürgen Habermas (2014) examines social and historical conditions in the public sphere that led to the post-modern society. According to him “the public sphere is an organizing principal of public order”. He says that freedom of expression should be assured by the public power to all individuals and that all public opinion is a way of legitimizes the public power as a critical and communicative process. Even without more precise data, a reduction in the number of telecenters and in the use of mobile devices, overcome the lack of computers

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for lower income population. There is a race to include more individuals and promote new medias that ranges from digital culture to commercial and social relations in social networks. This makes the digital and informational process prevail in Brazil and other Latin America countries and the Caribbean8, in which countries such as Uruguay have an advantage due to overcoming illiteracy over countries that lack basic resources, such as Haiti and Guatemala. Having access to a computer, the ability to understand how to use Internet and ICTs have changed in the past decade, due to the rise in the number of mobile devices and the expansion of broadband (Wi-Fi). Brazil, with the largest telecommunication infrastructure in Latin America, “had low informational inclusion indicators among the included digitally” (Medeiros Neto, 2012, p. 147), observed when social, cultural and economic and regional aspects of Brazil were considered. These are reasonably to happen, which portrays the lack of training to give the user informational competence beyond a threshold, using technology or simple access to information via the Internet (digital inclusion). Information Literacy is about the person’s competence to note his needs and constant pursue, evaluate and use information to fulfill them and contribute with other people. Cortina (2005) goes further and relates informational appropriation to the exercise of citizenship. Being a citizen of a specific social group is related to how you identify yourself with it. The author brings a more evident form of citizenship perspective. The appropriation of the ICTs and Web as exercise of new citizenship is reassured for several researchers (Sorj, 2007, Becker, 2009 & Castells, 2012) and affirms economic and social transformation of individuals due to ICTs, according to researches carried out in the past ten years. In fact, Internet and data base becoming more available provide a development of space, cyberspace and cyberculture, which benefit the exercise of citizenship and make a difference to those with access

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and capacity to use that space, which could be easily perceived to telecenters’ visitors from the periphery. Nevertheless, it is possible to see social inclusion is taking small steps towards an active citizenship (Medeiros Neto, 2012).

2.5. Digital Literacy toward Citizenship Many researches have focused on digital inclusion and literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last two years due to its importance, being supervised by organs such as ECLAC (CEPAL) and OAS (OEA). It is undeniable that there is an important matter in the post-modern information society around the world, regarding mobile devices such as cell phones reaching people with lack of material and cognitive resources. To which point lack of training or limited access to public interest information can jeopardize individuals? The best alternative is to teach the necessary skills regarding technology use in order to overcome functional illiteracy in some countries. Researches and projects from Coletivo da Escola do Futuro - USP turn their attention towards digital inclusion and its unfolding. The concept of literacy and digital literacy is explored as capable of providing a better understanding and reach to the cognitive and social phenomenon and represent the new abilities9 related to appropriation and ICTs in the contemporary society (Passarelli, 2010). The use of virtual learning techniques based on ICTs, alongside actions to promote equality can take the citizen to a full citizenship development (Passarelli, 2010.) Therefore, it is necessary to investigate changes in apprenticeship for ICTs users based on the digital literacies concept. As a result of that, in Bauman’s (2001) liquid modernity, individuals will be able to further digital and informational inclusion to digital literacies. The next step is to overcome barriers of using text, audio and voice devices simultaneously in social and daily life. The consequence is the unfolding of the literacies concept: the hypermedia, spread

of information and socio-emotional literacy. Such changes are becoming more likely to happen, especially for mobile10 device users with the support of tutors, either in a presential way or in an on-line one (Passarelli, 2010). Escola do Futuro’s investors have shown that the word literacy is not sufficient to represent the digital alphabetization unfolding. Nor even the expression digital literacy can represent that, for it resembles school-based learning. Digital literacies represent new codification and virtual on-line international practices in information society schools, as well as virtual apprenticeship communities (VAC), where the use and access to automated search tools is more common. Besides, reading, interpretation, research and Internet navigational, there is a continuous evolution process regarding technological learning11 (Passarelli, Ribeiro, Oliveira & Mealha, 2014). While in the Web 1.0, the key words were to release, to search, to have access and to read”, the Web 2.0 allows other digital and informational resources, such as the possibility of exchanging information and accessing technology from home. The rising number of tablets and smartphone uses is favorable to new digital inclusion activities based on the interaction between men and machine, since ICTs end up affecting access to health, citizenship and personal finance. Thus, ICTs and the corresponding digital literacies constitute an important factor of production and socio-cultural transformation, in which engender new values, meanings and social practices guided by collaboration and network interaction (Passarelli, 2010). According to Santaella (20013,) it has become normal to say that the Web is the main aspect in the Information and Knowledge Society has proven in it the past decades. Not even Web 1.0 was taught and Web 2.0 and its collaborative processes and participatory interface were incorporated to the society. In the following years, Web 3.0 was announced. For now, it is focused on competency centers and universities, for the market does not

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support its commercialization12. This stage of technological evolution has reached a new level and it is now possible to think of an interaction using different equipments. Only the connection capacity, energy and data analysis potential, that emerges from the collaboration, collective efforts, and competition of many individuals, e that appears from the consensus decision-making, collective intelligence, can expand people’s capacity to a new citizenship. “Today, Web 3.0 has its attributes centered in Semantic Web and promises to change the way Internet is used” (Santaella, 2010, p. 268). By exploring the possibilities of artificial intelligence, modular applications, hybridity, 3D graphics, enhancement of connection between men and machine, Internet of Things, and technological convergence. Therefore, in order to enhance digital inclusion, Information Literacy crosses paths with digital literacy. Success is only achieved when teaching and apprenticeship mediated by tutors is enhanced, even in areas of social vulnerability. In the perspective of Passarelli (2010), the acquisition and the ongoing development of information literacy contribute to the promotion of individual ownership, to the strengthening of democracy and active and conscious citizenship, cultural expression and for personal fulfillment.

3. THE TRAJECTORY OF THE METHOD Recently, the widespread use of modern digital communications has added new instruments and new channels through which all sectors of society, “especially the least represented, can make their voices heard”. Santos (2014 a, p. 2) tries to demonstrate how interactions between governments and their governed are happening and changing recently. This perspective of a post-modern society coupled with Web 3.0 as a new way of accessing

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the information and knowledge use, accumulated from the last 3 decades, brings the idea of a new citizenship should be adopted. This research is based on several other researches and observations in different times and location. It has begun in 2008 with a visit to Washington University and their research on Internet and Society. The second step was the development of social projects and the creation of public policies in the Ministry of Communication of Brazil, which stimulates information sharing and enhances knowledge on less privileged people and functional illiterate people. The observations were followed by the implementation of digital inclusion programs and a quantitative research in public schools and telecenters that showed 700 new centers of digital inclusion in the years of 2009 and 201013 (Medeiros Neto, 2012). Concurrently, as an evaluative study, we used the data on information technology in Brazil and Latin America and the new data on interactive generation that occurs in the Digital Culture Observatory of Escola do Futuro from USP (2011 and 2012). This information was relevant aid in the interface between men and machine and the need on information competence. To complement this study, there was a qualitative research on literacy on mobile devices14 (ECA/USP) and studies on computer science and society in the Computer Science Department of UnB (2013 and 2014). All of these showed once again that human behavior towards technology is the important matter and not its rise or development, for the individual leads his own relations with society. Based on this research, it is aimed the development of new theoretical models and principles on living in society.

4. THE BIRTH OF e-CITIZENSHIP In the 20th century, matters regarding citizenship arose due to a new concept of social justice in-

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cited by informational flow. Pedro Demo (1995) says the biggest conquer in the past century was the understanding that citizenship is the most important component in the development. Being a fundamental aspect for the progress, citizenship can be considered a human competence that can take an individual to change his own history. Citizenship concept has been renovated since the 90s, and received attention from several lines of thought and even though it’s Roman and Greek origins remain. Some concerns have been raised during the concept’s unfolding, either in academy or due to political, cultural and social influence. And it shall continue to develop as internal and external aspects of a community changes the relation between people and society. Citizenship implies a social and legal recognition in which an individual has rights and obligations that connect him to a community (Cuevas, Marques & Paixão, 2014)15. In a simpler way, citizenship is the development of a social individual as a part of the political sphere, in discussions such as what is best for the society. Therefore, it is understandable that information research in citizenship fields such as: earth warming, environment etc. happen. Citizenship must be equal for all individuals, except in the case of minorities and handicapped people. An individual citizenship is also built in public space and exchange. In both cases, education is fundamental for it helps to develop critical awareness. Citizenship is an historic achievement that represents the fight for rights. Its concept, as the alphabetization concept, is historically built, gaining or losing strength according to its unfolding (Cuevas, Marques & Paixão, 2014).

4.1. A Concept to the E-Citizenship Relationships in the 21st century will be marked by ICTs mediation and use, either due to real changes or in the capacity to create ways to apply the citizenship (BECKER, 2009). Under this light, a new concept of citizenship will rise backed

and supported interactively, by the guarantee of expression for all, by the virtual transcendence of the territorial aspects and the local and global cultural movements. Considering the new perspective, it is important to adapt the citizenship concepts to a more representative democracy based on society’s participation in the decision making process. Under such thought, a new concept of citizenship is desired, supported interactivity, the term warranty for all, by the virtual transcendence of the territorial aspects and the local and global cultural movement. Negative aspects of globalization, the loss of rights associated to world crisis and inequality can create social injustice and dissatisfaction (Cuevas-Cerveró et al., 2014). The political impact of Internet that decentralizes information and communication systems and can create a citizen as consumers and producers16 of information and contents, unlike traditional technology, that creates information and passes to the population without any critical concern (Soares, 2002). The other side of included, the excluded people, happens to individuals that are not digitally included17 and become dependents to obtain information from other people. Digital and Informational Inclusion is not only related to digital alphabetization, without going into ethical, axiological or political issues, but rather to what some authors called digital citizenship, cybercitizenship or e-Citizenship, linked to the regulation of human rights and rights of citizenship and the information society. Being more emphatic. Under the name of citizenship has sometimes line that welcomes those who are in and are “citizens”, as in ancient polis, and therefore have rights and those outside, in fact or delimited marginal sense, “and excludes “. Those slaves of Athenian democracy, no one recognizes their right to property, or rather, they are not citizens and therefore do not have the same rights of the former. (Cuevas, et al, 2014). Normally, the term e-Citizenship is used for participation of citizens in e-technologies, but this

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is not a strict definition. This includes all levels of e-government as well as e-commerce. However, e-government and e-commerce exhibit quite different characteristics. Whereas e-commerce has the clear target to intensify usage and turnover, e-government seeks its goals in availability and comfort not in augmented frequency. Here we intend to deepen a little and make relations with other previous concepts, such as digital inclusion, literacies and the concept of citizenship. To Bustamante (2010,) this concept can have two different facets: The suppression of social awareness, which represents superficial use of ICTs, the rise of social control, resulting in hardware, software and communication protocols monopoly; or a setting in which hyper-citizenship is based on technology’s social appropriation, ICTs use for citizens in the promotion of social inclusion, protection of the common property, software and human rights. Bustamente (2007, 2010) estates the need of establishing human rights that adapt to changes caused but ICTs and the rights already achieved. Due to the rise of new rights in the post-modern society, there can be a review of the concept established. It can be initially related to new social movements, but the connection with economic and social movements and the presence of activism, as a sign of citizenship evolution, is predictable. The cyberdemocracy18 concept is present in the new citizenship and, thanks to the use of ICTs, furthers the insertion of individuals in the new society, allowing them to acquire the necessary information literacy. The concept e-Citizenship is not the answer to issues such as autonomy versus authorities, freedom versus equality, individual vs. Government as suggested, however, it is in cyberspace that the e-Citizenship can be practiced, in which can review the traditional understanding of what is participation, democracy etc. This way, e-Citizenship can stop being a privilege of a small group, by expanding the concept of digital inclusion, as mentioned by researches in the fields of Sociology

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and Political Science Castells & Cardozo (2005), Bernardo Sorj (2007) e Pierre Lévy (2014). The Citizenship concept must be systematic and open to development. According to Lúcia Becker (2009,) since there are numerous concepts of citizenship, there are numerous dimensions to it. On a legal concept, it has three main components: civil, political and social dimensions. e-Citizenship can be a kind of citizenship that leads the individuals to search the regulation of human rights as citizens in an information society or under its evolution.

4.2. Civil, Political, and Social Rights to E-Citizenship In the past, there was a relative agreement about citizenship issue, although complex and polemic, based in Marshall rights (1967). For him, citizenship was supported in the right dimensions. The civil rights are the rights necessary to individual liberty - liberty to come and go, press liberty, as well as thoughts and faith, the right to property and to celebrate valid contracts, the right to justice, and the right of equality of all before the law. For example, it remains aspirations of several movements, in the majority of developing countries, such as countries below the Equator, the civil liberties to come and go, and to speak publicly, maybe due to present restrictions and inequalities or imposed by totalitarian regimen (Castels, 2012). The political rights are refereed to the right to participate in the exercise of political power, or better, to citizen participation in government of society, with right to vote. The political right also signifies to participate in the political power exercise as member of any representative organism. Such desires took the movements, in the last decades, to have a strong support of ICT in Africans, Arabians, as well as in Latin America countries, although in a different manners, and, more recently, in Asia.

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The social rights include since a minimum right of economic welfare until personal and patrimonial security, to the right to participate completely in the social heritage and live the life of a civilized person according to society values. In fact, those rights improved to the concept of social justice, the rights to education, job, fair wages, health and retirement, being related to first world citizens, and there is a fear of losing all these achievements as consequence of the 2008-2009 economic crisis, that may reduce the accomplishments and acquisitive power (Mallamann, & Morigi, 2011). The concept of e-Citizenship, as it was cited, under the right’s view, was understood with three principal components: the civil dimension, the politics, and the social. Nevertheless, in the second decade, other categories were included, such as economic and intercultural citizenship. The proposals of new rights are linked to information access and to new communication facilities, and also other conditions such as Cortina (2005, p. 27) affirm: “the fact that to know and to feel as a citizen in one community may motivate individuals to work for it”. Afterword, she emphasizes that the question to educate for citizenship as being to learn to construct um world together, and the necessity of the presence to educate to construct the citizenship. Until some decades ago, an individual that had the guarantee, at the same time, of the three rights cited, could have, in theses, a plain citizenship. Nevertheless, the cited rights already were almost impossible to exist in plenitude. In fact, they were modified with the social and political changes, and, more recently, by economic and technologic influences, and they keep being a goal far from being achieved in several parts of the world. We can see Latin and Central Americas with their contrast between citizen rights and duties. Samek and López (2010) revised the right classification including the digital inclusion with human right of last generation, derived from the rights originated by ICT. They defend that digital inclusion as one of the human rights emerged from

Century 21, related always a right strictly linked to the set already articulated, but in continued expansion, of human rights. Bustamante (2007, 2010) defend the necessity to establish some human rights of forth generation that can be molded to the changes originated in the ICT and the could be part of the rights of previous generations

4.3. Education and Culture to the E-Citizenship According to Pellanda (2005), modernity has naturalized the dichotomy, once we live under a fragmented culture, separating the individual from collective actions. In the scope of this dichotomy, brings about the cultural fundamentalism and a society where social injustice is present. It is important to understand that social inclusion and digital culture can expand a person in the cyberspace. According to the author, as long as these perceptions continue commanding social relation: “[...] understanding of the technical phenomenon as being real and its role in the transformation dynamics is lost” (p. 61). In the new society, the sharing of information and knowledge is crucial; training manpower not only to understand TI, but to become educators that can help using and developing ICTs by e-government and community life. Access to information, communication and knowledge acquisition become collaborative and ubiquitous under the “pervasive networked systems” (Santaella, 2013.) The question is: who has the competence to enjoy this benefit? Before answering that, it is necessary to look at the whole picture and think about the ICTs and contemporary society, the influence between individuals and communities in order to understand how the different means and ways of pursuing and developing information to the daily and professional life should and could be changed. Insofar as social medias developed, its entry surrounds the daily life, embracing all sectors of human life, from education to business. Against this background,

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Lucia Santaella (2010, p. 263,) mentions the “the ubiquitous nature and intensity that communication means have developed require consideration on the impact of ICTs use.” Based on this first answer to the question raised, it is up to universities and colleges, especially, encourage the formation of new professional, not only of information technology, information or communication science, but from various fields, to be a subject with a permanent reflection of its role as an actor in the network and tutor, and arousing in him the possibility of changing the organizational culture in their professional environment. Also, it is important to alert them about ethics and learning throughout their lives, as this became a consensus among the sectors to citizenship to be perennial, and that ICT can be a strong ally in this attempt (Passarelli, 2010). Unlike that, information literacy and the democratization in the access to culture can promote the expansion of citizenship, especially when considering how universities and other education centers, as well as public libraries can help in the pursue of the e-Citizenship. To Belluzzo (2005) teaching and apprenticeship are under the same scope in the new conceptual paradigm that is focused on the training of citizens that can adapt to the Digital Era, which fundamental principle is based on the development of “informational competence and in the intellectual ability to turn it into knowledge in a continuous, growing process” (p. 37). In order to achieve a full exercise of e-Citizenship, it is necessary to strengthen education, alerting that the right to learn and access to information is secured to all in any situation. The surplus of information to ones and the lack of it to others might be the reason behind social problems that can be avoided as soon as human beings reach their first priority: rationality. Carvalho (2004,) underlines that education is a cornerstone in the building of citizenship, specifically when referred to the enhancement of social rights (better health conditions, housing, education

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among others.) “To educate in citizenship is to learn to build a world together.” (Cortina, 2005. p.181.) The author sees education and all things that focus on the progress of the way science is perceived as referring to the necessity of education as a part of a new citizenship or e-Citizenship. Both Carvalho and Cortina focus on the cultural citizenship perspective. Once again, it is important to understand that education and ethics mediated by the use of ICT is fundamental to the creation of a new society with citizenship and not only to train manpower. Once the market is subject to global economic impacts, and the influence of informational and communication technology, understanding the use of a GPS in a mobile device may represent a differential that can influence human activities, such as personal and public safety and the delivery of a good or service. Society is facing another evidence of Bauman’s (2001) liquid or fluid19 modernity: the rise of the generation of rights despite the guarantee of social, political and civil rights that result from the democratic advance and ICTs mediation (Junqueira, Passarelli & Guzzi, 2014.) The rise of one or more rights is a fact, but the concept still lacks consolidation. UN has adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought; this right includes freedom of having an opinion, pursuing, receiving and transmitting information and ideas in any form” (Mallmann; Morgi, 2011. p. 256). The fact is the building of a citizenship and an e-Citizenship is necessarily connected to information and communication use and access

4.4 Ways (E-Gov) and Means to Exercise of E-Citizenship Governance in contemporary societies range from public spaces to cyberspace, that is, human language extends itself according to an ecologic pluralist communication structure (Santaella, 2010). This ecology enhances human language

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potential by using communication that goes from the alphabet to social network websites such as “Facebook”, and plays a fundamental role in public governance evolution and economic development, stimulated by the pursue of freedom and the human necessity of hardwiring in global economy. It is expected that the maximum potential (collective intelligence) be achieved in community service that facilitates competitive cooperation games. “In these, competition is about best means and ways of cooperation, services or optimization of resources” (Lemos & Lévy, 2010. p. 54). More recently, the widespread use of social media (internet) and grow of digital communications is having and will have deep and unavoidable impacts on the relationship between the state and citizens (Santos, 2014b). In the authors opinion, cyberdemocracy is the “mainstreaming of diversity in open spaces, communication and cooperation approach,” that is, the idea of rights, freedom and collective intelligence. Cyberspace can lead to freedom of expression and promotes register by Information Science and allows the navigation in the informational sphere (Lévy, 2014). Therefore everybody should agree on underlying principles that govern the implementation and use of TICs. The e-Government (e-gov) needs to attend some basic elements to result in adequate benefits to the effort needed when implementing. Over time, we expect governments will become more responsive to issues and concerns will rise directly by all their people rather than through intermediaries controlled by a few selected (Santos, 2015b). The means to exercise of e-Citizenship, in the perspective introduced for Françoise Simon (2012, p. 168), “at least two dimensions which underlie the public e-service delivery interactional performance, which is the level of satisfaction reached by the organization’s partner in communication during their interaction”. In the first instance, it somehow reflects the tension, which does exist between personal media preferences and adjustment to imperative communication technologies.

When interacting with public organizations, it is depended of the literacy digital of the people. In the second instance, “it highlights the importance of trust which refers to the potential outcomes in terms of commitment to the organization, as well as the mechanisms needed to build and maintain trust”, its rise or development. In Latin and Central America, even among the major countries, this second aspect is the least heeded.

5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The evolution of Greek and Roman practices of citizenship has gone through the dawn of public opinion that is associated to the rise of press and mass culture and, at the end of 20th century, the expansion of television, radio and printed press. However, media has been leading to the convergence of information technology and telecommunications for the past three decades. At the same time, audiovisual media facilitates new spaces and practices of citizenship and e-Citizenship, eased by an operating e-government and extended to the maximum of citizens and while facilitating the achievement of e-Citizenship. The next step is to create more computer networks in order to connect and enhance the planetary Web in a global sphere (Lemos, Lévy, 2010). The challenge is to lead democratic governance (cyberdemocracy) and e-government feasible and viable to all and improve its transparency. Based on what has been presented in this chapter, it can be assured that there is a new way of living in community and in society. The society is being developed as a consequence of Industry and Postindustrial times. In Latin America, Information Society is a reality since the beginning of this Century. The handling of information abundance is still critical to organizations, students and educators, workers, and the elderly. Information stream goes beyond physical frontiers, and access to information and knowledge, by simply clicking in a mouse or touching a screen, leads the path to

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a “cybersociety”. To finalize the exercise of the perspective of citizenship or e-Citizenship in the unfolding of post-modern society, or the informational and knowledge age, it was necessary to consider two aspects:

a) The Desire of New Practices in the Contemporary Society One has to understand the concept e-Citizenship as a new right, and it is not endless such as the right to vote and other rights guaranteed by civil, social and political ways mediated by the State. Because of that, an elitist concept should be avoided. The new contexts and informational spaces (Wi-Fi) and the cyberdemocracy create new possibilities of participation free of determinism and constraints. Many times, the Government changes this situation, as in in Egypt, some parts of Latin America and the Caribbean or China. This way, we can understand e-Citizenship as a pursuit of news rights and expansion of the existing ones as digital inclusion. The factors that determine the digital, informational and social inclusions are in constant change, as the cell phone and fixed line ownership or home computer. The user and citizens that say they are digitally included were people who believe that Internet changed their lives, know and use the Internet, participate in relationship sites, and have habit of reading the news on the Web. Issues, such as schooling an income range, or geographic region, continue to be determinant whether users feel included. The fact is that interactive online technology has empowered users, consumers and citizens, giving them more choices and better information, and, as a result, business and works have been transformed. It is clear that government services are in the process of being similarly transformed. (Medeiros Neto, 2012). Educating in the exercise of e-Citizenship goes beyond ICTs practice. It means to develop information literacy and “learn to learn” (Soares, 2002). As a consequence of that, people become

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more critical and achieve autonomy and freedom. It is expected that these individuals can produce information and knowledge instead of simply accessing it. The main difficulty is that schools and universities at the time did not have the current encouragement, the reason why some schools still have some problems regarding technology. In this perspective, society is going to overcome the informational hurdle and services of all nature will be available and present in the life of all; however, people must get training, otherwise those benefits will not be efficient. Additionally, the right to information and communication goes further. Building e-Citizenship goes through appropriation of instruments (ICT) of access information, development of knowledge and participation in collective intelligence (Lévy, 2014). To encourage this discussion, Carvalho (2004) brings an important contribution to the historical development of citizenship in Brazil. It has become common to say that the right to information and communication is essential before accessing ICTs and Internet. Therefore, public policies regarding digital inclusion that enforce access by a less privileged part of population such as elderly and minorities should be created. (Soares, 2002.)

b) From the Perspective of Living in Service Communities According to Castells (2005,) information and knowledge have always been central aspects of Eastern and Western societies; what have changed are its reach and role, and register and access. These aspects are now more dynamic, flexible and adaptable to contemporary society. Even though ICTs are a necessary condition, they are not enough to develop a social organization, once society forms technology based on what the citizens want. The software is not a main event; the user is. A number of applications and services for e-gov emerge in Latin America, such as in Brazil, Chile, Argentina e Uruguai, for opening up governance and

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democracy through citizen engagement, building on Social Technologies (CEPAL/ONU, http://socinfo.cepal.org). The ICTs, on the other hand, are themselves first and foremost the result of social processes, “which brings forward a number of significant non-technical issues that will affect the success of social media-based e-governance and e-democracy” (Staiou & Gouscos, 2012, p. 438). People are slowly being attracted by services and markets. They no longer wish to acquire a good and maintain it, as it was before; people prefer to have services access at any time, at any place with the guarantee on a transparent transaction, also knowing that resources and inputs are used in an efficient and in accordance to the collective intelligence. It is evident that, as long as digital and social divide is not treated in less privileged countries from Latin and Central America, such as Haiti, cybersociety, cyberdemocracy and e-Citizenship will continue to be barely existent in those countries. The growth of collective intelligence and the development of an interactive cyberspace allow a revolution when it comes to education, welfare for individuals, constant innovation in organizations and the migration to a less mercantilist economy (Lévy, 2014). There is research on assessment of the users development in processes of digital inclusion. Medeiros Neto (2012) assessed the impact of these users in four aspects: appropriation of technology through access to the Internet in telecenters and public schools; according to the level of information inclusion, with emphasis on cognitive processes; measuring the possible social inclusion; and finally, a review of the previous three aspects based on a multivariate model. All of these aspects are definitely going to facilitate human development and help in the achievement of social equality, against a social inequality that difficults the e-Citizenship. Forefront researchers say that a new citizenship or e-Citizenship, in cyberspace, is no longer a matter of the future, to contrary of governance

(e-gov) and “cyberdemocracy” are current issues and are very current matters, as described by Lévy and Lemos (2010, p. 51). Democratic citizenship has taken a new step towards a deeper meaning of freedom. These authors have analyzed endless ways and means of supporting new technology and assessed its importance in the development of several projects. They have also observed the opposite, what is called info-exclusion, followed by social divide. As always, a post-modern concept (Latour, 2009) such as e-Citizenship will not have a proper meaning, for it can be adapted to social advances in society, human relations and political fights.

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Marshall, T. H. (1967). Cidadania e classe social. In H. T. Marshall (Ed.), Cidadania, classe social e status. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar. Masi, D. (2013). Futuro Chegou – Modelos de vida para uma sociedade desorientada. Rio de Janeiro: Casa da Palavra. Medeiros Neto, B. (2012). Avaliação dos impactos dos processos de inclusão digital e informacional nos usuários de programas e projetos no Brasil (Doctoral dissertation). Available from Repositório Institucional – Univeridade de Brasília: http://repositorio.unb.br/handle/10482/11433?mode=full Medeiros Neto, B. (2013). Digital literacies and mobile devices mediations in social vulnerability environments (Research Project). Available from ECA/Universidade de São Paulo. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from http://www3.eca.usp.br/sites/default/files/webform/projetos/pos-doc/Projeto%20 BMN.pdf Medeiros Neto, B., & Miranda, A. L. C. (2011). Impacts of the workshops, qualifying and mediation of multipliers and sessions with users of digital inclusion programs in Brazil: an assessment from a multivariate analysis. Revista General de Información y Documentación. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Medeiros Neto, B., & Moreno, M. A. G. (2013). Análise y Evaluación de las Acciones de Inclusion Digital e Informacional a través de Guestionarios Web: La Experiencia del Programa Gesac (Brasil). In A. Cuevas-Cerveró & E. Simeão (Eds.), Investigación en Información, Documentación y Sociedad. Madrid: Univerdidad Complutense de Madrid. Passarelli, B. (2010). Literacias emergente nas redes sociais: Estado da arte e pesquisa qualitativas no Observatório da Cultura Digital. In B. Passarelli & J. Azevedo (Eds.), Atores em rede – Olhares luso-brasileiros. São Paulo: editora SENAC.

Passarelli, B., & Junqueira, A. H. (2012). Gerações interativas no Brasil: crianças e adolescentes diante das telas. São Paulo: NAP Escola do Futuro-USP. Passarelli, B., Ribeiro, F., Oliveira, L., & Mealha, O. (2014). Identidade conceitual e cruzamento disciplinares. In B. Passarelli, A. M. Silva, & F. Ramos (Eds.), e-Infocomunicações (pp. 79–121). São Paulo: Senac/Escola do Futuro-USP. Pellanda, N. M. C. (2005). Técnica: para muito além do objeto. In N. M. C. Pellanda, E. T. M. Schlunzen, & K. Schlunzen, Jr. (Eds.), Inclusão Digital: Tecendo Redes Afetivas/Cognitivas. Rio de Janeiro: DPA&A. Pieniz, M., & Silveira, A. C. M. (2011). Apropriação da web como meio para exercício da cidadania: expressões de identidade culturais ligadas a território. In V. J. Morgi, I. M. T. Girardi, & C. D. Almeida (Eds.), Comunicação, Informação e Cidadania (pp. 239–252). Porto Alegre: Editora Sulina. Samek, T., & Lopez, P. (2011). Inclusión digital: un nuevo derecho humano. In A. Cuevas-Cerveró & E. Simeão (Eds.), Alfabetización informacional e inclusión digital – Hacia un modelo de infoinclusión social. Madrid: EDICIONES TREA. Santaella, L. (2010). Ecologia pluralista da comunicação – conectividade, mobilidade, ubiquidade. São Paulo: PAULUS. Santaella, L. (2013). Comunicação ubíqua – Repercussões na cultura e na educação. São Paulo: PAULUS. Santos, D. (2014a). Interactions between the Governed and Their Governments: The Democratic Paradigm. In S. B. Edwards III & D. Santos (Eds.), Revolutionizing the Interaction between State and Citizens through Digital Communications (pp. 1-18). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

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Santos, D. (2014b). Rereading John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty in the Digital Communications Age: Transparency, Participation, and the Challenges of the 21st Century. In S. B. Edwards III & D. Santos (Eds.), Revolutionizing the Interaction between State and Citizens through Digital Communications (pp. 19-34). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Simon, F. (2012). Managing Interactional Performance in E-Government. In A. Manoharan & M. Holze (Eds.), Active Citizen Participation in E-Government: A Global Perspective (pp. 167186). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Soares, H. G. S. (2002). Nova Cidadania – Um Conceito Pós-Moderno. Retrieved May 15, 2014, from http://www.angelfire.com/sk/holgonsi/ novacidadania.html Sorj, B. (2003). [email protected]: a luta contra a desigualdade na sociedade da informação. Rio de Janeiro, Brasília: UNESCO. Sorj, B. (2007). Latin America’s ElusiveDemocracies. Tem Edelstein Center for Social Research. (EBooks Series 2, May 2007). Retrieved from http:// www.bernardosorj.com/pdf/e-book02-eng.pdf Staiou, E. R., & Gouscos, D. (2012). Open Governance, Civic Engagement, and New Digital Media. In A. Manoharan & M. Holze (Eds.), Active Citizen Participation in E-Government: A Global Perspective (pp. 437-457). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Tapscott, D. (1996). The digital economy. McGraw-Hill. Toffler, A. (1986). La tercera ola. Barcelona: Ediciones Orbis. UNESCO. (2005). Hacia las sociedades del conocimiento. Ediciones UNESCO. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from http://www.uned.es/ntedu/espanol/ novedades/Sociedades_conocimiento.pdf

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Appalachia: A geographic and cultural region of the Mideastern United States. The population in media is portrayed as suspicious, backward, and isolated. Collective Intelligence: A shared intelligence that emerges from the collaboration, collective efforts, and competition of many individuals, e that appears from the consensus decision-making. Community Service: A community that performs its objectives by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions. Cyberdemocracy: The democracy that is the “mainstreaming of diversity, communication and cooperation approach,” that is, the idea of rights, freedom and collective intelligence in open and/ or virtual spaces. Digital Literacy: The cognitive and social phenomenon that represents the new abilities related to appropriation of ICTs in the contemporary society. E-Citizenship: A kind of citizenship that leads the individuals to search the regulation of human rights as citizens in an information society or under its evolution. E-Government: The government form in which access to information, communication and knowledge acquisition become collaborative and ubiquitous, performed in a network society. Ethnocentric: A belief that one’s own culture is superior to other cultures. Family-Centricity: The belief that family is central to wellbeing and that family members and family issues take precedence over other aspects of life.

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Information Literacy: The person’s competence to note his needs and constant pursue, evaluate and use information to fulfill them and contribute with other people.

ENDNOTES

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Posdoctoral Student of the School of Communication and Art ECA / USP. Professor of the Department of Computer Science at UnB. Was Consultant for Digital Inclusion of the Ministry of Communications of Brazil and Knowledge Management Coordinator and Evaluation of GESAC Program. Community Service is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions. Performing community service is not the same as volunteering, since it is not always done voluntarily. It may be done for a variety of reasons: Community service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_service Models of communication have already showed for about half a century how it is necessary to have an emitter, a receiver and a channel in order to transmit information. These models of communication have evolved in order to report the complexity in communication. If the emitter, in this case a connected individual, is conscious of his competency to change but does not use the proper channel and does not know how to use information and knowledge to access information and change his surroundings, then information use will be empty and inefficient to society. Models of communication in Information Society vary as the emitter and receiver change, otherwise a social divide happens and the user receives only superficial information. Comisión Económica para America Latina (CEPAL), in: www.cepal.org. In 2003, the lack of information about Information of



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Communication and Technologies (ICT) that had in the majority of countries of Latin America and Caribbean, directed CEPAL and the Centro Internacional de Investigación para el Desarrollo (CIID-IDRC), to create the Observatorio para la Sociedad de la Información en America Latina y el Caribe (OSILAC). The objective was to have a observatory with the aim to improve the creation of statistics about ICT in the region. The White Book began with a Presentation and a Introduction. The Second Section presented the objectives for a Science, Technology and Innovation Policy proposal. In the third Section, the bases to formulate strategic guidelines were established, based on analysis of the national effort already made in recent decades. In the Fourth Section, it was explained a set of strategic guidelines with a view of the actions necessary to achieve the objectives of the proposed policy (Brazil, 2002, p. 21). http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Digital-Inclusion/Pages/default.aspx Our work includes sharing information and raising awareness on policies, legislation, regulations and business practices that promote digital inclusion, including through this website, the Girls in ICT Portal, the Connect a School, Connect a Community toolkit, the e-Accessibility toolkit, our blog, publications and awarenessraising events. The actions and programs of Digital Inclusion of the Brazilian Govern are shared in the municipal, states and federal levels, but they are not well registered or followed, although some tentative of Ministry of Planning, and from IBICT from the MCTI, for mapping and registries. Nevertheless, there were several difficulties due to lack of memory of actions and projects. When comparing some indicators of digital inclusion from those countries with the basic necessities for citizenship, such as education,

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health and sanitation, it can be observed a certain indicators equivalence between more vulnerable regions, as in Brazil. To respond such resistant shame from more than a decade, it was developed in Brazil a large program coordinated by the Ministry of Communication, through the Secretary of Digital Inclusion, the GESAC Program (Medeiros Neto & Miranda, 2011). It is distinguished, during the last two decades, two waves in the net connected society: the first, having the central nucleus defined by preoccupation, policies, and programs of digital inclusion; and, the second wave that are concentrated in different forms of appropriation and production of knowledge by different actors in net. The first wave “was also concentrated in access policies and provision of infrastructure to mitigate the digital divide as a path to construct citizenship in low wave populations” (Passarelli et al, 2014, p. 97). For this, a research was performed in the Post-Doctorate of Arts and Communication School of USP (Programa de PósDoutoramento da Escola de Comunicação e Arte – ECA) with the support of University of Brasilia, in two administrative regions of Paranoá and Itapoã, in the Federal District, to further this issue. This research seeks to acknowledge the personal development and social empowerment based on digital literacy concepts on mobile device. At that manner, the research as the objective has realized diagnostics based on observation to access, use, search, and diffusion of information, focused in existing content in internet, produced by citizen, for him or for his community. As a case study, it was observed the first results of the Digital Literacy research, as use of blogs, group messages service (Whatsapp), debate groups, websites, social network websites (Google+ and Facebook), cloud editors, audio medias,



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videos and content production platforms, as well as the mediation of tutors and use of mobile device on a social vulnerability environment. In the perspective of Passarelli (2014, p. 15), the Web timeline allow us to transit from www (static pages), to web 2.0 (with emphasis in social net), through web 3.0 (integrated web devices). So, the IoT takes to a necessity of big volumes of processing data - the Big Data. The concept to amplify the human connections was developed through the centuries, until Human be capable of, through small portable disposals, to communicate with other people, to receive messages and to entertain themselves with photos, music, videos, and games. PLANO NACIONAL DE AVALIAÇÃO DO PROGRAMA GESAC – INCLUSÃO DIGITAL E INFORMACIONAL NO BRASIL: ANÁLISE DA APROPRIAÇÃO DOS USUÁRIOS DO PROGRAMA GESAC. In Global Impact Study, Brazil Workshop, São Paulo. University of Washington - The Technology & Social Change – Group Tascha. http://www.slideshare.net/ProgramaGESAC/plano-nacional-de-avaliao-doprograma-gesac The main objective of this research is to investigate the possible learning changes among users of intelligent mobile devices, using concepts such as digital literacies, the interactive information use in social network, as well as if both can promote better life conditions and welfare of a community. Those possible changes refer, mainly, the search of citizenship that may have occurred among users of such devices (Medeiros Neto, 2013, p. 3). Research Project: Digital literacies and mobile devices mediations in social vulnerability environments. http://www3.eca.usp. br/sites/default/files/webform/projetos/posdoc/Projeto%20BMN.pdf

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Aurora Cuevas-Cerveró (et al., 2014). Los ciudadanos son sujetos esencialmente en un marco político. Esta peculiaridad, pensaba Aristóteles, nos humaniza, el hombre es un animal político, un ser con capacidad para razonar y expresarse verbalmente que sólo puede alcanzar la felicidad y perfección intelectual en el marco de una comunidad política, ser ciudadano era la máxima aspiración del ser humano, lo más elevado que el hombre podía llegar a ser. It is understood as user, in this research, the same as PROSUMERS, a term from English language that comes the junction of Producer + Consumer, originally created by Alvin Tofler, and, recently linked to all WEB 2.0 participants, where all can produce and consume, simultaneously (Passarelli & Junqueira, 2012). For this research effect, it is considered digitally excluded individual if he (she) did not go through by any process of digital inclusion, that permit access to ICT use,



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and that he (she) is not enjoying the benefits provided by those technologies. New concept or concepts of citizenship should be more global, given possibilities to individuals, specially in the ciberdemocracy, to be as main part of the his process of economic, social and politic development. With the opening and conquest of new participation possibilities for groups before excluded, the new citizenship give new aspects of the social life to be part of the political process, restructuring the forms of action and the political field, in the perspective of Holgonsi Soares (2002). See: http://www.angelfire. com/sk/holgonsi/novacidadania.html It is observed that the increased use of mobile technologies creates important transformations in the life way, in the expressions and personal narratives, impacting psychologically contemporary subjects, in which, if confirmed new ways of subjective organizations, fluid and in constant transformations (Bauman, 2001).

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Chapter 8

Digital Inclusion and Computational Thinking:

New Challenges and Opportunities for Media Professionals Walter Teixeira Lima, Jr. Methodist University of São Paulo, Brazil Rafael Vergili University of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT The Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) brought new players to an environment that subverts industrial logic of communication, visibility and representation. The issue of digital inclusion is still latent, especially in developing countries, such as Brazil. However, with initiatives that facilitate access to technological innovations and ever cheaper devices, possession, remixing and distribution of information are no longer exclusive to large companies or mass media vehicles. Anyone with network access and knowledge about certain topics can generate content for various parts of the world. In this context of constant change, the media professional is faced with new challenges and, in order to gain competitive advantage in the labor market or in the academic environment needs to more adequately understand the technological environment in which he/she is inserted, topics that are discussed under the prism of computational thinking and digital literacy concepts, possible foundations for new paths of his/her activities.

INTRODUCTION Initially transmitted only face to face, information has begun to spread more easily since the development of the movable-type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. Following the technological evolution, came up the telegraph, the radio, the

television and the personal computer. The latter, with the help of the Internet, became largely responsible for allowing the individual production of information and the exchange of ideas with textual, audio and visual resources, with no time or space barriers (BENKLER, 2006).

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch008

Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

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Ever since, technological devices have become increasingly accessible, from the economic viewpoint, and friendly, in terms of platform handling. If, formerly, in order to deal with monochrome phosphorus displays, specific knowledge and commands were required to insert simple information in a system, presently with graphics mode, the mere touch of a finger in a miniature device provides new ways to access, edit and share information (LIMA JUNIOR, 2013b). Despite some structural issues in the Brazilian telecommunications systems, it is not discussed that the increase of data traffic and page dynamics from Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), have attracted and encouraged the “domestic” use1 – and no longer only the programming specialists, as in the beginning of the Internet – of telematic networks. That contributed significantly to the growth of information flow and its several ways of dissemination. On the other hand, the obvious fascination regarding the social impact and the various facilities offered may have contributed to media professionals’ lack of improvement regarding technological structure, what Wing (2006, 2008) and Pearson (2009) call “computational thinking” – a concept which will be detailed later in this text. That concept basically refers to the understanding of the limits and potential of technological structure common to most devices connected to the network, ensuring continuity of knowledge and avoiding the simple technical ownership of new devices or social networks that, in a short period of time, have become obsolete. The present text is developed through literature review with theoretical references discussed in more detail from the “Background” item. It aims at highlighting how easy access to ICTs (digital inclusion) and the changes in consumption and production of information by connected individuals can affect the performance of the media professional, who, in order not to become

obsolete, may use computational thinking and digital literacy as foundations to originate new paths for his/her activities.

BACKGROUND Information storage and production have changed significantly since the development of the Web, by Tim Berners-Lee. The technology to access this environment’s pages, the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, linked to the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), allow each one to own his/her desired Internet. From the perspective of the sociologist Castells (2003), the story of the creation and development of the Internet, from building the Arpanet in the 1960’s up to the explosion of the World Wide Web in the 1990’s is an extraordinary human adventure through which many bureaucratic barriers were overcome. Those who are not included in this technological context, by not owning a computer or not having information, knowledge and literacy required to interact in the digital environment, are hence marginalized from what Castells calls “network society”. Our present days, permeated by technological innovations, are built around a society with nodal gaps of knowledge in which the distance between people is no longer given only by the geographic issue, but by the degree of interaction between the individual and the computer. Thus, you may say that the economic geography of the Internet occurs through a connected portion, in contrast to disconnected places (Castells, 2006). For instance, in Brazil, a country, which up to this time is underdeveloped, has been facing many problems for many years regarding the technological gap when compared with developed countries. This relates to the Leapfrogging

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concept, exposed by Bhagavan (2001), which will be detailed in the main focus of this chapter. With the country’s economic opening and some social advances since 1995, a process of facilitating access to the Information and Communication Technologies has begun, especially due to lower prices. According to Benkler (2006), globally speaking “the declining price of computation, communication, and storage have, as a practical matter, placed the material means of information and cultural production in the hands of a significant fraction of the world’s population – on the order of a billion people around the globe” (p. 3). Furthermore, in Brazil, many digital inclusion programs have started to be developed. They precisely attempt to democratize access to the network. Throughout the text, in order to facilitate understanding, the situation was made clearer with the AcessaSP program – one of the biggest digital inclusion programs in Latin America – with the main reference being the information from Passarelli (2011). Therefore, all these elements contribute to the exponential growth of the individuals that effectively participate in this society mediated by computing machines. Due to this factor, media professionals, especially if inserted in companies or higher education institutions, are subject to criticism, rumors and negative opinion directed to the institutions they represent. According to Straubhaar, LaRose, & Davenport (2010), for example: […] in April 2009, users of social media posted thousands of messages within one weekend, complaining that Amazon.com had removed gay and lesbian books from its listings and rank sales searches. Amazon finally responded on Monday that there had been a “glitch”. Critics protested that Amazon reacted way too slowly to users in this day […]. They complained that even if Amazon didn’t have a good answer, it should have at least responded that it was looking into the situation.

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Besides monitoring social media better, companies also need due diligence during the weekends. The public never sleeps. (p. 310). Moreover this situation tends to be increasingly common. To reduce its damages, as part of the issue-solving process, the proposal to provide elements on the network structure for media professionals – called “computational thinking” – arises. According to Wing (2006, 2008), Pearson (2009) and Hall (2011), the concept would encompass the act to anticipate, prevent, protect, recover and accelerate scenarios, through the evaluation and inferences of the potential of systems and computing processes. Unlike machines, which follow pre-programmed instructions, the purpose of computational thinking is to apply human creativity to technologies by using multiple levels of abstraction, providing the media professional or communication professional with the understanding of the technological object, which he/she is interacting with. It also intends not to limit him/ her to create new hardware and software just based on the popularity they can reach, but on the importance of knowing the social and professional function that a particular platform can generate. Finally, to deal more appropriately with constant technological innovations. The media professional needs to deal more and more with technological innovations, devices, social networks, wikis and databases. Fields of knowledge are increasingly interconnected, with no clear disciplinary divisions and with approaches that may not be usual in the traditional practices of the area. To explain this moment, Hall (2011) adopts the term “computational turn in the humanities”: The later term has been adopted to refer to the process whereby techniques and methodologies drawn from computer science and related fields-interactive information visualization, statistical data analysis, science imaging, image processing,

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network analysis, data management, manipulation and mining – are being increasingly used to produce new ways of approaching and understanding texts in the humanities. (p.1). According to Hall (2011, 2013), the idea is not only to make communication submissive to computer science, but to promote an interrelationship that provides benefits to all those involved, such as, the increase of their connection with society. Yet just as interesting as what computer science has to offer the humanities is the question of what the humanities--in both their digital and ‘traditional’ guises (assuming they can be distinguished in this way, which is by no means certain)--have to offer computer science; and, beyond that, what the humanities themselves can bring to the understanding of computing and the shaping of the digital. Do the humanities really need to draw quite so heavily on computer science to develop a sense of their identity and role in an era of digital media technology? Along with a computational turn in the humanities, might we not also benefit from more of a humanities turn in our understanding of the computational and the digital? (Hall, 2011, p. 2). As Fitzpatrick (2010, para. 3) indicates, humanities in general, and specifically the field of communication, combined with the new technologies, could therefore become: […] a nexus of fields within which scholars use computing technologies to investigate the kinds of questions that are traditional to the humanities, or, as is more true of my own work, who ask traditional kinds of humanities-oriented questions about computing technologies. With a different terminology, but on the same line of thought, by means of the great principles of computing, Denning (2008) presents elements that can be applied in the field of communication, such as: being able to analyze the technological limits;

evaluating the possibilities of data transmission, as well as collaborating in developing systems that are able to store information so they can be analyzed properly. And mostly, to “establish a new relationship with people from other fields by offering computing principles in language that shows them how to map computing principles into their own fields” (p. 4). In a complementary manner, digital literacy also acquires importance by influencing the development of skills and expertise, not only to properly handle ICTs, but also to manage, recreate and transmit information properly. Defined as a survival skill in the digital era, Eshet-Alkalai (2004) writes that digital literacy “involves more than the mere ability to use software or operate a digital device; it includes a large variety of complex cognitive, motor, sociological, and emotional skills, which users need in order to function effectively in digital environments” (p. 93). Hence, altogether the concepts of computational thinking and digital literacy, which will be discussed in more details later in the text, provide understanding of the technical and social architectures of digital devices, besides the possibility of storing, remixing and spreading information adequately, since, according to the viewpoint of Hall (2013) recently: […] we need to ask questions about more than how we can control, search, find, access, order, structure, mine, map, visualize, graph, audit, interpret, analyse and assess vast amounts of cultural data through software tools and techniques and approaches drawn from computing science. We also need to devote great care and attention to asking questions about how these software tools and computational techniques and approaches are controlling, searching, finding, accessing, ordering, structuring, mining, mapping, visualizing, graphing, auditing, interpreting, analyzing and assessing through, around and as part of us. And thus how they are involved in the process of constituting and organizing our culture and

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society – and with it our literary and cultural criticism as well as our sense of the humanities, humanists and the human – in the twenty-first century. (p. 23). This chapter is justified by need of deeper reflections on the relationship between digital inclusion and a more active participation of individuals in information exchange. It also is justified by the interest in who this new relationship affects the activities of media professionals.

DIGITAL INCLUSION, INCREASE OF INFORMATION FLOWS AND NEW NEEDS OF MEDIA PROFESSIONALS The main part of the chapter was split into two subheads: the first with issues and problems, and the second with possible solutions to Brazilian reality. The first subhead is based on the concept of Leapfrogging, and we discuss the technology gap that has influenced Brazil for many years compared with other more developed countries. Some demonstrations of the country’s trade liberalization, with new digital inclusion programs that contributed to minimize this situation are displayed. Texts by Passarelli (2011) and Bhagavan (2001) are the main references in these issues. Supported by the concepts of computational thinking (WING, 2006; PEARSON, 2009) and digital literacy (ESHET-ALKALAI, 2004; KNOBEL & LANKSHEAR, 2006), the second subhead indicates the importance of allowing media professionals, especially from Brazil, to think computationally, trying to minimize the changes in society and avoiding obsolescence of the field.

Brazil: From Leapfrogging to Digital Inclusion In 1993, the Mosaic 1.0 browser was released by Mosaic Communications, which later changed

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its name to Netscape Communications. It was in October 1994 that emerged the first commercial browser, the Netscape Navigator. Given its success, a year later, Microsoft with Windows 1995 software, along with the Internet Explorer browser, also began to participate in the Internet market. The system allowed an extreme decentralization, including the development and popularization of technologies such as blogs and social networks, through which anyone with access to a browser (computer program to access the network) can exchange information (BRIGGS & BURGE, 2006; CASTELLS, 2003). From then on, in 1995, through the actions of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Telecommunications, it was possible to use commercially the Internet in Brazil. In many of the previously reported moments, there was a lag, a large gap between the technological levels of developed countries, for example, the United States and some European countries, and those of the underdeveloped countries, like Brazil. This disadvantage was reduced but it still exists and might take decades to cease to exist. That is directly related to what Bhagavan (2001) calls “leapfrogging”: The ‘leapfrogging’ concept has its origin in the belief that some countries, which today find themselves in a state of relative underdevelopment, industrially and technologically, have nevertheless the preconditions, the potential and the historic opportunity to transit, in a relatively short span of time, from the condition of relative underdevelopment to that of an advanced industrial and technological state. The belief is grounded in the argument that, being underdeveloped, they are not held down by the burden of an outdated and ageing industrial and infrastructural system, which would otherwise cripple the transition. There is historical evidence and good analytical reasoning to support this belief. (pp. 1-2).

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According to the author, usually this “technological leapfrogging” takes place in three stages, which are: 1. Importing and absorbing highly-modern technology, 2. Replicating, producing and improving the imported technology, and 3. Moving on to innovations on ones own. Clearly, this does not happen on a broad front all at once, but proceeds in phases. Beginning with a few specified technologies, a developing country reinforces this process over time to spread the net wider, and to accelerate the transition. (Bhagavan, 2001, p. 2). In other words, the technological lag of a country before other countries and the obstacles it faces in order to skip steps and to discontinue being constantly in obsolescence, may refer to hardware, software or even the mode of use and compatibility between the equipment and its ability for production, adaptation, innovation, maintenance and use of this machinery, or “the know-how and the know-why of processes and products” (Bhagavan, 2001, p. 3) to do correctly “the transition from standard-tech to high-tech” (p. 4). To determine the degree of strength in science and technology and understand how the countries evolved and overcame large gaps found in previous decades, Bhagavan (2001) indicates a “technologically ‘strong’, ‘medium’ and ‘weak’ South” rating. Brazil is already among the strong ones, which means you can obtain technological innovations generally in similar periods to those of developed countries. Internally it produces some equipment and even exports them to other countries, but, as pointed out by the author himself: […] its technological indices are between one and a half to three times lower than that of the OECD [The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development], and it has some considerable distance to leapfrog over before reaching

the OECD levels, but the leapfrogging effort has begun in earnest. Examples of the “strong” South are Brazil, China, India and Mexico. (We regard South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore as having already made the transition to the economic status of the rich North on a per capita incomes basis). (Bhagavan, 2001, p. 5). Although Brazil has not achieved the excellence of other countries yet, together with economic and social changes, the country allowed technological innovations to become increasingly cheaper, making the access to the Internet, for example, grow exponentially. According to Benkler (2006): Computers and Internet connections are becoming cheaper and more widely available in public libraries and schools. As they become more central to life, they seem to be reaching higher penetration rates, and growth rates among underrepresented groups are higher than the growth rate among the highly represented groups. (pp. 236-237). As technologies were made less costly, many digital inclusion programs attempt to promote equitable access to the Internet. For instance, AcessaSP, the most outstanding program for this purpose in the State of São Paulo (Brazil) and one of the biggest in Latin America, between 2000 and 2010, linked to the Center for Support to Research of New Communication Technologies Applied to Education - School of the Future / USP (NAP - School of the Future / USP), offered services in 543 municipalities. 2,068,282 users were registered and it impacted 50,829,596 people, primarily through the implementation of 602 access kiosks and/or infocenters/telecentres – and 42 more being implemented in the period. It also trained 1,172 monitors (Passarelli, 2011). In addition: Since 2003, a periodical survey called “PONLINE” is carried out in order to feed a database

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related to the users profile, needs, expectancies, habits and attitudes in relation to the program and the use of Internet. It is also used as a management tool for monitoring, improving and innovating the process. An important phenomenon has been observed in AcessaSP environment in the last few years: the emergence of mobility. For this study approach, mobility issue is considered from two factors: the growth and expansion of wireless connections and the broad access to mobile platforms, such as smartphones. These two characteristics are facilitating the emergence of new learning spaces and timing, which leads to the need of a wider and deeper understanding of this challenging scenario in terms of new uses and literacies. For these reasons, AcessaSP is investing in a strategy named “Acessa sem Fio” (Wireless Acessa), in which wireless connections are provided in cities with the program’s infocenters. Though, there is a lack of systematic information regarding the impact of this shift from physical to virtual concept. It is still poorly known how mobility can affect the program users’ appropriation and interaction with Internet. In this sense, the study aims - o offer a framework to a qualitative research to better understand user’s habits and attitudes regarding wireless connection to Internet. Relevant outcomes are expected to be revealed in order to collaborate to a better understanding of this new scenario, mainly those ones related with the new role of infocenters in AcessaSP communities’ life. The framework can also provide requirements for designing digital inclusion public policies in order to popularize and democratize the World Wide Web with wireless connection. This can be the basis of further research on public policies for wireless digital inclusion. (Passarelli, Araújo Guzzi, Belo Angeluci, & Junqueira, 2013) Another example is related to the project “Wi-Fi Livre” (“Free Wi-Fi”) of São Paulo City

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Hall, which currently has 56 points of wi-fi in operation with Internet free access system and aims to expand to 120 public squares in the city. Through a partnership with the Federal University of ABC, a survey entitled “Connectivity and Digital Inclusion for Sao Paulo” was carried out with one thousand people interviewed between July and August 2014. All of them visit the 10 squares covered by the project. These are some levels of digital inclusion and Internet usage patterns that were identified: 65.1% of respondents visit the reference square in the region; 60.1% of people who access Internet revealed that usually connect Wi-Fi networks outside home; 83.8% use Internet daily; and 59.4% use mobile phones to access Internet (Silveira, 2014). It is possible to perceive some aspects of the Brazilian reality and some effort in setting up digital inclusion in the publication “ICT Indicators and statistics for development”, from the Regional Center of Studies for Development of the Information Society, 2013, which states: Access to new information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly the Internet and mobile devices, is a necessary condition for government, organizations and citizens to operate under the paradigm of the information and knowledge society. In this context, to measure the progress of the adoption of these technologies by means of reliable statistical data is a strategic activity and is crucial for the development and evaluation of public policies. (Cetic.Br, 2013, p. 4). These initiatives and other programs contributed to reach the level of access that exists in the country – still far from ideal, but much more expressive than in previous decades. As more and more people are connected and better technical conditions for information processing become possible, more freedom and autonomy is generated to create, remix and information dissemination.

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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING AND DIGITAL LITERACY: NECESSARY SOLUTIONS AND ADAPTATIONS FOR THE SURVIVAL OF MEDIA PROFESSIONAL In the last twenty years, significant transformation has affected the way information is produced. If previously, mass media were the guardians of news and kept to themselves the choice of what would be disseminated to the public, nowadays anyone with a good intellectual level and adequate technological appropriation can autonomously produce quality content. According to Benkler (2006, p. 32), “In this new stage, we can harness many more of the diverse paths and mechanisms for cultural transmission that were muted by the economies of scale that led to the rise of the concentrated, controlled form of mass media, whether commercial or state-run”. In other words, we notice that the domain over information is no longer a privilege of the few mass media vehicles, market, government or universities, as it happened a few decades ago. From Berry’s perspective: This introduces not only a moment of societal disorientation, with individuals and institutions flooded with information, but also offers a computational solution to this state of events in the form of computational rationalities –something that Turing (1950) described as super-critical modes of thought. Both of these forces are underpinned at a deep structural level by the conditions of possibility suggested by computer code. (Berry, 2011, p. 8). Currently, individuals with Internet access can create, remix and disseminate new contents with quality and speed. The impact of these changes on the relationship between people, organizations, educational institutions and even fields of knowledge is invaluable. Inserted in this context, media professionals are often cited as responsible

for generating solutions in this period of adaptation when communication tends to be increasingly mediated by computing machines. This happens because the amount of information disseminated is so big that it is not humanly possible to analyze them individually. Only through the acquisition of adequate knowledge of technological structure is possible to create shortcuts and use the correct resources to get a sense of popular movements and anticipate trends. This circumstance requires media professionals to use different levels of abstraction, so that they are no longer only consumers. They also become technology producers that help collect and analyze large amounts of data more easily. In turn, these stages enable the understanding and help solve human needs through the development of userfriendly interfaces that enable the democratization of information and also the manipulation and consequent interaction between users (Pearson, 2009; Wing, 2008). So far, in Brazil, excessive focus on communication field regarding the materialized and visible parts of the Web, such as social networks, may have inhibited an important and distinctive feature of professionals and academics in the field – the ability to infer (even without the need to become proficient programmers) – in production technology, offering increasingly user-friendly interfaces solving structural and content/information flow issues in a more effective way, especially from media’s viewpoint. Whatever it still seems a distant reality towards full implementation in Communication/Media in Brazil, according to Lima, Jr. (2011), “it was already developed in the late 60’s of the last century, by American professionals who have begun to understand the workings of computers and databases in an attempt to use these technological devices to obtain non-trivial information” (p. 49). Thus, it is up to Brazilian media professionals to develop what is called “computational thinking” as an alternative that would enable them to achieve broader knowledge of the technological

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structure related to the majority of the innovations that have connection with the network. According to Wing (2006), although the concept has computer science as a background and includes anticipation, prevention, recovery and acceleration of scenarios that help understand human behavior, we must understand that the main goal of the concept is not to promote the mere handling of tools, machines and devices but to allow to understand the logic behind the technological infrastructure and the “concepts fundamental to computing” (Wing, 2008, p. 3717), which would enable practices with stability for a longer period of time. That is, unlike what many think, this thought is not restricted to knowledge related to programmers. It has a universal character and is based on the identification of the power and limits of computing processes. Therefore, we may say that computational thinking is not designed to make humans think like machines, but to enable them to solve problems using the species’ creativity characteristic – absent in the equipment – applied to technology (WING, 2006). In the author’s view, and also due to its importance, it is possible to apply it in any field of knowledge, as it is already possible to notice that the computational thinking, especially in the United States of America, in various school subjects and qualification, transcends the field of computer science, its field of origin. Despite the economic, cultural and social barriers, Wing (2006, 2008) proposes that computational thinking should be spread from early childhood education to prevent lags from being adjusted during higher education, for example, in order to facilitate the interrelationship between science, technology and society. In this sense, according to Fry (2004), we can already find school courses that include programming and interdisciplinarity in their curricula. However, the focus remains in the content that will be generated and not in the understanding of the technological structure itself. The student still enters the university with a lag.

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The picture is even worse in Brazil, where computational thinking and other options for understanding the technological structure are still in early stages of implementation. The use in humanities and communication, for example, is still limited: In the humanities and the arts, digital libraries of books, collections and artefacts create opportunities through computational methods such as data mining and data federation to discover new trends, patterns and links in our understanding and appreciation of humankind. (Wing, 2008, p. 3719). Pearson (2009) corroborates the statement as he writes that there is no need for media professionals to become programmers, but […] we need to be able to reason abstractly about what we do, understand the full palette of computational tools at our disposal, and collaborate to deploy those tools with maximum efficiency and effectiveness. That means understanding the underlying structures and processes of media creation. (p. 2). Considering the scale of proportions and contexts, this reasoning has been discussed in Brazil through the use of the term “digital literacy” (“literacias digitais” in Portuguese)2, which receives several other terminologies throughout the world, as shown by Wilson et al. (2011, p. 19) and Bawden (2001): Internet literacy, media literacy, computer literacy, network literacy, hyper-literacy, among others. In the conception of Eshet-Alkalai (2004), digital literacy can be understood in five types that are interrelated: photo-visual literacy (enables interaction with visual representations and graphic interfaces, especially from image decoding); reproduction literacy (develops skills that enable the discovery and recombination of content, besides the dissemination of creative information); information literacy (enables to

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identify and filter the most qualified information); branching literacy (important for individuals who are interested in developing abstract thought to participate in the construction of knowledge in hypermedia environment); and socio-emotional literacy (it requires the individual to possess a high degree of other literacies mentioned above and enables the identification of obstacles and digital traps, which facilitates the interaction and, thus, the exchange of experiences, emotions and structured information). Therefore, digital literacies would represent a consistent set of skills and abilities to perform activities in digital environments effectively through critical, autonomous and independent reasoning, by building meanings and narratives through the use of ICTs (Eshet-Alkalai, 2004; Passarelli & Junqueira, 2012). And, more than that, they can play a key role in training new media professionals, since, in the view of Knobel, & Lankshear (2006) these literacies represent a “shorthand for the myriad social practices and conceptions of engaging in meaning making mediated by texts that are produced, received, distributed, exchanged etc., via digital codification” (p. 17). The development of such skills and knowledge to more adequately deal with the current technological context would enable the achievement of activities that are still not often practiced in the Brazilian scenario by media professionals, such as database mining, which would give a competitive advantage to Communication field.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS Regarding future research opportunities within the domain of the topic, we emphasize Brazilian initiatives such as the Digital Culture Observatory at “School of the Future Research Laboratory”, under the scientific coordination of Prof. Dr. Brasilina Passarelli, from University of São Paulo (USP). The observatory conducts projects

that interrelate communication, education and technology, besides initiatives related to digital inclusion and digital literacy. The “Technology, Communication and Cognitive Science” (Tecccog) research group, under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Walter Teixeira Lima Junior, from the Methodist University of São Paulo (UMESP), with surveys of information flows, computational thinking and technological innovations. Currently, it develops studies on cognitive abilities that can improve the performance of media professionals in face of the current technological context. Regarding personal projects of the authors, Walter Teixeira Lima Junior has been working in the Post-doctorate “man-computer Symbiosis” in the Mechatronics Engineering Department at Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo (Poli-USP). He is also Collaborator researcher for the Mathematical, Computation and Cognition Department through the Post-Graduate Program of Neuroscience and Cognition at Federal University of ABC (UFABC). On the other hand, Rafael Vergili focus his efforts on a doctoral project under orientation of Prof. Dr. Brasilina Passarelli, connected to the Post-Graduate Program in Media Sciences from the School of Communication and Arts from the University of São Paulo (PPGCOM/ECA-USP), in which he assesses the importance of digital literacy in training communication students that have an interest in researching or acting directly on the Digital Communication market with: literature review, analysis of the curricula of the top ten media undergraduate courses in Brazil, as well as interviews with their coordinators and assessment of course descriptions that promote interrelation between technology and communication. Similar to all projects the authors are involved with, those have the technological component as a starting point, the publications of the groups they belong to, such as NAP-EF/USP, from the University of São Paulo, the Tecccog of the Meth-

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odist University of São Paulo, and the Comertec (Communication, Market and Technology) from the Federal University of Amapá, indicate some of the possible paths for those interested in the subject of this chapter, especially with the exposure of the Brazilian context.

CONCLUSION Given the reflections proposed throughout this text, it is possible to realize that the technological use of a considerable portion of the population, especially with the support of digital inclusion programs such as AcessaSP, quoted in the chapter, is increasingly significant. In many cases, it already consists part of everyday life, transforming several practical and impacting the most varied sectors of society directly. In that sense, Walter Teixeira Lima Junior (2012, p. 208) states: In the last decades, contemporary society has absorbed the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in all their segments. Among the main reasons of this ‘friendly connection’, between non-specialists in technological artifacts and digital technologies, is the perception that they bring comfort, competitive advantages and can be obtained more frequently due to the decreasing cost of obtaining such computational systems, some even turning into household utensils and sold in appliance stores, such as the Personal Computer (PC). With the help of the Internet, the personal computer was one of the exponents that allowed the individual production of information and the exchange of ideas with textual, audio and visual features, with no time or space barriers (Benkler, 2006). Today, mobile devices become more and more significant in digital inclusion and the dissemination of information. Mobility, content specialization and immediacy will be key factors for media professionals who have an interest in

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meeting the needs of the population, who “now demand availability, 24 hours per day, every day, 100 per cent reliability, 100 per cent connectivity […]” (Wing, 2008, p. 3724). By means of technological innovations, devices for data storage are increasingly cheaper and the increases in computer processing power, opinions and comments of millions of people are exposed as it has never been seen before (HALL, 2013). The visible boundary that used to separate senders and receivers is barely noticeable nowadays. With the help of information and communication technologies, a new media configuration is generated, enabling the exchange of content between people who can perform the correct technological adoption. As a result of data overload, ordinary people as information sources are presently as appraised as media and businesses or even more. Prior to the advent of ICTs, their exercise was focused on press relations, advertising, public relations and exclusive information. Today’s communication includes various media, and the professional in the field shares his/her space with ordinary users who, currently in network communications, are more equally balanced with institutional communication. The new technologies and mainly the Web – even by technical difficulties of unequal access connection, recurring issues in Castells’ texts, for example – will not be able to offer all the necessary skills to thoroughly change the practices of consumption and of information sharing disseminated in society for decades. However, with several programs for digital inclusion, as mentioned throughout the text, as well as computers with capacity to process data, a new technological level for the media professional was created, establishing the possibility of new configurations for communication practice and approach with other areas of knowledge, such as computer science. Without intending to transform media professional into a programmer or computer scientist, we propose to promote the understanding of the

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logic in processes and of the environment in which it is inserted, preparing him/her more adequately when it comes to technological ownership, crossing data, and information. It is understood that computational thinking and digital literacy can become guiding elements to overcome the barriers above mentioned and develop the visual, technical and content side of the social communicator. More and more, the media professional cannot be limited to the technical and instrumental part. It is necessary to deeply understand the structure in which he/she is inserted and think more broadly, especially unifying “the information that society is now producing at increasing rates, and which understands new methods and practices of critical reading (code, data visualization, patterns, narrative) […]” (Berry, 2011, p. 15). Becoming a multifaceted professional who has technological expertise to carry out activities in the digital environment with skill, creating new possibilities for filtering, reporting and publishing information of public interest is a fundamental condition to generate new paths for the media field, which could even optimize the activities of academics in the field who are interested in dealing more appropriately with research projects on technological devices, and of professionals in the field who intend to provide excellent services in contact with digital interfaces.

REFERENCES Bawden, D. (2001). Information and digital literacies: A review of concepts. The Journal of Documentation, 57(2), 218–259. doi:10.1108/ EUM0000000007083 Benkler, Y. (2006). The wealth of networks: how social production transforms markets and freedom. Retrieved from http://www.benkler.org/ Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks.pdf

Berry, D. M. (2011). The Computational Turn: Thinking About The Digital Humanities. Culture Machine, 12, 1–22. Bhagavan, M. R. (2001). Technological leapfrogging by developing countries. Retrieved from http://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c15/ e1-31-01-01.pdf Briggs, A., & Burke, P. (2006). Uma história social da mídia: de Gutemberg à Internet (2nd ed.). Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar. Capobianco, L. (2010). Abordagem multidisciplinar de literacia digital para pesquisa em comunicação. In B. Passarelli & J. Azevedo (Eds.), Atores em rede: olhares luso-brasileiros. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo. Castells, M. (2003). A galáxia da internet: reflexões sobre a internet, os negócios e a sociedade. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar. Castells, M. (2006). A sociedade em rede. Economia, sociedade e cultura (9th ed.). São Paulo: Paz e Terra. Cetic.br. (2013). Indicadores e estatísticas TIC para o desenvolvimento. Retrieved from http:// www.cetic.br/media/docs/publicacoes/2/NICbr_ PORTUGUES-web.pdf Denning, P. J. (2008). Great Principles of Computing. Retrieved from http://denninginstitute.com/ pjd/PUBS/ENC/gp08.pdf Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2004). Digital literacy: A Conceptual Framework for Survival skills in the Digital Era. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 13(1), 93–106. Fitzpatrick, K. (2010). Reporting from the Digital Humanities 2010 Conference. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/ reporting-from-the-digital-humanities-2010conference/25473

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Fry, B. J. (2004). Computational information design. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from http://benfry.com/phd/dissertation-110323c.pdf Hall, G. (2011). The Digital Humanities Beyond Computing: Apostscript. Culture Machine, 12, 1–11. Hall, G. (2013). Towards a post-digital humanities: cultural analytics and the computational turn to data-driven scholarship. American Literature, Duke University Press. Retrieved from http:// www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php ?viewby=journal&productid=45633 Junqueira, A. H., Passarelli, B., & Botelho Francisco, R. E. (2012). Literacias Digitais nas Escolas Públicas Brasileiras: uma abordagem do papel do professor à luz dos resultados da Pesquisa TIC Educação 2010. In XXXV Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação. Fortaleza, CE: Intercom Nacional. Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2006). Digital Literacy and Digital Literacies: Policy, Pedagogy and Research Considerations for Education. Digital Kompetanse, 1, 12–24. Lima, W. T., Jr. (2011, December). Jornalismo computacional em função da “Era do Big Data”. Líbero, 14(28), 45-52. Retrieved from: http://casperlibero.edu.br/wp-content/ uploads/2014/05/1-Jornalismo-computacional. pdf Lima, W. T., Jr. (2012). Big Data, Jornalismo Computacional e Data Journalism: estrutura, pensamento e prática profissional na Web de dados. Estudos em Comunicação, 12, 207-222. Retrieved from http://www.ec.ubi.pt/ec/12/pdf/ EC12-2012Dez-11.pdf

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Lima, W. T., Jr. (2013). Tecnologia, Comunicação e Ciência Cognitiva: intersecções possíveis e necessárias. Comunicação & Sociedade, 34(2), 93-119. Retrieved from https://www.metodista. br/revistas/revistas-ims/index.php/CSO/article/ view/3310/3374 Passarelli, B. (2011). ‘School of the Future’Research Laboratory/USP: action research and emerging literacies studies in WEB 2.0 environments. The Journal of Community Informatics, 7(2). Retrieved from http://ci-journal.net/index. php/ciej/article/view/646 Passarelli, B., & de Araújo Guzzi, A., Belo Angeluci, A. C., & Junqueira, A. H. (2013). The impact of mobility in Brazilian infocenters: AcessaSP case study. Retrieved from http:// ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumb er=6820140&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore. ieee.org%2Fstamp%2Fstamp.jsp%3Ftp%3D%2 6arnumber%3D6820140 Passarelli, B., & Junqueira, A. H. (2012). Gerações Interativas Brasil: crianças e adolescentes diante das telas. São Paulo: Escola do Futuro/USP. Pearson, K. (2009). How Computational Thinking is Changing Journalism & What’s Next. Retrieved from http://www.poynter.org/column. asp?id=31&aid=164084 Silveira, S. A. (2014). Como o paulistano usa a internet? Retrieved from: http://www. prefeitura.sp.gov.br/cidade/secretarias/upload/ chamadas/r1_relatorio_de_pesquisa_wifi_-_ rev_1417550802.pdf Straubhaar, J., LaRose, R., & Davenport, L. (2010). Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology. Boston: Wadsworth Publishing.

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Wilson, C., Grizzle, A., Tuazon, R., Akyempong, K., & Cheung, C.-K. (2011). Media and Information Literacy: Curriculum for Teachers. Paris, France: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ images/0019/001929/192971e.pdf Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational Thinking. Retrieved from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/ wing/www/publications/Wing06.pdf Wing, J. M. (2008). Computational thinking and thinking about. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society A, 366(1881), 3717-3726. Retrieved from http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing. org/content/366/1881/3717.full

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Computational Thinking: Capability of understanding digital technology framework to solve problems and generate new opportunities as a result of human creativity combined with the reliability of the machines. Digital Literacy: Set of skills and abilities that enable people to have autonomy and critical thinking to use information and communication technologies. ICTs: The information and communication technologies enable fundamental changes in the forms of development, recombination and dissemination of information.

Leapfrogging: Technological condition in which an underdeveloped country lives up to evolve and skip some steps, reaching a level more evolved regarding the technological import, production and innovation. Media Professionals: People who have degree in formal communication programs (Journalism, Advertising, Radio and TV or Public Relations, for example) or work in the area. Protocol: Organizes and allows the joint operation between machines. Softwares: Composed by lines of code executed step-by-step, allows the correct operation of programs and systems.

ENDNOTES

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2

According to Lima, Jr. (2013), the term “domestic” was chosen in this text to describe people accessing Web information systems usually without enough depth to match information and generate a structured knowledge, either by lack of familiarity with interfaces or lack of understanding of more specific procedures, such as database mining, for example. The term “digital literacy” or “literacias digitais” (in Portuguese), much used in Brazilian research, can be observed in more detail, for example, in texts by Junqueira, Passarelli, & Botelho Francisco (2012); Capobianco (2010) and Eshet-Alkalai (2004).

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Chapter 9

Digital Inclusion and Public Policies in Brazil Drica Guzzi University of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT This chapter intends to discuss the development of public policies and new participation mechanisms that concern digital inclusion and education in Brazil. Since 2000, several changes have been done in this area to better comprehend the digital era phenomenon and how it affects all the Brazilian people. This study presents comparison between the brazilian regions, once the Southeast and the South are very engaged to the digital era, while the North, Northeast and Mid-West still face problems with access issues.

1. INTRODUCTION Nowadays, in the second decade of the 21st century, with the increasing tendency of people to act more autonomously in relation to the use of ICT, it is inevitable not realize that this is because we are immersed in the era of collaboration of more democratized learning opportunities. There has been an increase of internet appropriation, for the sharing of information, knowledge, services that are gradually being distributed with greater ability, through social networks, workshops, free tutorials, photos and videos, and therefore constitute important conditions for free access of knowledge about everything and everyone. This type of collaboration is part of a intelligently distributed networking policy and this collective

intelligence implies considerable benefits in all aspects of life, whether financial, cultural, social, public policy etc. In regards to the indicators that can help us present the Brazilian Digital Inclusion [DI] scenario, this study is based on some of the most reputed national researches, such as national sample surveys: Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios - PNAD 2012 - of the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE (2012), ICT Kids Online (2013b), ICT Education and ICT Households (2013a) of Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), which shows, for example, that more than half of the Brazilian households still do not own a computer and most of the populations have not even connected directly or indirectly to the Internet.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch009

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These indicators show how this public policy still needs to progress to become an effective resource for Brazilian population participation. There is no doubt that computers are missing in Brazilian households. According to research, 54% do not have a computer and 90% of the populations who do not access the Internet inhabit rural areas. Despite the economic aspect influencing the access to household technology, it is necessary that the Brazilian digital inclusion programs be firmly determined to achieve the desirable goal of promoting Internet connectivity throughout the country. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage the production of technical devices that facilitate connectivity and measures that provide a gradual and consistent learning in accordance with these tools that can promote participating social-educational activities. According to Conference Declaration Multisectoral of São Paulo1 (NETMundial, 2014), some of the important mechanisms of participation that modernize the Brazilian e-government is the Access to Information Law and Marco Civil Internet (Internet Civil Rights) are currently enacted and later described, are the result of a participatory design process of in deftly involved inclusion digital activists, empowering decision-making processes involving Internet users’ rights. Therefore, the role of digital inclusion today is vital in order to fully achieve internationally agreed upon sustainable development goals, however this will only be possible through a growing governmental and social investment multi-sectoral efforts to provide improvement support, whether it be infrastructure to access ICT, with equipment costs reduction, management training and programmers responsible for software architecture, e-gov sites and other services that promote information distribution efficiency and effective public participation on public policy. The collaborative production and sharing information online, especially by the massive use of social networks has just been acting as the primary contact for media information exchange,

presenting services and products in general, occurring mainly among younger generations (Ito et al, 2008) who began their apprenticeship technology in schools and in the ordinary use of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Digital Inclusion is quite significant at this time that the Brazil have been experiencing over the past 20 years, with a generation of internet users who already act as the great protagonists of public network participation. Randal Pinkett’s approach (2000) in articles published in MIT was about “digital inclusion” concept by the division between the rich and the information poor. This expression shows in deed the principles established by the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in 2003. Pinkett presents other terms to refer to those who have access to information and those who don’t have (digital haves e digital have-nots) creating a more procedural understanding from digital divide to digital opportunity. Some years later, in 2005, Digital Divide Network, a project of the Benton Foundation, states that digital inclusion refers to the gap between those who can effectively use ICT, such as the Internet, and those who cannot. (Guzzi, 2010) Despite these and several subsequent attempts to define Digital Inclusion, over the last two decades, it is no longer possible to refer to such programs as mere access to the Internet. But it is important to note that today, even this mere access is not so simple, especially in a developing country like Brazil. Brazil has many infrastructure problems to be solved, be it for purchase of equipment, either in relation to connectivity, whether in building service stations, either in maintenance capacity or human resources. Over the course of the past 20 years, the projects, researches and actions are based on the idea that the Internet access and the information on the net are the citizens’ rights. This is an international orientation of democratization in Declaration of Human Rights from the United Nations Information Society.

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According this precept, Brazilian programs were created and developed gradually. One of the first was deployed AcessaSP2, established in 1999 and considered the most important in Latin America, has been studied as an exemplary program in academic research and organizations both public when private.

In the public sector, as outlined The 5th Annual Digital Inclusion Network Public Sector (2013-2014), currently developing the following programs: •

2. POSSIBILITIES IN DI ON THE PUBLIC SECTOR: 2013-2014 The expansion of broadband services (in the last year, fiber optics integration), increase of competitiveness of operators and servers and increase of retail computer sales tax breaks deadlines and electronics products for the population3, these factors contribute to the tax reduction and equipment prices to access the Internet, digital inclusion takes on new proportions, especially in relation to the objectives of some programs that have only been focusing on numerical statistics of visits to infocenters public. Note, that while some programs and infocenters public are being discontinued in the country, on the grounds of high maintenance costs, new ones are being created, several remain actively running and even continue expanding its activities. Traditional DI programs with free access points and presence of trained monitors to encourage digital culture, continue to have an important role in social development in suburbs, small towns, high volume traffic areas and until fairly recently, the internet was no accessible to communities such as quilombolas (direct descendants of African slaves), indigenous and settlers in several communities rural and coastal areas. Not only are they places of Internet access, but more of qualified interaction, interactive content production, exchange of information and social participation and local natives through their cultural forms of expression.

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Federal Projects: Bank of Brazil Foundation (Digital Inclusion Program); Ministry of Communications (Digital Cities, Computers for Inclusion, GESAC, Digital Inclusion of Rural Youth, Digital Networks of Citizenship, Telecentros.Br.); Ministry of Culture (CDI Community), Ministry of Agricultural Development (Digital Territories); Ministry of Education (Media Center, Educational Content, ProInfro, Tablets, PROUCA); Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Telecenter Tide), Data processing enterprise (Serpro). Brazilian States Projects: Acre, Alagoas, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Espirito Santo, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraná, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Sergipe e Tocantins. Projects in Brazilian States Capitals: Belém, Belo Horizonte, Campo Grande, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Goiânia, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Vitória.

Many states and municipalities have one or more projects merging with federal, state, and municipal levels, also in partnerships with entities or associations like NGOs. Among these programs were chosen here five models for illustrate this approach and the different Brazilian scenarios of DI initiatives. The first of them refers to the state of Alagoas located in Northeastern part Brazil. Just three years ago, it was one of the last placed in the ranking of the effectiveness of digital inclusion in the Brazilian scenario. However, to prioritize locations with lower Municipal Human Development Index

 Digital Inclusion and Public Policies in Brazil

(MHDI)4 in the state capital to develop inclusive programs had a noticeable 4% of growth in the IBGE survey of Alagoas index connectivity. Maceió, capital of the State, is surrounded by beautiful beaches and is one of the famous Brazilian sightseeing attractions. However, the suburbs have the highest rates of crime and violence in the country. The incentive of digital inclusion through infocenter in these locations has provided many young people the opportunity to seek training and occupation through hotel courses, sometimes in partnership with local groups such as the Institute Artjovem. This partnership formed in 2013 trained 60 young people and plans on forming over 800 young people who have registered both in the hotel sector, as well as in other sectors. According to 5o. Anuário ARede (2013), among the services offered in the infocenter besides computer courses and computer tech courses, there are a number of incentives for digital culture development through “training in areas related to productive culture of the region, such as crafts, fishing and cooking”. (p.43). And this growth was supported by a number of measures, such as increased connection capacity broadband and joining the National Research Network. In addition, the state government has invested in two programs by through the Institute of Technology in Computer & Information [Itec]: the DigitAlagoas and Digital Literacy for lanhouses. The second example is the Amazon, the largest state in the Amazon region with the transfer of funds for Digital Citizenship Networks Program by the federal government since 2012 has expanded the states broadband, according to Portal Amazônia (2013). This public policy has allowed the expanding possibilities of communication and expression between the most remote indigenous communities of the cities, as is the case in many indigenous communities, who remain in their original territories, preserving traditions and the biome of the Amazon forest, constantly threatened

by interests unrelated to environmental preservation that the breadth of the forest, can hardly be fully inspected by the forest police. The third example is Acre, a State located in the North of Brazil, also in the Amazon Region, on the Bolivian and Peruvian border. The Digital Forest Program, implemented by the State Government in 2010, acquiring optical fiber took free internet to citizens of 18 of the 22 municipalities of the state: in June 2013 had 62,000 registered users, serving seven thousand users daily. The fourth example is geographically in the diametrically opposite side: on the border of southern Brazil and Uruguay, in Santana do Livramento, city of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, also known as the “peace border”. Ever since June 2003, the city has the first bi-national telecentre in Latin America, implemented by the state government. The infocenter’s physical space has 20 computers with Linux operating system. A hotspot provides free Internet signal for the population within a radius of 300 meters, covering the Brazilian and Uruguayan city of Rivera by simply requesting the password to access it. Lastly, it is considered important to highlight the AcessaSP program in São Paulo, which has received many awards in Brazil and abroad.

3. ACESSASP: REFERENCE STUDIES PROGRAM IN DIGITAL INCLUSION In 2013, the program won the award “Access to Knowledge” from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At the time, Deborah Jacobs, director of the Global Libraries Initiative, agency responsible for the award, explained that the program was chosen because it led to access a whole new level. Instead of giving users the task of finding the Internet stations, the technology is available so that people can use it in their daily commutes

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because they are found in public places of high traffic and easy access to subway & train stations, soup kitchens (Bom Prato) and services e-gov (Poupatempo). 11 Since 2000, the Research Center for New Communication Technology Applied to Education (NAP) of School of the Future at the University of São Paulo (Escola do Futuro - EF/USP) has been developing researches, studies, strategies and set out actions for digital inclusion public policy (Passarelli, Guzzi, Angelucci, & Junqueira, 2014), among them AcessaSP, Acessa Escola and Rede JuventudeSP in State of São Paulo scope. And in partnership with Federal Government were developed the Program Telecentros.Br and the site Humanize Network SUS (Humaniza SUS) for the Digital Inclusion for Health (DIH). Regarding AcessaSP, it is up to this State Government to provide structuring action plans of physical space and implementation of technological apparatus and connectivity. EF/USP develops interfaces and digital content, communication and mediation strategies, as well as the training of monitors using blended learning: face meetings and distance monitoring. This partnership opens and maintains public spaces and free internet access for the population of São Paulo, however not only aiming to provide free access to computers and internet, but, above all, inspiring action plans that increase interaction between actors of network (Passarelli, 2008) and services, encouraging social leadership and the mobility of classes with fewer resources. It is worth mentioning that AcessaSP began to be designed in a time when the usual expression for digital inclusion was “digital divide” and many references were made of this conception as a binary view among included or excluded in relation to Internet access. The State of São Paulo is located in the largest economic development of the country and about a fifth of the population is concentrated in Southeastern Brazil. Since the implementation of the first AcessaSP infocenter in 2003, the technical team of

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researchers-participants, programmers, designers, facilitators of ICT and community leaders where the program has been developed in a manner that enhanced the educational and cultural capacity of the people through means of Internet. From this perspective, one of the problems quickly identified in the communities was that the computer courses offered massively to the population were not adapted to local conditions and therefore did not contribute to community development, nor promote the appropriation of technology for a broader debate in terms of citizenship. A user who learns only the commands of a text editor or spreadsheet, for example, does not develop the perception of how to apply their skills besides a very immediate level for study or work. Not only did it have to do with internet access but it was necessary to know where the information about a particular subject can be found, how to turn into specific knowledge to do what is needed; such as, how to develop the ability to learn to learn and to know what to do with what you have learned. As stated Moraes (2008), just as the same way as Manuel Castells expresses himself, this was the notion that this ability is socially uneven and is related to social origin, cultural level and the level of education (p. 367). There is still a significant presence in other sectors in the development of digital inclusion programs, such as universities, foundations, funding agencies, business community centers, NGOs and even those who are not linked to any form of institutional organization, being carried out by self-employeded or group of people. These are just examples from a wide scenario of vast partnerships experiences between public policy of digital inclusion and community, in a country with so many regional peculiarities. That is why we cannot specify the exact number of existing digital inclusion programs, it would be impossible to list every possible scenario, because each one depends on the local vocation for its own project existence and initiatives.

 Digital Inclusion and Public Policies in Brazil

4. NEW PARTICIPATION MECHANISMS: ACCESS TO DATA E-GOV

taxpayer and the administration, besides reducing expense and the stock of printed, also helping in environmental preservation issues.

Some recent regulations passed by the Congress and the Presidency of Brazil, placing the Brazilian e-gov as one of the most advanced in terms of public participation criteria in the world. Enacted in 2013, the Access to Information Law5 states that public bodies and agencies shall disclose, regardless of requests, information of general or collective interest, except those whose confidentiality is provided for in the legal text. This should be done necessarily on official sites (only municipalities with a population of up to 10,000 inhabitants shall be exempt from mandatory disclosure on the net). Among the information to be made available, shall contain the minimum:

Open Data and Transparency of Information

•

• • • • •

Registration of skills and organizational structure, addresses and telephone numbers of units and opening hours to the public; Records of any transfers or transfers of financial resources; Records of expenditure; Information concerning bidding procedures, including the respective notices and results, as well as all contracts; General data for monitoring programs, actions, projects and construction sites; Answers to frequently asked questions of society.

This law provides some measures that have been implemented and with prior access to information, citizens need not go unnecessarily to the organs and certain measures that have been implemented and with prior access to information, citizens need not go unnecessarily to the organs and public entities to obtain services and documents, saving time and resources, both the

Regarding open data and transparency, Brazil has been following the experts definition from the Open Government Data (2013) where open data can be freely accessed and used, reuse them and redistribute them on the net, being in maximum, subject to the requirement of credit to author and share alike. This is usually satisfied by the disclosure in open format and under an open license. This concept, open data is guided by three laws and eight principles: These three laws are: 1. If the data cannot be found and indexed on the web, it does not exist; 2. If it is not open and available in machine readable format, it cannot be reused 3. If any legal provision does not allow replication, it is not useful. Brazil follows the guidance of the working group made up of 30 people who met in 2007 in California, USA, to define the principles of Open Government Data, reaching a consensus on the following eight principles6: 1. Complete: All public data is made available. Public data is data that is not subject to valid privacy, security or privilege limitations. 2. Primary: Data is as collected at the source, with the highest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms. 3. Timely: Data is made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data. 4. Accessible: Data is available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes.

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5. Machine Processable: Data is reasonably structured to allow automated processing. 6. Non-Discriminatory: Data is available to anyone, with no requirement of registration. 7. Non-Proprietary: Data is available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control. 8. Licence-Free: Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege restrictions may be allowed. Taking into account the incentives to encourage transparency in relation to the display of information not only of institutional open data), but at the level of the methods that are presented on the worldwide web (Sunlight Foundation, 2015, the Brazilian digital inclusion must increasingly invest in technical training for effective use of these resources through learning analytics tools and other forms of sociodigital education. In this sense, we are confronted with contemporary scenario challenges where the increasing complexity and immense amount of network data and methods produced on the net widen spaces for the development of new research strategies of digital culture for everyone equally. The existence of big data, computing power and reading interfaces available, is an unprecedented opportunity for the production of descriptions and analysis of events and actions, from network mappings. As mentioned Rieder (2013), the study of Social Networking Services [SNS] of user-generated content on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, introduces many challenges and considerations that make academic research on the Internet about their users and various forms of content published daily in them, are different from surveys conducted previously offline or in open spaces of the Web. In addition, the intelligent use of data by electronic means is, in theory, the realization of initial communication efforts and provision

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of services to the population, from government sectors, universities, among other institutions and the Brazilian population. Although not yet there is this coverage in all regions, in most of the country there is already the possibility to schedule appointments via site or toll-free telephone, request services from Social Security Services, IRS, issue identity documents in general (e.g. ID, driver’s license, police report, certificate of criminal records, vehicle licensing, among others) that may be requested by any citizen who has an e-mail, free of cost to the beneficiary.

Marco Civil Internet Another advance of great relevance and exemplary global pioneer model in the democratization of Internet use that was approved in 2014, o Marco Civil Internet by Congress and the President of Brazil. Prepared with the participation of multisectoral digital activists, the Marco Civil Internet – a kind of Internet Constitution - was appointed as a world reference for legislation that must deal with the worldwide network of computers during the NetMundial - Virtus Global Multi-Sector Meeting for the Future of Internet Governance, bringing together governments, businesses, experts and activists to discuss the future of the network. In addition to setting clearer rules about the rights, duties and principles for the network use in Brazil, the principles of law - especially to guarantee network neutrality, freedom of expression and the users privacy - have been established to keep the open internet characteristic. (Agência EBC do Brasil, 2014) Marco Civil Internet also ensures the privacy of Internet users, which states that personal information and access logs can only be sold if the user expressly authorizes the commercial operation, avoiding that personal data is used as advertising revenue means.

 Digital Inclusion and Public Policies in Brazil

And, in relation to freedom of expression, the decision to cancel the hosting pages content is limited to Justice without that providers can do it from simple notifications. These are some of the e-government models are being updated and gradually advancing in providing services, democratization and facilitated data visualization, monitoring methodologies and social construction of knowledge for its entire population. These projects and actions can be considered as strong trends for transforming actions of the Brazilian national reality in the medium term, along with the challenges that are consistently present and need to be addressed, such as occur in the polls, discussions, lectures and meetings between representatives of public power, researchers and segments of the population, strengthening the involvement of network programs members and activists of the digital inclusion culture7, whose intention is to seek ways to stimulate and encourage the development of projects for the Brazilian Integration also in sharing network experiences distributed around the world in which we live in, the 21st century. As provided by the Ministry of Justice, before the preparation of the final text, the law was put on the websites of the Ministry of Justice (www. marcovicil.mj.gov.br and www.dadospessoais. gov.br) for public consultation of all citizens during the period January 28 to March 30, 2015, to finally be enacted.

5. NATIONAL SURVEYS ABOUT HABITS OF INTERNET USERS In national surveys, the most important ones are carried out by the Brazilian Management Internet Committee (Comitê Gestor da Internet - CGI.br). This body was established by Ministerial Decree No. 147, in May 1995, with the task of coordinating and integrating the Internet service initiatives

in the country, promoting the technical quality, innovation and the spread of services offered. Composed of government officials, the business sector, the third sector and the academic community, the CGI.br, since July 2004, democratically elected representatives of civil society “based on the principles of multilateral transparency and democracy, to participate in deliberations and debate the Internet priorities, along with government.” (Comitê Gestor da Internet, 2013). In this sense, “it is a pioneer Internet governance model, in regards to its society participation effectiveness in decisions involving the implementation, administration and use of the network”. Among its main tasks are: • • • • • •

Propose policies and procedures according to Internet regulation activities; Recommend standards and technical operational procedures for Brazilian Internet; Establish strategic guidelines related to the use and development of Internet in Brazil; Promote studies and technical standards for the security of networks and services in the country; Coordinate the allocation of Internet addresses (IPs) and the domain registration using ; Collection, organization and dissemination of information on Internet services, including indicators and statistics.

CGI-br, by means of the Center of Information and Coordination BR Point (NIC-br) for the past seven year has done renowned natival surveys about ICT in Brazil: Education, Kids Online and Households. The purpose of these surveys is to produce and disseminate indicators and statistics on the use of ICTs in the Brazilian society sectors: households, businesses, education, children, lanhouses, egovernment, non-profit organizations etc.

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Currently, data from the Household Survey on Internet Use in Brazil are being drawn up the “Guidelines and Recommendations for Policy Development of Internet & Digital Inclusion”. This document is part of a comparative data analysis from surveys of Brazilian Management Internet Committee [CGI-br], from 2008 to 2012, about Internet access and use in households and public access locations like telecenters, lanhouses, libraries and schools. This study is being carried forward by a group of research analysts Digital Inclusion Universalization Chamber of CGI-br. The document, once approved will be available on CGI-br site8, indicating 27 critical points on the following topics: 1) The presence of computers in Brazilian households; 2) Internet access in households; 3) Use of the Internet; 4) Adequacy of internet lanhouses and telecenters; 5) Internet access infrastructure in public schools in urban areas; 6) Use of the Internet on Mobile Phones; 7) Appropriation of the Internet; 8) Web Accessibility; 9) Legal and Regulatory Environment; and finally, 10) Challenges for Digital Inclusion in Brazil. Briefly, we list some of these critical points, as well as some tables and graphs in order to put into perspective.

1) The Presence of Computers in Brazilian Households Figure 1 shows a large increase in households with computers since 2008, but also that 54% of households in 2012, do not have access to technology. Figure 2 shows that even today without Internet households represent 90% of total households in rural areas. One of the reasons to explain this critical point is that we need to take into account the vast size of the Brazilian territory, the long distances between more developed urban centers, and consequently many regional disparities. Due to these characteristics, Brazil has distinct layers of population in the educational and socioeconomic level. In turn, in Figure 1, it is easy to see that the family income is the main motive for not having a computer at home: about 10 million households have a family income up to 1 minimum wage, do not have computers and 13.6 million households with income between 1 and 2 minimum wages are also deprived of this technology. Similarly, the responses to the question about of the computers in existence, the cost was the most cited reason for the lack of computer at home (63%).

Figure 1. Proportion of households with computers (2008-2012) [%] Source: CGI.br (2013)

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Figure 2. Proportion of households with Internet access by area (2008-2012) [%] Source: CGI.br (2013)

2) Internet Users Similarly to what happens with Internet access indicators in the home, family income is quite decisive for use. The data also demonstrated the disparity of the presence of providers in the country, indicating the Southeast as the main region in which the companies responsible for online service delivery are located (43%). The South (23%) and Northeast (22%) concentrating almost the same amount of service providers and those with lower concentration of providers are: Midwest (11%) and North (6%). To complete such a scenario, the research shows that there is a low proportion of providers that cater to all regions of Brazil: only 3% of them. According to the survey, the Internet access provider sector in Brazil is deeply concentrated. The results show that six (6) Internet service providers from the 1,934 surveyed holds about 80% of the 17 million Internet connections. The other 20% of the connections are distributed between 1,928 providers. The advance of digital inclusion process in Brazil is directly related to the development and expansion of Internet access infrastructure, moreover in locations of lower market attractive-

ness. In addition to the necessary expansion of the physical telecommunications infrastructure in which the Internet works, the Internet service providers (ISP) that provide access, content, hosting, e-mail or applications are vital elements for the network expansion in Brazil.

3) Lanhouses and Infocenters Adequacy In addition to home use, it is crucial qualify the role of public centers (such as schools, telecenters, lanhouses, libraries etc.). Despite the decline in the proportion of lanhouses users and stability in the proportion of Infocenters, about 10% of the population has Internet access only through these sites, according to Figure 3. Analyzing the access points according to social class, the home access becomes the most cited among the C class of users in 2010, a rate that will accentuate (Figure 4). In the DE class, the proportion of lanhouses users remains higher than that of home users showing the importance of these sites for inclusion of the lower income bracket population.

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Figure 3. Proportion of Internet users by individual access location (2008-2012) Source: CGI.br (2013)

Figure 4. Home versus lanhouses – classes c (2008-2012) [%] Source: CGI.br (2013)

4) Internet Access Infrastructure in Public Schools in Urban Areas At this point, the greatest problems have been identified: •

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Number of computers with Internet access still very low in schools.

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•

Classrooms, where teaching-learning routine take place is the least equipped: only 7% have computers with internet access installed Most schools have a very low connection speed up to 2 Megabits, representing 68% of the institutions, while 32% of the schools had connection of up to 1 Megabit.

 Digital Inclusion and Public Policies in Brazil

•

Among the rural schools, only 19% have acomputer labs, very different picture from that observed among the schools in the urban areas in which the presence of laboratories is universal.

5) Use of the Internet on Mobile Phones •

•

The mobile phone is not used to access the Internet by most of its users: only 24% used the phone to access the Internet, which corresponds to an estimated 34 million individuals BUT is increasing very fast; The data indicates differences among Internet users by mobile phone mainly due to family income

6) Internet Appropriation Activities related to Electronic Government Services, Financial Services, activities for Education (except for school research) and job search are used by less than a quarter of Internet users, suggesting that there is still a challenge in the effective appropriation of this technology.

resents the maintenance of the current regulatory framework, allowing the granting of Multimedia Communication Service (SCM) of Anatel, without further consideration to encourage broadband universalization and those who advocate the provision of service in mixed regime, thereby supporting the formal recognition of broadband as an essential service.

9) Brazil’s Challenges for Digital Inclusion From the described topics (1-8) and critical preliminary analysis, since the final analysis is still under approval by the experts of the Digital Inclusion Universalization Chamber Panel, we have listed the main challenges for digital inclusion, the following points are as follows: •

7) Web Accessibility The proportion of private sites adhering to the standards of accessibility is one of the topics of debate that has mobilized civil society. In 2012 only 1.11% of government websites and 4.8% of the pages were adherent to some of the accessibility levels, according to the criteria of Electronic Government Accessibility Model (e-MAG, 2011).

8) Legal and Regulatory Environment The debate on the nature of the service connected with the internet infrastructure is polarized between those who advocate for provision of exclusively private broadband systems, which rep-

•

•

There is need to develop an industrial policy for the sector; recover the industrial park by encouraging the construction of a national supply chain that enables the delivery of key network equipment. The joint action must involve some ministries (Communications, Industry and Trade, Education, among others), universities, research centers and operators, to build concrete strategies for network evolution and the needs/ possibilities of equipment and systems. It is desirable to establish a systematic approach for clear rules and regulation standards established by international standardization bodies. There should also be established choices for National standards, possibly supplemented by national and regional standards. Cost Model: In order to create a more competitive and equitable environment, network resources must have costs that allow use of all the service providers, encouraging a healthy competition.

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•

•

•

Use of Free Software: We have observed the absence of a strengthening of policy development and use of free software in educational environments, which requires policies that encourage the use and development in this area. What we have found are systems that are based on open source software, but do not actually follow a proprietary logic Connection of Public Universities: Correct increase enrollment policy and Brazilian Universities and Colleges promote the implementation of new campuses in several Brazilian states, especially outside the major centers. But, it is pressing to review improvements in the connectivity point of view. Restructuring of Electronic Government Policies: It is necessary that the program is constantly being revised and updated, always bearing in mind that it not exists only on paper.

Children and Teens on the Internet: Research ICT Kids Online Another very important research about habits, trends and perspectives of Brazilian Internet use is the ICT Kids Online, coordinated by the Regional Center of Studies for the Development of the Information Society 9 in partnership with Unesco, whose major motivation is to see the opportunities and risks associated with the use of the Internet by Brazilian children and adolescents 9 to 17 years of age (2013). In this second edition, the 2013 survey reveals that the number of children and adolescents in social networking are increasingly growing in the Brazilian scenario: 79% of Internet users are between age 9 to 17 years old and have profile on the social networks that they most use, an increase of 9 percentage points compared to 2012. In relation to online activities performed the activities

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that stand out: research for school work (87%), watching videos (68%) and download music or movies (50%) The trend toward mobility is another highlight that the survey demonstrated. The mobile is used by just over half of children and adolescents to access the network (53%). In 2012, this proportion was 21% and the internet for tablets grew by 2% compared to 2012: 16% in 2013; desktop computers follow as the most used devices to access the Internet for this public: 71%.

Network Access Locations Greater access to the network environment mentioned is the living room of the house (68%), followed by the bedroom (57%). The latter increased by 31% over the previous year. The results indicate an increase in the use of the Internet in places that children or adolescents have more privacy, such as the bedroom. It is noteworthy that with the increase of Internet use at home, the pay-centers such as internet cafes, lanhouses are mentioned to a lesser extent in 2013 (22%) and 2012 (35%)

Skills, Opportunities, Risks and Parents and Caretakers Mediation In the range group from 11 to 17 years, with regard to the ability to use the Internet, research indicates that 58% of users reported know how to change privacy settings on social network profiles. Additionally, 42% of Internet users in the same age group said they know how to compare different websites to whether the information is true. Regarding experienced online risk situations, 38% of children/ adolescents between 11 to 17 years of age added someone who never personally met to the lists of friends or contacts on social networks. “The higher age groups report more potential risk activities in relation to the younger people,” said Alexandre Barbosa (idem).

 Digital Inclusion and Public Policies in Brazil

Among the mediation activities of parents and caretakers, talk about what their children do on the Internet (81%) is the most cited action. Already 43% of parents and caretakers do and carry out activities with the children on the network. When asked about the risks, only 8% of parents and guardians of selected young people believe that their child has gone through a situation of discomfort or embarrassment on the Internet - a percentage similar to that seen in 2012 (6%).

6. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS If Dertouzos (2001) had already alerted to the fact that, if left on their own, the market tends to increase the digital divide between rich and poor countries and between rich and lower income people, even with the massive use of digital technologies in the field of Brazilian contemporary verified that the Brazilian regional disparities reflect very different realities in the forms of the Brazilian to be in the world in the 21st century.. For Kobashi (2005) one should be alert to the “Knowledge Gap Hhypothesis”, yet formulated in the 1970s, and remains until today reinforcing the differences: information poor tend to be poorer and rich in information, increasingly rich, generating a chronic polarization in society. (Guzzi, 2010, p. 43). The ability of a person to receive, understand and assimilate knowledge seems to depend more and more of the persons repertoire, their skills and access to ICTs, which carries the level of performance in their network participation inside and outside the Internet. To prevent the digital divide widen social inequalities, further strengthening only some segments of society already privileged by the economic and political context, it is necessary that the government establish effective policies that guarantee access for all people, from implementation and equipment availability, connections

to local and national projects in schools, libraries, squares and public points. It is the sense, projects urgency increasingly focused on the democratization of Internet access, of which, in the medium term, the development of industrial parks and technology and implantation of services providers more geographically decentralized in Brazil, in addition to the technical training of managers, programmers, designers and population, the scholars of public policy for digital inclusion huddled at that time. The intensive use of networks has produced new generations who perceive more clearly what is autonomy in the ways of learning and network production, through these skills they develop through shared tools manner. Observed by researches in which the protagonists are young people up to 19 years old that the Internet and mobile telephone has become increasingly more accessible to all segments of the population and are essential instruments for formal education and non-formal, essential elements for the professionalism and entrepreneurship, by network occupation that favors freedom of expression and thereby generate important forms of learning with respect to vision, reproduction and analysis of events. It is noteworthy that the increasing use of mobile technologies generate important changes in lifestyles, in the expressions and personal narratives, psychologically impacting contemporary subjects, in which it confirmed the new forms of subjective organization - fluid and constantly changing - especially expansion of personal autonomy, freedom and privacy, increased intimacy in relationships, emergence of new forms of interpersonal control, heightened sense of security and feeling of never being alone. (Nicolai-da-Costa, 2004, p. 165). We observe with this cut in the research analysis, a great potential opportunity to pursue various investigations that focus on expanding the understanding of the impact of the use of

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connecting mobile technologies in everyday life of Internet users, in which it may raise and meet socio-behavioral, cultural, psychological, emotional and citizen participation of different age groups. According to some research, “wireless networks produce spatial and socialization processes in cities, reconfiguring peoples relationships among themselves and with the locals” (Lemos, Pastor & Oliveira 2012, pp. 185-186), creating new practices in urban space and new forms of interaction with the places and production of new meanings for them. Constitute, so-called “informational territories” as intersection zone and control between cyberspace and urban place, which reconfigures and extends the social functions of the places. A moving space between the electronic space and physical space. Under the exponential growth of wireless connections it is believed that the popularization of public wifi networks can contribute decisively to the democratization of access to the worldwide web, increasing competition between telephone companies, which should result in improvements in quality of services and a fall in connectivity prices in the country. Such characteristics of the Brazilian contemporary scenario project signs of distributed democracy, strengthened by free culture of sharing (Lessig, 2004) and open education (Scholarly Publishing, 2014), on the net. The notion of distributed democracy (Guzzi, 2014) in the world goes through this place of production autonomy of the individual/collective in the institutions of society (Miller & Rose, 2012). That is, invite them to another type of composition in which there is an enhancement of collective intelligence, as one of the reasons for this cultural change in which all the people operate. In this perspective, we work for that digital inclusion programs allies of the programs that work for the expansion of broadband, implementing more and more free public wireless connection services, hoping to generate increased public

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participation due to resources promoted by an open education of quality for all segments of the population.

REFERENCES Agência EBC do Brasil. (2014). Entenda o Marco Civil da Internet Ponto a Ponto. Retrieved on February 01, 2015 from http://www.ebc.com.br/ tecnologia/2014/04/entenda-o-marco-civil-dainternet-ponto-a-ponto 5. Anuário ARede de Inclusão Digital. (20132014). Disparada para sair da lanterninha. Bit Social. Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil. CGI.br. (2005). World Summit Document on Information Society: Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005. São Paulo: Notebooks CGI.Br., 2014. Retrieved on February 2015, from http://www.cgi.br/media/docs/publicacoes/1/CadernosCGIbr_DocumentosCMSI.pdf Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil. CGI.br. (2013a). TIC Domicílios e Empresas 2013. Retrieved on August 14, 2014 from http://www. governoeletronico.gov.br/o-gov.br/comite-gestorde-internet Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil. CGI.br. (2013b). TIC Kids Online Brasil 2013: Survey on the use of information and comumunication technologies in Brazil. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.cetic.br/media/analises/ Infografico_kids_online_2013.pdf Dertouzous, M. L. O. (2001). The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Cantered Computers and What They Can Do for Us. HapperCollins Publisher LLC. E-mag Modelo de Acessibilidade em Governo Eletrônico. (2011). Manual Ministry of Planning. Retrieved on June 18, 2014, from http://emag. governoeletronico.gov.br/

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Guzzi, D. (2010). Web e participação: a democracia no século XXI. Brazil: Senac SP. Guzzi, D. (2014). O cuidado de si e o mundo distribuído. A apropriação dos meios de comunicação e novas práticas políticas em rede. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatísticas – IBGE. (2012). Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios – PNAD 2012. Retrieved on December 01, 2014, from http://ibge.gov.br/ home/estatistica/pesquisas/pesquisa_resultados. php?id_pesquisa=40 Ito, M. (2008). Living and Learning wit New Media: Sumary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. Chicago: MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved on June 18, 2015 from http://www. macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/ DML_ETHNOG_WHITEPAPER_1.PDF JuliaCon. (2014). Opening Session Presentations [Vídeo]. Retrieved on February, 01, 2015 from http://julialang.org/blog/2014/08/juliaconopening-session/ Kobashi, R. (2005). Technology in Service of Digital Inclusion. O Estado de S.Paulo Journal. Retrieved on December 10, 2011 from http:// acervo.estadao.com.br Lemos, A., Pastor, L., & Oliveira, N. (2012). WI-Fi Salvador: mapeamento colaborativo e redes sem fio no Brasil. Intercom – BRCC, 35(1), 183-204. Lessig, L. (2004). Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. Retrieved on June 10, 2015 from http://www.lessig.org/books/ Miller, P., & Rose, M. (2012). Governando o Presente. Paulus. Moraes, D. (2008). Por uma outra comunicação: mídia, mundialização, cultura e poder. Brazil: Record.

NETMundial. (2014). Conference Declaration Multisectoral of São Paulo – NETMundial, Global Mutistakeholder Meeting of the Future of Internet Governance. Retrieved on June 15, 2015, from netmundial.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ NETmundial-Multistakeholder-Document.pdf Nicolai-da-Costa, A. M. (2004). Impactos psicológicos do uso de celulares: uma pesquisa exploratória com jovens brasileiros. Psicologia - Teoria e Pesquisa Magazine, 20(2), 165-174. Retrieved on June 15, 2015 from http://www.scielo. br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S010237722004000200009&lng=pt Open Education Conference. (2014). Open Analytics Panel. Retrieved on June 10, 2015, from http:// pt.slideshare.net/houshuang/open-learning-analytics-panel-at-open-education-conference-2014 Open Government Data. (2013). The 8 principles of Open Government Data. Retrieved on June 19, 2015, from http://opengovdata.org/ Passarelli, B. (2008). Atores em Rede. Um estudo qualitativo sobre o perfil dos cidadãos que frequentam o Programa Acessa São Paulo. Senac. Passarelli, B., Guzzi, D., Angelucci, A. B., & Junqueira, A. H. (2013). The impact of mobility in Brazilian infocenters: AcessaSP case study. In Proceedings of the 63rd Conference “International Council for Educational Media” (ICEM), 2013. Retrieved on June 12, 2015, from doi:10.1109/ CICEM.2013.6820140 Pinkett, R. D. (2000). Community Technology. Retrieved on June 4, 2015, from http://www.media. mit.edu/~rpinkett/papers/aera2000.pdf Portal Amazônia. (2013). Amazonas e Acre recebem verbas para a inclusão digital. Retrieved on June 01, 2015, from http://www.portalamazonia.com.br/editoria/atualidades/amazonas-eacrerecebem-verbas-para-inclusao-digital

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Rieder, B. (2013). Studying Facebook via data extraction: the Netvizz application. WebSci’13, May 2-4, 2013, Paris, France. doi:10.1145/2464464.2464475 Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition – SPARC. (n.d.). Open Education. What are open education resources (OER)? Retrieved from February 10, 2015, from http://www.sparc. arl.org/issues/open-education Sunlight Foundation. (n.d.). Making Government Accountable & Transparent. Retrieved on February 01, 2015, from http://sunlightfoundation.com/

Marco Civil Internet: (Internet Civil Rights) is a kind of Brazilian Internet Constitution. Open Data and Transparency: Mechanism participation of e-gov.

ENDNOTES

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2

CGI Universalization Chamber. (n.d.). Retrieved on February 14, 2015, from http://www.cgi.br/ pagina/camara-de-universalizacao-e-inclusaodigital/73

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Access to Information Law: Enacted in 2013, the Brazilian Access to Information Law states that public bodies and agencies shall disclose, regardless of requests, information of general or collective interest, except those whose confidentiality is provided for in the legal text. Mechanism of participation. AcessaSP Program: The biggest digital inclusion program in Latin America. Brazil’s Challenges for Digital Inclusion: According to Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil. Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil (CGI. br): Brazilian Internet Steering Committee promotes relevant surveys on the use of information and communication technologies in Brasil. ICT Kids Online: important research about habits, trends and perspectives of Brazilian Internet whose major motivation is to see the opportunities and risks associated with the use of the Internet by Brazilian children and adolescents from 9 to 17 years of age (2013).

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3



4



5

Global Multistakeholder Meeting of the Future of Internet Governance. The largest pioneer programs in Latin America In December of 2014, he program had 837 active posts and 206 in the implementation phase, covering 100% of Sao Paulo’s municipality, accounting for more than 2.9 million registered users and almost 80 million people. The program has the support of about 1,200 monitors, according to the programs site: The tax benefit of Digital Inclusion Program includes the retail sale of computers and laptops, as well as well as modems, smartphones and digital routers. The period that would end on 31st of December of 2018, as announced by the Brazilian Federal Government on 21st of August 2014. according . HDI (Human Development Index) is the index used by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the UN body that serves as a comparison between countries, in order to measure the degree of economic development and the quality of life offered to the population. In this case, it was applied to neighbourhoods of Maceió, capital of Alagoas. Access to Information Act Law Number 12.527, 16 of May 2012. It covers the three branches of government - executive, legislative and Judiciary - in local, state and federal levels.

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6



7

Although the principles were thought to account for Government Open Data, it can also be applied for open data in general, except for the first, since this deals of government data. According to Universalization Chamber CGI.



8

The Regional Center of Studies for the Development of the Information Society – Cetic.br - is responsible for the production of indicators and statistics on the availability and use of the Internet in Brazil, disseminating analysis and regular information on the development of the network in the country.

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Chapter 10

E-Portfolios as Tools for Collaborative Learning on Digital Platforms Ana Claudia Loureiro University of São Paulo, Brazil Cristina Zukowsky-Tavares Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT In this chapter the authors discuss on the increasingly use of virtual learning environments - Learning Management Systems (LMS) - in university education. Analysis the potential of learning methodologies and more collaborative, problem-solving and dialogical assessment. The authors emphasize the concern with the concepts that underlie technology-enabled assessment processes such as the use of e-portfolio as a resource to monitoring the students’ performance, thus being redesigned upon the assessment process, mediated by an educational practice of individual and collective knowledge construction on digital platforms and mobile communication devices.

INTRODUCTION New Information Technologies and Communication (NTIC) give rise in the present days to renewed challenges and opportunities for the Universities, with respect to the understanding and the use of multimedia features, the internet and mobile communication devices in the service of learning. Multiple experiences resurface in international university environment, with innovative education curriculum frameworks that rely on active problem-solving methodologies which nurture

education, providing professors and students with further autonomy and active participation. In a scenario featured by fast-paced technology changes and revamped university education processes, it is worth questioning and rethinking whether these changes lead to better learning results, too. What academic and professional profile has in Brazilian mind? Changing tools without rethinking conceptions? What buttresses our educational, learning and assessment perspective? Aware of the challenges proposed, by the New Information Technologies and Communication, in teaching

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch010

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and assessment of learning in University Education, we propose in this chapter to resume the educational socio-political scenario where these technology changes take place, in an integrated view of network collaborative learning, discussing on the possibilities and limits of the use of e-portfolios as teaching and evaluation tools, on a critical, reflexive and informed basis.

VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION The transformations in human life are backed by a relentless wave of technologies, which is the backdrop where all social phenomena occur. Nowadays, communication is interconnected and emerges as a new form of universal language, unlike static writing, since virtually all messages are dipped into a pot teeming with life, cheered up by transverse, chaotic, passionate, and fractal communications. Whatever the addressed message is, it connects with other messages, other texts which are probably fragments of a hypertext in constant movement that serves as a mediator or means for a reciprocal, interactive, seamless communication. In cyberspace the technologies allow new forms of access to information as hypertext navigation, new styles of reasoning and knowledge as simulation. The key metaphors of the relationship with knowledge are currently the map and the navigation in an ocean of information without borders and constantly changing, depending on cyberspace and its tools (fiber optics, high-capacity database, shared and interconnected through the Internet cloud computing), making it the main economic, social and cultural infrastructure of humanity. All these tools, supported by bits, are part of a suite of technologies that provides fluidity and very fast pace to all messages, recovering the ability to link a context that had disappeared with

writing: “It is possible, ….. to find again a living community of orality, .... in an infinitely further broadened and complex way” (Lévy, 2000, p. 14). With virtual hypertextuality and new digital tools, the web has changed the educational dynamics. Several virtual learning environments emerge as tools for universities to use cyberspace in support of educational processes in order to improve their teaching ability, research and extent, making the internet network to win the educational space, allowing new processes of knowledge construction, in addition to face-to-face classes or as a facilitating environment for distance learning courses, able to meet the demands of today’s society, to know: • • • •

Need to know how to work in groups – teamwork. Need for ongoing learning process. We are living in a learning society. Need to know how to be supportive. Need to know collaborative learning.

There are currently a large number of options of teaching and Learning Management Systems (LMS), which provide tools that support the sharing of participants’ roles, in which they can be both tutors and learners, and collaborative generation of knowledge, such as wikis and ebooks, as well as dialog environments, such as journals, forums, chats, and more. The LMS has resources to develop learning environment in which the professor, as a mentor of learning, helps students construct knowledge based on their own skills and knowledge, rather than just publish and stream contents. In these environments, the flow of knowledge, the transaction expertise and access to information profoundly change the language and education of man. What you need to learn can no longer be planned in a static and unidirectional way. This does not mean that the recognition of digital lan-

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guage, as a new way of categorizing knowledge, implies discarding all path traced by the oral language and writing. It is interesting to think about the cultural meaning of that. The term “Virtual Learning Environment” is related to the development of courses in a virtual space on the web. It is important to highlight that the LMS does not need to be an environment focused on distance learning only, although it is often associated with that. According to Valentini, and Soares, (2010), “a virtual learning environment is a social space made up cognitive and social interactions about or around a knowledge object: a place on the Web “scenarios where people interact, mediated by the hypermedia language, whose communication flows between interactors are enabled by graphic interface. The key is not the interface itself, but what interactors do with such interface.” In practice, virtual learning environments have been increasingly used as a support to face-to-face learning. Many institutions include in their portfolio courses which rely on a virtual environment as support to face-to-face studies so that, even outside the classroom, students may access guidelines and educational interventions as a way to mediate the educational process with classmates and the professor. This practice can already be observed in Brazil, where distance learning has been increasing exponentially since 2004, when the Education Ministry, through Administrative Ruling No. 4059, started encouraging the introduction of courses in semi presence modality in pedagogical and curricular organization of university education. Data from the Census of University Education of September 17, 2013 - INEP1 - between 2011 and 2012, enrollments advanced 12.2% in virtual education courses and 3.1% in face-to-face courses. With this growth, the virtual model represents more than 15% of total enrollments in university degree. Of the students who opted for the virtual mode, 72% are enrolled in universities. The majority of students enrolled in virtual university

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education (40.4%) seek teaching certificates. Those who opted for bachelor’s degrees stand at 32.3%, whilst associate degrees account for 27.3%. In such scenario featured by fast-paced changes in the university education processes, it is worth questioning and rethinking whether these changes lead to better learning results, too. We changed the tools and it requires rethinking traditional teaching and learning conceptions. A fundamental issue then arises: the changes introduced by technologies can mean changes in interactions (person x person / person x object), when constructing knowledge in groups (collaborative learning) and developing more autonomous learners (reflexive learning)? According to Braga (2013), Valentini, and Soares, (2010), Dillenbourg, (2003), Santos, (2003) and Fagundes, and Schlemmer, (2000), these authors sustain that the development and the use of virtual learning environments, complementary to face-to-face process or fully consisting of virtual processes (virtual education), the educational changes are not determined by the media used, but by the pedagogical perspective adopted and the effective use and creative tools these environments offer. Recognize the digital age and virtual learning environments as tools to build more meaningful learning methodological processes requires a critical analysis of the use of TIC and digital networks in education.

COLLABORATIVE ONLINE TOOLS All these digital tools create the broaden virtual web and challenge education to abolish traditional pedagogical practices, along with the need to disseminate and circulate, giving way to a virtual curriculum, replacing the educational models based on a Cartesian cognitive psychology, which assumes linearity and hierarchies of knowledge by other models that address the new cognitive styles, where the “knowing is not a static pyramid,

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it blows and travels in a wide mobile network of laboratories, of research centers, of libraries, of database, of men, of technical procedures, and media ... “ (Lévy, 1998, p.179). The TICs can make information easier to access, which can stimulate individual and collective research, favoring the integration between professors and students, professors and professors, students and students. The web allows a “space” to emerge for exposure and provision of students’ research, in an attractive and productive way, requiring the professor to adopt a practice buttressed by an emerging paradigm, which comprises dynamic, collaborative and participative actions, involvement and skills to design, create and produce knowledge (Behrens, 2000). The use of virtual learning environments and their resources, added to the digital tools available on the web, is an important and irreversible upgrade, deprived of methodological plans. According to Machado (1996), the use of technologies must “ ... be at the service of a project, in a broad framework of principles and values. And, with regards to these principles or values​​, computer technology has nothing to offer” (p. 252). Posed in such a limited way, the question becomes overly simplified. Indeed, the technological resources depend on educational projects aimed at collaborative learning which enable the development of creative and critical spirit. Avail of a new feature only for the sake of modernity secures neither innovation nor qualitative improvements in education. I timely refer to Peter Drucker (as cited in Machado, 1996): “The technology will be important, but mainly because it will force us to do new things, not because it will allow us to do old things better.” (p.171). Similar to the virtual learning environments, digital tools available on the web allow creative interaction, since each active agent helps construct the text, a co-author or a co-creator. An educational forum page shows the collective construction of academic texts, through interactions among its members, many environments and digital tools

currently available on the worldwide web have been used for other purposes, not always intended by their creators. According to Braga (2013), many environments and digital tools currently available on the World Wide Web have been used for education. This arises from the IT structure of these tools. The blog is a good example of this trend and the Apps, such as the popular WhatsApp, are quick and effective communication tools used for information exchange among learners.

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING NETWORK Building up virtual communities is a topic of major interest for education, especially in order to understand how collaborative learning will take place from an LMS. Lévy (1998), referring to collective intelligence, states that, “it is an intelligence distributed throughout, constantly valued, coordinated real time, which results in an effective deployment of skills.” (p. 28). According to Costa & Franco (2005), the possibilities of nurturing collaborative learning will depend on the learning strategies and teaching materials available in the LMS. These authors indicate that collective learning stems both from self-structuring activities and social interactions, stating that, apart from being a learner, the agent is a social agent. Some theoretical assumptions of proposed collaboration and cooperation were presented by the Gestalt psychologists, Kurt Koffka and Kurt Lewin, who developed the Theory of Social Interdependence and Group Dynamics, and by Jean Piaget and Lévy Vygotsky, precursors of the Constructivism and Social Interactionism (Torres, 2007, p. 67). The theory that contributes to gain an understanding of collaborative learning is grounded on Piaget’s Theories of Genetic Epistemology and on Vygotsky’s Social and Cultural Theory, which address:

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• • •

The cognitive flexibility theory; Spot knowledge, cognitive learning, problem-solving based learning; Distributed knowledge

These theories are incorporated the assumptions of the New School and the ideas of Dewey (1998), which are based on the hypothesis that the subjects are active agents who intentionally seek and construct knowledge in a meaningful context, with the appreciation of the key role of the student in the learning process, and the concept of working in groups, as a space of creation and construction of knowledge. According to Dillenbourg (2003), collaborative learning is a learning situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together, collaboration that does not aim at standardization, but heterogeneity that enables new forms of peer relations. Within these conceptions, collaborative learning assumes cooperation and participation among persons involved in a dynamic process of articulated interactions and continuous integration between individual and social aspects. Collaborative work is the cooperation between members of a team and of another one, the accomplishment of a team and another one, the completion of end product (Torres, 2004). The Internet network plays as a fruitful tool to put collaborative pedagogies into operation. The network extends the possibilities of collaboration among subjects that even with fragmented knowledge of a given topic, can collaboratively build more complex and comprehensive views. This free software movement is, in practice, a sample of this collective construction on the network. The breakthroughs in these communities benefit itself from the heterogeneity of their members. An example of collective construction is globally known as Moodle, a free software for learning support, widely used by educational institutions in Brazil and other countries, which offers tools that enable collaboration, interaction

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and participation of students and professors in distance or semi-face to face courses. Its name is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. This platform, developed by a community of hundreds of programmers around the world, is distributed for free. As an LMS, this platform is an application that can help educators create online courses (totally virtual), or supporting face-toface courses and semi face-to-face courses, with quality and with many interactive features available, nurturing virtual learning environments for various educational institutions. The foundation Moodle.org and company Moodle.com provide, respectively, support for the software development and its translation into dozens of languages, and professional support for its installation. As a platform under the GNU2 informational philosophy, Moodle’s educational ground is the social constructivist pedagogy3, according to which knowledge is constructed by interactions between subject and object and the environment, an integral part of student-centered teaching, based on what he/she does, and his/her interaction with others. Within this paradigm, Moodle has the resources to develop courses in a learner-centered environment, instead of a professor-centered environment. The teacher helps students construct knowledge based on their own skills and knowledge, rather than simply publishing and transmitting this knowledge. Placing extensive emphasis on the tools of interaction between key players and participants in a course, the pedagogical philosophy of this platform strengthens the view that collaborative environments favor learning. In this sense, the resources and activities available in Moodle allow sharing roles of the participants of the courses, who can be both tutors and learners, collaborative learning and critical and reflective dialog. Focusing on collaborative learning in LMS, Costa and Franco (2005) state that … the interactivity grows up from the preparation of materials containing didactically processed

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texts, tutorial actions that engage the student to strengthen self-learning with personal teaching and collaborative work with other students, who synchronously brought together through technology, expand the pedagogical commitment. (p. 6). The problem of interaction is essentially a contingency of pedagogical nature (Dillenbourg, 2003). It is important to point out that, even with the use of digital technologies that prioritize the active and collaborative participation of the learners, the professor’s intervention in the education process is essential. Therefore, a professor action focused on the whole, in charge of and concerned with deploying actions that lead to the creation, imagination and activities that promote learning. In this scenario, according to Machado (1996) the professor is an expert-consultant: ... able to ‘navigate’ with insight into the network of information and knowledge, backed / rooted in your discipline / nation, combining also the knowledge of their discipline and sensitivity to the apprehension of local problems to a holistic vision and a conscience both planetary knowledge in general and of the perennial human problems. (p. 114). Thus, the mechanistic and reductionist proposition, procedure stemming from the NewtonianCartesian thought, which led to fragmentation, followed all areas of knowledge in the nineteen century and much of the twenty century, is being overcome by the paradigm of the knowledge society that proposes totality, inter-relationship, connection, network view, integrated systems, in other words, it is reconnecting the knowledge that has been fragmented into parts and resume the whole. The learning is woven as a large network. Among the various metaphorical images used as a cognitive tool, the network image arises as an increasingly important feature in the fields of epistemology and didactics, in which knowledge is devoid of hierarchies, in opposition to the idea of​​

dominant chain from Descartes, in which knowledge is fragmented, dependent on prerequisites, serializations and ordinances. Knowing is to set oncoming links. According to Machado (2004), the network idea “is an emerging image for knowledge representation, mostly inspired in information technologies. From this viewpoint, knowing is like entrapping, weaving meanings, sharing meanings .... a meaning is like a bundle of relations.” (p. 70). According to the author, knowing is to weave a large web, entrap, know the meaning of the information, make connections with other meanings (network nodes). In the network, information chaining occurs as free choice in light of projects, without restrictions to paths and hierarchies. Going through the large web establishing relations without fragmentation is what matters the most, in light of significant, interactive topics and collective constructions among peers. Therefore knowledge is deemed to be a social action, whilst the learning process is favored by the participation in social environments that foster interaction, collaboration and assessment.

ASSESSMENT OF SERVICE LEARNING IN COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS It is not disputed nor is it new to recognize that in universities, the curriculum, the teaching, the technology, the policies and the assessment practices that structure the daily events are an integral part of a complex set of social relations, and our system social is interwoven by divisions of class, genre, race, age, nationality, politics, religion and other dynamics that make social differences to interact in such complex power relations (Apple, 1999). The discourse and practice that pervade our discussion about virtual learning environments, curriculum, assessment, training of professors and education in general is in crisis. The narratives contradict themselves amidst the Market logic,

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competitiveness and development marked by the apparent freedom and free choice on one hand, in contrast with an overvaluation of quantitative results, standards, national testing, accountability and stretching performance goals. In many countries, a new and complex alliance was formed, increasingly influencing the education and all social issues. The neoliberal capitalist policies pervaded by commodified company solutions for educational problems. The social reality of which we are an integral part in the Americas and Europe, imposes us shortterm results from investments in time, money, resources spent, with the immediate satisfaction of the will, the logic of consumption, the fragile, slack and disposable bonds among human beings, the lack of commitment to the other, with alterity is appointed by the Polish sociologist Zigmunt Bauman as a liquid and diffuse and increasingly ambiguous and paradoxical reality, oscillating between attraction and repulsion extremes. And this is the educational scenario, the formulation of concepts such as technology, assessment and formation of the education professional for the university (Bauman, 2003). Contrary to of this thinking of an education towards meeting commodified goals and building of virtual learning environments that allow fast dissemination of knowledge from a capitalist, transient and fleeting perspective, we propose the development of a pedagogical practice focused on assessment that take hold of contemporary platforms of virtual work without discontinuing the construction of teaching knowledge and skills in a critical and reflective way. With the new information technologies and communication, a new learning environment opens up for students and professors, providing opportunities for interaction, communication and learning, as well as educational assessment practice. The use of new technologies mediated by education leverages the construction of learning outside of the physical classroom, thus contributing for teaching and learning not to be restricted

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to work inside the classroom, as well not to be limited only to oral and written expression forms. In this process the professor ceases to be the holder of all information, and access to different spaces allowing learning becomes increasingly broadened easier (Zukowsky & Prata, 2013). The continuing spread of new technologies, the real-time flow of information, the convergence between information systems and communications means give rise to challenges for human intelligence, to learning and create new environments to meet, work and interact. The knowledge as a transient and complex function in its own right takes center stage for the organization and development of citizens and the society, following the non-linear logics and multi-directional nature of hypertext, which opposes the logic of teaching based on the conveyance of information, on the professor as a key player converging to shared models and collaborative learning models (Almeida, 2005). On the assumption that the individuals must play an active role in view of the object of knowledge addressed in each university classroom, so they can learn in a meaningful and constructive manner, interacting to build, rebuild, establish links and relationships with his/her personal and professional life, indeed the way I plan my class and obtain learning indicators through assessment instruments cannot be considered a minor aspect in this process. Provided that the professor is beyond the banking meaning of education, he/she will not make deposits anymore, will not try to domesticate anymore. They will thus evolve from viewers to problem-solving agents and creators (Freire, 2014). In light of this critical perspective of education, I hereby propose to give a new meaning education and the conceptions that pervade the assessment practice in university: The creation of these different learning environments implies that the professor also seeks to expand the student’s performance space, ceasing to be the sole holder of the learning assessment,

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i.e. ... allow the student to reflect, analyze, build ... make a critical examination of his/her production in order to evolve towards a greater success. (Hadji, 2001, p.103) The concern about the student’s development in process, investing in collective strategies to resume and improve learning throughout the school journey are at the center of an approach in assessment, which serves the student’s learning, and not only the mere certification and selection. Some authors designate as “formative” a procedural assessment committed to the growth and improvement of pedagogical work in progress. The educational assessment as a function addresses the survey of student learning indications through different instruments along the formation process of each student. However, perhaps the most important aspect that the researcher Isabel Cappelletti always emphasized refers to the possibility of using multiple data gathered by instruments being valued. Thus, the motto of this approach is the re-orientation in process in order to improve, enhance and sharpen teaching and learning: ... the educational assessment is expressed as a way to regulate the learning process by a communicative action, via dialog, individualizing learning, thus understanding the need to jumpstart subjectivity to fit into the educational assessment framework that is less selective and more integrated into daily life and student-centered ... will seek to achieve a unique pedagogy, more qualitative, interactive, sensitive to the student’s individual learning needs ... interwoven in a regulatory action continuously observed, monitored and subject matter of feedback”. (Cappelletti, 2005, pp. 130-136). The purpose of educational assessment, with all the richness and transparency of meaning of the term itself, still represents nowadays in the university educational reality a simple “utopia”, since it is imprinted on another logic that is the

help and intervention in a process. In qualitative terms, gains and losses are determined on learning, providing feedback for resumption, allowing to indicate the corrections to be made.

E- PORTFOLIO When entering e-portfolio in the professor and student practice, in an educational assessment process, we are responding to the challenge of finding operational models that enable a critical and reflective perspective which may potentially pave the way for assessment. The e-portfolio facilitates interaction between students and professors, resizes times and spaces, allowing the inclusion of a new way of conceiving and acting in view of the knowledge object. At present, teaching and learning are no longer restricted to the work inside of certain physical space, nor are they restricted only to the oral and writing expression ways. The face-to-face and distance education have been experiencing extensive changes, and all parties in the loop, that is organizations and educational agents, are challenged to find new models and proposals for different situations. It implies modifying what is being done inside and outside the classroom, using the different languages​​, both in face-to-face and distance approaches, organize assessment actions that enable providing and moving on with learning also in digital environments, accessing webpages, researching texts, videos, images, audios, receiving and sending new messages, discussing issues in forums or in virtual classrooms. The e-portfolio is a possibility of response to these new challenges. There should be a concern not to use, despite being something innovative, technological evolution that will strengthen only informative and instructive aspects, putting aside constructive, creative and reflective aspects. The e-portfolio can be one of the evaluation instruments in line with a formative approach for learning evaluation (Zukowsky & Prata, 2013).

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In recent years, the use of portfolios as learning and assessment tools has become more widespread across the range of professions. Whilst a growing body of literature has accompanied these trends, there is no clear collated summary of the evidence for the educational effects of the use of portfolios in undergraduate education. Thus through a systematic review of the literature performed by a protocol based on the recommendations of the Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) collaboration, realized by a team of University of Birmingham were carried out from database inception to February 2007. Citations retrieved by electronic searches of 10 databases were assessed against pre-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria and 554 full articles were retrieved and assessed against inclusion criteria and of these only 69 articles were selected for analysis. Of included studies, 29 were from the UK and Europe, 28 from the US and Canada and the remainder from Australia and New Zealand (5), Malaysia and the Far East(4), South Africa (3). Interesting that even with a focused use of Information Technologies and Communication in Higher Education of 69 designated study articles in healthcare growing trend only 3 of them were constituted as e-portfolios. The main effects of portfolio use identified by included studies were: improvement in student knowledge and understanding (28 studies), greater self-awareness and encouragement to reflection (44 studies), and the ability to learn independently (10 studies). Higher quality studies also suggest that use of portfolios improves feedback to students and gives tutors a greater awareness of students’ needs, may help students to cope with uncertain or emotionally demanding situations and prepares students for postgraduate settings in which reflective practice is required (Buckley et al, 2009). The researcher Benigna Villas Boas (2004) discusses about how significant are the portfolios for the improvement of processes and products of university education, as well as for the devel-

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opment of the professor as a professional. She establishes some principles which in her vision can guide the university pedagogical work as the collective construction, the reflection, creativity, partnership, self-assessment and autonomy. As teachers and researchers in educational assessment, information technologies and communication, we give a thought on the use of e-portfolio as a privileged tool for teaching and assessment from a critical and reflective perspective in university education, putting in perspective the possibility of: •

•

• • •

• •

Promoting a reflective attitude vis-à-vis the learning, establishing a theoretical-practical articulation during the course, project or supervised training; Organizing and documenting, both qualitatively and creatively, the learning pathway of certain learning, having the possibility of including learning results translated into multiple languages ​​and formats: drawing, music, photos, texts of different natures, interviews, links, video documentaries and films. Mapping theoretical and practical relevance on issues at stake; Encouraging exchanges and dialogs among peers, their personal and professional experiences, as well as synthesis of learning; Living interaction experiences and sharing skills on new and attractive learning platforms and mobile devices, not limited to time and environments under stringent control; Facilitating the professor’s access to the student productions available online for dialog and feedback planned; Engaging the student into taking hold of knowledge constructed as something that belongs to him/her and which he/she also becomes the author;

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•

• •

Promoting self-assessment, assessment by peer, assessment by professor, stimulating work processes which are more autonomous, metacognitive and self-management of learning; Encouraging the construction of professional and emotional bonds between skills and people; Developing teamwork skills (even more favored when we opt for using collective e-portfolio).

Each individual or collective e-portfolio is a unique and differentiated creation of skills. In addition to building a background of meanings for the student, it becomes a source of satisfaction by bringing together the verbal and non-verbal record of skills, abilities, skills and practices under construction. Another important factor worth mentioning is that, besides aggregating different languages, the e-portfolios envisage possibilities of bringing to the process of formal assessment the digital social networks that are a constant presence in the lives of this generation of university students who use the platform to socialize their photos, films, and texts and to constantly interact with their peers. Studies highlight the potential of e-portfolio for better interaction between professor and student, facilitating the process of discussions about results and reorientation in process: They found that the electronic format allowed tracking of situations in which students demonstrated particular skills and attitudes and provided a means of monitoring skills development over time. Students were able to post evaluations of learning to date and plans for future learning. Tutors and facilitators were able to post immediate feedback to students, both of which transformed the portfolio from a static record to a dynamic learning tool. (Buckley et al, 2009, p.34).

The use of reflective portfolios as evaluation tools challenges students to record their academic trajectory and the learning experienced in a given time, in a reflective form, so that it represents their learning process. Thus, the e-portfolio format reflects the subjectivity, the metacognitive process and the possibilities of each student or groups to interact with the new technologies and to record their learning in a conceptual, procedural and attitudinal framework. Its practical use allows breaking with the technical rationality of the traditional model of teaching and evaluation, also harmonizing with the pedagogical work in more integrative curriculums, contributing to reducing excessive fragmentation of knowledge established at the university, and with the student’s subservience and passivity vis-à-vis the object of knowledge. When writing the book “Avaliação da Aprendizagem On-Line”, Clementino, Kenski and Oliveira (2006) state that in virtual environments the evaluation movement hardly is interrupted, since the elements will be available as the activities move on. There are impressions regarding readings, the theoretical positions in debates, questions, doubts, propositions, all connected through synchronous and/or asynchronous tools. As a production in writing, every student participation can be retrieved, addressed and debated. Even the silence is meaningful, as at times it reflects retreats or difficulties that can be overcome with proper encouragement from colleagues and the professor. It behooves to the teacher to transform this rich repertoire of information into subsidies for evaluations. And this movement is willful, as the technology tools cannot thoroughly carry it out. In collaborative and participative methodology, learning takes place amidst all these communications and interventions. The formative evaluation can and should be developed amidst such connection network. The agents involved are required to take responsibil-

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ity for constructing knowledge and deploying skills, which ultimately concerns authorship and co-authorship. Often evaluation is still a oneway practice between professor and student and at maximum a two- practice between professor and student. However, the parties can engage in hypertext and interactive actions so that everyone can evaluate everyone (Santos, 2006). When presenting the significance and emergence of creation and use of new learning spaces and scenarios, highlighting the key role played by new information technologies and communication, we are also aware that aspects related to the physical and pedagogical infrastructure need to be resumed. A thought should be given to the elements necessary for a continuing education that addresses the specifics of a formative evaluation approach that help education professionals understand and analyze the professional situations they are involved in. In this way, decisions can be made to allow improving university management processes, teaching and the students’ learning situation. All this is processed when we formulate a broader theoretical-practical framework of possibilities, conflicts and challenges of an evaluation that underpins the progress of each and all in the educational environment (Zukowsky, 2012). The professor’s education goes beyond the master and doctoral degree. It is continuous and must be higher than the initial education. The University Education Institution (UEI) should have a plan to enhance their pedagogical and technological skills of professors, since its headcount will be made up of eclectic professionals: professors with extensive experience, but in need of new theories, and other professors with great theoretical background but little teaching competence and practice, especially with regard to the evaluation of learning in university education, as the UEI is in charge of holding a pedagogical dialog with professors and developing continued education (Quadros et al, 2011).

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A successful experience in the use of e-portfolio in higher education classes, in Brazil, was the use of Teleduc Platform, developed by Applied Informatics Center to Education (NIED), State University of Campinas (Unicamp), which has its own environment for the registration of individual or collective portfolios. The post graduate students were asked to build this environment, reflective account of his class memories that were enriched with the individual studies of literature and other sources indicated that could contribute to the issues arising in workshops debate, newspaper reports, radio or TV, interviews, scientific papers. One of the basic rules is that nothing is simply deposited or stored in the portfolio that is not constituted as a tool to file materials, studies and productions. As a living and interactive instrument, the e-portfolio receives reflective registers after a meta-analysis of every material seized. It is more qualitative contribution and the most comprehensive reflection that the mere accumulation of Kbytes. The records of the students were in the process accompanied by the teacher that, in reading the individual and collective productions of each student, displays the route of individual learning and give feedback to students. Another important cases with post graduate students of health education for teachers in Higher education in the years 2013 and 2014 in the Federal Public University Brazil, which serves students from different social spheres. The e-portfolio was then built in multidisciplinary working groups for this study we draw the collaboration of students and professionals from different areas of health. After discussion of some underlying principles to online collaborative learning, the scope of work was presented that would be developed in BLOGs format and with some central elements that characterize each e-portfolio of multidisciplinary groups. When using the BLOG as a tool to develop the e-portfolio of each group was possible to

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visualize how the students built their learning in each subject addressed through the records made, questions, reflective contributions to the themes in question, from suggested theoretical framework and additional studies carried out by them whose sources were added at each stage of work. The digital platform favors the work that can be enriched with images, links, more interactive whiteboards further stretching the possibility to explore the object under study. The final page of the e-portfolio, built with the record of the conclusions of the study and all living process, became significant results of teaching experience. At the end, to complete de e-portfolio, the post graduate students were invited to enter their learning issues backstage: some establishments of members team, some agreements, meetings, face and online discussions, some prints of the screen of their releases and reminders by WhatsApp (multiplatform via mobile messaging application), e-mail and SMS (Short Message Service). To expand the process of communication and interaction the e-portfolio facilitates also the interaction of peer and intergroup, exchange of knowledge and meta analyzes. The same building experience and online records, as done with BLOG, was performed with the GOOGLE DOCS mode which allows the collective and interactive construction of peer production and is presented as another possibility for e-learning portfolios, even with limitations of your editing tools and the designated space observations and comments by third parties in BLOG already presents itself explicitly in the tool interface. Building e-portfolios in higher education has been a rewarding experience for us as teachers, knowing the commitment we have to follow, reflect together, weaving significant observations and involve - in truly with the construction object of knowledge. Students also seem happier to develop a process and come up with a product that belongs to them and which are part of more intense and

continuous way in traditional processes of teaching and learning that are more passive and receptive as we can see in placement some post graduate students in Pedagogical Didactic Training, Higher Education Development Center in Health, Federal University of São Paulo, (2014). We are a group of people, from places and different thoughts, but with a common goal spraying knowledge with dedication, study, friendship, justice and pleasure. We will try to learn from the difficulties and problems imposed on our group with a lot of patience, study and fellowship. Each member of this group, each with its own way, is a person centered or dreamy, quiet or explosive, arrive at the stroke end with a certainty ..... we will become teachers of ethical health, humanistic, competent and socially committed (Group 4, 2014). We record our perceptions, opinions, suggestions, complaints, our daily lives, our doubts and fears, so the e-portfolio becomes a personalized learning, tailored, and at the end of it we are not more people that were at the beginning, deepen our thoughts, we make comparisons and reflect on issues that before we had thought. (Group 2 October, 2013). ... I realized that’s my moment of reflection on the lesson, the topic, my opinion on the opinion of my colleagues ... I found it very interesting to this proximity with the teacher, where there were more exchanges constructive, I learned more! (Group 5 November, 2014). I started devoting all my time to research in health, but noted a gap when faced with my difficulty to plan and teach a lesson ... I like this environment, like the discussions, like the pleasure to teach and I like the feeling of helping to discover new learning. I want a daily renewal as a student and as a doctor. (Group 1 November, 2014)

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CONCLUSION In this chapter, the authors, teachers and researchers in educational evaluation and information/ communication technologies, present the case studies in the use e-portfolio as a privileged tool for teaching and assessment in a critical and reflexive perspective on higher education in Brazil. As the reports of the students these cases, use digital tools to build their portfolios stimulates creativity, interaction and the exchange of information and knowledge. The use of reflective portfolios as assessment tools challenge students to record the route driven academic and learning, in a given time, with your learning process. Students also seem happier to develop a process and come up with a product that belongs to them and which are part of more intense and continuous way in traditional processes of teaching and learning, as shown in the statements of the participants in this chapter. The authors consider that, although education is inserted in a global context of valuation and take-hold of digital culture for youngsters, adults and children, each instrument activated for the pedagogical and evaluative work must be filtered by ethical, esthetic and political considerations, concluding that the appropriation of new digital tools of critical and reflective way, allows for the construction of significant learning and with an active and purposeful potential, vis-à-vis the social and educational demands in the Americas and Europe at present.

REFERENCES Almeida, E. B. (2005). Tecnologias na educação, formação de educadores e recursividade entre teoria e prática: trajetória do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação: Currículo. Revista E- Curriculum, 1(1), 1-28. Retrieved from http:// revistas.pucsp.br/index.php/curriculum/issue/ view/243

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Apple, M. (1999). Poder, significado e identidade. Ensaios de estudos educacionais críticos. Portugal: Porto Editora. Azevedo, W. (2000). Panorama atual da Educação a Distância no Brasil. In PGM2: Educação a Distância no Brasil. Retrieved from www. tvebrasil. com.br/salto/distancia/default.htm Bauman, Z. (2004). Amor Líquido: sobre a fragilidade dos laços humanos. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar. Behrens, M. A. (2000). Projetos de Aprendizagem Colaborativa num paradigma Emergente. In Moran, M. Novas Tecnologias e Mediação Pedagógica. Campinas: Papirus. Boas, V. B. (2005). Portfolio, avaliação e trabalho pedagógico. Campinas: Papirus. Braga, D. B. (2013). Ambientes Digitais: reflexões teóricas e práticas. São Paulo: Cortez. Buckley, S., Coleman, J., Davison, I., Khan, K. S., Zamora, J., Malick, S., & Sayers, J. et  al. (2009). The edu.cational effects of portfolios on undergraduate student learning BEME Gu.ide no 11. Medical Teacher, 31, 282–298. doi:10.1080/01421590902889897 PMID:19404891 Cappelletti, I. (2005). Avaliação formativa: uma prática possível? In Avaliação Educacional em Debate: experiências no Brasil e na França. São Paulo: Cortez Editora & EDUC. Clementino, A., Kenski, V., & Oliveira, G. (2006). Avaliação em movimento: estratégias formativas em cursos online. In Avaliação da aprendizagem em educação online. São Paulo: Edições Loyola. Costa, A. C. & Franco, R. K. (2005). Ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem e suas possibilidades construtivistas. Novas Tecnologias na Educação. CINTED-UFRGS, 3(1).

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Dillenbourg, P. (2003) Virtual Learning Environment. Retrieved from http://tecfa.unige.ch/tecfa/ publicat/dil-papers-2/Dil.7.5.18.pdf Fagundes, L. C., & Schlemmer, E. (2000, September). Uma proposta para avaliação de ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem na sociedade em rede. Informática na Educação: Teoria e Prática. Porto Alegre: UFRGS, Faculdade de Educação. Pós-Graduação em Informática na Educação, 3(1), 1–15. Freire, P. (2014). Pedagogia do Oprimido. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Paz e Terra. Hadji, C. (2001). Avaliação Desmistificada. Porto Alegre: Artmed Editora. Lévy, P. (1998). A Inteligência Coletiva. São Paulo: Loyola. Lévy, P. (2000). A Emergência do Cyberspace e as mutações culturais. In M. C. Pellanda & E. C. Pellanda (Eds.), Ciberespaço: um Hipertexto com Pierre Lévy. Porto Alegre: Artes e Ofícios. Machado, N. J. (1996) Epistemologia e Didática. São Paulo: Cortez. Machado, N. J. (2004). Conhecimento e Valor. São Paulo: Moderna. Quadros, C. O., Zukowsky, T. C., & Gomes, A. C. (2011). Formação docente por ambiente virtual de aprendizagem (AVA). Revista Acta Científica, 20(2), 82-90. Santos, E. O. (2006). Portfólio digital: dispositivo e interface para a prática da avaliação formativa em educação online. In Anais eletrônicos do XI Encontro Nacional de Didática e Prática de Ensino. Recife: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Torres, P. L. (2004). Laboratório on-line de aprendizagem: uma proposta critica de aprendizagem colaborativa para a educação. Tubarão: Editora Unisul.

Valentini, C. B., & Soares, M. S. (2010). Aprendizagem em ambientes virtuais - recurso eletrônico: compartilhando ideias e construindo cenários. Dados eletrônicos. – Caxias do Sul. Educs. Retrieved from http://www.ucs.br/etc/ revistas/index.php/aprendizagem-ambientesvirtuais/index Vasconcelos, A. M., & Alonso, K. M. (2008). As tics e a aprendizagem colaborativa. Retrieved from http://www.ice.edu.br/TNX/storage/webdisco/2008/12/19/outros/bac02b455877ce680bd130aeabf82f1b.pdf Zukowsky, T. C. (2012). A avaliação formativa da aprendizagem no ensino superior e o compromisso dos docentes e dos gestores. In Inovação no Ensino Superior. São Paulo: Loyola. Zukowsky, T. C., & Prata, L. M. (2013). Portfolio Digital: contribuições para uma avaliação formativa. In M. A. Pimenta & S. A. Pimenta (Eds.), Avaliação em Perspectiva: da concepção à ação. Campinas: Alinea Editora.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS: Assessment: Or educational assessment seeks to determine how well students are learning and is an integrated part of the quest for improved education. It provides feedback to students, educators, parents, policy makers, and the public about the effectiveness of educational services. It is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there. Collaborative Learning: This type of learning has been called by various names: cooperative learning, collective learning, learning communities, peer teaching, peer learning, or team learning, in common is that they all incorporate group work.

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Collaboration is more than co-operation. Collaboration entails the whole process of learning. This may include students teaching one another, students teaching the teacher, and of course the teacher teaching the students, too. More importantly, it means that students are responsible for one another’s learning as well as their own and that reaching the goal implies that students have helped each other to understand and learn. E-Portfolio: It is a purposeful collection of information, documents, drawing and digital artifacts that demonstrates the clear development and evidences of the learning process outcomes, skills and competences. It usually requires the synthesis of ideas, reflection on achievements, self-awareness and forward planning for to be shared with the team and to support continuity during the learning process. Learning Methodologies: It is used to stimulate students in reflection and in develop problem solving skills, help them improvement of technical skills and social relations. Bringing out reality to participants students experience their attitudinal and behavioral and also experience the whole intra and intergroup communication process which requires not only skills to listen, understand and relay information as well as negotiate, cooperate and manage conflicts. Network Collaborative Learning or Collaborative Learning Community: It is a philosophy

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as well as a place; it is a way of being as well as a working model, working together for common goals, partnership, shared leadership, co-evolving, co-learning, is a creation of unity through appreciating and celebrating diversity. University Education: The formal education and professional experiences that occur in different areas of teaching in the form of higher education that includes undergraduate and graduate. The example here announced refers to health in degree and master degree which prepares health professionals to teach in Brazilian higher education. Virtual Learning Environments (VLE): A complete system for delivering learning materials to students via the web, include assessment, student tracking, collaboration and communication tools, can be accessed both on and off-campus, meaning that they can support students’ learning outside the lecture hall 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

ENDNOTES

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3

INEP – National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira. http:// www.inep.gov.br/ https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html.en http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Philosophy.

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Chapter 11

#ConnectedYouthBrazil Research: Emerging Literacies in a Hyperconnected Society Brasilina Passarelli University of São Paulo, Brazil Fabiana Grieco Cabral de Mello Vetritti University of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT A new logic emerged in the hyperconnected contemporary society, contributing to a new kind of social agent. The emergence of social networks evolved to a diverse agents’ profile, especially among the connected youth. To understand better this context a study was conducted focusing the opportunities, changes and trends of Brazilian connected youth behavior in the digital age, considering four research areas: social attitudes, education, entrepreneurship and activism. Entitled #ConnectedYouthBrazil, the research is complex and innovative in multiple dimensions with a mix of extensive quantitative survey and qualitative methodological approach, which included Internet monitoring (E-Meter), in-depth interviews and focus groups. The main research results presented in this chapter can inspire further discussion on the connected youth.

INTRODUCTION Contemporary connected society undergoes significant changes related to technology use. It has become more and more regular to observe the use of computers and mobile devices with the purpose of obtaining information and data. Thus, they have performed a process of knowledge construction based on the connected individual’s experience. The use of technology as a mean of mediation

between the subject and the world exceeds the interpretation of digital media as tools for establishing new logic and languages. Technologies that establish new logic and languages help form “the skin of culture” (Kerckhove, 2009), a metaphor for skin as a tissue – design that covers the culture that integrates technology. The skin that covers culture is part of the changes occurring in the scope of communication and leads us to corroborate McLuhan’s precept (1974) about

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch011

Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

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media as man’s extensions as well as to widen this perception. Digital media have allowed computermediated communication. That mediation process started promoting a distinct communication model that can be better understood by the difference established by Lévy (1999, p. 63) among the three categories of media devices: one-to-everyone, one-to-one and everyone-to-everyone. According to the author, the one-to-everyone principle implies a broadcasting center that sends its messages to a large number of passive and spread out receivers as it happens to press, radio and television. The one-to-one contact, from one individual to another, takes place by means of an interchangeable relationship among speakers, either by mail or by telephone. Everyone-to-everyone communication can be observed in cyberspace as the communication device allows communities to create a common context in a progressive and cooperative way. Therefore, World Wide Web (WWW) can be considered as an everyone-to-everyone communication. Considering that the Internet shares everyoneto-everyone model, its functionality can be analyzed under two viewpoints: a) interpersonal communication: communication established by e-mails and instantaneous messages. It is a time measurement device that tries to give meaning to events that take place simultaneously outside the Internet. Analogically speaking, it is compared to a telephone or to a letter; the second one refers to file sharing systems available from World Wide Web (WWW) on and constitute mass media (Cardoso, 2007). Cardoso highlights these functions performed by media when he states that “besides being a medium, the Internet is also an interpersonal medium and also a social media, or mass media (2007, p. 110). Therefore, it is possible to identify that the Internet gives to communication everyoneto-everyone status because it is at the same time mass media and interpersonal media. Primo (2007) supports that idea when he identifies that

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computer-mediated interaction is not reduced to one-to-everyone model, but it makes an one-toone and an everyone-to-everyone contacts easier. Under the interaction perspective, Primo (2007) used a systemic-relational approach in order to seek an interpersonal and group communication. According to his viewpoint, interaction can be mutual or reactive. Interaction cannot be limited to information transmission; cognition cannot be reduced to a mere copy of reality. Therefore, from a look focused on what happens between the intermediate agents (provided this focus does not converge exclusively on production or on reception or on the channel), on the established relation, two types, two major groups of computer-mediated interaction were suggested. (...) Due to these dynamics and to the sequential unbalances that propel the system transformation, mutual interaction is a constant transformation, which is updated through the actions of an intermediate agent regarding the action(s) of the other(s), that is, it is not a mere sum of individual actions. (...) Different from mutual interactions (whose systemic characteristic of equifinality is presented), the reactive ones need to establish themselves according to the initial conditions (potential relations of stimulusresponse imposed by at least one of those involved in the interaction) – and if they are surpassed, the interactive system may be suddenly interrupted. As they go through predictable tracks, the same reactive exchange may be endlessly repeated (even if contexts have changed). (Primo, 2007, p. 228 - 229) There is also the possibility of several simultaneous interactions: (...) when someone chats, while he/she talks to another person, he/she also interacts with the software interface/device through peripheral technology such as mouse, keyboard or kinetic

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paradigm. Under this aspect, in many cases, reactive and mutual interactions may be established simultaneously. (Primo, 2007, p. 229) The understanding of mutual interaction as an interrupted negotiation between human interagents and of reactive interaction based on early conditions that establish the changes becomes more complex when the interaction with interface through technology is added to these types of interaction. Thus, we may conceive three dimensions of interaction. In the chapter “Identidade conceitual e cruzamentos disciplinares”, of the book “e-Infocomunicação: estratégias e aplicações”, (Passarelli, Silva & Ramos, 2014), Alex Primo’s work on interaction is emphasized by his contribution in explaining the nuances of a mediation that surpasses the tridimensional and presence level of humans, called infocommunication mediation. That type of mediation appears more and more in web, and is supported by telematics and microcomputing. For the authors, it is necessary to include different types of mediation that form a multiple mediation. In other words, it is a large number of articulations and interactions that are centered in the collection/production, collaboration, organization and promotion of the Internet access (Passarelli, Ribeiro, Oliveira & Mealha, 2014, p. 96). By increasing the tridimensional perspective, the following major types of interaction used in digital infocommunication platforms are listed: … textual user interface (TUI), form; windows, icons, menus and pointers (WIMP) (Goldberg, 1979); graphic user interface (GUI); storytelling (procedure); direct manipulation interface (Shneiderman, 1982); NUI (natural user interface); multimodal response multimedia; virtual reality (enhanced and hybrid); tangible and kinetic (Birdwhistell, 1970); ubiquity. Those types of

interaction empower a set of activities, actions and reactions that may be put into a system corresponding to the nature of interactivity. (Passarelli, Ribeiro, Oliveira & Mealha, 2014, p. 96 - 97). For this reason, web starts being understood as an environment/ecosystem where “we”, who share the same communication codes, coexist. That perception leads to the Actor–network theory (ANT) by the French sociologist Bruno Latour (2005). According to that theory, the fact that we do not center man in the description of communication processes leads to a “flat ontology”, without the interacting parts’ hierarchy. Based on Actor–network theory (ANT), Lemos (2013, p. 52) points out a reality knowledge distributed among human agents and non-human agents, different from the social constructionism concerning the web vision, which considers a subject-centered knowledge of reality. According to Lemos (2013, p. 20) “More and more non-humans, now ‘intelligent, communicative, connected and sensitive to the environment’ make us do things, change our way of thinking and acting in all cultural domains (family, work school, leisure…)”. The Actor–network theory (ANT) meets the guiding principles of a computer-mediated communication in its multiple configurations, which, at the end, create webs that (re)configure themselves due to the acting of humans and non-humans in an exchange that modifies itself every moment. In this context of exchanges, either one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many ones, which alternate themselves as flows of interpersonal and/or mass communication types, some aspects have detached themselves in empirical researches and studies conducted by the Research Center for New Communications Technologies Applied to Education – School of the Future – USP (EF – USP) in the University of São Paulo – USP, Brazil, in the last 25 years.

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BACKGROUND The study to be described in the next pages of this chapter has an innovative DNA that contributes to the new configuration of learning and teaching processes, through the use of the Internet and other multimedia resources. Besides, it follows the track on pioneer researches developed over the last 25 years at the Research Center for New Communications Technologies Applied to Education – School of the Future – USP (EF – USP) at the University of São Paulo – USP, Brazil. Since its foundation in 1989, Research and Development (R&D) projects have been carried out with the commitment to contribute to the improvement of education in Brazil through the better understanding of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) impacts in formal and non-formal learning and teaching environments. EF – USP has promoted practices and knowledge exchange among scholars from national and international academic institutions that have contributed to the development of a new generation of educators. Therefore, EF - USP has developed a partnership model involving university, society and different research funding agencies and government spheres to fund action research projects. Initially, it was funded by seventy research scholarships provided by CNPq (Brazilian National Research Agency). Over the past twenty years, it has gained additional financing from other official research agencies as FAPESP (State of São Paulo Research Foundation) and CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of High Level Education), as well as through agreements and contracts with both private and state-run institutions. The purpose of EF - USP is, thus, to implement innovative proposals that contribute to the new configuration of learning and teaching processes, through the use of the Internet, multimedia, social media and transmedia resources. Accordingly, its operational activities are guided by core principles

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such as commitment to research and the evaluation of different educational strategies as well as the application of academic research to classroom practice. Besides promoting the exchange of practices and knowledge among educators from national and international academic institutions, EF - USP also contributes to the development of a new generation of educators, who consider the interface among education, communication and information as a fertile ground for collective knowledge construction. In September 2006, the scientific coordination of EF - USP received new management directives. These ones consisted in shifting the focus to projects and programs that incorporate digital technology into formal and non-formal education and citizenship initiatives, as well as the development of empirical research projects on social networks and their impacts on the areas of communication, education and information. Projects implemented by EF - USP are based on the action research model, which brings together the subject and the object of research. The researcher is inserted into the population group involved in the research and all involved participants take part in the process of knowledge creation (Thiollent, 1986, p.14). Understanding media universe and new ways of learning, teaching and producing knowledge in this context require qualitative and quantitative studies regarding the impacts of ICT on contemporary life. In an attempt to enlighten new aspects of the “network society”, EF - USP established in 2007 the Digital Culture Observatory for empirical research. The purposes are to investigate emerging MIL – Media and Information Literacy on WEB 2.0 environments by focusing on the concept of literacy as a set of social practices as proposed by different researchers and more recently as MIL. It is also of interest the individual and collective production of knowledge in network environments and, therefore, new forms of authorship inspired in digital collectives and “other network players” at the intersection of convergent hybrid frontiers

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of today’s connected society. A usual research methodology at EF - USP is virtual ethnography (Hine, 2000) and / or netnography (Kozinets, 2010) to investigate new behaviors and MIL among cyberculture actors.

THE EMERGENCE OF MIL-MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY Internet has caused major changes in contemporary life, moving interactions from “face-to-face” to virtual environments in different contexts, as professional life and social relations. The open model of the Internet has contributed to the consolidation of a new type of social agent, submerged in the emerging social networks: both consumer and producer of information and knowledge. This new concept, as now widely used in mass communication studies, was anticipated by Marshall McLuhan and Barrington Nevitt (1972) regarding the certainty that electronic technology would allow users of communication systems to be simultaneously producers of actions and content consumers. This new type of social agent can be observed through an analysis focused on WEB timeline that allows us to move from WWW (with static pages) through the WEB 2.0 (with an emphasis on social networks) and think about the possibilities with WEB 3.0 (also known as semantic WEB). WEB 2.0 has contributed to expand the possibilities of participation of connected actors in the development and circulation of content, although it is necessary to emphasize that all of us, to a certain extent, have experienced some difficulties in the transition of modern society to the postmodern one grounded on complexity and hybridism. For example, hybridism of modern mass media (TV, radio and daily printed newspapers etc.) has been increasingly observed with new media (Internet and social networks) (Jenkins, 2009). Social

networks, in particular, has led to the emergence of new contours for activism and entrepreneurship especially among the youth population. The redefinition of the traditional roles of “actors” and the reciprocity of action in WEB virtual environments are part of the cyber culture phenomenon, envisaged by Kerckhove as a “flourishing industry of virtual reality machinery that allows us to enter the world of video and computer screen and probe the endless depth of human creativity” (2009, p. 155). Brasilina Passarelli (2010) developed a socialhistorical perspective of the last twenty years and pointed two great “waves” in hyperconnected contemporary society. Governmental policies development and implementation are associated with the first “wave”, period recognized by programs focused on overcoming digital gap and offering free and unlimited access to low income population. This period includes all dissemination policies of digital inclusion programs since Internet introduction in Brazil, that occurred in an academic scope in January 1991, through the initiative of Research Support Foundation of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP). The second “wave” began few years later, when it was possible to identify the achievement of a digital inclusion sustainable tax and new trends influencing connected population digital skills. Mapping and understanding emerging digital literacies among the participants of digital inclusion define this second period. It is relevant the understanding of these connected emerging literacies intrinsic to WEB second “wave”. The word “literacy” in Portuguese in controversial and may have different meanings. It can be connected to reading and writing practices and it is also related to the learning process. Furthermore, literacy can be a synonym to competence and skill. Considering the context of network actors nowadays, the concept also regards interaction and communication through digital devices, reflecting

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actual status of communication possibilities and knowledge production in individual and collective mode. This idea of literacy ponders that Internet access constitutes a condition to social leading role and citizenship. Also as part of some considerations about the word literacy, it is important to point out the work of the United Nation of Education, Science and Culture Organization – UNESCO. According to the Institution, MIL – Media and Information Literacy embrace every kind of media and other information providers as libraries, archives, museums and the Internet. The media literacy and information literacy are traditionally seen as distinct fields, but UNESCO joined both of them, consolidating a set of vital competences (knowledge, skills and attitudes). According to UNESCO MIL acknowledges the primary role of information and media in our everyday lives. It lies at the core of freedom of expression and information - since it empowers citizens to understand the functions of media and other information providers, critically evaluate their content, and make informed decisions as users and producers of information and media content.

PIONEERING NATIONAL SURVEYS IN BRAZIL: UNDERSTANDING YOUTH BEHAVIORS Considering the relevance of emerging digital literacies and population behavior changes in hyperconnected contemporary society, many experts and institutions applied to studies and researches. Since 2005, several studies about ICT uses and possessions by children and teenagers from European countries have been carried out by the University of Navarra and Spanish Telefonica Foundation. In 2010, the Brazilian Telefonica Foundation decided to carry out a Brazilian edition of the same research due to Brazil’s economic growth and leading role in the use of new technologies.

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EF - USP was invited to be part of this initiative by doing the analysis of the Brazilian data collected during 2010 and 2011. The emphasis of that project was to understand better the new and different usages, behaviors, habits and practices with four specifics screens: computer, TV, games and mobile phones. That was a pioneering survey in Brazil, and it constitutes the first national research in the subject with extensive data. The work resulted in a book (Passarelli & Junqueira, 2012) dealing with interactive generation attitudes. Also published as a paper in English (Passarelli & Angelucci, 2013- 2014), the study had 18 thousand respondents between children and teenagers from the public and private educational system from all over the country. The study allowed data collection on the use of several screens: computer, mobile phone, video game and television. It may have contributed to education, through a real diagnosis that provided many educational resources to professors, family and students; it has also contributed to this generation formation, through a project based on this diagnosis and education action as a support for a truthful formative dialogue. The #ConnectedYouthBrazil research was developed by the same institutional actors. Brazilian Institute of Opinion and Statistics (IBOPE) and Paulo Montenegro Institute were responsible for the national data collect, both the national survey (1.440 respondents) and qualitative procedures. EF – USP analyzed collected data and wrote the final report. The research work was edited and published as a printed book and also as an e-book edition.

#ConnectedYouthBrazil: Methodology and Main Results #ConnectedYouthBrazil is a complex and innovative research regarding multiple dimensions with a mix of quantitative and qualitative methodologies as a survey interviewing 1,400 respondents aging

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between 16 and 24 years old and integrating different social classes in the whole country. Qualitative research considered different methods such as: •

•

•

Internet monitoring (E-Meter – a solution from IBOPE E-Commerce) among 10 users during 30 days. Installed on their computers, E-meter allowed mapping Internet user navigation patterns along the day. After the Internet monitoring period, the participants were interviewed (online or Skype) in order to identify the reasons behind the mapped behavior; Six focus groups, three online and three “face-to-face” with seven to nine participants. Conducted by a moderator and a previous quest discussion intended to go beyond the survey’s first analysis results, in order to identify cultural traits and social content; Individual in-depth interview with eight content specialists aiming at recognizing their points of view, based on quantitative data collected in the present study.

It is also important to point out that the study includes many data and information from differ-

ent sources (Governmental Studies and research institutions) about Internet in Brazil. Part of the data was selected for the purpose of addressing main Internet access possibilities, such as numbers of computers at home, Internet access technologies and Internet access devices. Results are presented as follows.

Internet Access Possibilities Focused on behavior of connected population, it is relevant to consider that there are 22.5 million young populations between 18 and 24 years in Brazil, representing 11.7% of the population. In order to recognize Internet Access Possibilities, firstly the research mapped different issues, like computer ownership, access technologies and type of equipment. Along with the increasing level of Internet spread all over the country, more than half of the Brazilian population (51.8%) has a computer at home. The biggest computer ownership rate is found in the Southeast (54.6%) and the lowest is in the North (35.3%). There are different Internet access technologies. However, it is evident the predominance of wireline cable TV infrastructure (32.8%), that

Figure 1. Home Computers in Brazil Main Regions

Source: SIPS/Ipea http://www.ipea.gov.br/agencia/images/stories/PDFs/SIPS/140313_sips_telecomunicacoes.pdf

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points technological convergence benefits among various communication services. It is registered only 1.5% dial-up Internet connection. Desktop and laptop computers are widely used devices to Internet access, 62% and 51% respectively. However, mobile phone is the preferential equipment needed for the Internet access to 71% of Brazilian population. Mobile phone is the main Internet access to 42% of participants, followed by desktop (33%) and laptop (22%). Tablet use is still unimportant. Figure 2. Internet Access Technologies in Brazil Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

Figure 3. Internet Access Devices

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Nowadays, researchers from different countries have analyze mobile phone participation phenomenon in youth’s identity construction. Many studies have concluded that four factors predominate in the construction of identity: mobile phone is an element that integrates the visual appearance; it promotes and enables young people to develop an autonomous and independent personality; it is a mediator between its user and his/her own construction process; it is a symbol of the construction of collective identities (2014).

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Figure 4. Mobile Phone as Main Internet Access Device Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

Main Results: #SocialAttitudes, #Education, #Activism, and #Entrepreneurship Four indicators have been adopted to represent the pillars of this research: social attitude, education and learning, entrepreneurship and activism. Each of them was developed regarding different sets of questions and statements. Main results obtained in these categories are described as follows:

#SocialAttitudes The results suggest that a panorama characterized by the diversity of behavior and attitude prevail over homogeneity and consensus. Such outcome is due mainly to the decisive influence of a wider set of noteworthy mediations: gender, socioeconomic status, education level, socioeconomic and cultural regionalization factors and levels of urbanization, among others. Besides that diversity, those are some aspects with the highest overall levels of total or almost total agreement: • • • •

The Internet contributes strongly to approximate people (49%); It is necessary to be careful about opinions expressed online (49%); The Internet has changed significantly information searching habits (49%); Fear of privacy and security of personal data on the Internet (47%);

•

Internet facilitates the practice of bullying (45%).

On the other hand, the points with the highest overall rates of disagreement are: • • •

Users do not exchange personal information with strangers (42%); Hours spent on the Internet do not affect sleep (16%); Online shopping does not make life easier (21%).

It is interesting to note that for 49% respondents, the Internet contributes strongly to approximate people. On the other hand, there is not an assumed consensus regarding Internet as a tool for people approximation. Thus, 22% agree, whereas 20% are undecided, 5% disagree and 2% strongly disagree. Many respondents exposed that Internet can help meet a larger number of people, at the same time is often contradictorily represented like a tool of loneliness and loss of social contact as expressed by Turkle (2011) in her book “Alone Together”. Part of the contradiction manifested by connected youth - pointing Internet as intensifying contacts while distancing sociability and affection - is explained by the discussion about quality loss of relationships within the global computer network, often defined as superficial, ephemeral and shifting. In this context, social networks play a key role.

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Figure 5. Internet Contribution to Bring People Closer Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

Social networks are frequently accessed by 58% young population. According to the research, it is possible to recognize daily dependency on Internet connection and social networks, without which they declare “not able to live” or “not able to imagine life without”. Even the young user can be critical of daily connectivity practices excesses, which make him enjoy less face-to-face occasions. However, it is rare to observe a clear negative perception of excessive individual practices online. The regular use of social networks contributes to increase the ranking of Brazilian youth as one of the most connected peoples in the world. A recent study by Cisco with young people (aged from 18 to 30 years old) from 18 countries, showed Brazilian users’ rank at fourth place in the world concerning the most connected and devoted ones Figure 6. Young People Main Online Activities Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

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to social networks (48%). It has surpassed the U.S. population (45%), Canadians (40%), British (43%) and Germans (37%). It has been surpassed only by the Turkish (59%), the Chinese (58%) and the Indians (51%). According to the results of that study, 60% of respondents compulsively check their updates on social networks, even before having breakfast. About two-thirds of them said to be anxious or be dominated by a sense of emptiness when deprived of online connections.

#Education Youth Internet usage regarding school activities is contradictory. On one hand, the Internet is seen as a valuable support and collaboration tool to search curriculum content and information given in class. On the other hand, the Internet is seen as an element that leads to lack of attention and dispersion - especially because of its priority use for access to social networks. This contradiction lies, for example, in the fact that 81% of respondents agree or strongly agree that it is easier to do schoolwork using Internet. For 78% the Internet also allows student preparation and self-evaluation for exams and tests. However, the number of respondents who believe that, in many cases, the Internet disrupts learning

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(57%) is significant. Mainly, when students face distraction caused by games and social networks. There is also a difference between the perception of online and face-to-face classes. For connected youth (70%), the Internet provides access to learning according to the student`s

needs. Nevertheless, 68% respondents agree or strongly agree that they learn more from face-toface class than through online class. Regardless of class type, online or face-to-face, it is important to consider that almost 70% (among those who agree or strongly agree) believe that they have learned

Figure 7. Internet in Education: Advantages and Disadvantages I Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

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useful contents online for life or for work that they would not have learned at school/in college. Young students affirmative regarding online learning for life is also present in Jesús MartínBarbero’s conceptualization: Today, ‘the age for learning are all’, and place can be anywhere - an industry, a hotel, an enterprise,

a hospital -, the great and the little media or the Internet. We are passing through a society with an educational system to an educational society, in other words, which educational net crosses everything: the work and the idleness, the office and home, the health and the elderly. (2014, p. 10).

Figure 8. Internet in Education: Advantages and Disadvantages II Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

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#Entrepreneurship In general, results show that connected youth believe the Internet is an environment that contributes to the entrepreneurial spirit. Among other benefits aiming at entrepreneurship, 76% respondents agree or strongly agree that the Internet stimulates great ideas and new solutions. The same percentage of respondents also thinks the Internet can accelerate the development of projects. Thus, it is possible to identify that the Internet is seen as a powerful

creativity ally, and connected youth has an innovative capacity that seeks solutions and new business models. It is important to point out that while the respondents showed confidence in and enthusiasm for Internet potential and its tools to generate new business opportunities, a smaller percentage say they do not believe all this instrumental might be useful for entrepreneurship activities. In fact, more than half of respondents (59%) use WEB 2.0 to develop an entrepreneurship model itself.

Figure 9. Internet in Entrepreneurship: Optimistic View I Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

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The assertion that disagrees or strongly disagrees about using Internet to develop their own business model represents 13% and undecided 25%. Therefore, the prevalence of an optimistic view of entrepreneurial potential among connected Brazilian youth is ratified. However, it is important to recognize that entrepreneurship does not appear as a viable and attractive solution for all respondents. Some of them reveal personal difficulties, lack of vocation and patience or insufficient intellectual conditions to conduct their own business.

#Activism From a collective perspective, the new communication systems remarkably increased the organization of social movements, expanding the political space and establishing a close relationship between “mass self-communication” and the growth of empowerment. In accordance with the systemic crisis established nowadays in representative society institutions - primarily parties and trade unions - the world of communication is susceptible to the intervention and production of content by citizens without traditional media filter. The more horizontal and less characterized top-down model of social network communication system has led to a big activism movement in Brazil. On June 12th and 17th, 2013, about 300,000 people took the streets in order to protest against

the raise of transport fares. On June 20th, there were more than 1.4 million in 120 Brazilian cities. Among others, two reasons were pointed as activism growth: increased level of education and recent economic crisis. Aiming at finding more answers, universities and media continue studying and trying to understand the fact. According to the results obtained in this very study, most Brazilians believe that Internet increases people’s participation in demonstrations and social movements and/or politics. This survey shows that 74% agree or strongly agree with this statement, whereas 6% disagree or strongly disagree, and 19% expressed a neutral way or indifferent to the issue. It is important to notice that young people also take some precautions against the Internet. Respondents admitted to check Internet information sources: 73% respondents agree or strongly agree that before accepting an invitation from the Internet for a demonstration, they verify if the source was reliable. Regarding this aspect, only 8% were opposed to, and 17% remained in positions considered neutral. It is worth mentioning the connected youth participation in popular demonstrations, although mostly restricted to the virtual environment and social networks. Next graphic shows the growing importance of activism on WEB 2.0 and social networks. To highlight some of the results we

Figure 10. Internet in Entrepreneurship: Optimistic View II Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

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Figure 11. Internet in Activism: Participation Patterns in Social Mobilization I Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

Figure 12. Internet in Activism: Participation Patterns in Social Mobilization II Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

can state that the majority (57%) of respondents declared that they went to the streets to protest. A group of 51% shared invitation with others and 48% posted comments regarding riots.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS Future research on connected youth should consider also that MIL - Media and Information Literacy contributes to the empowerment of people through an important prerequisite for fostering equitable access to information and knowledge and promoting free, independent and pluralistic media and information systems. In addition, to be considered an two new concepts by Henry Jenkins and his thoughts on convergence media

and transmedia storytelling, and Luciano Floridi regarding hyperconnected contemporary society and “onlife”.

Convergence Media and Transmedia Storytelling: Henry Jenkins An important trend regarding the connected present world, taking into consideration the increase of the number of mobile phones in Brazil as well as in the world, is media convergence. As Jenkins (2009) suggests, it is necessary to consider that media convergence is more than a technological change, as it modifies the relation among actual technologies, industries, markets, genders and public. According to the author, convergence as a structural change has an impact on daily life.

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Figure 13. Internet in Activism: Participation Patterns in Social Mobilization III Source: #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

Convergence refers to a process and not to an end-point. Therefore, the proliferation of channels and the portability of new information technologies and telecommunications will take media all over the world. Still according to the author, the proliferation of channels and the portability of new technologies constitute an increasing phenomenon regarding the offer of available media to the public. If a few decades ago the public invested in order to purchase media with very well-defined characteristics such as radio and television, nowadays the acquisition of devices whose functions are spread out, combinative and interchangeable have become more and more frequent. That happens because Internet technologies have migrated from desktop computers to portable computers and then to gadgets, smart portable devices such as smartphones, tablets, among others. The shift from the perception of several combined media (multimedia from the nineties) to technologies that converge and are available anytime and anywhere provides new contours to the relation between human and non-humans in the web. According to Jenkins (2009), convergence does not occur only through technological

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devices, such smartphones or smart TVs, which are increasingly available to most people. That phenomenon occurs inside individual consumers’ brain as well as in their interaction with others. For instance, the author explains that media convergence can provide the development of contents in multiple platforms. One of the creations mentioned in his work is transmedia storytelling, which appeared as an answer to media convergence and refers to an aesthetics that directly relies upon knowledge communities. The author believes that transmedia storytelling is the art of creating a universe. He also believes that the consumers’ relations in this universe depend on playing the role of hunters and gatherers, which implies pursuit of pieces of content through different channels, comparison between their remarks with other fans and cooperation in order to assure that all participants who invested time and energy will have a richer entertainment experience. Besides the media sensitive change, noticed through the convergence of devices and different contents produced for and by multiple platforms, it is of most importance to highlight the individual’s

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importance – fan – who collaborates in this process. The contribution of connected population expands the voices that can be heard.

new sharing cultures, and only in those cultures, the ability to share will have its proper value (Shirky, 2011, p. 128 - 129).

The current diversification of communication channels is politically important as it expands the set of voices that can be heard: although some voices are more prominent than others, any voice alone speaks with an unquestionable authority. New media operate under principles different from those that ruled broadcasting media that have ruled American politics for such a long time: access, participation, reciprocity and peer-topeer communication instead of one-to-many. In the light of those principles, we can foresee that digital democracy will be decentralized, spread in an unbalanced way, deeply contradictory and slow in its outbreak. Those forces tend to appear firstly in cultural forms – a sense of different community, a greater feeling of participation, less dependence on the official expertise and a greater confidence in collective solution of problems (Jenkins, 2009, p. 288).

Hyperconnectivity and “Onlife” Manifesto: Luciano Floridi

This different sense of community is expressed as a participatory culture, regarding the “culture where fans and other consumers are invited to participate actively in the creation and circulation of new contents” (2009, p. 378). That sense of community permeates the concept of collective intelligence introduced by Lévy (1994) whilst Jenkins identifies the power of the collective as the “capacity of virtual communities to leverage the combined expertise of its members” (2009, p. 56). Networked society also favors participatory culture through communities that configure themselves in and through social media. Participatory culture presupposes a possible knowledge exchange thanks to the increase of community, cost saving in sharing content through media and increase of clarity, factors that make knowledge more combinative. New tools allow the creation of

1. 2. 3. 4.

Social media appear in the context of WEB 2.0 network use expansion. It has been established as the second generation of online services. It is also characterized by heightening the forms of publication, information sharing and organization, besides increasing spaces for interaction among the process participants. Contemporary society, which has been continuously connected, makes us realize that ICTs creating a radical impact on human condition. The impacts consist of the core of study of the contemporary philosopher Luciano Floridi. In The Onlife Manifesto: Being Human in a Hyperconnected Era (2015) book, the author states that ICTs are not mere tools but rather environmental forces that are increasingly affecting: Our self-conception (who we are); Our mutual interactions (how we socialize); Our conception of reality (our metaphysics); Our interactions with reality (our agency)

According to Floridi, questions such as “Who are we?” and “How do we relate to each other?” emerge in the frontier between online life and offline life. In this sense, individuals become perfectly connected to each other and surrounded by intelligent and sensitive objects, which lead them to live in an integrated way, in an “infosphere”. The author, in his book The Fourth Revolution – How the infosphere is reshaping human reality (2014), believes that we have been living a fourth revolution, following the revolutions led by Copernicus, Darwin e Freud.

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Based on the consideration that massive developments in ICTs have been changing society’s paradigms, Floridi introduces the term “onlife”. He considers that the “onlife” term defines more and more our day-to-day activities such as going shopping, working, learning, entertaining, conducting relationships, interacting with legal, financing and political worlds. It would also establish the way to carry on a war. Thus, the philosopher suggests the spread of the ecological and ethical approach in order to treat natural realities as well as human actions, in such a way to offer more conditions to deal satisfactorily with the new challenges deriving from digital technologies and information society. Communities that help tell the story of the world’s social networks are in this “onlife” context of networked individuals. Interestingly, such networks develop and/or find the breeding grounds in formal teaching-learning environments.

CONCLUSION Internet access is widespread all over Brazil, with more or less intensity, for all genders and social classes. Among main results, there are media hybridism, contradictions, and different social attitudes and, at the same time, common practices. In the Brazilian scenario, mobile phone plays a fundamental role, democratizing the Internet access to low income population anytime, anywhere, throughout the country. Among the main results obtained in the present research, regardless of different repertoires concerning the use of tools and possibilities of Internet by Brazilian networked youth and of the diverse categories of analyzed mediation in each analytical axis there is a phenomenon of high relevance that follows all its path: centrality of mobile phones. The mobile phone is a powerful instrument of the Internet access democratization all over the country. It also leads to the gradual

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removal of digital exclusion both geographically (by considering the most remote and lacking communication and telecommunication infrastructure areas) and socially speaking, taking into consideration different socioeconomic classes. Although hindrances as well as technical, economic and financial difficulties strongly the user’s relationship and the appropriation of mobile phones connected to the Internet in Brazil, we cannot deny its high importance in the context and in the day to day life of Brazilian youth. Mobile phone shows itself as the preferred device for the Internet connection by young people from all over the country. It acquires more relevant aspects in areas where, in general, the most significant operational hindrances to telecommunications and access to the world wide web mainly in the North of Brazil, where it reaches 90%. In the whole Brazil, connection to the Internet via mobile phones acquires a strong and significant penetration, even among the least socially privileged classes: 69% for C class and 54% for D class. In order to have an idea about the disparity regarding the Internet access in Brazilian homes according to ICT Domiciles (2013) survey conducted on a daily basis by CGI.br, 60% residences do not have access to the Internet in the whole country. A study conducted by the Institute for Applied Economic Research – IPEA, published in March 2014, of social perception of telecommunication services in Brazil confirmed the information by showing that, in 2013, 48,1% Brazilian domiciles had computers, although a sensitive regional inequality is maintained. Therefore, we observe that the highest computer ownership rate is found in the Southeast (54,6%), followed by the South (53,5%), Midwest (45,3%), Northeast (39,6%) and North (35,3%) regions. Therefore, steady policies on the Internet access through mobile phones in Brazil are highly recommended as they are powerful and relevant tools of social integration and the removal of digital exclusion not only of young people but

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also of their relatives, friends, teachers, employers and, possibly of possible clients of their entrepreneurship. In this context of onlife life, it is noted the occurrence of phenomena such as interaction mediated by computer, media convergence, transmedia storytelling and social network progress, so much used by Brazilian youth. This chapter summarizes some important results of the #ConnectedYouthBrazil research that contributes in a significant way to map the connected youth in Brazil. Thus, new investigations focusing on the emerging literacies of connected actors are of seminal importance to enlighten the scenario of contemporary hyperconnected society.

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Floridi, L. (2014). The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality. London: Oxford University Press. Floridi, L. (Ed.). (2015). The Onlife Manifesto: Being Human in a Hyperconnected Era. London: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-04093-6 Gilster, P. (1997). Digital Literacy. San Francisco, CA: John Willey & Sons. Hine, C. (2000). Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage. Hine, C. (2005). Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg. Jenkins, H. (2009). Cultura da convergência. São Paulo: Aleph. Kozinets, R. (2010). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. London: Sage. Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: an introduction to actornetwork-theory. New York: Oxford University Press. Lemos, A. (2013). A Comunicação das Coisas: Teoria ator-rede e cibercultura. São Paulo: Annablume. Lévy, P. (1999). Cibercultura. São Paulo: Ed. 34. Lévy, P. (2014). A esfera semântica. Tomo 1: computação, cognição e economia da informação. São Paulo: Annablume. Martín-Barbero, J. (2014). Comunicação na Educação. São Paulo: Editora Contexto. McLuhan, M. (1972). A galáxia de Gutenberg: a formação do homem tipográfico; tradução de Leônidas Gontijo de Carvalho e Anísio Teixeira. São Paulo: Editora Nacional, Editora da USP. McLuhan, M. (1974). Os Meios de Comunicação como Extensões do Homem (Understanding Media). São Paulo: Editora Pensamento-Cultrix.

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McLuhan, M., & Nevitt, B. (1972). Take Today: The Executive as Dropout. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Organização Fundação Telefônica. (2014). Juventude Conectada. São Paulo: Fundação Telefônica. Passarelli, B. (2010). Literacias emergentes nas redes sociais: estado da arte e pesquisa qualitativa no Observatório da Cultura Digital. In Atores em rede: olhares luso-brasileiros. São Paulo: Editora Senac. Passarelli, B. (2012) Gerações interativas no Brasil: crianças e adolescentes diante das telas. São Paulo: Fundação Telefônica Brasil/Escola do Futuro (USP). Passarelli, B. (2014). Digital Inclusion Program AcessaSP and the development of digital literacies among elderly population: a case study. Lyon: IFLA. Retrieved from: http://library.ifla. org/1018/1/099-passarelli-en.pdf Passarelli, B., & Angelucci, A. (2013- 2014). Interactive Generation Brazil Research: children and teenagers using computers, TV, games and mobile phones. In Rethinking the Conceptual Base for New Practical Applications in Information Value and Quality. IGI Global. Retrieved from: http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/interactivegeneration-brazilresearch/84223 Passarelli, B., Da Silva, A. M., & Ramos, F. (Eds.). (2014). e-Infocomunicação: estratégias e aplicações. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo. Primo, A. (2007). O aspecto relacional das interações na Web 2.0. E-Compós, Brasília, 9, 1–21. Primo, A. (2007). Interação mediada por computador: comunicação, cibercultura, cognição. Porto Alegre: Sulina. Thiollent, M. (1986). Metodologia da pesquisaação. São Paulo: Cortez Editora.

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Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other. New York: Basic Books.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research: #JuventudeConectadaBrasil is a complex and innovative research regarding multiple dimensions with a mix of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as a survey interviewing 1,400 respondents aging between 16 and 24 years old and integrating different social classes in the whole country. “Onlife”: Defines more and more of our daily activity - the way we shop, work, learn, care for our health, entertain ourselves, conduct our relationships; the way we interact with the worlds of law, finance, and politics; even the way we conduct war. In every department of life, ICTs have become environmental forces which are creating and transforming our realities. Actor–Network Theory (ANT): Is an approach to social theory and research, originating in the field of science studies, which treats objects as part of social networks. Although it is best known for its controversial insistence on the capacity of nonhumans to act or participate in systems or networks or both, ANT is also associated with forceful critiques of conventional and critical sociology. Hyperconnectivity: As the sharp increase in the interconnectedness of people, organizations and objects that has resulted from three consecutive waves of technology innovation: the Internet, mobile technology and the Internet of Things (IoT). Infocommunication: Term used by Portuguese authors and refers to the interdisciplinary aspect of communication sciences and information sciences. For further information about the definition of infocommunication we suggest the

 #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research

reading of the first part of the “e-Infocomunicação: estratégias e aplicações” book (2014), formed by three highly theoretical chapters. MIL-Media and Information Literacy: Media and information literacy recognizes the primary role of information and media in our everyday lives. UNESCO’s strategy brings together two fields: Information Literacy and Media Literacy - as a combined set of competencies (knowledge, skills and attitude) necessary for life and work today. MIL considers all forms of media and other information providers such as libraries, archive, museums and Internet irrespective of technologies used.

Netnography: The author develops “netnography” as an online marketing research technique for providing consumer insight. “Netnography” is ethnography adapted to the study of online communities. Transmedia Storytelling: Represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.

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Chapter 12

“Stop Phubbing Me!”:

A Case Study on Mobile Media and Social Relations Alan César Belo Angeluci Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul, Brazil

ABSTRACT In studies on mobile communication, a topic that has been of particular interest is the impact of increased adoption and use of mobile devices in everyday activities and in the context of interpersonal relationships. However, the ease of accessing digital content and connecting to people physically distant through the recent mobile communication technologies has shown barriers and opportunities in human interaction. Based on the theoretical approaches on identity and relational artifacts grounded in mobility and absent presence concepts, this paper describes some aspects among young people in Brazil in relation to the “phubbing” phenomenon. The term was coined to describe the act of ignoring someone due to the use of a smartphone. The results indicated effects on the level of attention and interaction, regarding not only the content of smartphone, but also the social protocol and the face-to-face communication.

INTRODUCTION Connectivity is a concept that has grown in popularity in the past years, mainly because it has been materialized through tangible platforms that enable to perform activities in a more accurate and effective way in a daily basis. We can observe this process from several approaches, but the subject of interest in this chapter is focused in the relational process between individuals through the mediation of an artifact. So if we will look at connectivity thinking about the communication process, it is worthy

pointing that the idea of connection goes beyond putting bodies in touch. When we think about cyber culture and the contemporary challenges of the digital age, we constantly face a variation of factors that can significantly interfere in the process of exchanging information. If we look back at the Mathematical Theory of Communication, Shannon (1948) had already described the existence of noises perturbing signals during transmissions. What are the contemporary noises? How can they effectively disturb the communicational process between individuals?

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch012

Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

 “Stop Phubbing Me!”

We believe there is a trend in terms of interpersonal relationship when using mobile media. Some authors had established the ground of this trend by describing the digital natives and the millennials (Prensky, 2001; Oblinger, 2003) and the emerging the smart mobs and thumb tribes (Rheingold, 2002) around the world. A couple of years later, a sign that the idea of mobile media as a mere technical device had definitely moved to a complex social object became stronger by a campaign1 calling the attention of a new disturbing behavior identified when people using mobile phones. Phubbing was so launched as an expression for describing “the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention” – being the new word a combination of “phone” and “snubbing” terms. Beyond the publicity aspect of “Stop Phubbing” campaign, the idea behind the phubbing concept is quite interesting to be analyzed. Would be the phubbing a good description of a contemporary noise? In this chapter, we will take a deeper look at this phenomenon under the theoretical approach of identity and relational artifacts grounded by mobility and absent presence conceptual discussions. Giving special attention to the occurrence of phubbing in the Brazilian context through a case study, we will analyze how the interpersonal communication is affected and how phubbing is perceived in different manners, based on a qualitative survey data from a sample of Brazilian university students collected in the autumn of 2014.

PHUBBING: HOW DID THIS ALL THIS START? According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)2, the number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide reached about 7 billion by end 2014, with the highest penetration rates occurring in developing countries, such as Brazil.

The year of 2015 is now known for being the one in which the number of mobile device sales surpassed the desktops worldwide for the first time. Although the boom of mobile devices is stronger in Asia-Pacific region, there are some aspects that must to be further described in the case of the Americas: mobile-broadband penetration levels in Americas are the second highest in the world (59%). These data reveal at least two interesting points about mobile media in Brazil: (1) there are more people in the country having access to mobile services, and (2) more people are accessing content on the move. Sarker and Wells (2003) complete these thoughts when, beside these factors, indicate some general factors that influence the use and adoption of mobile devices: the age of the potential adopter, technology self-efficacy, cultural origin, interface characteristics, immediacy of response desire, number of interacting participants, among many others. These statements reveal a number of new possibilities, which affects the way users interact with digital content and individuals. If by the beginning of the years of 2010 the use of desktop computers inside cyber cafes still was one of the main sociability spaces for young Brazilian teenagers to entertain and study (Angeluci & Galperin, 2012), the mobility and portability has been changing this scenario, even at slow pace (Ishii, 2006). The mobile communication culture is intrinsic to the habits of younger generations (Bertel, 2013), in a dynamic in which the frontiers between the private and public spaces are blurred. Furthermore, differently from older generation, there is no more fear of losing contact with something or someone, as relations are based under the idea of perpetual contact (Katz & Aakhus, 2002). Srivastava (2005, p. 111) once said that “human and identity and social interaction have not been untouched by the mobile phenomenon” and emphasizes the increasingly personalized nature of mobile phones. In fact, mobile phones can be considered the media with the highest level of per-

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sonalization since dissemination of Internet-based computer desktop, and much more if compared with mass media such as television and radio. Although the current convergence perspective can argues that platforms are so merged that it is hard to look at traditional media the same way we look before, personalization manifests itself in a differential form when applied to mobile devices. Mobile communication has achieved an increased center stage in people’s lives (Katz, 2008).

presence of mobile communication technology influences in a negative way the face-to-face conversation quality. These characteristics indicate that a communication process between individuals do not only depends on human behavior, but also on non-human actors (Latour, 2005) and also need to be an object of study.

The Problem Behind

Backing to the idea of connectivity used in the Introduction of this Chapter, it is pretty interesting how Turkle (2012) links this concept with the idea of identity. For the author, “connectivity offers new possibilities for experimenting with identity and, particularly in adolescence, the sense of a free space”. If identity is not restricted to a singly and defined expression, we can look metaphorically at identity as a fluid concept that penetrate in the engine of materials. It is clear that Turkle ideas put the artifacts in a relevant level when discussing the impacts of technologies in people’s life. For youth, technology reshapes identity, as these artifacts are the center of adolescent life (Turkle, 2012). Solitude may be the key aspect that takes the youth towards mobile technologies, as “adolescents need a place of stillness, a place to gather themselves”. In these terms, phubbing might be a consequence of this process, in which the youth find a space to unplug themselves from the real world. As Turkle (2012, p. 20) said, “although identity construction on the Net begins in a considered way (…), people can end up feeling that the only deliberate act is the decision to hand oneself over to the internet”. From Turkle’s ideas it is possible to discuss better the role of mobile technologies in shaping people’s identity. Phubbing can be the expression of a people’s genuine choice to run away from the real world and find a lonely place to put things back and balance. However, people are running away from what? For what reasons?

Phubbing emerges in the midst of this environment formed by aspects of mobility, portability and personalization, which may work as the components of a motor engine leading to its manifestation. Chasombat (2014) provides us some traits that can indicate the fuel. For the author, phubbing happens due to: • • • •

The need to stay connected and communicate all the time; The fear of being mentally alone; The need to be the center of the attention; The need to escape from social group reunions or awkward silences;

In fact, phubbing behavior may cause conflicts when social interacting with people presentially and favor anxious and addicts behaviors. For Vainio (2015, p. 7), phubbing is different from simply reading a newspaper: “the newspaper is passive and nothing personal, but social media are highly personal, active in trying to get our attention and existing mostly for remote connections”. A research from Ipsos and Tuenti móvel in 20143 showed that 67% of young people from Spain confess to commit the phubbing behavior. Another study (Song et al., 2014) suggests that Chinese students are socializing less by physical interaction and more virtually, using instant messaging from their mobile phones. In the UK, Przybylski and Weinstein (2012) showed that the

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The Function of Relational Artifacts in the Identity Construction

 “Stop Phubbing Me!”

Fathom the Mobility Simply put, mobility caters to people’s intuitive needs about exchanging information regardless of the situated space and time. In his early critical study, Fortunati (2002, p. 515) accentuates the “reassuring procedure of the place”, in which people contact with somebody via mobile phone to cope with the shortage of “informative immediacy of the place”, thus enhancing the “communicative immediacy with their social networks”. Likewise, Geser (2004) characterizes mobile phone users with nomadism since the phone calling supports and complements physical meet-up, but also challenges the sedentary life styles in contemporary society. Stald (2008) further dissects such an empowerment into two main aspects: first, social coordination and updating become ubiquitous and immediate; second, users are liberated from the “constraints of physical proximity and spatial immobility” (p. 147). Thus, it is not difficult to speculate that mobile phone users, especially young people, benefit a lot in configuring social developments due to the real-time nature of mobile communication (Campbell & Park, 2008). Nonetheless, the explicit meaning and connotation of mobility are not utterly rosy. Apart from its enhancements on social interaction, in the meantime scholars contend that mobility brings forth collateral disruption to the surrounding environment, and then blurs the dividing line between public space and private lives. As people avail themselves with mobile phone to transcend objective confinements, their performances result in “reinforcing profane space, constructing a space without addresses, without precise localizations” (Fortunati, 2002, p. 520). This eradication of identifiable space, more or less, drives mobile phone users less concerned with their situated environment, and causes tensions between user and non-user when phone rings. Srivastava (2005) addresses the issue of mobile loudness that people tend to talk about their private issues loudly, forcing the nearby others to eavesdrop. In a social place

where either saturates information exchanges (like coffee shop) or endures inanimate social interactions (like bus stop), this behavior fulfills the phone users’ (un)conscious intension to personalized space from the public for communication needs. But also it imposes disruption on others’ thought and talk, leaving a compelled occasion for receiving private information. In tandem with that, she also mentions the issue of synchronous space, which refers to “the complexity of having to manage two sets of geographic locations and social environments, simultaneously” (p. 123). That is to say, the complicated intersection of mobile engagement and objective environment leaves mobile phone users few choices but let their private lives intrude public space. Moreover, the concept of perpetual contact underscores dynamics on temporal dimension. Katz and Aakhus (2002) associate this concept with mobility in a twofold way. On the one hand, perpetual contact reveals a compelling image of pure communication, an idealized commitment to the prospect of mind sharing. To a certain extent, mobility resonates with this promising scenario because it bears the logic that the means of social communication and interaction could be secured so long as the device is always on. On the other hand, such an ideal communication pattern opens way to new behavior “that is unanticipated, often objectionable, and open to redress” (Katz & Aakhus, 2002, p. 309). The repercussions of being perpetually connected through mobile phone are oftentimes noticeable. For instance, people need to switch roles and redirect attention very rapidly to cope with unforeseen phone communication, and they suffer from the ensued disturbance to their time schedule and psychological stress to their mental health (Geser, 2004). Likewise, in her examination on BlackBerry, Turkle (2006) finds the prevailing complains from the user about the sense of encroachment on their time—they are forced to answer calls from company and reply business emails in non-working hours.

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Recurrence of Absent Presence To better understand those issues of mobility occurred to face-to-face interaction, it is important to shift the attention to discussions centered on the idea of absent presence. In retrospection of the Information and Communication Technologies’ historical trajectory, those major tools and devices proliferated their presences in regular households or working place via the domestication of technology, but nevertheless yielded the corollaries of diminished importance of physical meet-up, twisted structure of social relationship, downgraded quality of human interaction, and astray programmatic of mundane life. Accordingly, the idea of absent presence encapsulates the status of face-to-face interaction deprived of social meanings given the intervention from media technologies: someone who engages in mediated event essentially ignores other people as if they were absent even though they are present in the same space. When it was applied to mobile phone, early scholars like Gergen (2002) seek for the silver lining based on this technology’s idiosyncrasies. Instead of a sheer prospect to break down the absence present image, he suggests the odds to impede the aforementioned byproducts that inflict socio-cultural value and standard; nevertheless, he also argues that “with this inevitable tendency toward expanding the functions of the instrument, absent presence of the exogenous variety will only be intensified” (Gergen, 2002, p. 240). Unfortunately, recent studies pinpoint more the aggravating consequences of absent presence in relation to using mobile phone. For instance, Ling (2008) highlights the vulnerability to other secondary interactions when incorporating mobile phone in a co-present situation. Those secondary interactions then inevitably create communication gaps that drift away attention and interrupt out dealings. In a similar vein, Ling and Donner (2013) give a rise to the growing difficulty to pin down the traditional boundaries between face-to-face and

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mediated interactions when using mobile phone. Therefore, by merging absent presence and faceto-face interaction, it recurs the flimsy delineation of phone-based activities that parallel to the spatial transcendence undergirded by mobility, and then thwarts social purposes and sociality predicated on the physical contact. Besides, it resembles the erosion of shared time stirred by mobility, allowing for uninvited activities to undermine the quality of face-to-face communication and the derivative social relationships.

STUDY CASE We tried to understand and put some light in this matter observing the Brazilian context. Phubbing phenomenon is quite interesting to be analyzed when talking about teenagers or youth immersed in the college environment. This might be the life period in which individuals are more social, surrounded by colleagues and friends in both academic and recreational contexts. When using new technologies for communication, the newer generation seems to require rapid access and multi-tasking platforms, such as social media (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Snapchat) provides nowadays. Studies from Passarelli et al. (2014) has shown youth from São Paulo state in Brazil has the highest penetration of mobile devices in the country, as well the highest quality of access in terms of 3G and mobile Internet. Associated with other regional and cultural factors, this enable us to infer that São Paulo youth has relevant conditions to use mobile platforms to manage daily activities and to communicate with parents, friends and others acquaintances. We so defined a sample and tried to look on their behaviors when confronted with phubbing situations: their feelings, typical contents viewed in their mobiles when phubbing and situations in which they were “phubbed” or committed phubbing.

 “Stop Phubbing Me!”

METHODS, INSTRUMENTS, AND DATA COLLECTION TOOLS An on-line survey was developed with 17 questions organized under three sections: (1) demographic aspects (data about age, gender, etc.), (2) phubbing activities (situation in which they occur, content consumed, etc.) and (3) perceptions (feelings involved when committing/suffering phubbing, etc.). The survey was applied simultaneously in Autumn of 2014 through Qualtrics ®. The instrument collected baseline data about key aspects of the eight analysis topics defined in order to organize the data: (1) Spontaneous phubbing behaviors, (2) Observed Phubbing behaviors, (3) Enactment of phubbing, (4) Self-perceived level of “phubber”, (5) Perceiving others as “phubber”, (6) Negative effects of phubbing on relationships, (7) Positive effects of phubbing on relationships and (8) Attitudes towards phubbing and being “phubbed”.

Sample It was obtained a response rate of 0.811 from a total of 101 students from universities located in the southeast region of Brazil (N = 81, 54% male and 46% female). The average age of the Brazilian participants was 22.77. Most respondents come from middle-class families (N = 46).

Data Analysis •

Spontaneous Phubbing Behaviors: In general, participant incline to “phub” others when interacting with acquaintances/ strangers (mean=3.23). By contrast, it least happens when interacting with boy/ girlfriend (mean=3.55). We propose four possible reasons to explain people’s spontaneous phubbing behaviors. First, it has become a habitual performance without intention (“It just happens, I don’t plan it”). We find that respondents intend to act it out more under the circumstance of interacting

•

with acquaintances/strangers than other situations. However, they reveal a visible pattern that doing “sometimes” across all situations. Second, it is caused by unappealing conversation (“It usually happens when the conversation is boring”). We find this reason occasionally contribute to phubbing across all situations. Third, it is incited by emergent issues (“I stumble upon something more emergent to deal with”). Similarly, it does not always happen across all situations. Forth, it is due to people’s intention to share stuffs via their mobile phones (“I do it intentionally because I want to share something with someone”). It tends to be the least occurred option across all situations. One of the participants provided an interesting comment: “I can be talking with someone, but if some other person catches me up on-line in my cellphone with something that calls my attention I really believe I can manage with both situations at the same time. But – fail! – usually someone will feel the lack of my attention”. Observed Phubbing Behaviors: Overall, participants feel least “phubbed” (mean=3.60) when interacting with family or relatives; while they tend to be occasionally “phubbed” when interacting with friends (mean=2.00) or acquaintances/ strangers (mean=2.84). It is interesting to observe that phubbing situations depend strongly on the mediation environment. The perception of being “phubbed” is weaker in situations they interact with older people or those ones in which there is an evident relation of power. When they feel in the same or higher level of power, students’ need of attention is more prominent. Besides we find that barely the gender affects participants’ perception of being “phubbed” in different kinds of interaction.

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•

•

•

•

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Enactment of Phubbing: To a large extent, participants regard “chatting/texting with friends” (N=75, 91%) and “posting something on social networking platforms” (N=50, 61%) as main phubbing behaviors; by contrast “watching a video” is least recognized. It seems like texting is less disruptive than managing to watch or listen something, mainly when trying to coordinate these actions with an interpersonal conversation. Also, there a perception that phubbing should be a discrete action, easily administrable with writing text. Self-Perceived Level of Phubber: Almost a half of the participants consider themselves at least a little “phubber” (49%). Also we find that participants’ use frequency of mobile phone is positively associated with self-perceived level of “phubber”. While for the specific contexts, the self-perceived level is only positively associated with interacting with friends and colleague or classmate. It seems like people do not perceive themselves too much as “phubbers” as they do with people phubbing them. This might come from a dynamic in which individuals cannot realize they are merging the boundaries between work and personal life and use mobile communication technologies simultaneously for personal and business tasks, just as Peters & Allouch (2005) describe in their work. Perceiving Others as Phubber: Most of participants consider people who are frequently contacted as “phubbers” (83%). Interestingly, there is no significant association between the participants’ perception of regarding others as “phubber”, and frequency of being “phubbed” across different situations (except for with acquaintances/ strangers). Negative Effects of Phubbing on Relationships: An important part of the

•

•

participants considers their own phubbing behaviors bring in negative effects on relationship with other people (42%). However, this claim is not significantly associated with their self-perceptions of being “phubber”. As for specific effects, most addressed issues are the impediment to smooth communication, less courtesy and respect towards others, and self-indulgence into phone-based activity. Also, we do not find any significant gender variations regarding this concern. Positive Effects of Phubbing on Relationships: 38% of the participants do not consider their own phubbing behaviors raise any positive effects on relationship with other people, being the most of participants having a neutral position (46%). But they only list pretty limited effects like avoiding embarrassment within conversations, and sustaining relationships with those who are not physically nearby, nevertheless these reasons gain scarce resonance among the participants. Attitudes towards Phubbing and being Phubbed: For being “phubbed”, the percentage of participants that stay tolerant with other’s phubbing behaviors (39%) and feel bad about being “phubbed” but do not do anything (35%) is quite similar. Only 25% would take action to stop being “phubbed”. For “phubbing” others, majority of the participant feel bad about this behavior and try to stop as soon as possible (63%).

FINAL REMARKS This survey was a single snapshot from a very specific community and context: college students around their 20 years old in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. We cannot assume this sample is

 “Stop Phubbing Me!”

a fundamental prove of what phubbing provokes in communication process and interpersonal relationships. Further studies need to be done in order to expand the approach, collect more data and enhance some uncovered issues. Nevertheless, it gives interesting signs and evidences that phubbing really is a contemporary noise in the process of communication mediated by mobile media technologies. Cultural, generational and contextual aspects may have important weight when identifying effectively disturbances in the communicational process between individuals. When it comes to observe how phubbing process starts from the research, we can link to the idea of Turkle’s solitude and need of disconnection. Some primarily got identified with “it just happens, I don’t plan it”. It is like saying “give me a break, I have this right, I need to plug myself in the virtual world to get balanced”. Relational artifacts may be one of the most interesting paradoxical concept in recent times – get connected to be disconnected.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author would like to thanks Gejun Huang from The University of Texas at Austin for participating in the research and providing relevant inputs for the discussion in the data analysis section and literature review.

REFERENCES Angeluci, A. C. B., & Galperin, H. (2012). O consumo de conteúdo digital em lan houses por adolescentes de classes emergentes no Brasil. Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias de la Comunicación, 17, 246–257.

Bertel, T. F. (2013). Mobile communication in the age of Smartphones: large processes of domestication and re-domestication. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from http://forskningsbasen.deff.dk/ Share.external?sp=S4d510315-dff8-42cf-af8907fbd2e58e8d&sp=Situ Campbell, S. W., & Park, Y. J. (2008). Social implications of mobile telephony: The rise of personal communication society. Sociology Compass, 2(2), 371-387. Chasombat, P. (2014). Social Networking Sites impacts on interpersonal communication skills and relationships. (Master Dissertation). Retrieved from http://libdcms.nida.ac.th/thesis6/2014/ b185644.pdf Fortunati, L. (2002). The mobile phone: Towards new categories and social relations. Information Communication and Society, 5(4), 513–528. doi:10.1080/13691180208538803 Gergen, K. J. (2002). The challenge of absent presence. In Perpetual contact: Mobile communication, private talk, public performance. Cambridge University Press. Geser, H. (2004). Towards a sociological theory of the mobile phone. In A. Zerdick (Ed.), E-merging media: communication and the media economy of the future. Springer Science & Business Media. Ishii, K. (2006). Implications of mobility: The uses of personal communication media in everyday life. Journal of Communication, 56(2), 346–365. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00023.x Katz, J. E. (2008). Handbook of mobile communication studies. The MIT Press. doi:10.7551/ mitpress/9780262113120.001.0001

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Katz, J. E., & Aakhus, M. (Eds.). (2002). Perpetual contact: Mobile communication, private talk, public performance. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511489471

Shannon, C. E. (1948). A Mathematical Theory of Communication. Retrieved from http://cm.belllabs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948. pdf

Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: an introduction to Actor–network theory. Oxford, UK: University Press.

Song, D., Wang, Y., & You, F. (2014). Study on WeChat user behaviors of universities graduates. In Proceedings of the IEEE 5th International Conference on Digital Home. Guangzhou, China: IEEE. doi:10.1109/ICDH.2014.73

Ling, R. (2008). New tech, new ties. Cambridge, MA: Mit Press. Ling, R., & Donner, J. (2013). Mobile communication. John Wiley & Sons. Oblinger, D. (2003). Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millenials: Understanding the new students. EDUCAUSE Review. Passarelli, B., Junqueira, A. H., & Angeluci, A. C. B. (2014). Digital natives in Brazil and their behavior in front of the screens. Matrizes, 8(1), 159–178. doi:10.11606/issn.1982-8160. v8i1p159-178 Peters, O., & Allouch, S. B. (2005). Always connected: A longitudinal field study of mobile communication. Telematics and Informatics, 22(3), 239–256. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2004.11.002 Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9 (5). Przybylski, A. K., & Weinstein, N. (2012). Can you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 1(1), 1–10. Rheingold, H. (2002). Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge: Perseus Press. Sarker, S., & Wells, J. D. (2003). Understanding mobile handheld device use and adoption. Communications of the ACM, 46(12), 35–40. doi:10.1145/953460.953484

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Srivastava, L. (2005). Mobile phones and the evolution of social behavior. Behaviour & Information Technology, 24(2), 111–129. doi:10.108 0/01449290512331321910 Stald, G. (2008). Mobile identity: Youth, identity, and mobile communication media. Youth, identity, and digital media, 143-164. Turkle, S. (2006). Always-on/always-on-you: The tethered self. In Handbook of Mobile Communication and Social Change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Turkle, S. (2012). Alone Together: why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New York, NY: Basic Books. Vainio, J. (2015). Use of mobile devices in social situations. (Master Dissertation). Retrieved from: https://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/ handle/10024/96661/GRADU-1423498814. pdf?sequence=1

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Absent presence: someone who engages in mediated media technologies event essentially ignore other people as if they were absent even though they are present in the same space. Connectivity: The idea of a world with online connections, which leads people to interact with

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each other by consuming, producing and sharing content by texting, audio, video and many games and social networking applications. Domestication: The use and appropriation of a media technology in a regular daily basis for entertainment, learning and problem-solving situations. Identity: Distinctive characteristics belonging to any given individual or group, being strongly influenced by the impacts of technologies in people’s life nowadays, mainly younger people. Mobility: Context in which social relations are ubiquitous and immediate, usually facilitated by technologies mediation that relativize time and space limitations. Phubbing: The act of ignoring or snubbing someone in a social context by looking at your

own mobile device instead of paying attention in the person in front of you. Relational Artifacts: Contemporary objects that enables interaction between individuals or technologies by exploring social relations situations.

ENDNOTES 1



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3



Stop Phubbing. Retreived from http://stopphubbing.com/. Accessed in March, 2, 2015. Available at: www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/statistics. Accessed in March, 2, 2015. Available at: http://corporate.tuenti.com/es/ communication/download/98. Accessed in March, 3, 2015.

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Chapter 13

Brazil 4D:

An Experience of Interactive Content Production for Freeto-Air Digital Television Cosette Castro University of Brasilia, Brazil Cristiana Freitas Catholic University of Brasilia, Brazil

ABSTRACT In this chapter, we will debate about the free-to-air model of interactive digital television (iTVD) developed in Brazil, about its characteristics, and the interactive digital audiovisual content produced for this type of television. In the Introduction, we reflect about different aspects of the social and economic uneven development of Latin America and Caribean, especially in Brazil. We also discuss about the concepts of innovation, strategic development, and how we believe that it is necessary to include communication, education and culture inside the debates about innovation and technology. After this, we show the Brazilian model of free-to-air digital television, a unique model in the world, because of its middleware Ginga, a Brazilian technology developed in open source, that permits free interactivity, mobility, interoperability, multiprogramming, accessibility and portability for everyone. In the third part, we focus on the BRAZIL 4D Project, developed by Communications Company Brazil (EBC), a public company, using free-to-air interactive digital public television and telecommunications to offer information, fiction, and public services to low-income population through remote control. This Project contributes to the social and digital inclusion of Brazilian people without access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), about 14.5 million of families or 60 million of low-income people.

INTRODUCTION In previous studies, Castro (2008, 2012, 2014) sought to contextualize the passing of the analog to the digital world within the use of different technological platforms and media convergence.

The researcher uses as an example the digital and interactive free-to-air television of the Brazilian case, developed in open source and focusing in the social and digital inclusion. The Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting, Terrestrial, Brazilian version (ISDB – Tb) was adopted by other

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch013

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Latin American countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Peru, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Brazil. Besides, I tried to analyze the need – from the the field of Communication – researchers have of a more comprehensive vision of their object of study, from perspectives like transdisciplinarity1 (Edgar Morin and Jesús Martín-Barbero) and complex thought2 (Edgar Morin) to understand the deep changes we are going through from the point of view of social inclusion and free audiovisual interactive digital content offer to the population. In this chapter, it’s important to refer to Management and Economy theorists, in seek of a transdisciplinary dialogue, allowing us to understand notions of innovation, development, industrial hubs and/or clusters, and its relationship with the stimulus given to research and digital content production in Latin America. The digital and audiovisual content industry is a strategic part of the process of innovation Latin America goes through in the digital world. Innovation is a word derived from the Latin term innovatio, and refers to a created idea, method or object with little resemblance to the previous ones. Today, the word innovation is used more often in the context of ideas and inventions as well as the related economic exploration, and innovation can also be an invention coming to the market. Examples of ideas, methods or objects that have little resemblance to previous patterns appear in the new digital media: digital and interactive free-to-air television, mobile phones, digital books and magazines, on-line videogames, digital radio (that enables access to not only digital sound, but pictures too), and digital cinema, as well computers with access to internet and the possibility of media convergence. To Freeman (1986), innovation is the process that includes technical activities, conception, development, and management, and results in the commerce of new (or improved) processes. In terms of new products, interactivity in freeto-air digital television allows the audience to

answer – questions, information, researches, public services, etc. – to the field of production (companies or public channels) with their remote controls. It’s important to point out that the Ginga middleware3 is a Brazilian invention based on open source, developed in the laboratories of PUC-RJ4 and UFPB5. It’s the first technological standard developed in this country to be recognized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and it was considered the best of the world because of its interactive possibilities within free-to-air television and IPTV. The mobile phones are another enhanced product turned into a completely different thing from its original version. Initially thought to be used just for mobile telephony, mobile phones today can be considered an extension of our own bodies (Castro, 2005), since it allows many different functions like alarm clock, agenda, internet, photography, filming, voice recording, use of data and text, among other activities, like the original function of making and receiving calls. Brazilian Digital Television System (SBTVD) can also be watched for free through mobile phones of 3G mobile phones, using the free One Seg technology, enabling the cell phone owner to watch free-to-air digital television, without impact in the mobile bills. In its turn, the videogame gears had the original version expanded to be played on-line and through different technological devices, like computers, digital free-to-air TV, mobile phones, video consoles and table, or even through all those devices at the same time. The game narratives were also extended and have different dynamics, attracting crowds of fans, more and more interested in achieving new stages6 of the games, challenging the own makers with narrative proposals and new levels for a game. More recently, internet-connected digital books allow the readers new ways of interaction, from buying a book on-line to participating with rates in real time, or even commenting with other readers in real time as well.

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In terms of innovation, typical news from the 21st century is the so called digital convergence, where narratives and stories can be followed at the same time in different devices with internet access. Besides, narratives like “Matrix” were initially developed for different media at the same time, corresponding to the transmedia concept developed by Jenkins (2008). This happened like the Matrix trilogy presented in the movies, in the comic books or videogames, and the narrative introduced many new characters and complexity that the movie version. In this sense, the notion of innovation exceeded the field of science and technology, and embraced Social Science, and now more and more others like culture, communication, technology itself and education, as well as a notion of creativity. Audiovisual and digital content industries can be analyzed as a sector inside Culture Economy, can be called Creative Economy7; as a Digital Economy8 or even Knowledge Economy, all proposed by researchers of core countries, including means of creating, producing and distributing goods and services using digital technologies, knowledge, creativity, intellectual stock as their main productive resources. More than a position on the term and the most appropriate theoretical approach (culture economy, creative economy or digital economy), we need to consider the context behind, as proposed by Latour (2000), to evaluate the kind of economy for each country, to adapt it to each reality and possibility of social development. And, starting from there, consider the Latin American and Caribbean reality and the lack of similarity between the regulation of media, of communication or telecommunication subjects, public politics, information and communication technology development, as well as technical conditions and innovation to public policies proposed for each country. In practice, those digital services and contents are available for free or paid through different digital devices, allowing usability9, portability

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and interactivity between many audiences, as well as media convergence. However, it’s necessary to think of the reality of each population. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the majority of the population have little to no conditions of paying for digital audiovisual content. This is the reason for the low index of paid television subscription in some countries; low attendance to movies, as they are very expensive and restricted to shopping centers; low purchase of original CDs and DVDs, and the considerable increase of pirated products in the Region.

CONTEXT Barbosa [Filho] and Castro (2014) remember that the word innovation was introduced by the economist Schumpeter in his work Business Cycles (1939). In Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942), he describes the process of innovation, denominated by him process of creative destruction. The Austrian author locates innovation into a trade economy, where new products destroy old companies and past business models. For Schumpeter (1942), innovations could destroy well-established companies, minimizing power monopoly like that. According to the author, the reason the economy would unbalance and step into a process of expansion is the appearance of an innovation, from the economic point of view, that would considerably alter the previous equilibrium conditions. Examples of innovations that may alter the state of equilibrium: 1. Introduction of a new good in the market; 2. Discovery of a new production method; 3. Discovery of a new mean of merchandise commerce; 4. Conquest of new sources of raw material; 5. Alteration of the present market structure, like breaking a monopoly.

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Introducing a new innovation to the economic system is called by Schumpeter (1961) as entrepreneurial act, aiming to obtain profit. Innovation can also be stimulated by governments to help in the development process, like in Latin America and Caribbean the ending of the 20th century, particularly on information and communication technologies. Initially, the followers of Schumpeter’s theory adapted the triple helix theory, where the development process was based on the trinomial government, companies and universities. The concept of innovative national systems, formulated by economists and managers during the years of 1970 and 1980, has its importance because it allowed the organization, the institutional formats and financing innovating activity. But it could not significantly change the casting of involved agents in the innovation practices – especially in what concerns colleges, companies and government agencies. Starting from the innovation sociology debates – many of them counting with names like Manuel Castells – in the ending of the 20th century, there was a diversity of technical and social situations engineered beyond the walls of State, companies and universities. This diversity demands concepts and a research formula derived from social science, and started to receive special attention. The social scientists interested in understanding the change of course of innovation in contemporary society, allowing a change in the analytical approach. For us, innovation needs to be understood more beyond the technology. It needs to include the concepts of communication, education and culture. According to Maciel (2011), this change of approach included unapproachable and changeable elements of technological and social practice. In this (new focus), relationships are more essential than things, and processes overcome results and help to understand social practice. A qualitative dimension begins in the innovative practice, where models of the Schumpeter (1982) agenda were not able reach. Between those, indecision represents a key composer of the themes that have to

be discussed and redefined in the passing of the analog world to the digital one. Unlike the first 80 years of the 20th century, industrial agglomerations of the 90s showed a new economic geography10 where the expression “industrial poles” lost strength. Starting from the notion of collective efficiency, based on cooperation, made it possible to understand the new business agglomeration dynamics (by place or sector), better known as clusters. It also made possible to understand how synergy provided by the combination of complementary competences is turning into a crucial factor to increase competitiveness. According to Romero (2003), differently than clusters, industrial poles are restricted to the geographic location of agglomerate or an industry group. As a concept, cluster considers the participation of a joint of authors in a coordinated and ordered manner, and it can be in the same geographic location, as well as establishing regional relationships. In her study, Castro (2011) consider the notion of Local Production Arrangements (LPAs) as a synonym of clusters11, of content production centers, and yet like an updated version of the notion of industrial poles. Her treat LPAs or industrial clusters turned to innovation on local and regional dimensions at the same time. 1. Local in a sense of determined geographic space, making face to face interactions easy, and allowing agents to possess one or more common traits; 2. Regional because it is about the idea of region – that could be located inside the same continent – and allows the transfer of essential knowledge between uneven Regions.

Different Dimension of Production Poles/Clusters/LPA There are production poles or clusters based on production arrangements developed on the same

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local, but acting and stimulating cooperative regional relationships. Those are directly related to the notion of sustainable development12. We consider it like Araujo [Filho] does (2006: 68), when the notion of sustainability is “associated to the propriety of an economy in a determined geographic space has to generate and maintain comparative advantages in a continued perspective”. We think, going further than Araujo [Filho] (2006) did, that in digital technology times, the notion of sustainability we have today allows economy development in more than one geographic space, though it emphasizes one determined space as the research, experimentation and products for market irradiation. In this sense, the physical nature should not be the only component in creating and/ or expanding research, shape, and production of digital audiovisual content. Formation of local and/or regional societies (presently or virtually) focused on creation of new abilities – digital and interactive, in the case of the present study – is one of the market’s requirements. According to the author, it represents, in the current industrial poles case, “being capable of engaging into existent economic activities in the new requests or even to create new activities, business in non-explored areas for enterprising activities, and accumulated knowledge”. The spatial nature of said production poles, local production arrangements13 or clusters help to stimulate new digital convergence and transmedia projects, able to involve a bigger number of business and institutions of the same geographic location in a virtual association along with other regions. It can also encourage creation of mini poles in different locations, starting from the utilization of information and communication technologies, increasing the power of creating professionals, multiplying the appearance of new abilities, developing digital content, and involving each day a wider number of projects. Reflecting on economy development’s located nature is not a recent field. It was already addressed

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by especialized theorists, like Perroux, Myrdal, Hirchamann or Fridmann, but it was Marshall’s studies in 1890 on advantages of spatial concentration that crossed the 20th century. More recently, in the last years of the 20th century, economist Krugman (1998) brings the agglomeration debate again, in his effort to explain the located nature of economy growth. Antagonizing the location theory, Krugman (1998) talks about economic geography saying there is no imperfection in the competition environment, and how this influences local and regional growth ratio inside !8 ! This meant for the governments of developed countries they had to move from business subsidy for research and development on specific themes in the 80s to offer conditions so productive activity could arrange in a systematic and integrated manner (Cassiolato & Lastres, 2000). In Brazil, for example, incentive to innovation policies appeared in the late 90s, and keeps growing since the Lula government (2002-2010). Some authors, like Dunning (1997), think about economic globalization, and bet on the possibility of evolving into a new development stage of economic systems (related to the concept of “alliance capitalism”), based on the coexistence of cooperation and competition relationships. Britto (2011) affirms the analysis of clusters is changing for competence dynamics of markets. Those agglomerations are forget starting from deriving impacts of globalization and liberalization processes, in one hand, and in the other, the growing number of on-line relationships and strategic alliances structured to allow surviving in a new context. Though national strategies are different in each country, the Region countries possess some similar traits, like a strong audiovisual culture and huge percentage of free-to-air television devices at home, as we can observe in the Brazilian case: 98% of the city population and 96% of the rural population (IBGE, 2010). There is also a high index of the use of mobile phones in the Region (versus an even lower index

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of the population that possesses internet-mediated computers, dial-up or broadband access). However, there are little mobile phones with proper technology and enabled to receive free-to-air digital television signal through the One Seg technology. This happens because the biggest part of the mobile phones in Latin America and the Caribbean are prepaid or use cards, like in Brazil. They will also be able to participate of other fields that help in the business chain involving digital content exportation in the Region, unlike the concentrator business model happening in the analog commercial TV in Latin America and Caribeann. It is true to say the audiovisual analog content production is significant in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela, but this same production is restricted to exportation by huge communication groups, like Globo in Brazil; Cineros in Venezuela; Clarín in Argentina or Televisa in Mexico.

BRAZIL 4D PROJECT The Brazil 4D is an innovative project that offers interactive information, digital audiovisual content and public services to low-income people in television language through the digital free-toair public TV (www.ebc.com.br/brasil-4d). The project rescues academy’s efforts, institutions and companies, to implement the provisions of the Brazilian System of Digital Terrestrial TV (ISDB-Tb): free, open source, enabling mobility, portability, interoperability, and multiprogramming interactivity, provided by the Brazilian middleware Ginga – layer of software that allow interactivity, portability and interoperability between the different patterns of Digital TV and mobiles with one seg thecnologies. It’s a Brazilian invention based on open source, developed in the laboratories of PUC-RJ and UFPB. It’s the first technological standard recognized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Currently, the ISDB-TB system is adopted by 18 countries: Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Philippines, Guatemala, Honduras, Guyana, Sri Lanka, and Botswana. The Brazilian digital TV standard allows access on TV to information and Internet services, from broadcast without any cost. It’s an offer and development of free digital audivisual contents and services to low-income population. This group - 14,5 million of families - don’t have access to computers or mobile phones, when most of them still have prepaid cell phones, but have a television at home. The Brazil 4D Project articulates digital audiovisual content, applications and interactive design to bring closely the citizens and public services allowed for them using a television language by remote control. The organization and the treatment of information submitted by the Brazil 4D single interactive interface combine the information architecture of the application to the program schedule of audiovisual content. The Project applies interactivity middleware Ginga as a platform for iDTV public services using broadcast transmission and the return channel 3G, to update applications and audiovisual content offering information, news, fiction and public services about Employment, Health, Social Benefits, Woman Rights, Financial Education, Home-ownership, among others. The pilot project was deployed in 2012, at João Pessoa, in the state of Paraíba, Brazil, along 100 low-income families beneficiaries of the Bolsa Familia Program (BFP). The BFP is a conditional cash transfer program turned towards poor families. The Programme considered as eligible those families with up to R$ 170.00 monthly per capita income (almost US$ 70.00). In ten years, the program helped Brazil come out of extreme poverty line. The pilot project were subject to World Bank research, consolidated in the publication “Study

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of the Social and Economic Impact of Interactive Public Digital TV with the low-income population“ (EBC). The socioeconomic and cultural impact of the pilot project revealed by the World Bank survey (2013) a month after the audience began to use it, showed that: The pilot project were subject to World Bank research, consolidated in the publication “Study of the Social and Economic Impact of Interactive Public Digital TV with the low-income population“(EBC). The socioeconomic and cultural impact of the pilot project revealed by the World Bank survey (2013) a month after the audience begin to use it, showed that: • • •

The Interactive digital free-to-air television is a simple and easily accessible platform; Easiness to use: 72% of respondents learned to use iDTV; Reduction of transport costs and saving time: 64% reduction of costs forget the information without leaving home was the greatest benefit;

•

2% of the beneficiaries had real increase in income;

The families served could overcome the barrier of access available (infrastructure and equipment) and the iDTV and its applications and audiovisual content can be used to minimize the cognitive barriers related to intelligibility, accessibility and usa-bility, present among different social groups. The average savings of the population whose monthly income is up to $ 60.00 per person, was of US $ 6.00 per month. The results point to increase the monetary base of these social classes, increasing their access to public services and consumption. The projection of the domestic economy to a potential audience of 14 million families benefiting from the Bolsa Familia Program, is US$ 3 billion over 10 years, according to study by the University of Campinas-UNICAMP/Saint Peter. In 2014, EBC started the Brazil 4D Project in the federal Capital, Brasilia, that incorporates several advancements to the pilot project held in Paraiba. Designed to achieve three hundred

Figure 1. Entry interface for interactive contents of Brazil 4D Source: EBC.

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(300) beneficiary families of programs transfer Bolsa Familia from the cities of Samambaia and Ceilândia, the first stage of Brazil 4D – Federal District (FD), with the progressive introduction of digital equipment in the home of first 50 (fifty) families drawn Samambaia / FD. The audience received training and digital equipment needed to access the interactive public digital TV: external antenna, digital converter (Set top box - STB) and remote control. By accessing Channel 2 TV Brazil digital in Federal District, the audience were invited to join the multiprogramming channel and navigate in public service content (news, public informations, games, soap opera, etc.) offered by BRAZIL 4D, using the remote control. The initial audiovisual digital content were composed by the provision of information and services, organized in thematic modules, about Social Benefits, Labour, Health, Women’s Rights, Bank Brazil and Federal Savings Bank. Besides those, the project included the introduction of other

services of interest to the FD population, such as some public policies managed by the National Social Security Institute (INSS) as Guarantee Fund for Employees (FGTS), or at National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform, among others.

Brazil 4D Project Language One of the difference of Brazil 4D Project is that it uses the narrative of television with interactive recourses using broadcast transport stream (BTS). It’s different to produce to IPTV using HTML. To make it easier and benefit the families with the new technology, contents were presented and mediated by tutorial videos wich different formats as a documentaries and fiction (little soap operas). These represented a typical poor family “4D Family” whose life would improve as they enjoyed progressively programming services offered by Brazil 4D. New audiovisual content and data information were updated daily, using the Push VOD (Video On

Figure 2. Interaction with contents services at pilot project Brazil 4D Source: EBC.

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Figure 3. Children from Samambaia, FD, interacting with Brazil 4D contents

Figure 4. Guide the use of interactive public services Source: EBC.

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Demand), as offers of new jobs and the schedule for the Women Truck (a mobile health service for women). The contents were sent by the broadcast system, and the 3G connection were used to measure the audience and provide the bidirectional communication, given access to services as extract and bank balance or to schedule medical care at the nearest hospital to home. Citizenship officers, formed by community leaders, made the mediation by the Project and the families, systematically clarifying and encourage the audience how to use Brazil 4D services and providing ongoing local technical support to them. The Brazil 4D articulates audiovisual content, applications and interactive design to bring closely the citizens and public services allowed for them using a television language. The organization and the treatment of information submitted by the Brazil 4D interactive interface combine the information architecture of the application to the program schedule of audiovisual content. The Brazil 4D has an immediate impact for social and digital inclusion for the benefited families, taking free for low-income population the services for their benefit.

on weekends, size the influx of people looking for different public services offers in Brazil 4D. National and international news in television and newspaper shows the benefits of the public iDTV and the 4D Brazil Project in Brasilia. The Capital of Brazil is the first one in the country to start the switch off to the digital system in April, 2016. Along 2015 the Brazil 4D Project is going to attend the 300 families at Samambaia14 and Ceilândia15, offering news digital audiovisual contents and services. By that time, the Applied Economic Research Institute-IPEA is going to make a research to analyze the impact of the iDTV to those population. In addition, in the Federal District, the Brazil 4D Project also allowed the development of proof of concept that promoted innovations in project design, among which we highlight: •

•

Brazil 4D Project Configuration Inside the set top box there is a chip that provide the measure of the inputs and the behavior of the audiences, using 3G. The monitoring and tracking of work field showed frequent access to Brazil 4D to search, above all, job vacancies and health services. Another noticeable aspect is the advent of digital television neighbor, since the residences of the blessed families have become a meeting point for neighbors and relatives wanting to know the project and seek information and services the interactive public channel. The house of same neighbors for example, became a meeting point

•

Sending data encrypted two-way through the 3G connection, by increasing interactive communication and facilitating access to this low-income population to services public for them; Convergence with mobile phones, using the 1-sec channel, when the audience should be able to interactive with the device, consulting his own public bank, a vocational course, employment, or receiving an scheduling for a medical health; Encourage the strengthening of supply chain of the digital audiovisual and date information in Brazil.

BRASIL 4D PROJECT PERSPECTIVES: FINAL CONSIDERATIONS Actually, Brazil has a 14.5 million hundred families benefited by the Bolsa Familia Program. In the end of 2014, the Brazilian government decided to

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give a free set top box to all those over the country, donate set top box free for low income families as a counterpart from the telecommunications to the broadcasting after the auction of the 700 MHz band. Brazil 4D project is being considerate as a reference to be followed during the process of migration to the digital TV, which includes the free distribution of STB to 14.5 million low income families. In three years, Brazil 4D Project received six prizes, two international, but it’s necessary to develop it in all the country. We can observe even though there is the need of graduating, training, researching and innovating to research and produce more interactive audiovisual content to free-to- air public television. It’s an offer and development of free digital contents and services to low-income population, the ones that don’t have access to computers or mobile phones of third or fourth generation, when most of them still have prepaid cell phones, but have a free-to-air television at home. In 2015, It is expected that low-income population receives free set top boxes and they will need new information, new digital audiovisual content and new public services. In the Brazil, where there is an audiovisual culture and the television is the main mean of access to entertainment and information, there is a need to think other ways of digital and social inclusion. This also happens from the stimulus to the digital culture, through the adoption of free software, joint production of new knowledge and creative common. This is the case of the Ginga middleware, possessing a free software community and voluntary participation of 13 thousand developers of audiovisual and digital content from many different areas, like communication, art, engineering and informatics in Brazil. In this sense, the transdisciplinary studies and researches to digital free-to-air television, to mobiles with one seg technologies and for digital media convergence is needed and compatible with the changes we are living in Brazil and the peripheral countries.

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Schumpeter, J. (1961). Capitalismo, Socialismo e Democracia. Rio de Janeiro: Fundo de Cultura/ Ordem Livre.com. Retrieved from http:// www.capitalsocialsul.com.br/capitalsocialsul/ analisedeconjuntura/analisedeconjuntura/Schumpeter%20%20Capitalismo%20Socialismo%20 e%20Democracia%20(Livro).pdf Schumpeter, J. (1982). Teoria do Desenvolvimento Econômico. Trans. Sílvia P., M. Abril, São Paulo: Editora Abril. TELECO. (2012). Website Telecom Brasil. Retrieved from http:/www.teleco.com.br

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Bolsa Família Program: Direct transfer program of Brazilian government’s income, which since its creation in 2003 (Law No. 10.836 / 2004) benefited millions of families in poverty and extreme poverty throughout the country, paying US $ 50.00 per capita monthly. In 2014, 13.9 million families were helped by the Bolsa Familia Program (Ministry of Social Development, 2015). BRAZIL 4D Project: Government information and public services through interactive audiovisual content using free-to-air Digital Interactive Television to reduce social and digital exclusion for the low-income population. Digital Communication: Free-to-air digital Television – BRAZIL 4D Project - Interactive audiovisual content - Middleware Ginga – Innovation – Open Source – Low-income Brazilian population – Bolsa Familia Program. Digital Communication: The possibility of interaction between communication companies and audiences by internet using different digital platforms.

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Free-to-Air-Television: Broadcast television reception in open signal with no cost for the audience. Innovation: The concept of innovation is something that creates and maintains the sustainability of the competitive advantages (Kanter, 1985 and Drazin Schoonhoven, 1996), and the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization (AMABILE and GRYSKIEWICZ, 1989), or even open innovation (Chesbrough, 2006), which considers the interaction between companies, academy and consumers as a dynamic co-creation. Interactive Audiovisual Content: Digital content produced for free-to-air digital television, mobiles with one seg, or computers with internet access. Interactivity: The interactive digital television allows bidirectional communication, allowing the user to interact with the displayed information, and changing the experience and role of the audience watching free-to-air digital television. The return channel is obtained by connecting the free-to-air digital TV converter to fixed networks, mobile phone, or any other type of telecommunications service network. Middleware Ginga: It’s a Brazilian innovation developed in open specification, royalty-free and it’s easy to learn. Layer of software that allow interactivity, portability and interoperability between the different patterns of Digital TV and mobiles with one seg technology. Ginga was developed by Telemídia Lab from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and by LAViD from Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). Open Source: In Open source, the authors make the source code available to others who would like to view, copy, alter, share or learn from the code. LibreOffice and the GNU Image Manipulation Program are examples of open source software.

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In this chapter, transdisciplinarity is used as a dialogue between different sciences, and addressing transdisciplinarity as an innovative mechanism to engage knowledge production as a means of fostering a more inclusive society. About the subject, see the “Charter of Transdisciplinarity” (1994), available on the Internet. The author suggests that contemporary advances in our knowledge of organization call for a radical reformation in our organization of knowledge. This reformation involves the mobilization of recursive thinking, which is to say a manner of thinking capable of establishing a dynamic and generative feedback loop between terms or concepts (such as whole and part, order and disorder, observer and observed, system and ecosystem,etc.) that remain both complementary and antagonistic. Layer of software that allows interactivity, multiprogramming, portability and interoperability between the different patterns of free-to-air Digital TV. Available on www. ginga.org.br. Pontifícia Universidade do Rio de Janeiro – PUC-RJ. Universidade Federal da Paraíba- UFPB. As proposed by McLuhan in the 60’s. Model comprehending art and culture as a space meant to add value to goods and services; it has been adopted by the Ministry of Culture of Brazil. A specialized Secre-



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tariat was created, much like the British government did in the late 90’s. It includes different segments of business – like fashion, design, architecture, audiovisual, education, craftwork, tourism, museums and media. Covers economy sectors based on digital technologies, like telecommunications, information technologies, electronic goods, and audiovisual and digital service. 9 Usability relates to the ability of a digital content or platform to be understood, learned, used, and attractive to users. For more on this topic, see Comunicação Digital (Paulinas Editors, 2008). Economic geography focuses on intersectional trade, and studies the possible cluster and the multiplying effects of similar countries and neighbors whose levels of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are alike. Like most of specialized literature. Originally, the concept was related to environmental questions, but since 1987 it was expanded to social equity, appearing for the first time in the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. With a regional vision a country or even between countries. This evolution in the studies turned into a new research field called “new economic geography”, as called by the author. This city, with 220.8 thousand inhabitants is part of Federal District. This city, with 442.8 thousand inhabitants is part of Federal District.

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Chapter 14

Digital Literacies in Teaching and Learning of Teachers Antonio Hélio Junqueira University of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT This study was developed from the Programa Rede São Paulo de Formação Docente – Redefor, regarding the specific section of execution and management under the responsibility of the University of São Paulo (Redefor - USP). From the netnography approach, it seeks to understand how the self-perceptions of the enrolled participants are developed and established in the virtual educational context and its consequences in personal, family and school everyday environments. The aim is to observe their digital literacies, understood as components of an integrated, cohesive and holistic set of skills and expertise in continuous process of acquisition and development - that allow the individual not only navigate and communicate in the Internet, but it also obtain, produce and distribute information, knowledge, meanings, narratives and representations of themselves and the world they live.

INTRODUCTION In contemporary times, the conflict and the school crisis in their traditional ways, face the growing incorporation of information and communication technologies in everyday life, modes of existence and the subjectivity of individuals is striking and constitutes a globally recognized phenomenon, questioned and discussed in search that will find new paths for the teaching-learning processes (Sibilia, 2012a, 2012b, Martin-Barbero, 2014). The approach of digital literacies, in this study, has proved successful, consistent and productive to the study of uses and appropriations of ICT in

construction of new knowledge, meanings, narratives and representations of self and the world, by the investigated public, pointing thus inextricably phenomena related to the construction of reflective citizens, critical, conscious, active, participating and more suitable for interactive action on and with the contemporary world. From the perspective we adopt throughout this research, digital literacies are regarded as a significant and holistically articulated set of digital skills and competencies that, far beyond simply allowing the use of digital technologies and Internet browsing, enables communication, interaction between subjects, the development

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch014

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 Digital Literacies in Teaching and Learning of Teachers

of critical, independent and autonomous reasoning, from the appropriation of information and communication technologies (ICT) (Junqueira, 2013, 2014). For many contemporary researchers, the speed in the introduction of ICT in the school environment has been slow and below the expected potential, although their impacts are, to some extent, undeniable. Among the factors that contribute most to both and appearing among the most frequently cited in the academic literature on the subject is technological unpreparedness of teachers. To elect as the focus of our investigation teachers of a distance learning course (DL), we aim to double the frame look at our object: on the one hand, the changing role of knowledge development and development of digital literacies of these agents in towards their own online learning and new socially insertive possibilities, they conferred, its status as a subject and citizen of the world and, second, the transformation of teaching practices of these agents in the classroom, arising from these same technological gains in the digital environment. Thus, a panoramic view on the overall results of the research, many findings pointed to the relevance and productivity of the adoption of theoretical and analytical methodology of digital literacies model developed and proposed by Eshet-Alkalai (2004), in which they recognize and qualify different categories: i) literacy of hypermedia thought; ii) literacy reproduction; iii) information literacy; iv) fotovisual literacy v) social-emotional literacy. All these literacies coexist and intermingle in the analysis of the case of the course participants Redefor-USP and show different possibilities of interaction, use and appropriation of digital tools and environments. Such phenomena have allowed us to track not only performance, but also, and especially, limits, needs, potential still untapped, among other things, which signaled the relevance and needs to adopt policies addressing training and

development of digital skills of teachers, front of potential indicators of their growth both personal, as teacher, community, social and participatory citizen.

BACKGROUND The accelerated growth conditions of supply and access to personal computers from the second half of the 1980s and the use of the Internet, especially the end of the last decade, major changes were introduced in the communication and information environment of contemporary Brazilian society. With the progressive development and incorporation of global access to different types of information network - occurred from the United States in the late 1990s - the Internet was soon to be opened also to the business environment. In Brazil, it came to pass in 1994. The main technological achievements that defined this period and that definitely boosted its development on a global scale were the creations of the world wide web (WWW), the hypertext transfer protocol (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - HTTP) and Hypertext Markup Language (Hyper Text Markup Language - HTML). In this context, emerged at the University of São Paulo, in 1989, the New Research Center of Technologies Applied to Education School of the Future (NAP EF / USP), bringing together a group of researchers aware of the challenges and prospects then posed by new technologies information and communication (ICT). The first steps of this journey came to aggregate - by the mid-2000s -new foci of action and research related to new communication settings allowed by the web (Junqueira & Passarelli, 2011). The development of cyberculture in Brazil and the consolidation of experience with digital collective led to the need to search the scientific understanding of the media universe of the “network society” (Castells, 1999) and its connections with new ways of teaching and learning. Under

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the NAP EF / USP, such demands were realized in Digital Culture Observatory institution, as a privileged locus of studies and theoretical and methodological research into the different skills and digital competences, new forms of production and individual authorship relations and collective knowledge in web environments and crosses cultural border produced by new actors network (Latour, 2005, Passarelli, 2010, Passareli, Silva & Ramos, 2014). To Brasilina Passarelli (2010), scientific coordinator of NAP EF / USP, in the socio-historical perspective of the last two decades, two are distinguished waves in the network society: a first, whose core was defined by concerns, policies and digital inclusion programs, and the second, which began to concentrate on different forms of ownership and production of knowledge on the web. In the first wave, attention turned mostly to access and provision of infrastructure policies to mitigate the digital divide phenomena and to the achievement of citizenship of different beneficiaries public. This phenomenon was registered not only in Brazil but in most emerging market countries. For the NAP EF / USP, this period consolidated the beginning of an important trend in the forefront of social intervention projects in education and construction of digital leadership, which, since then, have benefited millions of Brazilians. The second “wave”, in turn, came as a result of the accumulation of experiences and information coming from public and private sector initiatives, which adduced the need to adopt new approaches and research perspectives. These appeared concerned about the reflection of the reality of everyday appropriation of new technologies and the construction of identities and narratives by the actors in net, in different socio-historical and cultural realities. For the NAP EF / USP, these demands led to the creation of the Digital Culture Observatory in 2007. This, based since its inception in the study of emerging literacies networking actors, elected the perspective of virtual ethnog-

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raphy and netnography as postures and privileged places for the study of all the new social practices in the virtual environment and the individual and collective production of knowledge in web 2.0. As part of the research developed by the Center for Support to Research School of the Future, University of São Paulo (NAP-EF / USP), the term literacy has been employed as a literal translation of the word in the English language and literacy has been considered as capable of provide better understanding and conceptual reach on the new skills related to ownership and use of ICT in contemporary times. Thus, its adoption has been preferred to other possibilities such as literacy, skill or competence. (Passarelli, 2010, Junqueira & Passarelli, 2011). We believe that this words refers to the symbolic universe of formal school education, which is linked to the intrinsically literacy processes based on learning the letters and writing and reading practices. Would, in this context, insufficiently appropriate to reflect the new directions coding and interactional practices in the virtual environment, as well as in learning, use, handling and ownership of access tools, reading, interpretation, research and web browsing in process continuous evolution (Potter, 1998). Failure to adoption of the term competence to translation of literacy has to consider that the word fills up of meanings and values associated with the worlds of education - formal and nonformal - and work, which is not competent, in addition to exclude also disqualifies, devaluing and socially overwhelming individuals. In this sense, incompetence, rather than a gap in the training and education of the subject, subject to completion, is a social stigma acceded. In the international literature, it is noteworthy that a significant number of authors whose academic production is linguistically based on English, considers that the term literacy has no direct and satisfactory translation for most languages (Vieira, 2008). Following this same line of reasoning, the word ability also has not been sufficiently wide

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and suitable for literacy translation. Note that the understanding of the new digital interactions in the virtual world requires focus on social practice and application of critical reflection, judgment and cognition, far away, so what can be explained only by the innate and cognitive skills (Warschauer, 2007, Martín-Barbero, 2008). In this context, the acquisition of literacies related to the digital field to relate essentially to the achievement of skills and expertise to the construction of meaning, enabling learning and the independent and autonomous reasoning (Singh, 2008). According to Paul Gilster (1997), digital literacy is not limited to the acquisition of skills, but expands to the ways these are incorporated and effectively used in everyday life of individuals. In this sense, the author especially emphasizes learning and personal self-improvement as the abilities to: i) make judgments about the content of the information available on the Internet; ii) juxtapose the various knowledge found on the Internet from different sources of non-linear way to develop reliable information, and iii) seek and maintain constant search of updated information. The presence and relevance of information and communication technologies (ICT) in mediating the current daily life make up a demonstrated reality and surely proven by several national and international indicators about the magnitudes of ownership levels, access and use of computers and connections Internet around the world. Thus, literacy implies the effective and creative use of information in multimedia environment brought about by the advent of ICT, interconnectivity networking and digital inclusion (JonesKavalier & Flanningan, 2008) in addition to expanding access to computers and the Internet. Other contemporary authors have also argued that the concept of literacy applied to the informational field should not be set on the basis of skills and, even less, in a set of decontextualized skills, randomly acquired and accumulated by individuals (Velasco, 2010; Junqueira & Passarelli,

2011). Rather, it should be thought of as a holistic process, experienced by the subject, in their interactions with technology, self-consciously (Webber & Johnston, 2000) and which is mediated both by social, physical and textual relations of the individual with the information (Street, 1995; Lloyd, 2006). The individual in this permanent informational learning throughout their existence associate also ethical and social responsibility in the production, appropriation, use, processing, storage and dissemination of information (Council of Australian university Librarian, 2001, Johnston & Webber, 2006, Cardoso, 2006). In this context, digital literacies should be understood in a broader concept, within which the subject may become critical to the realization of suitable information uncovering the non-neutral character, while comprising the production environment, dissemination and use of this information (Jacobs, 2008). We think and we have adopted thus a concept that can cover the commitment of individuals to their communities, their contexts, values, demands and political and social interactions (Harris, 2008). The acquisition and, more than that, the ongoing development of digital literacy, in this light, is of an emancipating and liberating perspective, in that the agents can become active subjects of their education, acquisition of knowledge and social work (Hartley, 2002). As a result of the acquisition and development of digital literacies of the subjects, the promotion of individual role in strengthening democracy and active and conscious citizenship, cultural expression and personal fulfillment (Carlson, 2006, Livingstone, van Couvering & Thummim, 2006, Vieira, 2008;) acquires new perspectives and capabilities. For the study of digital literacies of the course participants Redefor Program - USP, chose to avail ourselves of Digital Literacy Model developed by Eshet-Alkalai in which didactically identify and differentiate five different categories of digital literacies, namely: i) hypermedia literacy ii)

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information literacy; iii) fotovisual literacy; iv) reproduction literacy, v) social-emotional literacy (Eshet-Alkalai, 2004), on which we’ll discuss below. In this model, include the different skills needed for communication in the digital environment and become especially relevant in virtual teaching-learning processes. His knowledge is intended to promote the understanding of students’ performance in the digital environment and also support the action of educators, teachers and tutors in the design, development, implementation and management of programs and educational activities at a distance. For the author, digital literacies should consider the cognitive and non-cognitive abilities needed to start, according to the following key features: 1. Hypermedia Literacy: Allows interaction with the hypermedia structures, non-linear, which are the online environment. Refers to the need for information search strategies and non-linear mode of construction known from strata parts and selected fractions and to obtain the relevant information sought. Requires spatial and multidimensional guidance for navigation and abstract thinking; 2. Reproduction Literacy: Refers to copy skills, cut, paste, share, edit and rework content available online; 3. Information Literacy: Relates to the recognition capabilities of information needs; identification, location, use and evaluation of sources; selecting, processing, creation and communication of information to the treatment of the research problems; 4. Fotovisual Literacy: Based on the coding capabilities / decoding of graphic and visual interfaces in the environment as well as the interaction with these digital resources in the online environment, and 5. Socio-Emotional Literacy: Correlates to information sharing and networking skills emotions. It refers, identically to the capabili-

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ties of social engagement, participation and collaboration for the collective production of knowledge. 6. Brazil has 67.8 million inhabitants connected to the world wide web, worldwide lower position occupied by the US and Japan, but considerably higher than those of developed countries in Europe, such as Italy, France, UK, Germany, Spain and Switzerland (Ibope, 2012). All these broader offerings and opportunities for access to information and communication technologies (ICT) have contributed increasing opportunities for transformation of the interactions of individuals with their own subjectivity and expressiveness, bringing new perspectives to their social relationships and citizen participation, which ultimately impact of deep and meaningful way their modes of access, co-build and acquire knowledge about themselves and about the world (Valderrama, 2010). In this context, the traditional school, which is based on the hierarchical transmission of practical knowledge, the institutionalization of vertical relationships of the teacher’s power and school leaders and the repetition of pre-established routines of teaching and learning, goes into deep crisis (Sibilia, 2012a, 2012b, Martin-Barbero, 2014). In order to cope with this impasse, attempts in the form of policies and implementation of programs, development and management of digital resources have been increasingly sought from the school grounds in order to revitalize their childcare role, as well as modifies them them to the new needs and demands of contemporary subjects, especially children and adolescents. Currently, an expanded set of researchers located in Brazilian contexts (Passarelli 2007ª, 2007b, 2007c, 2010, Citelli, 2000, 2004, 2011, 2012a, 2012b, Oliveira, 2010, Sibilia, 2012a, 2012b, Martin-Barbero, 2014) and international (Aparici, 2010, Velasco, 2010, Valderrama, 2010, Cuevas-Cerveró & Simeão, 2011, Kaplun, 2012)

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discusses the challenges to the education system in the merger, to a greater or lesser extent, media and digital technology resources. However, it is worth noting, such clashes have required perspectives positioned beyond and above the mere matters of access to technologies, to straddle especially the discussion of new paradigms and new communication practices and education applied to the classroom and other learning spaces. Thus, one can not ignore the deep need of coping and revision of power relations and hierarchical inveterately imposed on the school environment, in pursuit of making viable the generation of new instances of social legitimation of knowledge and its modes of transmission (Aparici, 2010, Velasco, 2010). The teacher and / or tutor - the latter especially in the case of distance education (DE) - unequivocally play a decisive and fundamental role in the introduction and integration processes of ICT use in schools and other learning environments. In everyday practice of teaching and learning, the level of knowledge, use and access to information and communication technologies by the teacher are determinants of their ability to work in the technological mediation activities with the student and ultimately condition the real chances of success initiatives of this nature. From a theoretical point of view, the conditions for the emergence of a new teaching-learning model, seem designed and consensually recognized. However, from the perspective of educational practice, there is a relative predominance of discourses and essentially instrumental visions, conducted under the assumptions of technical rationality, and thus reducing the creative and transforming potential of collaborative knowledge networking, the horizontal redistribution of powers, in disruption of sequential and fixed processes of traditional formal education and the educational value of virtual learning environments (Aires & Azevedo, 2010). For many education experts, the speed of change in the use of ICT has been slower than initially predicted. With the popularization of the

use of computers in the 1980s and later, with the advent and social spread of the Internet, many intellectuals and scholars of education imagined a rapid and radical transformation of the teachinglearning practices, which do not occur in everyday reality, although it is recognized that their impacts are, to some extent, although marginal, undeniable. Among the factors contributing to this state of affairs and that is most often pointed out and highlighted, is the technological unpreparedness of teachers for the performance of educational mediation of their students, through the incorporation of ICT in school practices. This incorporation of technology in the teaching-learning process certainly plays and will continue to play, increasingly key role in the emergence of new formats for education in the contemporary scene.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM REDEFOR-USP The Network Program São Paulo Teacher Training (Redefor), officially launched in October 2010, aims to offer broad sense specialization courses in graduate level for public school teachers of São Paulo State education from agreement between the Department of Education of the São Paulo State Government (SEESP) and the three São Paulo state universities: University of São Paulo (USP), State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho” (UNESP). On the whole, are offered sixteen graduate courses, with thirteen teaching curriculum subjects and three management. In this context, USP, through its Dean of Culture and Extension and coordinated by its Coordinator of Information Technology (CTI-USP), is liable for Science Education courses, Biology and Sociology, Public Network Management for Supervisors Teaching, Curriculum Management for Engineers and School Management for Directors.

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The courses offered under the program Redefor last for one year, with total workload of 360 hours. Are organized into four modules, each being composed of two subjects 45 hours, totalizing 90 hours of hours per module. Each semester must be routed two modules and held an in-person assessment, which lasts two hours. On the whole, the Redefor is supported and monitored by a group of professionals - researchers, teachers, coaches and instructors - which aportam means, environments and communication and information technologies necessary for the proper and efficient functioning of the system as well as the programmatic and educational content of the different courses. Moreover, in seeking to monitor and evaluate the effective participation, seizing and learning of the course participants, offers various instruments and tools, and open channels for the permanent answer questions and to establish contact networks and interaction among participants. Among the latter stand out especially Redefor blog and thematic discussion forums offered in the various disciplines components of each course. Among the virtual instruments exchange and joint production of texts and tasks, there is the incentive to use and the availability of Google.docs, among others.

NETNOGRAFICS APPROACHES Social research in cyberculture has made use of appropriate and adapted methodologies of anthropology, which legitimize the recognition of new socialities promoted networking nowadays, from the use and appropriation of ICTs. Thus presupposes the collection and the systematic recording of data on the investigated culture - with which the researcher establishes close contacts through a radical cultural immersion experience - while maintaining the distance from your eye on the other (Geertz, 1978). In addition to the focus on a dense description (thick description) - through which it interprets the movement of meanings

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related to a given phenomenon - incorporates also the interpretation and critical phenomena, acquiring its own intention, from the full immersion and participant observation the researcher in local communities and cultures. Among the methodologies of virtual ethnographic research can be distinguished more oriented strand for research in the fields of Anthropology, Sociology and Communication, to which preferably has reserved the name virtual ethnography (Hine, 2000, 2005a, 2005b), and another, more used in the consumption studies, Marketing and Administration, usually referred to as netnography (Amaral, Natal & Viana, 2002, Rocha & Montardo, 2005). It should be noted that for some researchers, these terms can be used interchangeably as synonyms. According to Braga (2006a, 2006b, 2007, 2010, 2012), the neologism (originated in English from the sum of “net” to “ethnography”) was coined by Bishop, Star, Neumann, Ignacio, Sandusky and Schatz, USA, in 1995, from the concern describe the use behavior of active communities on the Internet. In the fields of research both in academia and in the marketplace, the virtual ethnographic research methodology began to be used from the recognition of the existence and the resulting social legitimacy of the investigative look at the virtual communities (Rheingold, 1993), covering a growing body composed of different technological tools that were gradually made available to virtual interactions, such as chats, mailing lists, online forums, blogs, microblogs and video games. More recently, the methodological organization proposed by Robert Kozinets (1997, 2002, 2010), came to constitute one of the main contributions to the studies not only of virtual consumption habits, but by every netnográfica research. The consolidated methodology from Kozinets work (1997, 2002, 2010), includes five different stages, not necessarily static and sequential, but rather simultaneous, overlapping and interconnected. They are: 1) cultural entrée, an activity that involves the precise definition of the research

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problem and the community assessment to be studied; 2) checking and confirming the reliability of informants; 3) collection and analysis of data, through which seeks to understand the subject represented in their interactions with the cultural context of the online community investigated; 4) ethics in research, which includes the presentations of the researcher to the group, to explain their goals and obtaining authorization of the use and dissemination of data to be collected and, finally, 5) validation of the results obtained by the investigator with the researched community. The latter should be performed in order to verify the accuracy and relevance of the work, giving it reliability and credibility. If necessary, we can suggest possible corrections of the data or its analysis and interpretation. The first and one of the most surprising revelations about the universe of the course participants Redefor-USP, in its edition 2011-2012, was the distribution by gender. It was learned, so that the set was composed of 80.92% of women, compared to a stake of 19.08% of men. As mentioned in the previous chapter, many information related to course participants, although existing, remain stored in other management systems at the University of São Paulo - as, for example, the Apollo System, the Pro-rector extension - and are not accessible in the set of data residing in the AVA Redefor-USP. Therefore, the components of the Program’s research group had not, yet the tabulation of the results of surveys, information that give high account level of concentration of the participants in females. In the case of group participant teachers, genders for participation rates also revealed the majority female presence, with percentage of 73.28%, while males accounted for 26.72% of the regulars teachers of the course. In this case, it is worth highlighting the gender distribution was similar to that observed for the set of Brazilian public school teachers, which is composed of 76% women, according to ICT Research Education 2012 (CGI.br, 2013).

The survey revealed that the majority (40.76%) of the course participants Redefor-USP program, in its edition from 2011 to 2012 was made up of people aged 36-45 years. In this layer, the following-46-55 years (33.25%), 26-35 years (18.05%), over 55 (6.11%) and up to 25 years (1.83%). It is, therefore, a more mature population, which in contemporary literature on the digital world has been identified as digital immigrants (Prensky, 2006, 2010). The implications of this finding before the results of the research ICT Education are those that point to a set of subjects with lower levels of digital skills and greater resistance to learning, handling and use of ICT. Along the route undertaken research, the participant teachers in revealed, from the outset, having possession of indexes and use of computer and mobile phones, as well as Internet access, higher than those for the overall population - including the equivalent strata of economic classification and in the same geographical macro-regions inhabited by them - which surely indicates that these individuals already were, as a rule, more intensely interested and personally and professionally deployed to the use of digital technologies. In fact, the data tabulated and analyzed realized demonstrate that the teachers set course participants goer Redefor-USP program, in its edition 2011-2012, had a computer in their own homes in 98.70% of cases. Regarding the Internet this percentage reached 96.74% of respondents, while the phone was with 97.83% penetration in this study group. These indicators stood at considerably higher levels than observed for the average of the Brazilian population, which were, respectively, 45.0% for computers, 38.0% for home internet access and 87.0% for possession of personal cell phones. Stood up, too, the national averages of both urban populations, as that inhabitant of the country’s southeastern region, which were, in the same sequence, 51.0% and 57.0% for possession of computers; 43.0% and 49.0% for home internet access and 91.0% and 89.0% for the possession of own cell.

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If a cursory glance, just wide and light, on the set of skills and digital skills - which we call here literacies - initially self-declared by course participants interviewed in quantitative research could lead to the false notion that the basic demands for the performance of activities required to completion of the online learning found themselves met, qualitative approaches that succeeded it showed the opposite situation, which demonstrates the relevance and the value of the combined contribution and integrated approaches and quantitative and qualitative methods in research object of this research. In this context, even the skills that could potentially be considered the most basic and elementary and the most widely dominated by the majority of respondents teacher students - according to their own initial information of these agents - such as attaching or open an attached file and use search engines in Internet, when inserted into the daily life of education online became revealing the immense difficulties and inexhaustible sources of distress, anxiety, oppression and despair, arising out of or incomplete knowledge domain, incomplete or unsatisfactory use, handling and ownership of these tools. Note that the creative use of the tools and digital literacies - such as those required for creating and updating websites (websites), social network profiles, blogs, photoblogs - represented a gain significant not only in playfulness, leisure and entertainment foteacher practitioner, but that he also added new spaces and communicative and interactive opportunities both with their students, as well as with family, friends, co-workers and the community in general. From a starting point, the beginning of the courses in Redefor-USP, where 64.89% of respondents said they did not know course participants perform such activities, we follow different personal paths, in which many of these agents became interested by the knowledge and mastery of tools and literacies needed for adequate implementation of these activities, the resulting creations of personal pages and family,

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neighbors and friends in social networks, and also pages for schools, for taught courses and study groups to communities of interest in certain curricular affairs, whose informative and educational content updates teachers began to devote himself hard and growing concerns, satisfaction and enthusiasm. Higher ownership rates and access to ICT and certainly more motivated than the average of the population - including the groups and strata of similar nature - as seen, ensured that the course participants were more frequent in computer use and Internet that all the Brazilian urban population and inhabitant of the Southeast region of the country. However, this contact with the instruments and technological environment proved to be not universal, nor, either, smooth. As well as other research has shown, also for the group of agents investigated the correlation between the age groups of individuals and their corresponding levels of knowledge, use and appropriation of ICT enabled categorize them and classify them into distinct groups. In an initial approach, which we discuss and shall question below, we bring them the division proposed by Prensky (2006, 2010) between natives and digital immigrants. The concept of “digital natives” seeks to define the behaviors, skills and attitudes of individuals belonging to generations born, grew and developed immersed in the context of the advent of the web and its mass. These are people who live daily with the technologies and digital tools, usually by for their own account and initiative, new knowledge about the functioning of the technological innovations that reach them daily hands. To this idea, opposes the “digital immigrants”, which refers to individuals who, although not born already immersed in the digital world, need or interest, it dive, adopting their new technologies and tools, applying up to their learning and adaptation to the demands of the new virtual environments (Passarelli, Junqueira & Angeluci, 2014, Passarelli, Junqueira & Botelho-Francisco, 2012, Passarelli, Botelho-Francisco & Junqueira, 2011).

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Our teachears investigated - blatantly a digital immigrant mostly - is prodigal in play and constantly upgrade their speech the social discourse of exclusion and digital disability elderly, especially when he sees himself framed in this age stratum. Here, we come across a rich and branched associative semantic field (Ullman, 1973), in which the learning, use and handling of technologies, tools and digital literacies connect with fear - to make mistakes, to break the equipment and devices, losing the activities already performed, not to meet its own expectations and those of others - with physical and mental decrepitude, with accommodation, with the exit from the labor market for retirement and the inevitable socio-cultural isolation between generations. In addition to containing the criticism of his inability or lack digital, here speech carries the senses and feelings of inadequacy, of low selfesteem and depression compared with the loss of ability to meet the needs and educational demands of young learners and distance communication in relation to their children. In it, we recognize the self-expression of a teacher that by not knowing or not dominate in sufficient minimum conditions, new technologies and digital literacies to interact with them, is called himself as “stupid,” “worst teacher I would like to be, “or that made his inability” an injustice to students. “Thus, in their speeches, this teacher can no longer teach, talk, or even respond even awaken and retain the attention of young students. It should be noted in this context that different authors have proposed opposite approaches to on this subject. The expert application of technologies in education Marc Prensky (2013), for example, is a notorious supporter of the technological issue should not be a real concern of teachers. For the researcher, fell to them to “... see what students do and make sure that what they are doing is good quality. They (teachers) should know only the possibilities that technology can offer “(p. A14).

In his latest research, Prensky discusses and proposes more emphasis on approaches to the development of digital literacies aimed at stimulating critical analytical sense, the deepening of thought and discussion, sociability and human relationships. For him, formal education, as present in contemporary reality, is no longer able to meet and respond to the challenges of daily life increasingly full of uncertainties and complexities, in which time always accelerates. Corroborating this view, it is necessary to point out that several studies and contemporary academic studies have shown the prevalence of a more complex picture in the learning and use of ICT, which far transcends the possibility of naturalization of digital practices by younger populations. In fact, the ease and speed of learning and the largest area of mechanical functions related to ICTs do not imply mastery and use conscious, productive and effective technological tools, which confirms the fundamental importance of education in the digital world (Castro, 2012, Trucano, 2012) and the necessary mediation of the teacher / tutor (Martín-Barbero, 2014). From this perspective, we believe that a new social discourse deserves and should be urgently promoted and what role, value and relevance of the teacher / tutor in the context of the growing digitization of contemporary life is reworked from its irreplaceable as a mediator of the construction of critical values, morals, ethics and citizenship, mostly. In this direction, the teacher investigated in our study gave clear evidence of their perfect understanding of this new possible role for him in mediating the production of knowledge in the local school a world, more and more, virtualized and hipermidiatizado. More than the field of digital practices - but undoubtedly more successfully if supported by them - which effectively account in contemporary educational context is the teacher’s ability to guide the discernment of really valuable and

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constructive information and drive your student in the construction and in the exercise of ethical values and citizens, sharing and socialization of dialogic and collaborative practices (Passarelli, Junqueira & Botelho-Francisco, 2012). But if this diagnosis can, on a theoretical level, prove adequate, safe and perhaps even obvious in everyday school practice, however, it outlines dubious and conflitivamente for all stakeholders involved, but especially for the teacher. If the teacher is not yet sufficiently prepared for this new role and this new mission in school, your student either. Both do not yet exist. Are under construction. The process of change of educational practices subject to the mediation of ICT is securely installed in the school context, and participates actively in our accompanied teacher. But what we find there is not a quiet environment of transition between models. Rather, it is an arena of struggle and intense disputes, which are revealed in fragmented discourses, contradictory and sometimes schizophrenic. The teacher is in this context that a professional lives daily between expressed contradictions on the one hand, the abundant social discourses on the need to promote technological innovation in education and, secondly, by the poverty of school infrastructure and insufficient and inadequate of own teaching practices based on efficient and productive incorporation of ICT. These are contradictions of the same order as that at the same time it values discursively the image and the importance of the teacher, denies him the right to a fair and adequate remuneration, subjecting it to strenuous working hours and the consequent restrictions on the leisure, entertainment and family and community gatherings. Immersed in a contradictions field, the teacher is destabilized and their speech is weakened in constant articulation and re-articulation of speech that gives orders, reflecting new hegemonies under construction in the field of contemporary education. Then, new vocabularies and repertoires

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coming of the digital universe come permanently to aggregate and coalesce with practical and rhetorical traditional teaching. In a horizon marked by excess availability of information, the teacher is removed from his previous role holder, if not unique, at least as an unquestionable source of knowledge, and then discursively projects as “guardian” of his students. But at the same time, and paradoxically, while online the student’s Redefor-USP does not accept the position occupied by its own tutor, which does not recognize the authority that he gives the teacher image. This recognized the changing environment, the very meaning of staking is destabilized. Although convinced of the essentially guiding role of the teacher in the direction that follows the current school, the teacher keeps difficulty articulating its own discourse on these new practices. Teacher researched proved to be aware that the process of teaching and learning mediated by ICT is becoming more complex and the research questions the reliability of sources of information brought to the classroom must necessarily incorporate, in addition to checking the veracity of facts, also the unveiling, along with his students, the very ideology that build. But here, the discourse again becomes disorganized and staking the senses are confused with the dangerous ways of the “direction” of the encounter with the results already pre-designed and established by the teacher. It turns out the still minefield of collective experimentation of knowledge production, in which, for teacher interviewed “the use of technology (digital) at school should be further resolved.” We could follow along the qualitative research, the learning and the progressive incorporation of digital literacies necessary to carry out the activities outlined in the preceding paragraph, eventually induce significantly more intense levels of use of ICT in the classroom and even in the relationship between teacher and student in school extramural environments. Such phenomena are made possible especially from the acquisition of exerício and developing the different categories of digital

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literaciais, as the hypermedia navigation, obtaining and progressive exploration of new referral sources to research information and continuous handling development, production and reproduction of audiovisual content, among others. There were several reports of experiences obtained to realize these growing practices and mergers in the digital context, such as: 1) cell phone use in the classroom for educational activities - even having to face and overcome explicitly or implicitly school official guidance about this practice -; 2) the introduction of new teaching materials and exploited acquired by Internet browsing; 3) editing, cuts and cuts of films and videos, aiming to make them more palatable and adapted to the interests of students and the class time; 4) the deployment environments, practices and procedures for digital design, implementation and correction of tests and assessments; 5) the development in an educational and disciplinary specific pages on social networks, and even 6) Adaptation of software for conducting online courses for students, along the lines of learned through Redefor-USP, among many others found in the research and here if they could re-quote. It is worth highlighting that a large part of the gains and improvements perceived by the participant teachers, especially in the relationship with his young students, were conquered from their greater knowledge, experimentation and resourcefulness with audiovisual content available in the digital world, according to their own reports. In his recent book, Communication in education, MartinBarbero (2014) draws attention to the fact that the ways and reading processes and, consequently, socialization and education, require “complex relationship between books, comics, videos and hypertext” (p.51). In this ambience, the author argues that, unfortunately, the traditional school, obsessed with the evils attributed to the media, can not incorporate youth languages - highly structured by the sounds and the images - in its curriculum

and academic daily life, becoming in this way, a depleted institution, obsolete and without any appeal to the young student. We understand from these placements, that simply modernizing and instrumental incorporation of audiovisual and digital media in school does not, by itself, the resistance and the denier of the school speech on the role of media and audiovisual culture; media such that the institution continues to report as manipulative and encroachers time, the naivety and idealism of young people, inoculating them superficiality and conformism (Martín-Barbero, 2014). We are witnessing here undoubtedly the clash between discourses that mutually break up and challenge themselves and featuring, as a rule, the pathways and processes of social change. On the one hand, the traditional school, holder of “competent discourse” (Chauí, 2006), which legitimizes his authoritarian imposition than saying, how, by whom and to whom to say, the “already-there” routines and institutional practices and, secondly, the young student - and often also the teacher accompanying him - whose speech understands and is built by new means of socialization and production of identities and sensibilities. In the centrality of the “expert” (Giddens, 2002) hierarchical, authoritarian and rigidly established by “competent speech,” comes to oppose the one who recognizes that digital and audiovisual media came decisively impose a new instance of “preparation and transmission of values and guidelines behavior, taste patterns and lifestyles, reordering and dismantling old and resistant forms of intermediation and authority that made up until recently the status and the school social power “(Martín-Barbero, 2014, p.65). This instance in which images, although mean less and less, “paradoxically, are increasingly important” (Sarlo, 2004, p.68). In favorable toward the construction of the new school, we observed that, with the help of

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ICT and the progressive appropriation of new digital literacies, the teacher has demonstrated evidence and to acquire autonomy in selecting, editing, processing, clippings and circulation of audiovisual material leads to the classroom. The results that were coated, as we saw in the very discourse of these agents, in creativity gains personal satisfaction, performance and appreciation of income from joint exercises with the students, bringing consequently increases in self-esteem, satisfaction, achievement and well-be personal. In this context, the role of the teacher - historically emptied as active subjects and protagonist, for the mere executor of organized programs and projects and produced over their heads (Citelli, 2012) - becomes liable to recovery and carrier a positive reconfiguration. To learn, develop and refine their knowledge and skills to seek new digital content on the Internet, select, crop and edit special diverse audiovisual materials and independently selected by them for the learning of the subject matter, and introduced its use to and ownership of new devices and tools (cell phones, social networks etc.), the teacher becomes acquires autonomy, self-motivation and leadership and thus completely changes the materiality of their classes, with obvious benefits for both parties: teachers and students.

RECOMMENDATIONS What information obtained through qualitative approaches came to add to this picture was the revelation that the major part of the distance teacher not only in cultural, leisure and entertainment, but also of coexistence and community participation should be significantly less to disinterest, or lack of deconhecimeto habit, than the existence of a working life marked by excessive overload of hours devoted to teaching at the school, and off. Entering the Redefor-USP and the consequent dedication requirements of time to the study and performance of activities, studies and tasks

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has further complexify this picture, decidedly throwing out the teacher their leisure activities, entertainment and reducing its consumption the culture industry. We therefore believe that it could be highly stimulating and productive that online courses to be timely and eventually offered the public nature and conditions similar to those investigated contemplate the inclusion of didactic use of cultural products focused on entertainment, which could stimulating at the same time, the enjoyment and the recovery of the time and space of rest, leisure and lost playfulness, and critical analysis of different products and media content. As we have seen plenty over all the research for the course participants, the practice and the exercise of virtual teaching and learning it is of the traditional labor productive logic, by infiltrating the few spaces and free breaches of school routines - there view performing graduate in service - and, in this environment, the inability or failure in their digital literacy, are of profound and significant meanings and feelings of despair, distress, urgency, threat and helplessness, which can lead to the abandonment of course, this being one of the reasons to be investigated as responsible for recurrent and significant rates of dropouts and evasions of the courses offered. In this context, mechanisms, practices and tools that encourage higher level of playfulness in online teaching and learning operations, such as those based on principles of gamification (Yanaze, 2012; Santaella, 2013), or other not focused primarily on performance evaluated by Greetings strict deadlines for the completion of tasks and activities, notes and frequencies, can make important contributions to course participants, to the extent that take into account their daily routines overloads in professional schools, that relieve emotional tension load and anxiety permeate the activities and performing tasks on-line and stimulate the pleasure of testing environments and digital tools and their expressive possibilities and constitutive of the experience and personal construction.

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According Passarelli and Junqueira (2012) “In contemporary Brazilian society, the games take place increasingly prominent not only in the consumption of children and adolescents and entertainment, but also within enterprises and educational institutions” (p.48). Young thinkers of our time, such as, among others, Raph Koster (2004), have defended the position that the games represent powerful allies of education and learning, believing that in the not too distant future, its use in this sphere will be a practice predominant. In the same vein, Tom Chatfield (2011), the games humanize technology. Promote the implementation of ICT in school goes far beyond providing access to technology and to automate traditional practices. It is necessary, urgent and indispensable implement changes in policies, concepts, values, beliefs and processes, for driving innovation demand effort and happens a gradual way, involving all participants of the school community. Therefore, it requires a conceptual identification of the purpose of their use / integration in schools, as well as the diagnosis of the reality of available technologies at school and outside, ie the situational access by the community. The projection of actions, mediations conducted from / to the technologies and the evaluation of this process are composed finally its operation, without forgetting the need, involvement and awareness of all to the proposed integration of technologies is not seen as something imposed upon teachers, students, parents and administrators. Listening to the social actors on the expectation and knowledge of reality shows paramount in the design of a proposed integration of technology in the school context; direction and meaning those which align the intention that our investigation.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS This present work results in the presentation of a complex initial approach and at the same time,

promising on the potential of simultaneous and convergent use of diferente quantitative and qualitative methodologies, especially the netnography combined with the discourse, in the study of digital literacies of the course participants Redefor-USP program. Search is thus open new avenues for future research not only the Research Center dedas New Communication Technologies Applied to Education (NAP) School of the Future / Centre for Digital Culture at the University of São Paulo (USP), but, also for other scholars involved with the theme of digital literacies and digital inclusion in contemporary society.

CONCLUSION The progressive immersion of teachers in the online environment, on account of the knowledge gains, mastery and appropriation of literacies and digital practices, showed facilitate and encourage higher levels of participation and engagement in social mobilization and also the identity expression mediated, for example, in the expression of views on thematic surveys conducted live on television programs. Walking in this direction, we found that participant teachers before alienated and distant from the digital mobilization practices for causes of social interest, from its most articulate inclusion in the online world began to follow, share and support the major campaigns occurred during the period the implementation of our research in the field, which ranged from the large national street movements, from June 2013 until the release of beagle dogs of a research pharmaceutical laboratory located in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. Thus, a panoramic view on the overall results of the research, many findings pointed to the relevance and productivity of the adoption of theoretical and analytical methodology of digital literacies model developed and proposed by Eshet-Alkalai (2004).

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Sarlo, B. (1997). Cenas da vida pós-moderna: intelectuais, arte e videocultura na Argentina. 3. Rio de Janeiro: Editora UFRJ. Sibilia, P. (2012a). A escola no mundo hiperconectado: Redes em vez de muros? MATRIZes, 5(2), 95–211. Sibilia, P. (2012b). Redes ou paredes: a escola em tempos de dispersão. Rio de Janeiro: Contraponto. Singh, J. (2008). Sense-making: Information literacy for lifelong learning and information management. Journal of Library and Information Technology, 28(2), 13–17. doi:10.14429/ djlit.28.2.161 Street, B. (1995). Social literacies: critical approaches to literacy in development, ethnography and educación. London: Longman. Trucano, M. (2012). Alguns desafios para os formuladores de políticas educativas na era das TIC. In CGI.br. Pesquisa sobre o Uso das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação na Educação nas Escolas Brasileiras – TIC Educação 2011 (pp. 65-71) Brasília: CGI.br. Ullman, S. (1973). Semântica: uma introdução à ciência do significado (3rd ed.). Lisboa: Calouste Gulbenkian.

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Valderrama, C. E. (2010). Ciudadanía y formación ciudadana em la sociedade de la información. Una aproximación desde la comunicación-educación. In R. Aparici (Ed.), Coord.). Educomunicación: más allá del 2.0 (pp. 281–305). Barcelona: Gedisa Editorial. Velasco, M. T. Q. (2010). Educar en otros tiempos. El valor de la comunicación. In R. Aparici (Ed.), Coord.). Educomunicación: más allá del 2.0 (pp. 187–203). Barcelona: Gedisa Editorial. Vieira, N. (2008). As literacias e o uso responsável da Internet. Observatório (OBS*). Journal, 5, 193–209. Warschauer, M. (2007). Information literacy in the laptop classroom. Teachers College Record, 109(11), 2511-2540. Webber, S., & Johnston, B. (2000). Conceptions of information literacy: New perspectives and implications. Journal of Information Science, 26(6), 381–397. doi:10.1177/016555150002600602 Yanaze, L. (2012). Tecno-pedagogia: os games na formação dos nativos digitais. São Paulo: Annablume, Fapesp.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Collective Intelligence: Term coined by Pierre Lévy to designate the ability of virtual communities to leverage the knowledge and expertise of its members, usually through collaboration and large-scale discussion. For the author, this is a new form of power. Digital Immigrants: Concept created by Marc Prensky, who opposed the digital natives, aims to define individuals who, although not born into the digital world by need or interest dive in it, adopting their new technologies and tools, applying to their learning and adapting to the demands of the new virtual environments.

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT): Heterogeneous set of techniques, systems and devices and / or electronic platforms, intelligent machines and computer networks that permeate social life. They are constantly growing and can be fixed or mobile, free or paid. They can also be defined as technologies and tools used to create, edit, share, distribute and consume digital content through the use of computers and networks of interconnected computers. Interactivity: Action that can be classified into analog-mechanical or electronic-digital. In the first case, the action takes place between the subject and the camera, while in the second, beyond this instance, interactivity expands to cover the information, or content. It makes sense, in the latter case, draw attention to the appearance of interfaces, understanding them as interactive contact zones and exchange of information between man and machine. Social Networking: Social structure consisting of individuals and organizations connected by one or more types of relationships, sharing common values and objectives. The main characteristics that define them are: 1) Opening and porosity, which enable horizontal and not hierarchical relationships among participants; 2) self-generation of its own design. The online social networks can operate at different levels, for example, social networks (Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, Twitter and others), highly focused networking in professional interests (LinkedIn), among others. Web 2.0: A term popularized by Tim O’Reilly to refer to new types of media companies using social networks, user-generated content or moderate content by the user, regarded as creators of new values, through the support of participatory culture and exploration of the collective intelligence of its consumers.The term Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of tools and services available on the internet, which enabled the expansion of the forms of direct participation of networked actors, including the creation and sharing of information and

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online content. The main tools of Web 2.0 today are: messaging services (e-mail), blogs, forums, wikis (Wikipedia), social networks (Facebook, Orkut and others), search engines (Google, Yahoo!) and systems connection, production, publishing and interaction with photos, sounds, music, videos (podcast, videocast, Flickr, YouTube, Skype,

Windows Live Messenger, Google Voice, etc.). Virtual Communities: A term coined by Howard Rheingold in 1993 to designate the group of people networked and personal relationships and / or professionals that involve, noting that common goals and practices are the glue that unifies its members.

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A Netnographic Approach on Digital Emerging Literacies in the Digital Inclusion Program AcessaSP - Brazil Rodrigo Eduardo Botelho-Francisco Federal University of Paraná, Brazil

ABSTRACT This chapter presents survey made in one of the largest programs of Brazilian digital inclusion, AcessaSP, responsible for the provision of spaces for access and interact with information and communication technologies in virtually every city in the State of São Paulo. It is reported netnographic qualitative research with actors in network of telecentres and infocenters goers. The text is organized to discuss the digital inclusion from the perspective of interactivity and emergent literacies, affiliate concept of this work, we consider important to the understanding of skills, abilities and skills in appropriating digital. Completion of some topics considered vectors of digital inclusion for its apparent ability to conduct important experiments in the development of literacies of an autonomous process, can be inferred from including social networking, games, mobile, interpersonal communication, production multimedia and work and entrepreneurship.

INTRODUCTION This chapter presents a research which took place within one of the biggest and most important Brazilian digital inclusion experiences. The work was concluded in 2014 in the “Observatório da Cultura Digital” (Observatory of Digital Culture), placed in the “Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa Escola do Futuro” at Universidade de São Paulo

(USP). It aims to improve a qualitative perspective furthermore than the measurement of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) acquisition, as is assured that there is an emphasis in data and statistics reflecting just computing ownership and Internet access. A Netnographic study was promoted, in order to identify, map and characterise the net actor’s emergent literacies, involved in digital inclusion contexts, as well as

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch015

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 A Netnographic Approach on Digital Emerging Literacies

comprehend them from the perspective of the interactive processes, established for these actors over the projects they take part in. As it will be shown in this chapter, there are several aspects of inclusion, some of them out of people’s control. Otherwise, being included and having net access to more complex levels also means to dominate the sense of configuration space, a space of expression, freedom and creation, important to the contemporary society. Not being allowed to it has it consequences. For studying digital inclusion and the Internet in this context, we use the concept of literacies, approach which addresses the skills and competencies of citizens in the use of information and media to a conscious appropriation of cyberspace in a posture of dynamic, collaborative and constant learning. When talking about emerging literacies in the context of this work, conjures up the field of emergency of this concept, as well as the emergence of their own literacies of networked actors in processes of interaction. The locus of the study is AcessaSP, a program that operates in digital inclusion and social role of the availability of equipment, infrastructure and free Internet access. Its actions occur in telecentres and local infocenters, held in partnership with local governments and often deployed in public places of popular frequent access. In addition, the program is dedicated to the production of educational materials (digital and non-digital) and promoting actions of common interest with the use of ICT, contributing to the information of the population served and to the training for citizen use of computers, infrastructure and Internet. From the understanding of AcessaSP as a community with expressions and own experiences on the Internet, the study found the convenience of employing Netnography as a methodological approach to the study of Digital Culture. Thus, we tried to set up a qualitative research with the possibility of acting in a natural environment and

through which it is possible to develop concepts, ideas and understandings of possible interaction patterns in a digital inclusion program. It is also necessary to point the choice by the use of terminology such as “actors in network” used to refer to AcessaSP goers, as well as to refer to those citizens of appropriation of contemporary ICT process. This choice refutes the understanding of people as “users” of technological artefacts and is part of the theoretical attempt to overcome the linear models of communication and any description that assume a passive posture of the interactors in technological mediation. The expression is used in the context of theoretical branches of the Observatory of Digital Culture, has inspirations in understandings of actor networks and Latour (2005) and carries the experience of its use in works such as those of Passarelli (2009), Passarelli, Guzzi and Dimantas (2009) and Passarelli and Azevedo (2010), which include social networks, as well as Latour, from movements, spaces and fills that can be caused or arising, in a posture that comprises the expression as a tool to describe something, not what is described, but the readings that can take the relay of the actors as mediators of the actions (Latour, 2005, pp. 131). Although Latour differentiate his understanding of actor from the traditional sense of “social actor”, from Sociology, this concept of Social Sciences is also advisable to understand the meaning of “actors in network” used in this work. Researchers like Tourine (1998) and Matus (1996) collaborate to understand the social actor as a person, group or autonomous organization, engaged in concrete, professional, economic relations, able to seek their own mechanisms to achieve goals, accumulating energy, generating and changing strategies to become a creative center of power accumulation. This terminological inspiration certainly carries a big political weight, however, imagines himself able to integrate this work from the perspective

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of looking at goers to digital inclusion programs as acting agents within a social and democratic role, able to self appropriate technology and develop the literacies needed to work in a new medium of expression and creativity as the Internet. From these terminological and methodological perspectives, it is expected that the contribution of this work is the understanding that it is not a binary question, between having or not having literacies, but to understand and describe how they are manifested. Of the use of content analysis in this process, for example, one could infer some topics considered vectors for its apparent ability to conduct important experiments in the development of an autonomous literacies process, including social networking, games, cell phone, interpersonal communication, multimedia production and work and entrepreneurship. It is expected that these themes can be used in developing strategies for digital inclusion as well as can also be considered the notions of interactivity and MIL indicators presented here. They are new approaches to understanding the Network Society.

LITERATURE REVIEW: CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY IN DIGITAL CONTEXTS Is it possible there is somebody who has his life totally oblivious to the principle of digital technology? Potentially yes, as there are extremely isolated communities of tradition and habits of modern and contemporary societies, however, it is right to say that the lives of these people, somehow, are impacted by the movement of knowledge and economic, social and political practices that also are permeated by a logic arising from the possibilities of digital. Everything, somehow, is governed by the principle of digital technologies. In 1995, one of the precursors of thinking about the digital paradigm, Nicholas Negroponte, called attention to its presence in many areas of life. In this sense, one can say that there is a Digital

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Culture, a term that has been used frequently by movements that have championed issues ranging from practical hacker and digital to independent music and solidarity economy. Authors as Gere (2002) and Costa (2008) use the term to represent a decisive break with what preceded it, as well as a clear and almost total transformation of the world by digital technology. It is a perspective of interactivity, involvement and attention that computational interfaces require. So many sights and senses on new practices in digital environments allow speaking cultures in the plural to the environment arising from digital technologies. By proposing an approach to the Interface Culture, Johnson (2001) states that it is necessary to understand the digital revolution beyond the zeros and ones of binary code, since its magic occurs, he said, from the representation of itself from computers to humans in an understood language. In a work that intends to describe the moment of transition in contemporary living, Jenkins (2008) proves how scanning set the conditions for what he called Convergence Culture, where coexist, collide and intersect the old and new media, the corporate and the alternative media. The convergence that Jenkins (2008, pp. 28) defends doesn’t occurs by the technology itself, the equipment, but in the brains of people and social interactions they establish among themselves. In all his work is clear the need,in this convergent culture, a high level of participation, so that “the convergence also occurs when people take control of the media.” (Jenkins, 2008, pp. 43). The emergence of new intellectual technologies based on Informatics and the encoding of information in digital format generates a cognitive system. This, in the view of Lévy (1994, pp. 129), modifies the cognitive ecologies and activates “the expansion of forms of knowledge that has long been relegated to certain areas, as well as the weakening of certain style of learning, changes in balance, shifts the center of gravity. “Digital interfaces, in the author’s view, act as

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capture device. They are responsible for capturing humans into multiple networks so that it is possible to forget their existence and to focus only on what they contain. Lévy elevates the importance of Information Technology, and consequently the digital paradigm, a major pole in the understanding of human history and forms of communication and knowledge production. This supports the view of this paper, that digital is something that is above a choice. Humans are digital. It’s not about the drama of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, between being or not being. It is a matter of awareness, skills and resourcefulness in an environment, a paradigm and a world in which one is already included. Approaches for this scenario permeated by the digital paradigm, in its turn, has resorted to concepts ranging from new practices to new geographies allowed by technology, as Bauman (1999, 2001), which presents the idea of Liquid Modernity to talk about the allocation of standards previously set and self-evident, patterns of dependency and interaction that collide with each other, contradict themselves in conflicting commands, are malleable and not hold shape for a longer time. It is also important in this reflection resort to the classical approach of the Network Society by Castells (1999), who coined the term to characterize the new organization is proposed from the end of the Cold War, globalization and societies around the connection of computer networks . This author shows how dominant functions and processes are increasingly organized around a new morphology, which substantially modifies the operation and outcomes of processes and experience, power and culture. Thus, the processes of domination and transformation of today’s society would be linked to the presence or absence of networks and their dynamic interrelation. Networks, the understanding of Castells (1999, pp. 498) favor a social structure as “a susceptible highly dynamic open innovation system without threats to their balance”

and are the source of a drastic reorganization of power relations. Thus, the author defines as “the connectors are the power-holders.”

Emerging Literacies in Digital Contexts What it takes to be digital and act in cyberspace? How to use computers and access to the network and be creatively protagonist of knowledge in the digital world? Contrasting indexes and statistics on access to digital logic, to computers and the Internet, this paper advocates a clear vision about the existence of a second moment of discussion on contemporary society and its relationship with ICT, which is pressing personal development kinds of skills and competencies in the appropriation of digital. Literacies, in that sense, emerge as a concept capable of providing new insights into the reality of practices in network. The terminological diversity to own literacies is proof of this land in building and opportunities for reflection on a “second wave” of the Network Society, as defined by Passarelli et al. (2014), which distinguishes the first decade of this century, which has its core in “modes of appropriation and production of knowledge by different actors in the network,” the last decade of the twentieth century, centered on “concerns, policies and digital inclusion programs”. As noted in Passarelli and Junqueira (2012, pp. 19)., the perspective of digital inclusion may be considered reductionist if focused only on the need for access to computers and ICT tools. In new millennium, the authors defend the replacement of this perspective by propositions that also address the uses and appropriations of internet content. In this sense arise emerging literacies of the actors in the network, which according to Passarelli et al. (2014), requires “new methodological approaches and perspectives of unusual research” and is in “conceptual mesh construction in a scientific field”. The literacies are viewed by these authors

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with the concepts of interaction and interactivity at the intersection of Information Sciences and Communication, as digital spaces and platforms situations that depend on context, environment, mediation and document. As concepts that are experienced and as a field that consolidates, the literacies have been the subject of studies at the School of the Future (“Escola do Futuro”). As stated by Passarelli (2011, pp. 3) “The development of a perspective that links intervention projects on digital inclusion and emerging literacies to theoretical research enables NAP EF/USP both to act on and to evaluate the historical, social and economic context in which they occur”. Its mapping, according to the author, is accomplished by means of intervention programs for digital inclusion and ethnographic research. As described in Passarelli (2011, pp.12.), these two instances are able to provide feedback on the production of knowledge in the network. The perspective of literacies has been widespread and consolidated such that the Unesco recognizes it as a fundamental human right. On a quest to find a unified concept for approaches to literacy, the Organization has proposed a combination of two distinct areas, which can be met “to harmonize the different notions in the light of converging delivery platforms” (Grizzle & Wilson, 2011, p 19).. In this sense, there is the Media and Information Literacy (MIL), which is presented

by the Organization as an instrument facing the very freedom of expression as laid down in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to which: Every human being has right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom, without interference, to hold opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (UNESCO, 1998, pp. 4). Grizzle and Wilson (2011, pp. 18) state that if on one hand “information literacy emphasizes the importance of access to information and the evaluation and ethical use of such information”, in the other hand “media literacy emphasizes the ability to understand media functions, evaluate how those functions are performed and to rationally engage with media for self-expression”. With this unification, the goal of the organization is “to provide teacher education systems in developed and developing countries with a framework to construct a programme for turning out teachers who are media and information literate” (Grizzle & Wilson, 2011, pp. 19). Even that is not related to non-formal education contexts, the Unesco work plays a relevant role to literacies when discussing the benefits and requirements of MIL framework, as noted in Table 1.

Table 1. Benefits and requirements of Media and Information Literacy Benefits

Requirements

The process of teaching and learning gives teachers a wealth of knowledge so that they can empower future citizens. The MIL imparts a fundamental knowledge of the functions of the media channels in democratic societies, a reasonable understanding of the conditions necessary to perform these functions with efficiency and the basic skills needed to evaluate the performance of the media and information providers, and into account the expected functions. A society where there are literacies in media information strengthens the development of tools and open information systems that are free, independent and pluralistic.

Must be considered the MIL as a whole that includes a combination of competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes). A curriculum for MIL should allow teachers to teach their students the Media and Information Literacy with the aim of giving them the essential tools so that they can engage with the channels of the media as young autonomous and rational citizens. Citizens should have knowledge about the location and use of information as well as on the production of this information. Women, men and marginalized groups, as well as people with disabilities, indigenous peoples or ethnic minorities should have equal access to information and knowledge. MIL should be seen as an essential tool to facilitate intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding and cultural understanding of people.

Adapted from Grizzle & Wilson, 2011, pp. 21.

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The framework for the MIL curriculum of UNESCO is formatted around three main thematic areas and are interrelated. The first is focused on the knowledge and understanding of the media to democratic discourse and social participation. Its goal is to develop a critical understanding of how the media and the information can help improve the skills of citizens from the perspective of commitment and use of information providers as tools for “freedom of expression, pluralism, tolerance and intercultural dialogue, and the contributors to democratic debate and good governance.”(Grizzle & Wilson, 2011, pp. 25). The second area involves media evaluation with the aim of increasing the ability of citizens “to evaluate sources and assess information based on particular public service functions normally attributed to media, libraries, archives and other information providers”. Moreover, from the view of this area, it is intended to equip people with “knowledge of actions that can be taken when these systems deviate from expected roles”. (Grizzle & Wilson, 2011, pp. 27). The third area, in its turn, is

related to the production and use of the media in a perspective that people engage with the media and with the platforms of information and use it to express themselves and communicate in a significantly way. Briefly, Table 2, adapted from Grizzle and Wilson (2011, pp. 30-35), displays seven skills that must be acquired from a set of activities that the Organization proposes should be worked.

Computer-Mediated Interactions and Interactivity Computer-mediated interaction and interactivity have been recurrent in studies on ICT, gained too much expression and the most diverse uses from the development of a more participatory technology. As supported for Primo (2007), the idea of “computer-mediated interaction” reflects a theoretical position and carries a broader view of the processes that take place both in a click on an icon in the interface, as in a conversation at the window comments of a blog. The author draws attention to the fact that not all digital interac-

Table 2. Skills for a Media and Information Literacy Curriculum Competence

Expected Result

1

Understanding the role for Media and Information on Democracy

Familiarization with the functions of the media and other information providers and understanding of citizenship and its importance for decision making.

2

Understanding the content of Media and its uses

Ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the ways people use media in their personal and public lives, relations between citizens and the content of the media, as well as its use for a variety of purposes.

3

Access to information in an effective and efficient manner

Ability to determine the type of information needed for a given task and access the information in an effective and efficient manner.

4

Critical evaluation of information and information sources

Ability to critically evaluate information and its sources and incorporate selected information on troubleshooting and analysis of ideas.

5

Applying the traditional and new media formats

Ability to understand the uses of digital technology, communication tools and networks for information gathering and decision making.

6

Situating the sociocultural context of the content of the media

Ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the content of the environment is produced within social and cultural contexts.

7

Promoting MIL among students and administer changes required

Ability to use knowledge and skills acquired through a MIL training in order to promoting it among students and ability to manage changes related to the school environment.

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tions can be compared to the interpersonal ones. Conducting a study in this sense reveals, he said, the complexity of the negotiated construction of interpersonal relationships. This statement about interpersonality helps to understand what has to be mutual interaction, a type of communication that can not be reduced to sending and receiving messages, as preach the informational models and transmitionists. The mutuality depends on the participation of each interactor in such a way that he is able not only to define the nature of their participation in the communicative process, but their actions can reject or modify the behavior of others in this process. This interaction can not be considered as the sum of individual actions, they are guided by momentary solutions and features successive imbalances that make them unpredictable. In contrast to the mutual one, reactive interaction is limited and possesses guarded exchange, controlled by pre-determinations. The interactor’s positions are not able to produce exchange, change and relationships of negotiation and conflict. The reactivity should not be considered something smaller, but understood in the context of programming and the purposes for which the communicative artifacts were produced. It all depends on ideal situations of occurrence, should be provided in advance and conflicts treated as system errors. From interaction activities, in turn, arises interactivity, common keyword in the context of ICT. In literature, there are approaches consider-

ing interactivity and interaction as synonyms. However, this work includes interactivity as a result of interaction contexts and as an expression that translates types and allows the understanding of the situations where occurs both the mutual interaction or reactive. Understandings of interactivity can be viewed in McMillan (2002), which explores multiple research traditions in this area. The author warns that the concept is not unique to new media, but emerges from multiple and longstanding traditions. From critical to an understanding of the interactivity, McMillan (2002, pp. 205) advances in the identification of three traditions in research on the topic, as can be seen in Table 3. In each of them, “an important factor to consider is the locus of control. As control shifts among senders and receivers and between humans and computer systems, the nature of interactivity shifts”. The table presented by McMillan, as well as the definitions of Primo, reveal the complexity of computer-mediated communication and can justify studies aimed at understanding what happens in this relationship. As stated by McMillan (2002, pp. 221) on models of interactivity, they can provide guidance for students wishing to explore specific aspects of interactive communication. “(...) we can understand it better if we recognize that it is a multifaceted concept that resides in the users, the documents and the systems that facilitate interactive communication”.

Table 3. Collection of features and traditions of interactivity, by McMillan Interactive Features

Perception of Interactivity

Interactive Exchanges

User-User

Chat rooms

Perception that the presence of chat makes an interactive site

Participating in an online chat

User-Document

Comments

Perception that customer feedback improves the interactivity of the site

Posting a comment to a product or service

User-System

Web-based forms

Belief that a form can elicit a response

Filling out a form on the web

Adapted from Bringing together characteristics and traditions of interactivity de McMillan (2002, pp. 221)

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METHODOLOGY: APPROACHES TO A NETNOGRAPHIC STUDY Digital Culture, Network Society and the interactive experiences, with the development of media and informational literacies, are ground ported senses able to explain the new relationships and practices in contemporary society. From this finding and aiming to study this scenario, it was elaborated a model of analysis, as in Table 4, that, in general, shows how these concepts can guide analysis and data processing. This approach comes from Quivy & Campenhoudt (2008, pp. 149), who presents it as a “natural extension of the problem, articulating in an operational way the references and clues that will ultimately be chosen to guide the work of data collection and analysis”. This Analysis Model and the locus chosen to perform this study indicate the need for specific methodology that respond to the challenges of researching a topic as the Internet and the relationships established from and with it. In this sense, we started from the assumptions of anthropological experience that invites us to observe and participate in daily life of what is studied in a participant way and through which it is possible to describe in a dense form a narrative able to

contribute to the understanding of this object of study. In this journey, we came across two of the main proposals of ethnographic studies for virtual environments, Virtual Ethnography (Hine, 2000) and netnography (Kozinets, 2002). Both show important contributions for describing behaviors of actors and communities on the Web. Due its similarity, such proposals could even be regarded as synonyms or as different terminologies for the same proposition. When making a methodological proposal for membership of netnography, this research was conducted through four phases described by Kozinets for the method: the cultural entrée; collection and analysis of data; ethics in research; and validation of the results obtained from the researched community. According to the author, “these steps may act as a guide to researchers interested in rigorously applying the method to their own research” (Kozinets, 2002, pp. 4). Following these steps, the research was initially planned and prepared, with the identification of research questions and appropriate forums for investigating online, getting as much information about the AcessaSP as well as references and academic and technical publications on the program. The observation of the researcher as an activity of anthropological immersion in the

Table 4. Analysis Model for a study on emerging literacies network of actors Analysis Model Concept Technology Access (From the concept of digital inclusion in Lemos and Costa, 2007)

Dimension spontaneous

Indicators Handling of digital devices except computers

Sub-Indicators bank cards

Scale In numerical quantity

mobile phones Videogame DVD player

induced

Possession of computer, notebook or tablet

In numerical quantity

Internet access

Yes or no / Feature (Broadband, Dial)

Access location

AcessaSP, Internet cafe, friends, home, school, work, other public center of free access, mobile, other

income

In “minimum wage” quantity (R$)

time

In hours

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Table 4. Continued Analysis Model Concept Literacies (Grizzle & Wilson, 2011)

Computermediated interaction (Primo, 2007)

Dimension

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Sub-Indicators

Scale

Understanding of the role of MCS and Info in Democracy

Perception of the media influence (Newspapers, Radio, TV, Websites / portals on the internet) in shaping opinion

Understanding of the contents of MCS and its uses / Locate the sociocultural context of the content of the MCS

Understanding of the position / opinion of the media that influences

Effective and efficient access to information

Search for different information sources before forming the opinion

Critical evaluation of information and its sources

Ability to critically evaluate the information available in the media and on the Internet

Application of new and traditional media formats

Using the Internet to express themselves and communicate with groups significantly

reactive interaction

Access to Information

Means of communication often used

Visita a sites e blogs

Knowledge sharing

Communication activities performed on the Internet

Create or update blogs and / or sites; post on micro-blog

Interpersonal Communication

Communication activities performed on the Internet

Send / receive e-mail; chat through instant message; chat through messages via social networks; participate in chat rooms; using voice chat programs

collaborative communication

Communication activities performed on the Internet

Participate in mailing lists or forums

HumanDocumental

Access to Information

Means of communication often used

Visit sites and blogs

Human-Systemic

Operating systems on the Internet

Systems often operated

Online Bank Operations; Shopping on the Internet; e-gov services

Human-Human

Interpersonal and collaborative communication

Communication activities performed on the Internet

Send / receive e-mail; chat through instant message; chat through messages in social networks; participate in chat rooms; chat using voice programs; participating in forums or mailing lists

mutual interaction

Interactivity (Mcmillan, 2002)

Indicators

Do not know Totally disagree Disagree in part Agree in part Totally agree

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building environment allowed inferences about the program, process data in a quantitative perspective and propose interventions to aggregate indicators on literacies from research already conducted by the Program. In another moment, compilation and interpretation of data, on the threshold between two phases of the proposed Kozinets, allowed join a greater understanding of the subject and plan steps while also carried out data collection and analysis. With this were promoted interviews, as well the Content Analysis (CA), using the method proposed for Bardin (2006). We chose this technique before its methodological freedom and their appropriateness for the most diverse content, since the method, according to the author, does not require model ready and has basic rules that are reinvented according to the challenges presented during the course search. The operationalization of the method, in turn, counted with the support of tools such as Transcribe software, to assist in the transcription of audio to text, and WebQDA in exploration and coding the material. Ethical issues of the research also provided in netnography of Kozinets, involved the relationship between the researcher and the researched group, mostly from the prior presentation of the study objectives and authorization for use and dissemination of data. During the process a Term of Free and Informed Consent was used, which contained the objectives of the work and contacts responsible researchers. Also as predicted in the proposed methodology, there was an effort to validate the results with the AcessaSP. This is done from the constant availability of research data and comments on a blog - http://literaciaeinteratividade.blogspot.com - which both goers and their program coordinators were asked to consult and interact through comments identified or sending private messages, by email or other communication channels. Given the design of this research it is irrefutable its empirical character and even some experimental mode, since the very Netnography and studies

in the intersection between communication and cyberculture are recent and own contemporaneity. In addition, it is important to emphasize its qualitative context, since it is not concerned exclusively on explaining phenomena in an objective and measurable way, but describe them in dense form. The main objective is to understand and interpret issues from an open space for interpretation and for new insights and understanding of the general nature of the questions of this research.

STUDY CASE: A NETNOGRAPHIC STUDY ON THE PROGRAM ACESSASP According to the National Centre for Digital Inclusion (ONID), the AcessaSP is the third largest digital inclusion program in the country and the largest in the state of São Paulo, having been instituted in July 2000 Its activities are coordinated by the Department of Public Management with management of the Department of Citizen Services Data Processing Company of the State of São Paulo (Prodesp). However, it operates through partnerships through which are opened service centers, as well as the responsibility for the management, which occurs with the participation of the Laboratory of Digital Inclusion and Community Education (LIDEC) of the USP School of the Future, which, since 2001, is co-responsible for various program activities. In 2013, competing with 300 applications from 56 countries, AcessaSP was the winner of the 14th edition of the Access to Knowledge Award, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through which received US$ 1 million for investment in the expansion of posts, purchase of equipment and hiring and training of trainers, plus US$ 8 million in software donated by Microsoft. Program actions are gathered around the access points and integrated activities. In the first case, there are two types of posts: municipal, implemented in partnership with local governments,

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usually located in public libraries; Public Places of Internet Access (POPAIs), implemented in partnership with departments and agencies of the State Government, as public utilities places, popular restaurants, bus terminals, train stations and Subway, among others. Since its inception, the AcessaSP has logged more than 73 million free consultations; 2.8 million registered attendees, 683 stations in operation (580 municipal and 103 POPAIs); 6206 machines; and 1,106 trained monitors. According to data from 2013 there are 623 posts and 150 municipalities served on deployment, there is already signed agreements for the Access SP installation in over 80 cities, reaching 100% of the cities of São Paulo until 2014. The evolution of the number of posts of AcessaSP Program can be seen in Figure 1. Access to computers and the Internet in these posts is completely free and open to any citizen, since them fill out a registration, which is mandatory. Each goer can use the access for up to 30

minutes without restriction amounts of times a day, provided you follow the rules, among them the prohibition to change computer settings, and access websites that contain pornography, pedophilia, racism, violence and games gambling. Key information and guidance of the posts AcessaSP are met in AcessaSP Portal, which records an average of 500 000 visits per month. Social networks have significant participation in the program of the regulars, with 11,146 followers on Twitter; 356 677 views on Youtube; and more than 10,000 “likes” on Facebook. In addition, there are 5851 photos available on Flickr. Already the integrated actions of the program revolve around fostering community projects using information technology; production of digital and non-digital content for the training and information of population served; disseminating and facilitating the use of electronic government services; promoting local and virtual actions that can contribute to citizen use of the Internet and new technologies; and the production

Figure 1. Evolution of the number of posts of AcessaSP Program

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of research and information on digital inclusion. Among the integrated actions there are proposes as the ones will be discussed below.

Research Online: PONLINE Among these integrated actions in AcessaSP is PONLINE, survey done annually with their patrons through the Internet. The action aims to deepen the knowledge of the different profiles of the infocenter goers; evaluate their relations with technology and the Internet; assess the quality of services, usage policies, content offerings, attendance monitors; Besides assessing perceptions of the impacts of Internet use in everyday regulars and their perceptions about the impacts of deploying Infocenter in entities and ownership of resources provided by the community. The creation of PONLINE made AcessaSP the first Brazilian digital inclusion program “to make publicly available a rich set of information about its visitors. The initiative reflects a belief that this type of information is of public interest and should be freely used”. (São Paulo, 2006, pp. 52). With a historical series, PONLINE is a rich tool for analysis and evaluation on digital inclusion policies, which can be viewed at work as Passarelli, Freire and Moreno (2009); Passarelli (2009); Freire (2009); Guzzi (2010); Passarelli, Tavernari and Salla (2010); Kiyomura and Passarelli (2010); Passarelli, Freire and Moreno (2009); Passarelli, and Junqueira Botelho, Francisco (2012); Capobianco (2010). In 2012 the tenth edition of PONLINE occurred between 3 and December 8. In total 4,838 people responded to an online questionnaire with multiple choice questions (single and multiple), assessment questions (with grades 0-10, degree of agreement) and open question. The set was simple random sampling, with one in ten posts goers were invited to answer the questionnaire, so that any individual in the study population had an equal chance of being chosen and to be drawn, participate only once the research .

Aiming to use the PONLINE data to understand AcessaSP and relationships established with and in it, it was traced a profile of the Program goers, as well as an analysis of communicative and interactive relationships and the development of literacies by the AcessaSP goers from data available for 2012. A sample of the result can be seen in the next topic, in the description of the public profile. The remaining analyzes will not be discussed in this chapter for reasons of lack of space, but are available, in full, in Botelho Francisco (2014).

The Public Profile of AcessaSP The profile of AcessaSP goer is very diverse and considering the size of the program, can also vary depending on issues such as geography. According to PONLINE 2012, the male audience (62%) prevails; young, aged between 11 and 19 years (44%); studying in formal school or any particular course or school (55%); have completed high school (31.4%); and work in some sort of activity, whether or not registered (34%). In economic terms, an audience with low purchasing power prevails. Also in terms of profile, 27% of attendees said having children; 5% have some type of disability (physical disabilities - 40.1% - and hearing - 23.5%); and 67% of those who claim to work recognize that use AcessaSP for activity. Also among these, the present employment status, the majority recognizes as self employment and claims to work in situations in relationships with public service or as helpers and assistants. More than half goers attend the post where they responded to the questionnaire more than a year. They do so, in most cases, from three or four days per week or every day. Together, these two profiles also make up more than half of the regulars. The mass media that predominate among AcessaSP goers are, in order, color television and the radio. Then, with a fairly high percentage, the cell phone, with something approaching 80%, which

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indicates a very intense presence of this device between these actors. The computer, in turn, is still something quite distant from the high rates of these mobile devices, since it is only present in less than half of the houses of the regulars. These indices show that there is access to ICT spontaneously and these goers have experienced the digital paradigm primarily through other technologies that not only the computer. These prevail against it, including. Stand out in this case, especially the cell phone, which, as shown by the index, may be becoming a vector of access to digital technology, given its potential as a new logical device with digital communication. He is very close to the traditional media and mass, such as radio and TV, which, in the case of this profile goer, shows very high rates. Experience with audiovisual, as it provides the radio and TV, is also noted as important in the lives of these people from the indicator on access at home, DVD and VCR, something that appears to be intermediate between radio and cellular. Still on the phone, it is found that 24.7% of respondents said they had learned to use the Internet through this device. Those who possess this system are 83%, and what prevails is the type of prepaid plan (71%). We must assess what the cell these actors are able to provide them and the indicators of income could already demonstrate that there are difficulties in funding the acquisition and use of more advanced features of the devices. The data demonstrate that the majority uses the device to make calls (83.3%) and send short text messages (68.2%). However, there are a significant number of respondents said that using the device to take pictures (57.3%), use MP3 (52.8%), and radio (43.8%), confirming that the experience with the audiovisual is something important for these actors. In a clearer perspective of stimulus access to ICT, PONLINE demonstrates how the induced technologies occurs and proves AcessaSP as

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a inductor. When answering where accessed the Internet in the last three months, 82.8% of respondents indicated a stand of AcessaSP. The data also point to the role of other similar digital inclusion strategies, such as public access centers paid, showing higher than school and work, places that could also contribute to the insertion of the actors involved with the technology. In this sense, the scenario could demonstrate that school and work play a greater role in providing ICT access to these patrons. However, one must consider that only 55% reported attending educational spaces currently and 34% are connected, somehow, to a work environment. Those who attend the AcessaSP posts there over a year add up to more than half of respondents PONLINE. In terms of presence in the post, a considerable number of respondents (21.8%), including states attend the post every day, while 28.7% say they attend three to four days a week. Together, these two groups are almost half of respondents, something very significant. This information, however, contradict national data on access to Information and Communication Technologies. The ICT-Households and businesses (CGI.Br, 2013) showed that most people have accessed the Internet from home (74%). In PONLINE said they did the last three months from this location only 27.1%, a number that is also below the indicators CGI.Br for C (64%) and DE (35%) classes. The data induce to understand the importance of AcessaSP role in these actors’ lives in terms of access to ICTs. Apparently, next to cell phone and the possibility of learning from this unit alone when the program is demonstrated as a vector very present in the lives of these people, proving the importance of strategies for inducing technology access to sections of the population with low income and no longer frequenter of spaces such as school and work.

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A Description of Three Proposed Interactions Electronics Notebooks Among the integrated activities of AcessaSP coordinated by the School of the Future is the production and availability of Electronic Notebooks. They are part of a line designed for the production of digital and non-digital content for the training and information of the population served by the program in order to develop different skills in the areas of computer and Internet. The material is intended for monitors, regulars of the Program Offices and the general public. Electronic Notebooks were developed by LIDEC with partial or full reproduction permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes only and the source is cited. By 2012 there were ten books available for consultation, focused on topics such as those related to network and practices in their environment, as can be seen at the link below: • • • • • • • • • •

How to use and manage your e-mails Publishing and Word Processing Spreadsheet and graphs Browsing and Searching on the Internet Publishing content on the Internet Use the printer and image processing Virtual Communities - lists, chats and other Safe Browsing Multimedia - audio and video on the computer Web 2.0 and Online Applications.

There are non-formal reports of the coordinators of AcessaSP demonstrating the integration and dissemination of this proposal of simple and straightforward approach to network resources outside the context of the program itself. In PONLINE is possible to analyze the interactions of AcessaSP actors with this strategy, which is among the least known by regulars, as only 8.5% said they knew notebooks in 2012 lower

indices were presented only to the meta-project workshops Park Youth and Free Lab, to which should be considered the geographical issues that prevent goers know stations outside the capital. Already interactions with the themes of electronic books, among those who claimed to know them, can be seen in Figure 2, which describes the use and management of e-mail and browsing and searching on the Internet as the most sought after. There is no other regular evaluation of the program but this strategy to make better use of data on the subject. But it would be interesting to identify the locations, duration, language, type of browsers and other technologies used for access, and to evaluate how was this relationship around the content. In an interactive perspective it is known that it is not possible to go beyond these questions, since the interactive relationship with the material is just download and consumption as readers, ie, the analysis of this work model lies in the context of a reactive dimension of computermediated interaction, exclusively from indicators of access to information, and an interactive userdocument model centred. Finally, it is interesting to note that among the topics suggested by respondents PONLINE 2012 for electronic notebooks predominate theme of the Internet, something that can also be seen in the case of short courses, as reported on the topic below.

Short Courses In a slightly different perspective in terms of interaction, another front AcessaSP integrated activity in the production of digital and non-digital content is offering short courses. In this case, access to content is a more active and focused on learning form. The themes, however, unlike the Electronic Notebooks, are not geared exclusively for the Web environment, but for everyday issues, as can be seen from the list below: • •

Eat well without waste * Learn to Play Chess

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Figure 2. Electronic Notebooks accessed or used by the regulars of AcessaSP

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Diseases of sex: STDs and AIDS How to pack a travel bag? * Care for children Taking care of your car How to Speak in Public How make necktie How to make a garden How to prepare a resume Consumer: you have rights! Control your personal finances Dengue, a war to be won Tips for sustainable living * Sweet sugar free Etiquette on the Internet Make time render Origami * Improve in Spanish * Improve in English * Personal Safety Texture wall techniques Receptive Tourism. *

Each short course is divided between three and five classes, with an average of 15 minutes

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for each study. To participate, different from the relationship with the Electronic Notebooks, the applicant must register, which allows better measure the relationship with this strategy. In PONLINE 2012, 26.4% of respondents claimed to know the mini-courses. Of these, 43% declared that they knew at least one short course. Among the most popular subjects along goers are “How to Prepare a Resume” and “Learn to Play Chess”, as can be seen in Figure 3. In other data released by AcessaSP, it is found that, by December 2012, there were 76,712 entries made in short courses. Moreover, it is possible to evaluate some relationships, as can be seen in Figure 4. Figure 4 shows that the subjects most searched for the users by 2012 are related to riding a resume, how to speak in public and sweet sugar free, while tips for sustainable living, how to fix a suitcase for trips and improving in Spanish are the least popular. Already Figure 5 shows the number of new patrons in short courses since 2008, recorded a decrease in 2010.

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Figure 3. Participation in short courses for actors of AcessaSP

Figure 4. Number of registered attendees in short courses of AcessaSP

It is also interesting to note that in 2012 PONLINE goers were asked about suggestions for new Short Courses themes. The tags that stand out, show subjects concerned to technologies, which in AcessaSP, has been the focus of the strategies

of the Electronics Notebooks. In this case, we note the prevalence of topics like Internet, Computers and Networks. In terms of interaction analysis model of this paper, this strategy has more elements than the

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Figure 5. Growth in the number of new goers to short courses in AcessaSP

Electronic Notebooks with which the actor must interact, if it is not a simple visit to sites. It is necessary to understand the content and navigate between them via the hypertext. However, the current design of short courses do not favor other types of communication - interpersonal or collaborative - and knowledge sharing, so that fits in the analysis model from the perspective of access to information and a reactive dimension of mediated interaction computer. In terms of interactivity, the user-document and user-system models prevail.

Project Network Unlike the strategies described above, the Project Network of AcessaSP was proposed as an activity aimed at fostering community projects using information technology. The proposal is built around monitors and designers who design web sites and from the available infrastructure in the ranks of AcessaSP projects. Proponents may be any person or other entities such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), schools and colleges. In this

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sense the strategy takes a more active approach of interaction where participation occurs at the level of the proposition and development of actions on in or from the network. The proposition of a project that involves negotiation between making the proposal, considering its designer, and the display of a set of AcessaSP, no need for approval in any other instance. The only rule is that there is no charge and the time devoted to projects does not exceed 30% of the available time of the post. Once in the project network, the designers have at their disposal tools to support management of online and offline projects, and training events. The experiences are also shared on networks that would establish cooperation between the posts. There are over 1,800 community projects of local development registered in Project Network, with most varied thematic, most of them related to Computers for seniors. 288 are registered in this classification. Next is Labor and Employment and Education, with 197 each of the themes. Computers for young children and Informatics for Arts and Culture have, respectively, 165, 157

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and 151 registered projects. Following this order, appearing Health (64) Environment (52) People with special needs (48) Literacy (43) Preservation of local memory (37) Music (32) Sports (27) and Cooking (13). Others are unclassified 358. Some devices are used by AcessaSP to encourage and monitor the development of projects of the Network. Among these strategies there are holding regional meetings, training of monitors facing proposition designs, discussion list, regional visits and video documentation of projects. In addition, there is the AcessaSP Award, from which judging committees evaluate proposals, present diagnoses for each project and recognize the most outstanding proposals. With five editions held until 2012, after this date it has also been awarded the actions taken by monitors, mayors and councilors, with the aim of expanding the partnership with the Access SP counties. About the Project Network, the PONLINE 2012 reveals that most of the AcessaSP regulars not know the strategy (74.8%). However, 40% of the actors who responded to the questionnaire would propose or participate in any activity beyond the post of Internet usage, 33% of them do not know what to propose and 27% said they did not want to propose or participate in something gender. In the analysis model used in this work, the network is a very interesting example of possibilities of interaction mediated by computer and what else approached a mutual dimension of this type of interaction. That is, while it stimulates a creative and open to various possibilities of use of computers and the Internet on topics especially dealing with social issues and very close to the actors who attend the posts, the space allows AcessaSP unpredictable interactive contexts with limited control possibilities and open to experimentation and collaborative relationships both communicative and interpersonal communication. Since the creation of the space project networking fosters mutual interaction and a model for user-user interactivity, from its projects it is

also capable of, given the design of each proposal, propose spaces for interaction and reactive models of interactivity user-document and user-system, since it can, in these projects, work with access to information and knowledge sharing. This project shows up as a rich strategy in terms of favoring the interactive experience of the actors involved in AcessaSP.

Actors in Interaction: The Emerging Literacies at AcessaSP Aiming to collecting data for a qualitative analysis of emerging literacies of the actors in the network AcessaSP, we proceeded to collect opinions and impressions of this audience through interviews. The position chosen in the state capital, São Paulo, is located in the Parque da Juventude, an area of 240 thousand square meters, with a cultural and recreational complex where it was installed one of Brazil’s most famous prisons, the Carandirú, which has been the subject of a book and a movie. The unit has 116 computers with connection speed of 2 Mb, and 23 monitors. In the country side it was chosen one of the two posts of São Carlos. The selected unit is installed in the Municipal Public Library Amadeu Amaral, located in the central region. It was inaugurated in 1939, and it is frequented by high school and elementary students, offering loans of books, availability of newspapers and magazines and other free services for citizens. The unit has eight computers with speed connection of 2 Mb. In these two locations, from October 22 to December 11, 2013, 26 people, including 12 in São Paulo and 14 in São Carlos were interviewed. The Figure 6 show users in the Station of AcessaSP at São Carlos. In the both locals they were 19 men and seven women, most with high school education (ten people). There were also four people with incomplete secondary education, four with full Higher Education, four with incomplete Higher Education, three post-graduated and one

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Figure 6. Station of AcessaSP at the Municipal Library of São Carlos

with complete primary education. Regarding family income, not all respondents answered this question. However, the great majority had low incomes. In the AC case were considered only 21 interviews, analyzed in two groups of categories for reading. In one front were used the six MIL of Grizzle and Wilson (2011), in other were adopted categories defined freely, from the reading itself in the analysis process.

Media and Information Literacy In an analysis on the design of Democracy of the respondents, concerned the fact that five of them did not express any understanding of the term. Others already expressed ideas about it from popular participation, freedom of expression and access or democratization of information. In some cases, however, the messages issued for this theme were loaded with criticism to Democracy, politics and Brazilian and other governments, these are generalities.

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Asked if the Internet and the media in general can collaborate for Democracy, the majority relied on the web to answer yes, because it enlarges or democratizes access to information. Either, that is something essential for Democracy to exist. About understanding the content of the media and its uses, it could be noted four types of behaviors in the messages. Respondents emphasized their relations with the media or sent messages that demonstrate understanding of the context of production and circulation of information in the media and on the Internet, showing a critical view of media and to its contents, pointing to the means as necessary to keep themselves informed. In another analysis were identified eight situations on access to information in an effective and efficient way present in the interviewees’ statements. Most of them recognize themselves ables to locate information, find what they need on the Internet and also search engine that can operate efficiently. Already in a perspective of critical evaluation of information and sources of

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information, it could be noticed, along with some of the respondents, their self-critical, ie, as they themselves assess their critical ability in relation to the media and broadcast content for them, as well as in relation to the Internet. In addition, there are several expressions that advance toward criticism of traditional means of communication; the conceptions of Internet content; and conceptions of content broadcast in the media and on the Internet. In relation to themselves, there seems to be a balance between those who consider themselves critics and those who do not consider themselves critical of the content they have access in the media and on the Internet. Among respondents, a significant number comments on operations with media in different contexts. What prevails is the manipulation and multimedia production, whether textual, photographic or video. Next is the interaction with systems, with several references to games, which is significant between a group of AcessaSP goers. Moreover, we can also categorize literacy for technological manipulation when goers show in their speeches, the operation of devices, such as cell phone, which also demonstrates a vector related to multimedia production and dissemination. Game seems to be an important vector when the MIL is evaluated. In addition to the speeches of whose are assumed players, there are explicit in the other interviewees such activity message recurs among AcessaSP goers. Also very important in this context was to discover during AC that some AcessaSP goers are facing enterprises looking the Internet. In this sense, the analysis also categorized in this particular respect, seeking best describe as occurring situations involving the application of traditional and new media formats geared for business of these AcessaSP goers. It were identified samples where the Internet and even the post were used for private or business, or to creating spaces of relationship on the web. An actor, for example, has a collaborative of site banners for websites; another uses the Internet to

sell products of automobiles; and other possesses a group of RAP, an initiative whose songs are recorded and distributed with the support of the Internet, through networks like Youtube. Another example of this kind of initiative is a gentleman 77 years old who has created a Facebook group to gather, he said, “the former staff”. With more than 300 friends on the social network ever assembled, he states that “now we’ll start to make appointments to see personally. This virtual business is to relax. I’m talking to friends who I haven’t seen for 30, 40 years. So it’s amazing “. This analysis of the MIL between goers also identified which contexts that respondents relate their speeches to the contents of the media and how they are produced.The messages allow to understand, in those who talk about this issue, which are lighter in mind these regulars contexts of production, social and technological as well as political and ideological, historical and temporal matters.

Other Emerging Literacies In a second front of categorization, reading the AC process was conducted in a free form, identifying patterns of behavior in the speech that allowed their grouping into new categories of reading. There were highlighted both the impressions that the actors have regarding AcessaSP and images that make from the Internet, their own emerging literacies and contexts of interaction with technology. The research allowed to better understand the relationship maintained with the program and with other emerging themes in this experience of digital inclusion. From the interviews it was possible to note how these actors knew the accesses by different paths. The reasons that led them to seek the Programme are also different and are not related exclusively to the lack of technology at home. Some who have computers and Internet connectivity, for example, state attending the post for comfort during movement through the city or

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because it has become a meeting point with friends. There are also those who sought AcessaSP in savings times of trouble by spending on Internet at home and at need to make school activities. In the survey, two of the respondents were using the AcessaSP coincidentally the first or second time. Like them, several other patrons of the posts expressed praise for the program. Critical speech occurred only with three respondents, who coincidentally complained about the speed of the Internet, including games and “heavier” sites. Another motivation that respondents highlighted by demanding AcessaSP for Internet access is related to labor and employment, this theme apeared in the speech of fourteen of the 21 respondents. Related to this issue, the work on that topic can be divided into two categories. There are those who seek AcessaSP as a work space and there are those who seek the program as a mechanism for job search. In the first case, some speeches treat the post as home-office. Among the lines that demonstrate AcessaSP as an opportunity to find employment, it is also interesting to note the situations in which this strategy was successful and the program goer managed to take a seat through internet in the program. Also related to the environment AcessaSP it was verified the occurrence of informal and formal comments in interviews about the relationships established with other users in the program. Interestingly, in this case, the reference to homeless people who frequent the stations AcessaSP, sometimes in conflict, sometimes not. Even in informal conversations with monitors, it became clear the strong presence of these actors in the ranks of the Program. Other references to colleagues who attend the program are not as striking, however, emphasize age extracts, in this case, young and old. In another analysis were identified free learning situations, related to these courses, with the help of friends or monitors in situations of digital inclusion in the job environment or self-taught. Interestingly, the majority proved to be confident about their abilities to operate the computer and

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the Internet. Asked if they recognized something they knew not operate on the web, few said there is something in this direction. In reflecting on the confidence of the actors, the category called here autodidact deserves particular attention in the analysis. It is expressed in speech when recognized as such by the actors, from expressions such as self-taught word itself, the word “alone” or when they use very specific verbs to describe how is their own learning. In this sense, we highlight the verbs tweak and tinker, used and adopted as a metaphor of emerging literacies. This informal learning is also expressed by the interviewees’ highlighted relationship with other actors, be they friends or close people in work or use of computer environments. Here also fits the relationship of the actors with AcessaSP monitors in this consultation and informal learning. Moreover, we highlight the need for discourse on learning. Between what the respondents showed interest are provided to indicate to general courses on Computer hacking, skills to operate touch screen gadgets, downloading, and video editing software such as Excel and AutoCad. In the interviews and reading the process of AC freeform also searched for information about mobile and social networks. Regarding the phone, access the Internet through this device was found in the speech of eleven of the respondents, and six of them reported having cell. Of these, however, two stated that they had formerly possessed the device. One of these actors have had reports that “about 20” cell and that “if a person runs out of cell, like me, do not live.” It was also observed the experience of six respondents using social networks from mobile phones. In the speech there are quotes to Facebook, Orkut, YouTube and Instagram. Social networks, in turn, are present in the speech of virtually all respondents. Even when they say do not use them, which is the case for only three Program goers, they recognize them as an important space for interaction. In social networks there are cited the supremacy of Face-

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book. Of the 21 respondents, 17 said they used it. When considering that three players claim no fans of this type of practice on the Internet, it appears that virtually all respondents who reported using social networks have user account on Facebook. Other social networks appear in few speeches. Also from the perspective of free reading in the AC process, we sought to analyze how interactions between AcessaSP goers occur in contexts of digital inclusion, which relationships they establish with the computer and the Internet and how they relate from this environment. In this sense, and according to the model previously established analysis, a key was used to reading based on four interactive behaviors used here to understand the interaction and computer-mediated interaction. Access to information was characterized from the verification of the use of verbs such as read, listen, open, search, browse, access, come and see, in action contexts of these actors in the network. An attempt was also characterize this interactive practice from local systems and cited by respondents. In this sense, expressions such as site, page and even search engines like Google were considered to categorize messages in an interactive approach to access to information. Already the most geared for collaborative communication interactions could be identified from the use of verbs such as enjoy, comment and in some context of use of verbs share, share, post and inform. In many contexts it could also be understood the social networks as an important vector of this type of interactive practice, collaboration, since they have interfaces that allow actions such as those verbs described above reflect. As noted earlier, between social networks there was a significant incidence of citations to Facebook. Obviously this and other networks allow not only a type of interactive practice, but the familiar design of this interface too favors colaborativity from interaction with content posted by friends, either from the option to enjoy something, either from commenting or then share any information received or even caused by the user of the system itself.

Interpersonal communication, in turn, is characterized in the speeches of the actors interviewed from verbs like chat and talk and expressions like “chat” and “friendships”. This focused on the relationship with other people interactive practice can also be characterized from the check in the interviewees’ speech, quotes and software aimed at this type of communication systems. Examples are all webmail systems, some like Hotmail, or softwares such as MSN (Messenger) and Skype. Also in this case the interpersonal communication appear social networks as vectors of relationship and in this case, Facebook is again mentioned as preferred. Finally, we sought to determine whether the respondents described in their speeches, interactive practices from which interact more intensely with the network and web systems and share knowledge produced them on the Internet for them, ie if they also experience somehow be content producers. As a result, we identified verbs - how to make, build, create, take, post, get, put and burn - used in contexts of these role players. This creative approach demonstrates even a certain intimacy with the web space, so that in some expressions respondents use the possessive pronoun “my” to refer to what they produce. In general, the categorization of messages means having contact with a dense description of MIL. The results do not allow inferences regarding absolutist grouping variables. However, it is indexical of literacies that behave differently depending on the type of interaction established with the machines, proving that the relationship between interactivity and literacies is valid. This evidence is important because it can guide programs and designers of digital inclusion projects to a vision that enables the design of favoring interactions with machine learning and development of skills and competencies of an increasingly autonomous. All generalizations derived from the AC, in turn, must be understood as possible deductions within the subjectivity of the method used and

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how indicators capable of continuing research, given the innovative and changeable feature of the contemporary technological environment, as well as the changes may occur in the social and cultural environment of these actors. Thus, by way of a conclusion, are exhibited below what are considered in this work, vectors literacies in contexts of digital inclusion: •

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•

•

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Social Networks: By its interactive nature, involving all dimensions of interactivity, interpersonal, with system and documentary, and a strong presence in the interviews, this strategy is demonstrated as a privileged space for communication, access and knowledge production. Games: Show up as an opportunity to experiment with new languages ​​and narratives, something that can be explored because it encourages interactivity also in three dimensions, since the culture of gaming is common, besides the interaction with the system, the handling of documents and participation in communities to share information and strategies needed to win a game. Work and Entrepreneurship: The themes have strong appeal among the motivations for seeking AcessaSP, show an opportunity and challenge goers to seek solutions to real problems in their day-today employment being one of the most urgent, given the characteristic of income prevalent among this population. Cell Phone: Despite the ownership appearance demonstrate an impediment, it is evident the presence of this theme as something emerging between actors even from the lower social classes,they have the device experiences an opportunity to network access, content production and interpersonal communication. Given the

•

•

cheapness, the recent innovations of this technology and its ability to aggregating functions and applications of various species, especially when connected to wireless networks, the phone shows up as a new opportunity for digital inclusion, it must become, along with desktops, a strategy being considered. Multimedia: Imbued with the experience of social networks and mobile devices, it is apparent a predilection for the actors and visual and audiovisual formats, including photo and video stories. This seems to be a way of seeing the world and report on these actors, can also be considered an opportunity to strategy for the development of literacy, since the process of production, editing and dissemination of such material involves a complex set of interactions with either technology devices and systems, challenging interacting to seek solutions to their expression through these formats. Interpersonal Communication: Is evident the use of technology to interpersonal communication, this privileged in many occasions in relation to other interactive experiences. This sense of a space already occupied and seen the potential for autonomous learning of these actors, systems and software of this kind can be used to stimulate learning relationships, exchange of experiences and the creation of virtual communities of practice and informal learning, but with potential for developing literacies.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS One of the conclusions of the research is that it is not a binary question, between having or not having this or that competence MIL, but to understand and describe how they manifest among

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AcessaSP goers. Thus, it avoids presenting a personal assessment of actors in the network, considering them “literate” or “illiterate” for ICT. This conclusion of a process of content analysis thorough and exhaustive, back and forth in the text in search of meanings, and traces of evidence proving the prevailing message of respondents, an evaluative process and creating categories that allow group themes, thoughts and expressions that give meaning to what has been collected. This is the challenge of categorizing and classifying responses subjectivities that do not have a pattern, but have ported intrinsic relationships of meaning. This analysis is limited and restricted to pre-established script and the questions that were formulated. However, the possibility of thinking about them and treat them in a netnographic investigation provided contact data and very rich people. The fact that the interview was conducted by the investigator himself later that treats data, gives us the awareness of dealing with people, not numbers. This subjective unity is quite clear, so behold a challenge and an opportunity of a netnographic perspective. As already mentioned, from the results is not possible to say that one type of interaction prevails over the other, because it is difficult in such instantiate categorically these aspects. However, it was possible an exercise in description of interactive practices that may give clues of “doing” of the actors in the network and the relationship of this with the development of literacies. Interactivity in this sense can be considered a lens, a key reading for understanding the development of these literacies environment. After all, culture is the network that will create a conducive environment for the computer and the Internet are experienced by new actors, thus emerging new literacies. Interactivity understood as a key reading can collaborate to draw maps, evaluating interfaces, identify needs and spaces and therefore strategize for digital inclusion.

It may not be obvious, but it is intuitive to think that the complexity of the interactions of actors requires an investigative behavior, reflection and learning. The Internet, in the context of interpersonal relationships, especially knowledge-sharing and collaborative communication requires skills that go beyond reading. There is, in these cases, spaces for reflection, criticism, decision, creativity and innovation. The act of “liking” a post on a social network, for example, is in itself a political act and critic, selection and positioning in the world. The act of sharing equally. It carries in itself an identity issue. The act of posting something, share a photo, a video or a text is a view of knowledge in the network. All these situations are permeated by what can be called mutual interaction. This is not to react to what the computer asks you, but using a space that even considered reactive in terms of interface, is ported to complexity, change and unpredictability. For these features, this space becomes a creative learning and space. It is, to paraphrase the respondents to “tweak” and the “mess” that takes the interactive experience and, therefore, the development of digital literacies. The use of such verbs as metaphors acquiring literacies justified, once viewed their meanings in the sense of autonomy, which allows us to understand that the Internet has become an important space for informal learning. Some views of respondents on the network can be considered bloodproud. It was common to find expressions for the web as essential for life. When thinking digital inclusion, this feature of the posts is very important, since they see it as an opportunity to connect with the world. Nevertheless, the AC also inferred from a very urgent concern, particularly in relation to one of the Media and Information Literacy as reference used in this work: understanding the role of media and information in Democracy. A considerable part of the actors showed a difficulty in expressing themselves on Democracy in the context of the media. Although

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sometimes the messages are impregnated by criticism of the policy, there were situations in which the actors were not able to state what they meant by democracy. This problem should be considered serious, since it is expected, under the MIL, the function of the media to citizenship and decisionmaking is understood. Of course, this behavior was not observed in all interviews, restricting to a specific group, which also occurs with other indicators of literacies. While an actor proves to be highly critical and connoisseur of the sociocultural context of the media, another expresses the same literacy from the simplest lines, however, shutters sense. In the technique of AC not despised discourses for its simplicity, but we tried to see the existence of a latent competence between the lines of statements. The conduct of research experience also allowed some arguments, such as that digital inclusion also occurs spontaneously and independently, proving that consubstantiations of digital paradigm is an irreversible reality for the majority of the world population. However, the statistics with which they had contact during work call attention to the challenges of universal benefits of digital. Scares that still exist indices such as the African continent, a truly underprivileged situation in relation to the rest of the world. When dealing with Brazil, too scare the discrepancies between the different states. On the other hand, proves the relevance of the subject matter of this work, since the AcessaSP has an important inclusion in this scenario nationally, with historical examples and relevant strategies for digital inclusion. The use of Media and Information Literacy as references, in turn, brought advantages, since it is an empirical study in the context of a very specific and consolidated project. When configured as a governmental strategy is positive and helpful to the Program using references supported by organizations such as UNESCO, the states concerned to equip the prospects for improving the lives of their populations. It is hoped that the results and

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analysis of this work can be seen at AcessaSP and its coordinators not only as an academic study, but as an opportunity to reflect on their own practice.

FUTURE WORKS In terms of future works, it sees that the approaches and methods seized this study can be applied to other groups of the AcessaSP own, such as the homeless, the elderly and children, social Stratus that have become apparent in the speech of respondents to this survey . The case of the homeless, in particular, proves an intriguing plot, since it presents a dichotomy between disparate universes, as the material world of the streets and the potential world of digital networks. How to live in this environment, we develop literacies, digital culture that would be creating these actors? What is the connection from the street to the Internet? As this space welcomes the culture of the streets? Regarding the method netnographic-envision if other perspectives of work with AcessaSP data who for ethical reasons are not yet available for use in research, but that may be dependent on the coordination of procedures suitable for such. In this case there are data recorded on the computers from the navigation of the regulars - accessed addresses, time of use of the machines, software used, downloads and uploads, among other data - that can enable trace a faithful map of the interactions in the program. In this case it is an opportunity to view actuation with computer science, the field of Data Mining and approaches, Data warehose and other techniques common in the discussion of Big Data. Also on the ground of this intersection areas, it is possible to develop applications in the field of digital inclusion and literacy, something to be made available as free software, embedded in cell or can be used on desktops. The idea is that such systems allow the actors themselves to perform a self-assessment of their digital literacy, aiming an awareness of learning, inclusion, interactions

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and literacies. Finally, other topics of interest for future works can be glimpsed between themes like social networking, interactivity and literacies; digital inclusion in times of mobile networks; and strategies for digital inclusion programs using mobile (apps) and social networks.

Freire, C. (2009). Critérios de Reputação em Coletivos Digitais: estudo de caso na disciplina de criando comunidades virtuais de aprendizagem e de prática [Master dissertation]. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.

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Grizzle, A., & Wilson, C. (Eds.). (2011). Media and Information Literacy: Curriculum for Teachers. Paris: Unesco. Retrieved from http://www.unesco. org/new/en/communication-andinformation/ resources/publications-and-communicationmaterials/publications/full-list/media-andinformation-literacy-curriculum-for-teachers

Bardin, L. (2006). Análise de conteúdo. Lisboa: Edições 70. Bauman, Z. (1999). J. Zahar (Ed.), Globalização: as consequências humanas. Rio de Janeiro. Bauman, Z. (2001). Modernidade líquida. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Ed. Botelho-Francisco, R. E. (2014). Interatividade e literacias emergentes em contextos de inclusão digital: um estudo netnográfico no programa AcessaSP [PhD. Thesis]. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo. Capobianco, L. (2010). Abordagem multidisciplinar de literacia digital para pesquisa em comunicação. In B. Passarelli & J. Azevedo (Orgs.), Atores em rede: olhares luso-brasileiros. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo. Castells, M. (1999). A sociedade em rede. 2 ed. São Paulo: Paz e Terra. Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil – CGI.br. (2013). TIC Domicílios e Empresas 2012: Pesquisa sobre o uso das tecnologias de informação e comunicação no Brasil. São Paulo: Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil. Retrieved from http://www.cetic.br/publicacoes/2012/tic-domicilios-2012.pdf da Costa, R. (2008). A cultura digital. 3 ed. São Paulo: Publifolha. Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos. (1998). Brasília: Unesco. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ images/0013/001394/139423por.pdf

Gere, C. (2002). Digital Culture. London: Reaktion Books.

Guzzi, D. (2010). Web e participação: a democracia no século XXI. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo. Hine, C. (2000). The virtual ethnography. London: Sage. Jenkins, H. (2008). Cultura da convergência. São Paulo: Aleph. Johnson, S. (2001). Cultura da interface: como o computador transforma nossa maneira de criar e comunicar. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar. Kozinets, R. V. (2002). The Field Behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities. JMR, Journal of Marketing Research, 39(1), 61–72. Retrieved from http://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/methods/ netnography.pdf doi:10.1509/jmkr.39.1.61.18935 Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lévy, P. (1993). As tecnologias da inteligência: o futuro do pensamento na era da informática. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. 34. Matus, C. (1996). Adeus, senhor presidente: governantes governados. São Paulo: FUNDAP.

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Mcmillan, S. (2002). Exploring models of interactivity from multiple research traditions: users, documents and systems. In L. A. Lievrouw, & S. Livingstone (Eds). Handbook of new media: social shaping and consequences of ICTS. Student ed. London: Sage. Passareli, B. (2009). Atores em Rede: 20 anos na esteira da construção coletiva do conhecimento Relatos de Pesquisa. Proceedings of Anais do 15o. Congresso Internacional de Educação a Distância (ABED), 15º Congresso Internacional de Educação a Distância (ABED). São Paulo: Asssociação Brasileira de Educação a Distância. Retrieved from http://www.abed.org.br/congresso2009/CD/ trabalhos/1452009163802.pdf Passareli, B. (2011). School of the Future Research Laboratory/USP: action research and emerging literacies studies in WEB 2.0 environments. Journal of Community Informatics, 7. Passarelli, B. et al. (no prelo). Identidade conceitual e cruzamentos disciplinares. In B. Passarelli, A. Malheiro, F. Ramos (Orgs.). Infocomunicação digital: paradigmas e aplicações. São Paulo: Senac São Paulo. Passarelli, B., & Azevedo, J. (Orgs.). (2010). Atores em rede: olhares luso-brasileiros. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo. Passarelli, B., Freire, C., & Moreno, J. K. (2009). Social Networking as Social and Cultural Reconfiguration: a Case Study of AcessaSP. Proceedings of the 12th IASTED International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology in Education, IASTED - International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology in Education, Calgary. ACTA Press.

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Passarelli, B., Guzzi, D., Dimantas, H., & Moreno, J. K. (2009). Atores em Rede: Subjetividades e desejos em expansão. Logos (Rio de Janeiro), 16, 30. Passarelli, B., & Junqueira, A. H. (2012). Gerações Interativas Brasil: crianças e adolescentes diante das telas. São Paulo: Escola do Futuro, Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Passarelli, B., Junqueira, A. H., & BotelhoFrancisco, R. E. (2012). Netnografia no Programa de Inclusão Digital AcessaSP. Comunicação & Educação, (1), 13-22. Passarelli, B., & Kiyomura, J. (2010). Atores em rede: etnografia virtual no programa AcessaSP. In B. Passarelli & J. Azevedo (Eds.), Orgs.). Atores em rede: Olhares Luso-Brasileiros. São Paulo: Senac São Paulo. Passarelli, B., Tavernari, M., & Salla, T. M. (2010). Literacias Emergentes dos Atores em Rede: Etnografia Virtual com Idosos no Programa de Inclusão Digital AcessaSP. Prisma.com, 12, 13. Primo, A. (2007). Interação mediada por computador: comunicação, cibercultura, cognição. Porto Alegre: Sulina. Quivy, R., & Campenhoudt, L. V. (2008). Manual de investigação em ciências sociais. Lisboa: Gradiva. São Paulo (Estado). (2006). Companhia de Processamento de Dados do Estado de São Paulo. Relatório de gestão 2006 do AcessaSP. São Paulo: Imprensa Oficial. Tourine, A. (1998). Igualdade e diversidade: o sujeito democrático. São Paulo: EDUSC.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS AcessaSP: A Brazilian program that operates in digital inclusion and social role of the availability of equipment, infrastructure and free Internet access. Digital Culture: The term is used to represent a clear and almost total transformation of the world by digital technology. Has been used frequently by movements that have championed issues ranging from practical hacker and digital to independent music and solidarity economy. Digital Inclusion: Political and social estrategy used for a provide access to computers, ICT tools and Internet. Information and Communication Technologies: The term is used to refer to communications systems, telecommunications, hardware, software

and other technologies that enable access, store, transmit and manipulate information. Interactivity: This work includes interactivity as a result of interaction contexts between humans and humans, humans and documents and humans and computer systems, in a participatory technology perspective. The expression translates control shifts among senders and receivers. Internet: A global system of interconnected computer networks. Media and Information Literacy: A combination of two distinct areas, information literacy and media literacy. Literacies, in that sense, emerge as a concept capable of providing new insights into the reality of practices in network. Netnography: A methodological approach to the study of Digital Culture. The term comes from “Internet” and “ethnography”.

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Chapter 16

Critical Analysis of an Amazon Program of Digital Inclusion: Navegapará in the City of Belém Waléria de Melo Magalhães Federal University of Pará, Brazil Marianne Kogut Eliasquevici Federal University of Pará, Brazil Benedito de Jesus Pinheiro Ferreira Federal University of Pará, Brazil

ABSTRACT This chapter aims to present a study of the digital inclusion program of the Government of the State of Pará, named Navegapará, particularly its educational components within Infocenters of Belém. During the period from March to September of 2012, 26 schools were selected, along with certain teachers and directors from the schools. A questionnaire was applied to better characterize the sample of schools visited, and it was possible to carry out a critical analysis of the data obtained and verify the potential of the program, as well as to show some points that must be reviewed, such as providing good training for teachers and ensuring that equipment is in good condition. These are still valid data in that they provide fundamental indicators for the appropriate development of digital inclusion and educational informatics within the schools.

INTRODUCTION The role of schools in developing countries such as Brazil includes not only the task of supplying a formal education but also acting as a privileged locus to foster digital inclusion. According to Lima, Silva, Jambeiro, and Brandão (2011), information and communication technologies (ICTs) must

enable access to information and support certain rights. Otherwise, they can work as another form of exclusion and limitation. Regarding digital inclusion, according to Navegapará (2009), it is a wide concept that means not only access to a computer connected to the Internet but also fostering the improvement of the life quality for the population via ICTs.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch016

Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

 Critical Analysis of an Amazon Program of Digital Inclusion

Regarding the use of ICTs in education, it is necessary to make the technology physically accessible. Having enough teachers and equipment that is in good conditions are essential to placing the technology in the school environment. The challenge is huge not only for the government but also for the teachers, principals, and all the staff members of the school. Education using ICTs mandates radical changes, so this revolution cannot be solely teachers’ responsibility. Principals, secretaries of education, and managers at different levels must be committed to the pedagogical innovation, according to Neves (2009). The public system of education is normally dependent of the policies, programs, and investments of the government at the federal, state, and municipal levels to subsidize the actions needed in the educational process (formation, infrastructure, minimum curriculum, purchase of equipment, etc.). Regarding digital inclusion, a great deal of experiences are taking place in Brazil due to the programs and projects created by the government. Among these, we highlight Navegapará, a digital inclusion program offered by the State Government of Pará since 2007. The aim of this chapter is to present the results of a study performed by Magalhães (2012), in which the author studied a representative sample of infocenters1 from the city of Belém to analyze whether the Navegapará program was able to generate conditions in public schools of the city of Belém (capital of Pará) that foster digital inclusion.

BACKGROUND Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a group of resources and technologies related to information and communicative processes that allow the generation, storage, process, and reproduction of information. These ICTs have been used as tools for learning to a remarkable

degree, which can be perceived both in theoretical discussions and in the elaboration or construction of a large number of educational tools. However, before making these tools available in schools, it is necessary to have a critical view of how these tools would be used, which should take into account the previous experience potential users have had with technologies. Because a large proportion of Brazilians do not have access to ICTs, the mere presence of ICTs in a school may not help the students. Having fair access to ICTs is seen as promoting effective social inclusion, but this may not take all the circumstances of the students’ lives into account. This is just another consequence of longstanding differences in the distribution of power and income, according to Eliasquevici (2007). Being digitally connected is necessary to foster interaction between the citizens and the world of information and communication. However, in Brazil, this is still far from reality, despite the increasing numbers of people connected to the Internet. Data from National Research through a Sample of Households (2012) disclosed by the Institution of Geography and Statistics of Brazil indicate that about 46% of ten-year-olds have not yet accessed the Internet. The reality of the State of Pará, located in the north of the country, is no different. More than five thousand cities listed in the Census of 2010 were surveyed, and it was found that the capital of the State of Pará lies in the 17th position, with 54.77% of the population having access to the Internet. Although having access to Internet is not a decisive factor in being digitally connected, these data are alarming because guaranteed access is crucial. With regard to digital inclusion, it is commonly believed that to include citizens digitally means to guarantee access to computers for all people and simply teach them how to use Office packages. This thought results in false conceptions of digital inclusion (Soares & Alves, 2008). This situation is widely observed, for instance, in communities

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and schools that receive new computers cannot use them, due to a lack of proper infrastructure, connection to the Internet, or qualified teachers to help students acquire the required knowledge. Papert (1993) argues that simply knowing how to use a computer and using computing ideas are not enough. It is necessary to know when and why to use a computer. Digital inclusion does not mean only teaching people how to become literate in computing but also improving social frameworks based on the use of computers on a daily basis. Reinforcing this issue, Selwyn and Facer (2007) claim that digital inclusion is not just a matter of ensuring that everyone is able to make “intelligent” use of the ICTs, i.e., using ICTs properly at all times. Within this scope, it is assumed that the school becomes one of the most appropriate means of digital inclusion provided that any technology is included in a greater context of personal, relational, productive, and cognitive development. Thus, the metaphor of a tripod is an interesting way to understand the interrelationship between school and digital inclusion. This tripod is comprised of 1) the necessary infrastructure, 2) the qualification of teachers, and 3) the integration of ICTs into the curriculum. All of these should be linked harmoniously, allowing the use of ICTs in an appropriate and “intelligent” way. According to Soares Neto, De Jesus, Karino, and De Andrade (2013), fostering education with digital inclusion requires guaranteeing an environment with the proper conditions to enable the learning process. It is important to offer a physical environment (here understood as a school infrastructure) that makes the learning process accessible and reinforces human interactions. In Brazil, for instance, the responsibility of installing the necessary infrastructure in public schools should be shared between the state and the municipal government. Beyond the infrastructure and the reservation of a room for a computer laboratory, another essential condition is the active interaction between

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the student and the technology, which should be mediated by the teacher. This factor characterizes the second segment of the tripod. Teachers’ ICT qualifications should emphasize the use of ICTs as a support and not as main element of the educational process. Furthermore, it is important to take into account the pedagogical and social context and the ways in which the technologies are a part of students’ lives because they have a great impact on the way people think and learn. Reinforcing this thought, Marques and Caetano (2002) claims that the qualification of teachers in new technologies allows that each teacher perceives, from his own reality, interests and expectations and how the technologies can be useful for them. The effective use of the technology by the students should firstly come after the assimilation of the technology by the teachers. It is the responsibility of the teachers not only to transmit knowledge but also to promote opportunities for reflection, the interchange of ideas, solutions for problems, and mutual cooperation. This is important in encouraging the learning process of the students, and ICTs can be helpful in this respect. Teachers should be prepared to guide and accompany the students, contributing through the pedagogical act by helping students understand the benefits of technologies regarding the learning process. However, the potential of the use of ICTs in education has not been yet fulfilled, due to the difficulty of integrating them into the school curriculum. According to Armstrong and Casement (2001), a great many efforts are employed to integrate computers into the school curriculum. However, the simple fact that computers can be used in school does not mean they should be. Due to the lack of accurate educational goals, providing classrooms with computers results in using them as expensive toys. Therefore, in addition to offering the necessary infrastructure and training for teachers, the final leg of the tripod is promoting the integration of ICTs into the school curriculum. The statement

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of Marques and Caetano (2002) regarding what is necessary for the inclusion of computers in schools can be extended to ICTs more broadly. First, ICTs should contribute to the school curriculum, the completion of projects, work with school subjects (mathematics, Portuguese, geography, etc.), and training students and teachers in how to use a computer. Second, ICTs should help educators in pedagogic practice, as well as the students, as a tool for research and investigation. Finally, ICTs must help to develop better education, making it possible to exchange knowledge and increasing school efficiency. Based on this tripod, without minimizing the importance of other elements (integrating ICT into the curriculum, teacher education), the present study will highlight the relevance of having policies that ensure proper infrastructure so that advances can be made regarding digital inclusion and education, particularly in a region with a level of development below the national average.

STUDY DESCRIPTION Context Not with standing the growing necessity of the use of ICTs as tools for digital inclusion in schools, the PNAD 2012 study points out that about threefourths of the public schools in Brazil, where 36.7% of students attend classes, there are no computer laboratories. In addition, only 35% of Brazilian households can access the Internet. It can be inferred that a major part of the Brazilian population remains in the category of the digitally excluded (INEP, 2012). In terms of region, the North and the Northeast have more than 50% of enrolled students in schools without laboratories (INEP, 2012). Some general data (Pará, 2014) highlight the uneven development of Brazilian regions and sub-regions in the educational and social fields. In the year of 2010, the rate of il-

literacy in Brazil was at 8.8%, while in the North region, it was at 10.5%, and in Pará, it was 11.1%. Regarding the Development of Basic Education Rate (DBER), which is the method of evaluation implemented by the Brazilian Government, in 2011, the country displayed an overall rate of 3.9, while the state of Pará was at 3.5. It is possible to infer a certain advance in this regard, because in 2005, the distance of the state from the country as a whole was even more dramation (Brazil 3.6 and Pará 2.7). However, taking into account that the situation of the country as a whole is far of a desirable situation, there is still much to be done in this area. Another index that can be cited is the Municipal Human Development Index (INEP, 2012). Again, we can see improvement over the past decade; however, regional inequality remains. In 2000, the average index of the country was 0.612, as compared to 0.518 for the state of Pará. In 2010, those indices were 0.727 (Brazil) and 0.646 (Pará). The Municipal Human Development Index for the region of Marajó (one of the sub-regions of Pará) was more than 0.382 in 2000, reaching 0.524 in 2010 (INEP, 2012). This shows the importance of a program focused on digital inclusion and its position in education, such as Navegapará. Launched in 2007 and comprised of actions related to the improvement of the indices of digital inclusion of the region, Navegapará is a program of the Government of Pará that focuses on the implementation of a public system of communication using the World Wide Web to reliably interconnect institutes of research, schools, public hospitals, and some other Departments of State and Municipal Administration, as well as offering public infocenters. The program is based on an agreement signed by the Data Processing of the State of Pará Company (PRODEPA), the Secretary of Development in Science and Technology (SEDECT), Eletronorte (Central of Electricity of the North of Brazil S.A.), and Metrobel (Metropolitan Computer Network of Belém)2.

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Sample Selection

The objectives of Navegapará, according to Portal Navegapará (2010), are as follows: 1) Strengthen the opportunities for development for all regions of the state through the democratization of access to the resources of computing and the Internet via the use of free software, 2) offer the low-income population access to computing and capacitation, 3) widen the functional literacy in computing for the economically active population, 4) improve the quality of basic education and offer students at public schools access to new methodologies of learning, along with a larger amount of curricular and extracurricular content, and 5) contribute to the social inclusion of groups with disabilities. More specifically, in the area of education, the program aims to achieve the following:

It was decided to work only in the capital of the state because it is the region in which the largest number of students are enrolled in the program (more than 200,000 students). The characterization of the sample was performed based on a previous survey of state schools in the city of Belém that had a computer lab provided by Navegapará. These 244 schools were divided according to their Regional Education Units (REUs)3, the method employed by the Municipal Secretary of Education. Considering this division of the sample, two schools were selected from each REU, which represented 10% of all schools in each REU. A total of 26 schools were surveyed.

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Data Source and Analyses

• • •

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Digital and social inclusion by interconnecting public schools with the network in the capital and the countryside in a way that it fosters the social inclusion of digitally excluded populations. Distance education. Distance education for professionals in education to eliminate physical commutes and additional expenses. Modernization of educational management to offer support for integration among the departments of the school, such as the library and the teachers’ and principal’s rooms, as well as the automation of bureaucratic services. Videoconferencing.

According to Navegapará, as mentioned on a news website (Rede Cidade Digital, 2013), through the program, more than 70,000 citizens have already been registered, and more than 10,000 have already been trained in basic computing. Although the program emphasizes educational goals, it is not clear how these goals will be accomplished.

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The work developed by Magalhães (2012) used quantitative and qualitative approaches, specifically a statistical approach and subjective analyses performed by means of oral narratives. It was an empirical study based on data collection from reality (primary and secondary data) using various research techniques. We used the questionnaire as one of the tools for data collection because the sample of schools was representative, enabling the analysis of a large amount of data in order to meet the objectives of the research. Semi-open interviews were held subsequently so that the respondents could discuss the proposed theme without predetermined conditions. Furthermore, the interview method fills potential gaps in the questionnaire. The data collection occurred between the months of March and September 2012. To implement the interviews, six schools that reported some kind of pedagogical work with ICTs were then selected. For research purposes the schools were named in the following way: REU 2: school C; REU 6: school L; REU 8: school; REU 10: school S; and REU 13: School Y.

 Critical Analysis of an Amazon Program of Digital Inclusion

Results For the purposes of this chapter, the results are related to the Navegapará tripod-based program’s infrastructure, teacher preparation, and the integration of ICTs into the school curriculum in order to scrutinize the conditions of the schools surveyed for the promotion of digital inclusion. The research questions that guided this study were as follows:

and Education of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore showed that classes with an average of 17 students performed better regarding the use of information technology than classes that ranged from 35 to 40 students, which is the average size of classes in state schools of Belém. Within this scenario, the account of a teacher illustrates that in many situations, there are problems that could apparently be resolved quickly:

1. Infrastructure: How is the laboratory infrastructure, considering not only the purchase of machinery but also maintenance costs? 2. Training of Teachers: How do teachers feel about their training in the use of ICTs in the educational process? Are there programs providing qualifications for teachers? 3. Integration of ICTs into the Curriculum: Are ICTs being integrated into school curricula and teaching practice?

These machines are not being used for months, and the problems of each are simple. They are only that the mouse isn’t working or that the keypad has some broken keys, among other “silly” things. Despite these being easy to fix, I cannot do them. I called and had the technician bring what is missing, but so far, nothing has happened. It’s been three weeks. I even offered to pick up what is needed, but I can’t, because they have to follow their rules4.

Infrastructure

Still, regarding the difficulties faced, the other following account describes one way that teachers found to continue their activities in the laboratory:

Regarding the number of computers intended for educational use, the research has shown that 42% of schools had ten to 15 computers for educational use and that 58% had more than 15 computers. It must be emphasized that the data referring to the number of computers per student and the equipment intended for educational use only reflect the number of machines that could be used and not the total number existing in the lab. For all respondents, the number of machines was insufficient, which can be illustrated through the account of a teacher in charge of the computer lab at one of the schools surveyed. The teacher stated that only eleven of the 20 machines were in usable condition. Armstrong and Casement (2001) state that the U.S. Department of education recommends one computer for every five students. However, the difficulty is not only related to the number of computers per student in a school, because the class size must be noted as well. An educational study performed by the Center of Social Organization

Both I and the other teachers have already called the technician responsible for our USE, and so far, nothing has happened. It has already been five weeks without Internet. To continue the classes here in the computer room and not discourage the teacher from coming here with his class, I do the following: I talk in advance to the teacher of the subject so that I am aware of the content of the lesson. I go home and search for all the content that the teacher will teach next class. I download this content onto my flash drive and bring it to school. Before class, I save this content to every machine5. The large number of maintenance requests creates a clog of calls that the few technicians are not able to meet effectively. In general, there was only a technician for each REU, i.e., one technician to serve about 18 and 20 schools. Considering that only a single laboratory could present several 269

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problems, the maintenance service could take days in a single environment, causing delays for the other schools. In addition to these problems, it was mentioned by participants that 88% of schools had problems relating to the physical structure of the laboratories, mainly regarding the cooling and the countertops. What can be inferred is that despite the existence of laboratories, the number of machines was still unsuitable in relation to the number of students per class, and poor maintenance routinely interferes with lab work.

Training of the Teachers According to Armstrong and Casement (2001), if a teacher lacks experience and does not receive proper and continuous training in the handling of the technologies, all the investment made in the purchase and maintenance of equipment and infrastructure will be wasted. With regard to the training/qualification of teachers responsible for the lab, it was found that all of them had higher education, with a specialization in computer science already completed or in progress. This is an important factor because interaction with environments that feature a new form of logic is no easy task. Concerning the duration of experience, it was observed that ten teachers had less than a year of experience in the lab, twelve had between one and three years, and only four had more than four years of experience. Before managing the computer room, all teachers undergo training to become responsible for the lab. However, we should take into account the fact that not all teachers attended the training regularly. Of the 26 respondents, only five said they regularly attend the training course. When asked why they did not attend the training, 15 answered that it was due to a lack of time. Despite being held only once a month, it was difficult to stop going to school to do attend the training. According to these 15 respondents, their absence from the school lab was simply unacceptable because

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the other teachers did not want to be responsible for taking care of the space during the school day. The six remaining respondents admitted that they did not attend training for the sake of convenience. Unfortunately, what the research showed was that it was not common for teachers of certain subjects to use the lab to complement their practice. Regarding the reasons, these teachers did not use the lab more often, 45% of them believed it was due to the discomfort that they felt when working with computers, and 55% of them say the reason is the lack of time. The discomfort of the teacher in working with students in the lab occurred due to a lack of knowledge about the functioning of the equipment and the use of the software available. Regarding the level of preparation of teachers in the schools surveyed, this is still an open question because those responsible for laboratories as teachers did not seem motivated to apply their learning for known reasons, such as work overload and the need to teach in more than one school. Thus, there should be investment in continuing training to enhance these professionals’ skills and knowledge regarding the use of ICTs in the curriculum.

Integrating the ICTs into the Curriculum In the interviews with subject teachers, it was noted that few used the computer lab in their classes. However, those who claimed to make use of this space in a way unrelated to curricular content believe that they have created satisfactory learning situations for students. These teachers have managed to hold their classes inside the lab, turning theory to the practice and transforming pedagogical practice into reflections and actions for student development. The exception was those who had difficulties with using the operating system used. The subjects of science, foreign language, geography, history, and biology were the most often taught within the lab. The most used resources were slide shows, videos, and Internet browsing to prepare for seminar presentation.

 Critical Analysis of an Amazon Program of Digital Inclusion

In loco, it was observed that the motivation to take students into the computer lab must come from the teachers themselves. These teachers have glimpsed the potential contribution that information and communication technology represents for learning. When this incentive does not come from the teachers themselves, it comes from the teachers of the laboratories, who do so informally to convince the other teachers to make use of this space, which does not always occur. It was observed that 98% of the schools visited did not use specific educational software to assist in the learning process. Only a single school used language dictionary software. According to the teacher who used this software, the performance of her classes has increased, as has the interest levels and grades of her students. In 31% of schools, there was no computer-related educational program geared toward students before the Navegapará, while 69% had already developed some educational computing project. Thus, in the schools surveyed, there was no integration of ICTs into the school curriculum in a significant way. The important thing is not to view them as only technological tools, let alone treat them as an obligation in the classroom. However, the use of these tools associated with pedagogical objectives may be effective when combined with digital inclusion throughout the school.

tal inclusion at school. However, a school needs more then infrastructure. It is no use having an infrastructure if the teachers do not feel prepared to give life and meaning to ICT. On the other hand, if the goal is to achieve more integrated work, there is no way to disregard the importance of ICT to the school curriculum. Thus, it is crucial to extend the theoretical and empirical research to more deeply examine the individual roles of each of these elements and how to expand the study to include other important agents, such as students, families, and school managers. Students must embed their way of using ICTs, such as the paths they take to search for content, to add to the context of the class; the family can cooperate in this approach, and the school manager must promote and maintain in-school integration, as well as coherence and consistency among all dimensions of educational work. In this regard, Lück (2002) focuses on the achievement of the social role of school and the quality of educational actions towards its main objective: the learning and training of students. It is also a good idea to point out the possibility of extending this research to other cities in the state of Pará. It is believed that the reality experienced in the capital can be very different from that found in the cities in the countryside in terms of geographical specificities, budget, etc.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

CONCLUSION

The outcomes found in this study reinforce the need for harmony between various aspects of a coherent educational policy or, in other words, the legs of the infrastructure/training/curricular integration tripod, so that the school will be capable of fostering digital inclusion and the improvement of the teaching/learning process. Technology must be inserted into a larger context of personal skills and relational, cognitive, and productive development. Without adequate infrastructure, it is not possible to improve projects aimed at digi-

Information and communication technologies have been gaining importance in the educational setting. In this scenario, it is clear from the study that the use of computers and the Internet as tools for learning requires the implementation of a policy that involves several elements in addition to the provision of equipment. It is important to develop public policies that invest in the popularization of ICT as a way to facilitate the life of the population, making it possible to shorten distances, improve medical care,

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enhance security, and decrease the wait in public agencies, in addition to making communication between macro and micro-regions easier. In this way, the Navegapará comes with a public policy of digital inclusion that aims to benefit public education in the state, along with the possibility including educational computing in the training of students. The results presented in this chapter were important in order to indicate the need for program improvement in several respects. It is essential that there is a realignment in the program in terms of its sustainability and adaptation techniques because it seeks to provide an initial structure but not to address other important factors, such as maintenance, warranty service, teachers ‘ qualification, and changes to the school curriculum. There is also the need for partnerships that provide subsidies. However, in order to use ICT in education, it is not only important to make the technology accessible. Having good teacher training and equipment in good condition for use are essential to developing digital inclusion and educational informatics within the school. Teacher training should include a curriculum that is carefully prepared to foster reading and writing skills in digital media. However, teaching and learning are not synonymous with exercising skills. They are social practices that depend on the relationship between teacher and student. This is a great challenge that involves students, teachers, and various other professionals within the school, as well as those responsible for the development and implementation of educational policies.

Eliasquevici, M. K. (2007). Inclusão digital como instrumento de inclusão social. Beira do Rio. Jornal da Universidade Federal do Pará. Retrieved from http://www.jornalbeiradorio.ufpa.br/novo/index. php/2007/29-edicao-51/352-opiniao-inclusaodigital-como-instrumento-de-inclusao-social

REFERENCES

Neves, C. D. (2009). Educar com TICs: o caminho entre a excepcionalidade e a invisibilidade. Boletim Técnico do Senac. Boletim Técnico do Senac. Boletim Técnico do Senac. Rio de Janeiro, 35(3). Retrieved from http://www.senac.br/BTS/353/ artigo-02.pdf

Armstrong, A., & Casement, C. (2001). A criança e a máquina: como os computadores colocam a educação de nossos filhos em risco. Porto Alegre: Artmed.

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INEP. Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira. (2012) Censo escolar da educação básica 2012. Resumo Técnico. Brasília-DF, Inep, 2013. Lima, J., Silva, H., Jambeiro, O., & Brandão, M. A. (2011). Inclusão digital e educação para a competência informacional: Uma questão de ética e cidadania e cidadania. Ci. Inf, 34(1), 28–36. Lück, H. (2009). Dimensões da gestão escolar e suas competências. Curitiba: Editora Positivo. Retrieved from http://cedhap.com.br/publico/ ge_dimensoes-gestao-escolar.pdf Magalhães, W. M. (2012). Análise do Programa de Inclusão Digital Navegapará em Escolas da Rede Estadual do Município de Belém. Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciência da Computação. UFPA. Marques, A. C., & Caetano, J. D. S. (2002). Utilização da informática na escola. MERCADO, Luís Paulo Leopoldo. Novas Tecnologias na Educação: reflexões sobre a prática (pp. 131–168). Maceió: EDUFAL. Navegapará. (2009). Guia para Inclusão Digital do Navegapará. Manual do cidadão. Governo do Pará. Navegapará. (2010). Projeto de Implementação Navegapará. Governo do Pará.

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Papert, S. (1993). A máquina das crianças: repensando a escola na era da informática (S. Costa, Trans.). Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas. Pará, Governo do Estado do Pará. (2014) Companhia de Habitação do Estado do Pará. Síntese e atualização do Plano Estadual de Habitação de Interesse Social Rede Cidade Digital (2013) Região norte do Brasil possui 133 cidades digitais. Retrieved from http://redecidadedigital.com.br/ noticias.php?id=472&data=Regi%C3%A3o%20 norte%20do%20Brasil%20possui%20133%20 cidades%20digitais Pesquisa Nacional de Amostra Domiciliar2012, P. N. A. D. Rio de Janeiro, v. 32, p.1-134, Selwyn, N., & Tapia, A. (2007). Beyond the digital divide: Rethinking digital inclusion for the 21st century. Retrieved from http://www2.futurelab. org.uk/resources/documents/opening_education/ Digital_Divide.pdf Soares, C. D. S., & Alves, T. D. S. (2008). Sociedade da informação no Brasil: inclusão digital e a importância do profissional de TI. Rio de Janeiro: Centro Universitário Carioca.

Infocentro: Locations equipped with computers using free software and public access to information and communication technologies and the Internet community. Its focus is on the use of tics to support the community, economic, educational and social development. Legal Amazon: Region of northern Brazil known for its tropical forest and represents 61% of Brazilian territory. This region is characterized by its river basin is the world’s largest, with nearly 4 million square kilometers of extension. It is an important means of transport in the region. Navegapará: Social program of digital inclusion Pará State Government aiming to enhance and expand regional development opportunities, through the democratization of the access to information and communication technologies.

ENDNOTES

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Soares Neto, J. J. S., De Jesus, G. R., Karino, C. A., & De Andrade, D. F. (2013). Uma escala para medir a infraestrutura escolar. Estudos em Avaliação Educacional, 24(54), 78–99. doi:10.18222/ eae245420131903

3

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Citizenship: Capacity of each individual to fully exercise their rights and duties. Inclusão Digital: An effort to ensure citizens exercise their participation in the knowledge society through access to information and communication technologies. Inclusion: Set of actions relating to individuals the benefits of human progress in different fields.



4



5

Infocenters are public rooms equipped with personal computers using free software and connected to the Internet. The Metrobel Network is the first of the new projects of the metropolitan network dedicated to research and education that uses its own optical fiber. The network has been working since April of 2007, connecting public and private educational institutions in Belém and Ananindeua through fiber optic cable using Ethernet gigabyte technology. REU:Regional Education Units are a way in which the Secretary of Education of the State of Pará divides the public school. This division is done with strategic purposes to better manage the schools and guarantee vacancy to the students in schools nearby their neighborhood. Interview held with the teacher for the computer lab of School H on March 5th, 2012 Interview held with the teacher for School I, Unit 5 on March 10th, 2012.

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Section 3

Digital Inclusion Projects in Europe

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Chapter 17

Information Policies:

Agenda for Digital Inclusion in the European Union Maria Teresa Fernández-Bajón Universidad Complutense, Spain

ABSTRACT EU policies for digital inclusion outline strategies and action plans based around the implementation of a digitally inclusive society in its member countries. The governing principles of these policies are based on the concept of a knowledge society for everyone, with no place for digital divides that might threaten cohesion and prosperity in Europe and, as such, these policies must encourage greater use of the Internet, increase broadband coverage, promote digital literacy and uphold the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. In 2010, the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Regions Committee, publishes the Digital Agenda for Europe, (2010). A key document that outlines the European policy for ICTs and establishes the priorities of the EU in this area until 2020. The purpose of the Agenda is to outline a space that allows maximization of the economic and social potential of ICTs and specifically Internet as an essential support of society.

INTRODUCTION This chapter reviews decisions, strategies and plans of action of the European Union in digital inclusion policies. In this framework, we proceed to establish a short diagnostic on the guidelines for implementing these policies based on the principle of a society of digital inclusion for all, avoiding the digital gap that affects Europe’s cohesion and prosperity. Then we analyze the European Digital

Agenda as an essential policy whose purpose is to draw an area to maximize the economic and social potential of the ICTs, especially the Internet. We will stress that the ultimate purpose of this Agenda is promoting innovation, economic growth and the improvement of the knowledge society. Finally, as an added point of reflection, we discuss Spain’s Digital Agenda and its importance in the digital inclusion society.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch017

Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

 Information Policies

DIGITAL INCLUSION IN THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY From a historical point of view, over the past century we have witnessed huge changes in the field of science that have been driven by new technology. As a result, these changes have brought cognitive resources, knowledge and research to the heart of the development of knowledge societies. On an international level, this vision of the future was detailed in the last UNESCO Global Report, in 2005, entitled Towards Knowledge Societies, in which scientific research was highlighted as an implicit activity in the knowledge society project. At the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in in 2003, UNESCO supported the idea of one single and global knowledge society, reflecting the trends at that time and defining a vision of a desirable future. However, its current view is that this society will only manifest in its truest sense if it becomes a means of supporting the construction of multiple knowledge societies that provide ethical and practical responsesto key human development issues. In the words of Koichiro Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO, “the Report emphasises the need to renew an ethic for the guidance of emerging knowledge societies, an ethic of freedom and of responsibility. An ethic that, let us repeat, will rest upon the sharing of knowledge”(UNESCO Report, 2005, p.6). In this respect, the 2005 Report’s focus on knowledge societies highlights two key premises on which the entire document is based: 1. It suggests that we are currently immersed in one type of knowledge society and need to evolve towards a knowledge society in which all different fields of knowledge are interconnected and able to evolve alongside scientific and technological progress. 2. It offers the following distinction between an information society and a knowledge

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society: if the first is based on technological progress related to communication, knowledge societies encompass social, ethical and political dimensions. Knowledge societies are referred to in plural in recognition of assumed cultural diversitiesy. In fact, diversity and creativity are equivalents in a true knowledge society in a virtuous cycle breakthroughs in knowledge generate more knowledge thanks to technological innovation. As is widely known, information and knowledge are indispensable to creation, giving rise to what Manual Castell defines as a cycle of accumulative feedback, understanding that shared information grows and multiplies of its own accord. As such, it appears that connections must be established between research and action so that communication and information can be used to foster knowledge transfer. It is also clear that current realities need to be recognised in order to make proposals for converging channels, respecting and emphasizing diversity at the same time. Elaborating on this point, it is important to remember that the most recent theories of economic growth point to knowledge as a production factor seen in all the most effective production and organization methods, and in the best products and services. This all suggests that infrastructure plays a decisive role in boosting productivity and that the development of such infrastructure requires a great deal of scientific knowledge, which, in turn, tends to generate new knowledge. In this circular society, where information generates more information and knowledge innovation creates more knowledge, broader access to information is essential for creating knowledge and reducing inequality among citizens, (CuevasCerveró, 2014, 35-48).Along these lines, and from diverse branches of academic and intellectual knowledge, there is a growing consensus that new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers valuable advantages but also

 Information Policies

highlights or raises a worrying issue, namely universal access to information. Without doubt, the relevance of this informative process not only depends on ICT but also on its insertion into a knowledge-production system with public policies that strengthen and defend social equality. In this respect, it goes without saying that an advanced digital-knowledge society is one in which the majority of citizens have regular access to the Internet and benefit from using online resources. As such, the digitalization of information is consubstantial with the construction of a new society, guaranteeing common access to information and contributing to the creation of a digitally inclusive society. As mentioned above, a digital-knowledge society faced with a digital divide must assume a more participatory approach to accessing knowledge based on integrationist policies which, in the long term, will lead to participation at all levels of Public Administration –local, regional, national and European–, public institutions, private companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), school and universities through specially designed education programs. Some public policies call for equal access to digital opportunities to prevent new forms of exclusion; that is, policies which include all citizens in a digitally inclusive information and knowledge society through governmental and private action that guarantees their democratic integration into this society. Without such policies, it would be difficult for digitalization to contribute to equal access and to the incorporation of ICT; however, these actions or policies stimulated or designed by governments must, in the end, be led by the State. In this way, the State becomes a fundamental agent in the development of new policies as the nexus of social, economic and political development. In short, from all the above we can conclude that digital inclusion is important not only as an equality process but also as a field of research that is of critical value in the construction of social and digital information policies. The planning of

these policies requires broader and more unified research in this field to analyze the social repercussions of the various digital-knowledge policies that are adopted. It is from this dual perspective that we study digitally inclusive knowledge policies; because they transform society and add critical value in the process of creating information policy.

BACKGROUND: EUROPEAN POLICIES FOR DIGITAL INCLUSION EU policies for digital inclusion outline strategies and action plans based around the implementation of a digitally inclusive society in its member countries, an ethos that is echoed by the Director of the Representation of the European Commission in Spain, Francisco Fonseca Morillo, in the foreword to the book Fuentes de información de la UE y organismos Internacionales (RamónReyero; Luengo-Rodríguez, 2011, p.5). On the subject of European policy, the European Council promotes knowledge and innovation as key drivers of sustainable growth and calls for the creation of a fully integrationist information society based on common access to ICT in public services, SMEs, etc. Under this premise, European institutions work to provide access to information and information technology in order to ensure all citizens become part of the knowledge society, publishing regulations that set out a new framework for cooperation in activities relating to EU digital inclusion policies. The governing principles of these policies are based on the concept of a knowledge society for everyone, with no place for digital divides that might threaten cohesion and prosperity in Europe and, as such, these policies must encourage greater use of the Internet, increase broadband coverage, promote digital literacy and uphold the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

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Twenty-first-century EU digital inclusion policies are drafted around the eEuropeInitiative approved at the Lisbon Special European Council in 2000. Since then, various digital inclusion programs and action plans have been launched that focus on the projection of a fully inclusive Europe in terms of digital knowledge. The key objectives of this Initiative are: 1. To ensure cheap, fast and secure Internet access; 2. To invest in training; 3. To promote Internet useby applying a suitable methodology to a series of parameters and indicators of the progress being made. In light of these general objectives of the eEurope Initiative, all subsequent action has been defined on an ad hoc basis depending on the specific measures required in each case, giving rise, chronologically, to the following action plans. • • • •

2002 Action Plan 2005 Action Plan i2010 Europe 2020 Strategy.

eEurope 2002 Action Plan The eEurope 2002Action Plan focused on updating standards and regulations governingInternet access, and on creating a single free market for all telecommunication services. It also produced strategies for network and information security, guaranteeing a high level of protection of user privacy and free circulation of personal data. Key results of this plan, according to the eEurope 2002 Final Report, included a rise of home Internet access in the EU from 18% in 2000to 40% by mid-2002. This remarkable increase brought approximately 150 million new users to the European network; the same level as in the USA.

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Other noteworthy achievements included the eGovernment initiative, which provided online access to public services.

eEurope 2005 Action Plan Based on the initiatives launched in the previous plan, eEurope 2005 focused on a limited set of priority areas, such as making effective use of the Internet in e-commerce and online public services, including school and businesses. It put forward a range of measures designed to ensure greater broadband availability and to safeguard the infrastructure of information, services, applications and content related to online public services and e-commerce. This action plan made significant progress in terms of eGovernment, eLearning and eHealth, whereas e-commerce also saw big increases in net online sales. Also in 2005, a high influentialReport was published on digital divide and digital inclusionwhich inspired manyof the i2010 initiatives.

i2010 Strategy: European Information Society Subsequently the i2010: European Information Societystrategy focused on integrating information society policies with audiovisual media in the European Union. In terms of results, we could highlight the staggering progress made in the i2010 eGovernment initiative, creating a single European space for information to strengthen research and innovation on a global level. The Riga Ministerial Declaration, signed in June 2006, and the i2010 European Initiative for digital inclusion are, without doubt, the most important European policies in the area of e-inclusion and accessibility. Complementarily, the ministers at the 2010 Ministerial Conference pledged to significantly reduce the digital divide.

 Information Policies

Europe 2020 Strategy The key objective of the Europe 2020 Strategy is intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth that entails increased EU competitiveness in various areas related to innovation, the acceleration of high-speed Internet and its applications, excellence in education systems, strengthening industrial bases, modernizing labour markets, and maximizing professional skills and qualifications throughout Europe. As a top priority, the i2020 digital inclusion initiative aims to reduce the gap between people who use ICT on a regular basis as part of their daily life and those who do not have access to ICT or do not know how to use it, which is also one of the Millennium Development Goals. When fully implemented, the i2020 strategy is expected to convert the European Union into a key strategic area in the field of technology and knowledge on par with other geographical areas such as North America and Japan, and will also set the EU Digital Agenda in motion. In this respect, the European Commission’s Digital Agenda for Europe emphasizes digital literacy and competence as a priority for the European Social Fund Regulations (2014–2020). Key Action 11 will develop tools to identify and recognize the competences of ICT practitioners and users to increase the competences and the mobility of ICT practitioners across Europe. In addition, digital literacy and training are also a top priority in the flagship initiative “New skills for new jobs” which looks to encourage greater participation among young women. In this respect, EU policies designed to foster the digital society have transformed ICT into a critical tool for fulfilling political targets such as supporting an aging society, climate change, reducing energy consumption, improving transport efficiency, etc. In this context, the EU funds various projects related to electronic accessibility and research into new technology. We could

highlight, for example, one of the four projects presented at the European Ministerial Conference on new technologies for digital inclusion, eInclusion, which was selected by the European Commission, the highest form of recognition in this field in Europe. This project is called Share-it and is led by Ulises Cortés, a researcher from the Software Department (LSI) at the Barcelona Tech University (UPC). The results of this project include some of Europe’s most outstanding and advanced ICT initiatives for promoting Inclusion and eliminating the digital divide. As such, this project makes an invaluable contribution to both the fight against social and economic exclusion and the creation of future policies and action plans. In reference to Spain, we could say that eEurope has been an influential platform and reference point for national digital inclusion policies. As an UE member country, Spain has incorporated European policies into Spanish Law whilst UE Directives have been adapted to the 1978 Spanish Constitution and the legislation in force. Proof of this can already be seen in a report about the digital divide in Catalonia, Spain and Europe [Informesobre la brecha digital en Cataluña, España y Europa. InformacióiSocietat (M2), de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2010-2011]. This report suggests that, in general, Spain is positioned below the European average in terms of homes with internet connection and frequency of internet use, although the figures from Catalonia are above the European average. As for the type of connection, there is very little difference between Autonomous Communities as broadband is currently available in 95% of Spanish territory. Following this path, the Informe 2012 sobre desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información en España (2012 Report on Information Society Development in Spain) carried out by Fundación Telefónica and considered as one of the best periodical publications on the topic, manifests that homes in Madrid and Cataluña are still the

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better equipped to access information services. Additionally, it suggests that that citizens’ access to information has improved most precisely in the less developed regions. In this direction, the National Observatory for Telecommunications and Information Society (ONTSI) in the report 2012 The Networked Society includes the key indicators and trends of the Information Society on the extent and use of Internet by the citizens, businesses and administrations. The document reviews the status of the Information Society in the world and highlights two indicators with reference to Spain and the European Union: •

•

The number of citizens who have never accessed the Internet in the EU and Spain, which is respectively 23% versus 27% of the population. As for the different reasons for using the Internet, similar trends are observable in the EU and in Spain. A remarkable difference is the use of internet to arrange a medical appointment, since in Spain it’s 22% compared to 7% in EU.

The latest report, the 2013 Spanish Information Society posted by the Fundación Telefónica, stands out for some important aspects: nearly 25 million Spaniards between 16 and 74 use the Internet, a figure that includes 700,000 new users compared to 2012, and that represents 71.6% of the population, or 69.8% of households. Regarding connection technologies, fiber optics is experiencing a greater growth in terms of fixed broadband, while in mobile telecom 2013 marked the beginning of the deployment of 4G mobile networks. Therefore, mobile broadband continues to gain importance with 8.5 million users in 2013. In fact there are 26 million mobile phones with Internet connection in Spain, more than 18.6 million people that connect to the Internet daily.

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The apparent conclusion is that 2013 has been once again, a year of growth for new technologies and of consolidation of daily information habits.

THE EUROPEAN DIGITAL AGENDA UNDER THE EUROPE 2020 STRATEGY As we have shown in the sections above, since the 90s, European policies have committed to the Information and Knowledge Society, as one of the key actions to maximize growth, captivity and employment. Nowadays with the economic and social uncertainty, the European Union, following the 2020 European Strategy, continues to launch a variety of measures to achieve a renewal of priority actions: Intelligent growth (development of an economy based on knowledge and innovation), Sustainable growth (Promotion of an economy that has a more efficient use of resources, more ecological and competitive) and Integrating growth (promotion of an economy with high levels of employment that address social and territorial cohesion). In fact, the Commission of Communication COM (2010) Brussels, 3.3.2010 EUROPE 2020 A strategy for an intelligent, sustainable and integrating growth highlights that Europe faces a moment of transformation in which a strategy is needed to emerge stronger from the crisis and turn the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy with high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. The Strategy establishes for 2020 five ambitious goals in employment, innovation, education, social integration and climate/energy matters. In every one of these areas, each member state has set its own goals. Of the five goals set for Europe 2020, four of them (Employment, R&D, Education and Struggle against poverty and social exclusion), directly or transversely, are linked to

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the development of the Information Society and may be affected by the economic crisis, something that will adversely affect progress towards the knowledge society. The targets are representative of the three priorities of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, but are not exhaustive since it will require a wide range of actions at national, EU and international levels to support them. The Commission proposes seven flagship initiatives to catalyze progress under each priority theme: 1. Union for innovation, in order to improve overall conditions and access to funding for research and innovation and to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs. 2. Youth in movement to improve the performance of education systems and facilitate the entry of young people into the labor market. 3. A digital agenda for Europe, in order to accelerate the deployment of high-speed Internet and benefit from a digital single market for households and businesses. 4. A Europe that uses resources 5. An industrial policy for the globalization era. 6. An agenda of new skills and jobs 7. European platform against poverty. Thus, the success of the Europe 2020 strategy will depend on an integrated and coherent approach across all relevant policy areas, with special attention to the social, economic and employment policies of each member country. With all these purposes, four years later, in March 2014, the Communication of the Commission to the European Parliament, to the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Regions Committee COM (2014) published a Balance of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth necessary to meet the expectations of citizens.

In this context, in May 19, 2010, the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Regions Committee, publishes the Digital Agenda for Europe, Brussels COM (2010). A key document that outlines the European policy for ICTs and establishes the priorities of the EU in this area until 2020. The purpose of the Agenda is to outline a space that allows maximization of the economic and social potential of ICTs and specifically Internet as an essential support of society. Therefore, the Agenda encourages innovation; widespread development and a more effective use of digital technologies, and will provide Europeans with a better quality of life and an easier access to public services and cultural content. It is divided into seven pillars with the following areas of action: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

A dynamic digital single market Interoperability and standards Confidence and security Fast and ultra fast internet access Research and innovation Enhancing digital literacy, training and digital inclusion 7. Apply ICTs to social challenges such as climate change or the promotion of cultural diversity. Note that the international dimension of policy areas, in particular the digital single market. We emphasize, as it corresponds to the Information and Documentation profession and specialization, related to the digitalization of cultural heritage, literacy and eGovernment.

Promotion of Cultural Diversity It appears at the end of the list as ICT application to social challenges. The EU should exploit the intelligent use of technology in the field of digitalization of content with measures to improve online

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access to European cultural heritage by promoting a sustainable model for financing, among others, Europeana (the EU digital public library).

Literacy and Digital Training This pillar includes twelve actions meant for ICT education and training to promote digital literacy and digital literacy training as one of the eight key competences of permanent learning. The real situation is that Europe is suffering from a growing shortage of professional qualification in ICT and a digital literacy deficit. These absences are excluding many citizens from the digital economy, limiting the large multiplier effect that the adoption of ICTs can have on productivity growth. We are all aware of the number of daily tasks that are carried out online, from applying for a job to paying taxes as internet has become an integrated part of daily life for many Europeans. However, 150 million Europeans - 30% approximately- have never used the Internet yet. This group is mainly composed of people of 65-74 years of age, people on low incomes, the unemployed and people with a lower cultural level. In many cases, this is due to the lack of education on digital and media literacy, not only for employment, but also to learn, create, participate and discern the use of digital media. It is essential to educate European citizens to use ICTs and digital media. It is important to increase and improve the supply of skilled personnel in ICTs and e-business with the digital training necessary for innovation and growth.

eGovernment The European Action Plan 2011-2015 about eGovernment stipulates that eGovernment represents a tool for change to improve organizational processes and that, the new generation of eGovern-

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ment services must rely on innovative technical approaches such as clouds of public services and service-oriented architecture (SOA). EGovernment services are a cost-effective option to provide a better service to all citizens and businesses, encouraging a participatory, open and transparent administration. These services can reduce costs and save time for both government and citizens and businesses. European governments are committed to ensure that these services are a widespread reality no later than 2015. They trust businesses to interact and make business with the government electronically. Currently, despite the high degree of availability of eGovernment services in Europe, differences still exist between member states and between citizens using such services. Therefore, Europe needs a better administrative cooperation to develop and deploy cross-border public services online. Annually a periodic assessment of the implementation of the digital agenda is done, leading to the publication of a chart of indicators and the celebration of a Digital assembly. We point out the second monitoring report of the Digital Agenda for Europe (2011-2012) on the main results of the actions undertaken by the EU which, among the key objectives set in the Digital Agenda, shows progress in broadband coverage development in this period of 95% of the European population. The penetration rate of broadband of less than 30Mbps stood in January 2012 at 28.7% for all member states. In addition, the Digital Agenda for Europe on these points as well as on other pillars, has already achieved many of its goals and reached many others. As we have stated in the text; the number of citizens who have never used the Internet is decreasing and the proportion of people from disadvantaged groups who use it is increasing. However, large differences remain between

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member states, which will only be saved through the implementation of active European policy measures. As for research and innovation, there is no reference to open access to science as a catalyst and accelerating process of scientific communication and innovation.

DIGITAL AGENDA FOR SPAIN The Spanish Council of Ministers in February 2013, adopted the Digital Agenda for Spain as a strategy to develop the economy and the digital society in Spain during the 2013-2015 period. The Agenda was jointly led by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration to achieve the goals of the Digital Agenda for Europe’s ICT public policies to improve productivity and competitiveness, and of eGovernment to transform and modernize the Spanish economy and society. It is currently under development, and it has been defined on the basis of the following legal provisions: • • • • • •

Law 11/2007 of June 22, on electronic access to Public Services for citizens. Law 56/2007 of December 28, on Measures to Boost the Information Society. Law 17/2009 of November 23, on free access to activities and exercising. Royal Decree 3/2010 of January 8, on the National Security Framework in the field of eGovernment. Royal Decree 4/2010 of January 8, National Scheme for interoperability in the field of eGovernment. Royal Decree 1495/2011 that develops the Law 37/2007 of November 16, on the reuse of Information on the Public Sector.

Spain’s Digital Agenda contains 106 lines of performance structured around six big goals:

1. Encourage the deployment of networks and services to ensure digital connectivity 2. Developing the digital economy for growth, competitiveness and internationalization of Spanish companies 3. ImproveeGovernment and digital public services 4. Strengthen confidence in digital environmenthttp://www.agendadigital.gob.es/objetivosagenda-digital/reforzar-confianza-digital/ Paginas/ambito-digital.aspx 5. Encourage R + D + i in the industries of the future 6. Promote inclusion and digital literacy, and ICT education for new professionalshttp:// www.agendadigital.gob.es/objetivos-agenda-digital/promover-inclusion-digital/ Paginas/alfabetizacion-digital.aspx For its implementation and execution nine specific plans are defined: • • • • • • • • •

Telecommunication and ultrafast networks plan Ecommerce and ICTs in SMEs plan eEconomy and digital content impulse plan Technological Enterprise globalization plan Digital area confidence plan Development and innovation on the ICT sector plan Employment and digital inclusion plan Actions for Electronic Administration of the State General Administration plan Digital Public Service plan

Focusing on our purpose, our approaches regarding the sixth pillar are the followin: •

Vocational Training and Employment Training: Updating the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications on skills and competences, for which we will consider the ICT skills framework in Europe; man-

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•

•

aging and allocating efficiently funds for continuing training in ICTs, with particular attention to the use of a virtual platform; identifying ICT training online profiles with high demand for employment and providing training for the employed and unemployed in the ICT area. University Studies: To promote an improved university supply for ICT training of professionals through the adaptation to market needs, to promote the formation of polyvalent professional profiles, encouraging universities and other organizations to develop joint training programs related to ICTs. Adopting a 2013-2015 Digital Inclusion Strategy: This strategy includes plans to increase the Internet access in Spain, to ensure digital literacy, to obtain women and men equity in the Information Society and to encourage the civil society participation on digital inclusion.

Response to these challenges requires an R & D in advanced ICTs to offer innovative and sustainable solutions and in which Spanish companies should participate. Research also needs to be adapted to future challenges and strategic actions explained in the 2011-2015 AvanzaPlan, which means enhancing the implementation of an ICT education and training system and to increase the use of advanced digital services by the citizenship. Under the strategy that the European Commission launched in November 2012 to re-postulate education, investments to improve education and training systems have increased, especially in the field of ICTs and in the creation of more direct links between education and companies. On the start up and development of Spain’s Agenda two samples are shown, a first one, in the line of increasing and improving the ICT specialized personnel offer, according to the initiative promoted in 2014 by the Telecommunication Secretary of State and for the Information Society

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and in collaboration with the National Agency of Quality and Accreditation Evaluation, (ANECA), the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Economy and Finance, along with representatives from industry and university, creating a Committee of public and private composition in charge of the creation of a “White book” or a digital economic sector guide that will gather, on one hand, the sector’s different tendencies along with the supply and demand of the degrees offered in Spanish universities in relation with these tendencies. Also, including a comparative study of international level tendencies is being proposed. With this performance, and in words of Secretary of State Víctor Calvo-Sotelo, the collaboration between all the agents involved is intended to be encouraged with the goal of adapting the supply of university titles in the digital economy area to the real demand of the sector. The first reunion of the Digital Training Innovation Offer Committee, celebrated last October, passed a summon to establish the foundations and select the experts that could contribute their knowledge in the creation of the White Book of Digital Economy degrees. A second sample, aimed at the attainment of the 2015 Plan Avanza of an Administration without papers and the recognition of information technology and communications in the Administration’s transformation which was already reflected, among others, in the Law 11/2007, of June 22, on citizen’s electronic access to Public Services, is the Royal Decree 806/2014 of September 19 on organization and operative tools of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Central Administration of State and its Public Bodies. The preamble states the insufficient development of eGovernment, whereas the availability of eGovernment in Spain stands at 98% (versus 74% in the EU) and 44.7% of the population uses the Internet (direct use) to interact with public administrations in Spain, or that 30% sends completed forms.

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With this arrangement it is necessary to create tailored services, processes, operations and management capabilities for a digital reality that is dynamic and will continue to evolve predictably at a great velocity. The digitalization of services includes, first, electronic services and information and communication technology, which have been the basis of eGovernment and in which Spain has achieved a remarkable breakthrough. Moreover, the universalization of digital services and new ways of relating with citizens allow the creation of a more transparent administration, in which citizens can participate in defining and even designing public services, so that these are better suited to the real needs of citizens in a new governance model. In conclusion, the introduction of eGovernment is essential to meet the commitments of Law 19/2013, of December 9, on transparency, access to public information and good governance.

Alesina, A., & Perotti, R. (2004). The European Union: A Politically Incorrect View. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(4), 27–48. http://www.nber.org/papers/w10342 doi:10.1257/0895330042632780

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European Commission. COM(2010) 2020. Europa 2020. Una estrategia para un crecimiento inteligente, sostenible e integrador. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/commission_20102014/president/news/documents/pdf/20100303_1_es.pdf

In Europe, the digital inclusion society versus the digital gap has been understood from the ease of access to knowledge with clear policies that have emphasized and reinforced equal digital opportunities, avoiding new forms of exclusion. Europe’s Digital Agenda has facilitated innovation and the use of digital technologies, providing faster access to public services and cultural content. In this line, the Agenda for Spain has improved the supply of skilled ICT personnel adapting the offer of university degrees in the field of the digital economy´s sector to its demands. There has been a major transformation of eGovernment as well.

REFERENCES Alcalá, M., Enfedaque, D. & Pistrimm, K. Informe sobre la brecha digital en Cataluña, España y Europa. Informació i Societat (M2), de la Universitat de Barcelona del año 2010-2011.

Cuevas-Cerveró, A. (2009). Formación de la ciudadanía en entornos de información electrónica: alfabetización informacional. La digitalización del patrimonio: archivos, bibliotecas y museos en la red (pp. 189–210). Editorial UOC. Cuevas-Cerveró, A. (2014). Marques, Marcia; Paixão, Pablo Boaventura Sales. (2014) A alfabetização que necessitamos: informação e comunicação para a cidadania (Vol. 24, pp. 35–48). Informação&Sociedade. Cuevas-Cerveró, A, & García-Moreno, M. A. (2010). Ideias, un modelo de evaluación para inclusión digital y alfabetización informacional orientado a salud. El profesional de la Información, 19(3), 240-245.

European Commission. Europe 2020. (2014). Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/ index_en.htm European Commission. Digital Agenda for Europe. [Consultado 11/10/2014] Retrieved from Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/ digital-agenda/index_en.htm European Commission. i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment Fernández-Bajón, M. T. (2010). Políticas de cooperación internacional en las enseñanzas de posgrado en biblioteconomía y documentación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES). Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información, 50, enero-abril. 285

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Informe2012 sobre desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información en España. (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.proyectosfundacionorange.es/ docs/eE2012.pdf

Osuna-Alarcón, R. (2011). La sociedad de la Información. En: López-Yepes, J. y Osuna- Alarcón, R.: Manual de Ciencias de la Información y Documentación (pp. 185–204). Madrid: Pirámide.

Informe, U. N. E. S. C. O. (2005). Hacia las sociedades del conocimiento. París: UNESCO.

Ramón-Reyero, E., & Luengo-Rodríguez, B. (2011). Fuentes de información de la UE y organismos Internacionales. Madrid: Comisión Europea.

Legislación Europea. Retrieved from http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/information_society/strategies/si0016_es.htm

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Chapter 18

Institutional Policies for Digital Inclusion in Spain Maria-Jesús Colmenero-Ruiz Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain Belén Pérez-Lorenzo Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT This chapter describes the evolution and results of the Spanish Policies of digital inclusion, since its inception in 2000 in the framework of the EU Lisbon Strategy (eEurope 2002) to the present, with special emphasis on cases of greater relevance. It reviews the different plans implemented at the country successively during that period of time. As a result of the Spanish political organization into Autonomous Communities, the direct application of these policies has corresponded to each of them, which adapted the outline to their interests and needs. So, it analyzes the situation in three of the Autonomous Communities, Catalonia, Andalusia and Extremadura, with different demographic and economic characteristics, providing recent indicators and the programs that are in development just now.

INTRODUCTION The digital inclusion policies in Spain, as it has happened in Europe, have been integrated into the general policies of promotion of the Information Society. The publication of the book known as the Delors White Paper, “Growth, competitiveness and employment: The challenges and ways forward into the 21st century” (European Communities Commission, 1993), is often considered the first milestone in the declaration and promotion of the Information Society at European level, in addi-

tion to being Europe’s reply to the Clinton-Gore Report “Technology for America’s Economic Growth, a New Direction To Build Economic Strength”(1993), published nine months earlier in the United States. The Delors White Paper, the Bagemann Report (“Report on Europe and the Global Information Society”, 1994) and the Action Plan of the European Communities Commission Europe’s Way to the Information Society. An Action Plan (1994) will be the foundation of the programmes initiated in Europe with the beginning of the Third Millennium. Thus, the initiative “eEurope - An

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch018

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information society for all” adopted by the special European Council of Lisbon, 23 and 24 March 2000 (European Communities Commission, 1999) constitutes the starting point of the set of common European policies adopted to promote the Information Society. Spain, belonging to the European Union, then EEC, since January 1, 1986, it is obliged under the accession agreement to adopt the European general guidelines in policies and legislation, especially after the signing of the Treaty of Maastricht (January 1, 1992). That event was the one that marked the beginning of political union and not just economic EU unity. As reflection of the various European initiatives for the Information Society (IS) driven from within the EU has been promoting their own plans, reproducing the broad outlines of those. In this chapter, we will focus on the description and analysis of the Spanish information policies, especially concerning digital inclusion, throughout these years, as a particular application of the general European policies for the whole of the EU. Due to the particular characteristics of the organization of the State in our country, a large part of the effective implementation of the policies outlined lie in the Autonomous Communities. The efforts and results obtained in the three Autonomous Communities representative for different concepts will be analyzed: Catalonia, Andalusia and Extremadura. Figure 1. Timeline of public policies on SI in Spain

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INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES IN SPAIN In Spain, they started to promote digital inclusion policies since the initiatives for the promotion and development of the Information Society in the year 2000 began (Figure 1).

First Policies: Info XXI Initiative and Plan (2000-2003) At its meeting of December 23, 1999 the Spanish Council of Ministers approved the Strategic Initiative of the Government for the Development of the Information Society and New Technologies “INFO XXI: The Information Society for everybody” (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, 2000). Its roots can be found in the agreement of Council of Ministers on 9 April of that year, whose first act was to approve the Royal Decree 1289/1999, of 23 July, by establishing the Interministerial Commission for the Information Society and New Technologies in Spain. It is entrusted to this Committee to the elaboration, development and evaluation of this initiative (Comisión Interministerial de la Sociedad de la Información y de las Nuevas Tecnologías, 2000). The Strategic Initiative aimed at implementing the Information Society in Spain so that all its citizens and their companies to participate in its construction and to take advantage of the opportunities that it offers to increase social

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cohesion, improve the quality of life and work and accelerate economic growth. The expression “social cohesion” implies, throughout the text, avoid inequalities due to various factors. The initiative includes in the drafting some aspects related to digital inclusion. On the one hand, indicates that the Spanish Government had proposed in the Council of Telecommunications of the European Union that the Internet access was included within the scope of the universal service for telecommunications, which would ensure its availability to all users in terms of price affordable regardless of their geographical location. It ensures that it will complete the development of the Regulation of the Universal Service for Telecommunications in aspects as substantial as, among others, the establishment of conditions that guarantee access to telecommunication services by disabled people and groups with special social needs in equal conditions that the rest of the users, promoting the inclusion of these social groups to the Information Society.

It also asserts that the role of the State Administration in regard to the IS is to ensure that it´s benefits is extended to all citizens. One of the major guidelines is entirely dedicated to social cohesion: “Social cohesion is a priority of the Government, which aims to reduce differences in living standards of the citizens and equalize compensations and social benefits throughout the country. The turn of the century presents new challenges, which must be addressed continuously to avoid social fracture that it can occur between people and groups according to their possibilities of access to the Information Society”. The result of the work of the Inter-Ministerial Commission for the Information Society and New Technologies resulted in the Info XXI Action Plan (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, 2001) formally presented a year later, by the President of the Government José María Aznar, on January 24, 2001 in Vitoria, accompanied by, at the time, Minister of Science and Technology, Anna Birulés (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Home page of the website dedicated to InfoXXI Action Plan, today disappeared.

It is still possible to read the content in http://www.uv.es/selva/guiaempleo/NT_10.htm and on the Internet archive https://web. archive.org/web/*/infoxxi.es

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The plan recognized its origin in European policies: “Info XXI Plan meets the objectives set out in the e-Europe Initiative, adopted at the Extraordinary Council of Lisbon, in March 2000, and its corresponding Action Plan adopted in Feira, in June of that year, and it help Spain to be among the European countries most advanced in the field of Information and Communication Technologies, in the new environment of the Information Society” (Iberforo 2, 2001). Defined for the period 2001-2003 INFO XXI was a set of specific actions and projects, with a total of 322 initiatives and a spending forecast of 825,000 million pesetas (about five million Euros). However, it was a combined presentation of actions and commitments made by each of the ministries, with their own budgets for this period. It was not a global project and did not have specific budget. Of the entire set of actions the emphasis was put on to 21 considered emblematic actions and other priority 50 by its special social significance. All of them were articulated in three main lines of action aimed at citizens and businesses, the promotion of services of e-Administration and the increase of digital content in Spanish, mainly of a cultural nature. Fundamental action line for digital inclusion was the one addressed to citizens and companies, as its objective was to ensure access for all to the Internet and the use of new technologies. To access plans were foreseen as the increase in the connection of schools, the installation of Public Access Points to the Internet in the Spanish Public Libraries and post offices, and provide an email address to all citizens who request it. For the use of new technologies were incorporated training plans for teachers and citizens in the technologies of information and communication (digital literacy) proposing certification of basic training using the: ICT “user card”. Despite all the good intentions, it only had accessibility projects for disabled and impulse of women’s work through ICT. The inclusion of other traditionally excluded groups is not mentioned.

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The plan also admitted, prior to its approval, the establishment of the Flat Rate Internet access that has facilitated the growth of a 40% in the number of Internet users in only 5 months. At the time of submission of the plan, the number of Internet users in Spain was a 19.8% compared with 30% of the Europeans (Colmenero, 2004), having increased by 4 percentage points, as a result of the introduction of the flat rate, in a few months (Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación, 2001). In the year 2002 criticism poured down the plan, in particular by not having mechanisms for the evaluation and by their lack of real development. Córdoba and Sanz (2004) reflect that the President of the Government himself confirmed that the Plan was not going well and from their failures highlighted, among others, the public resignation, in 2001, by the Government to its own goal of “digital literacy”, i.e., to teach one million Spanish people Internet. Neither promised budgets had been implemented, for example investment in school did not pass the provisioned 15% and access in households remained at the same distance from the European average, 10 percentage points. (Fernández de Lis, P. & Muñoz, R., 2002, october 21; Mora, F. 2003, april 15; Mota, J., 2003, april 20; Muñoz Sanandrés, M., 2003). Just that digital literacy program was one of the best initiatives for digital inclusion of the plan: the initiative “Internet for all”, based on traditional or classroom courses of 15 hours (Figure 3, 4 and 5). It was not set up until May of 2002 (Sanz, 2002) including the online training option. It was a “basic technological literacy programme in order to incorporate all citizens to today’s IS and prevent social inequalities for this reason”. The cost in the face to face option were 15 €, and it was a training only to users of Windows and, earlier versions of the site were not accessible for the disabled people, as it was reported for some associations in the sector (Córdoba & Sanz, 2004). The Info XXI Plan was considered a failure because it was too ambitious. Nevertheless, some

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Figure 3. Internet for all web page (on Internet archive) today disappeared. It is still possible to read the content on the Internet archive

programs that were launched at that time still remain: the research network Red Iris (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, 2014), the public company Red.es (2014a), or the Public Administration Unique site (Gobierno de España, 2014). Nevertheless, it was not progress in the access network or the training of citizens: precisely what failed was the progress in digital inclusion of the citizens, being the third EU country with fewer computers per household. A few months before the end of the plan the Ministry of Science and Technology commissioned a study to an independent commission, the Special Commission of Study for the Development of the Information Society (2003), which was

chaired by Juan Soto. This Commission consisting of ten experts produced a report submitted in April 2003 and whose proposals were the basis of the following Spanish plan: España.es. (Muñoz Sanandrés, M., 2003; Barroso Barrero, J., 2004)

España.es Project The Ministry of Science and Technology presented in July 2003 España.es, it is a Programme of Actions for the Development of the Information Society in Spain, for the period 2004-2005 (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, 2003). This plan, unlike the previous one in which only called for their collaboration, embodied the participation of

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Figure 4. Internet for all. Who is “all”?

the Autonomous Communities (26 per cent) and the private sector (11 per cent) together with the General Administration of the State (63 per cent). The program consisted of six lines of action, with three vertical lines - electronic Administration (e-Administration), Education and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) - and three horizontal accessibility and training, digital content and communication - which was divided into ten actions. The action which was concerned, at that time, to prevent info-exclusion, was that of accessibility and training, called Navega.es (Surf.es), whose objective was the accessibility of all citizens to the Information Society, bringing to all those groups least integrated through infrastructures and training plans. The measures to be taken were two: a) to create 2000 new centers of public Internet access, in this case telecentres, in towns of 5,000 to 10,000 residents, with a broadband infrastructure - considered heir to the previous Rural Internet and Internet Programmes in Libraries. (b) creation of Navega.es foundation, institution of management training programmes in digital literacy with participation of public authorities, private companies and savings banks. Navega.es replaced Internet for all. It also included actions aimed at accessibility for disabled people, promoting web accessibility and design

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for all. This administration sought to solve the design defects of many of its institutional pages, fact much-criticized by specialists. In the headlines of newspapers then you could read “Navega.es will fight against the info-marginality”, collecting the words of the Minister Piqué, its promoter. (Fernández, L., 2003 July 12) Like its predecessor, this programme was criticized for the absence of some demands, particularly those relating to mobile technologies (Agencia EFE, 2003, July 24), and it was also left unfinished, since the elections of March 2004 marked a turning to the ruling party and the new Government set out to develop a new program, with the help of social agents: Plan Avanza (Advance Plan).

Avanza Plan On 2005, November 4, was passed by the Council of Ministers the plan “Avanza. 2006-2010 Plan: for the development of Information Society and Convergence with Europe and among the Autonomous Communities and Autonomous Cities” (Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio, 2005). This program differed from previous ones in several aspects. First, it is included in a National Plan of broader spectrum to boost R&D&i, the Ingenio

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Figure 5. Internet for all, the digital inclusion initiative of info XXI

(Available at https://web.archive.org/web/20041001045145/http://www.internetparatodos.es/ipt/index.jsp)

programme (Gobierno de España, 2010). Avanza constituted one of the strategic axes of this program designed to fulfill the objectives of the Lisbon strategy which the EU had relaunched with its eEurope 2010 plan, especially because of the delay

that Spain was accumulating in the Information Society indicators. The ultimate goal was to ensure that the volume of economic activity related to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) approached 7% of GDP in 2010. Second,

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this time the implementation is done through bilateral agreements with each of the Autonomous Communities and Local Authorities, so that the overall objectives are adapted to the particular circumstances of each of them (García Jiménez, L. & Carmona Martínez, M., 2008). Third, for the achievement of this objective it seeks to involve the private sector and the different administrations, as in the past, but also the civil society, hitherto apparently forgotten. Fourth, the measures do not constitute a closed set but they will dynamically adjusted, annually, according to the results, for which it introduces indicators for its monitoring and evaluation. Structured around five major areas of performance —home and inclusion of citizens, competitiveness and innovation, education, digital public services and digital context—, which is specifically directed to the e-inclusion is the first, home and inclusion of citizens, in which “measures are developed to ensure the widespread use of ICT in households and increase and promote inclusion and expand areas of participation of citizens in public life”. The most important aspect here was, as in previous programmes, to convince citizens of the benefits of using Internet and ICT in their daily lives. And this requires to provide easy access and useful services. The objectives were still insisting on the equipment in homes, preferably with broadband. It included two annexes with description of the measures to be taken the following year, 2006, and for the period 2007-2010. In the section of home and inclusion of citizens in the first annex, which reflected the immediate measures for the first year, some actions were introduced to strengthen telecentres as centres of training and broadcasting, for the purchase of computer equipment by employees, children in school and university age, either to zero-interest or preferential terms and, in particular, included the measure CIU.05: Inclusion of people with special needs in the Information Society (the elderly, inmate staff, use of ICT in

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the tertiary sector, accessibility and disability), through measures adapted to each one of the groups that are part of the digital gap. It also included the deployment of specific plans for the incorporation of the different groups, sequenced throughout the duration of the Plan, and support for actions that foster the use of ICTs by organizations of the Third Sector, to enhance its dissemination among its members. The measures provided for that year were: 1. Elderly inclusion through the installation of telecentres in Clubs for Elderly and Day Care Centers. So it would provide equipment and Broadband connection. It also would implement a promotion Plan that contemplated the training of those responsible for the telecenters in the management of them and in the search for specific content for this group. 2. Formation of the inmate by teaching courses in prisons, in order to facilitate their social reintegration. 3. Promoting the use of ICTs in the Third Sector, by supporting projects that promote its modernization and that should give training in information technology to the reference groups. 4. Accessibility and Disability, promoting agreements with representative associations that contemplating actions to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities. The measures referred to in the second annex were already. focused on social participation Its implementation was performed through the Autonomous Communities.

Avanza 2 Plan Before the deadline for Avanza ended, in 2009 the results obtained so far as foreseen in the plan design were evaluated. As a result, new needs are

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detected and the remaining challenges identified, which require strengthening existing actions or define new ones, so in 2009 is proposed an expansion of the Plan, the Avanza 2 Plan reinforcing certain strategic lines. The summary of results posted by the Executive until then in relation to digital inclusion, in December 2009 (Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio, 2009), was as follows: 1. More than 3 million women and 1 million children aged between 10 and 15 years are Internet users thanks to the Avanza Plan initiatives (Figure 6). 2. Thanks to these initiatives, over 200,000 elders have become new Internet users. 3. 240,000 families have been benefited with ICT loans to 0%. 4. More than 11 million people, mostly in rural areas, have training and access to Internet thanks to almost 3,000 telecentres and close to 2,500 connected libraries.

The needs identified in the field of inclusion were still training and promotion of ICT among citizens, in particular the rural population, the elderly, people with disabilities and special groups. And as a priority the increase in internet use among the population over 55, lower than the European average at that time. The strategic lines of action change partly because of the new approach taken: focus more on the promotion of demand than supply, whose objective is already considered pretty compliment. They shift focus to the development of the ICT sector, ICT training, digital public services, the infrastructure, the confidence and security. The corresponding digital inclusion measures are framed here in the axis of ICT training, which includes both, citizens and companies. It also includes the strengthening of the priority of incorporation into the IS of special groups, people with disabilities and elderly. The programs included in this axis of training regarding people were:

Figure 6. Evolution of access and use by children, women and elders in the period 2003-2008

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1. Avanza2 Citizenship: Aimed at providing support to individuals and groups at risk of digital exclusion (citizens with special needs). Basically they were going to continue to promote access and use by providing appropriate infrastructures. 2. Avanza2 55+: To promote access and use of new technologies by elders. The difference of using against young people is compounded if one takes into account that the use of technology is higher in urban areas than in rural areas, and is also higher in people with higher levels of education. 3. Avanza2 Internet without Barriers: To promote access and use of new technologies by people with disabilities, for which there are still barriers that must be eliminated. 4. Avanza2 Gender: To achieve equality between women and men in access and use of new technologies through the elimination of the factors that accentuate this difference. 5. Avanza2 Citizenship Loans: Continue with the financing of investments in ICT for citizens and university students. 6. Avanza2 Education: Internet in the classroom. Provision of resources and ICT services in schools. The axis of confidence and security included accessibility, promoting audits and training to improve access to e-Government. In 2010, Spain held the presidency of the Council of the European Union, along with Belgium and Hungary, precisely at the moment that the i2010 initiative was coming to its end and it was time to rethink the way after analyzing results. Europe, this time, adopted the strategy “Europe2020 A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth” (European Commission, 2010), a comprehensive and coordinated policy for growth and employment, which aims to overcome the crisis at that time hovering above Europe, but laying the foundations for sustainable growth for the future.

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Included as one of the seven flagship initiatives identified as the engine of growth and employment in May of that year the “European Digital Agenda”, the actual replacement of i2010, is approved. The active participation of the Spanish Government in the generation of the European Digital Agenda led him to incorporate the initiatives agreed on its own plans, approving a second phase of Avanza Plan, which he called “2011-2015 Strategy Avanza2 Plan”. The Plan itself recognizes that still in Europe there was “a socio-economic and geographical digital gap that needs to be fought, especially in the case of the elderly, the less educated and those with lower incomes.” Focusing efforts on ten objectives, the one which deals with digital inclusion is defined as “To increase the advanced use of digital services by citizens” through its participation in social networks, virtual communities, electronic commerce (e-commerce) and the use of digital identity. It is noted that there will be a special effort with groups at risk of social exclusion and for the achievement of the gender equality in the network, so they can benefit from an improvement in the quality of life, the increase of social welfare and the promotion of social equality generated by ICT. Also, focus efforts among those over 45 years, in such a way that these technologies will become a useful tool of communication with the world and relationship with the administrations. The Avanza Plan will not last until 2015. General Election gave the Presidency of the country to another political party, at the end of 2011 and during 2012 the new Executive initiates the development of the programme that replaced it, the Digital Agenda for Spain. This time, in addition to consult experts and agents of the sector was promoted a public consultation for the improvement of the proposal, the deadline to review, discuss, and launch new initiatives completed in September 2012. The result of this consultation can be found at Agenda Digital website. At that time the situation regarding the digital skills of the Spanish population is not tarnished at

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all compared to the European average, although in some aspects we should still improve, as showed the analysis of the EU regarding the key indicators of the European Digital Agenda regarding the use of internet and digital skills (European Commission, 2012a).

Digital Agenda for Spain The Digital Agenda for Spain was approved, in February 2013, by the Council of Ministers as the Government’s strategy to develop the economy and the digital society in Spain during the 2013-2015 period. This strategy refers to all Government´s actions in the field of Telecommunications and Information Society. The Agenda is jointly led by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism and the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration (Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo, & Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas, 2013a). As indicated, it marks the road map in the field of ICT and e-Administration for the fulfilment of the objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe in 2015 and 2020, and incorporates specific objectives for the development of the economy and the digital society in Spain. The Digital Agenda for Spain contains 106 lines of action structured around the following: 1. Foster the roll-out of networks and services to guarantee digital connectivity 2. Develop the digital economy for the growth, competitiveness and internationalisation of Spanish companies 3. Improve e-Administration and adopt digital solutions for an efficient rendering of public services 4. Reinforce confidence in the digital ecosystem 5. Boost R&D&i system in Information and Communications Technologies 6. Promote digital inclusion and literacy and the training of new ICT professionals.

Nine specific plans are defined for its implementation and execution: 1. Telecommunications and Ultra-fast Networks Plan 2. ICT in SMEs and e-Commerce Plan 3. Digital Content Industry Comprehensive Plan 4. Technological Companies Internationalisation Plan 5. General State Administration’s e-Government Action Plan 6. Digital Public Services Plan 7. Digital Ecosystem Confidence Plan 8. ICT Sector Development and Innovation Plan 9. Digital Inclusion Plan. The Digital Public Services Plan, has come to light recently, in June 2014, and it has to be published the General State Administration’s eGovernment Action Plan. With regard to the topic addressed by this chapter, our interest focuses on the sixth goal, which promotes digital inclusion and literacy and the training of new ICT professionals.

TOWARDS INCLUSIVE INFORMATION SOCIETY IN SPAIN As it has been said, the Digital Agenda for Spain includes a specific objective to promote that the general public and professionals, have a high degree of digital preparation and can thus take advantage of the intensive use of ICT. This defines two key areas of work, promote inclusion and digital literacy and adapt training systems for digital training and formation of new ICT professionals (Table 1). Trying to achieve the objectives that the European Union poses in increasing access to the Internet by the general public, and disadvantaged

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Table 1.­ Sub-Objectives

Guidelines

6.1. Inclusion and digital literacy

Development, in the first half of 2013, a digital inclusion Strategy from 2013-2015 with the aim of incorporating the IS to the most disadvantaged population and groups and with the lowest levels of Internet use.

6.2. Digital training and education of new professionals

• Update the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications in the area of ICT skills and training. To be taken into account the developments at the European level of ICT skills frameworks and professional accreditation schemes. • Maximize efficiency in the management and allocation of Training Funds to ongoing training in ICT, both private and public sector personnel. Special attention to the use of virtual platforms provide for online training will be paid. • Assign part of the resources available for continuing education training and acquisition of digital skills for ICT professionals. • Reorient the Vocational Training related to ICT. • Promote an improvement of the University offer aimed at the training of ICT professionals through its adaptation to the needs of the market, looking at the new professional profiles in the field of ICT and the increase of system efficiency.

Retrieved from http://www.agendadigital.gob.es/objetivos-agenda-digital/promover-inclusion-digital/Paginas/alfabetizacion-digital.aspx.

in particular, the Digital Agenda for Spain proposes, to progress towards their achievement, the development of a strategy digital inclusion through public-private partnership which envisages to increase the accessibility of digital public services; promote digital literacy programmes; progress equality between women and men in the Information Society; and encourage the participation of civil society in the digital inclusion activities. Also, taking into account that the digital training in the business and work environment also brings tangible benefits, aims to adapt the Spanish educational system to meet the demands of new ICT professions proposing measures for the different training levels. In training for employment and continuing education the main measures are direct to improve efficiency in the management and allocation of funds to allocate part for training and acquisition of ICT skills. For vocational training the main measures focus on upgrading the training offered to new market demands and promote the development of joint activities with the business companies. In university education the main measures seek to improve the offer aimed at the training of ICT professionals through its adaptation to the needs of the market, looking at the new profes-

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sional profiles in the field of ICT and increasing system efficiency.

Digital inclusion and Employability Plan The Digital Agenda for Spain established in June of 2013, a Plan of Digital Inclusion and Employability (Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo, & Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas, 2013b) pretending that integrates the greatest possible number of agents, serve as an umbrella for their initiatives, combines efforts and multiply the effect of measures to be taken. The Plan is the result of the contributions of multiple stakeholders, public and private, that have been incorporated to join efforts in the common goal of improving the quality of life of citizens and improving the competitiveness and positioning of our SMEs through ICT´s use. This Plan is structured around four axes: Axis 1: Accessibility. The first axis of the Plan focuses on providing people in general and certain disadvantaged groups in particular, access to the use of Internet and ICT tools to reduce the risk of digital exclusion.

 Institutional Policies for Digital Inclusion in Spain

Axis 2: Literacy. The second axis is working on the aim of providing the people of the basic digital skills to offer them a better quality of life, especially for older people, lower qualification and other social groups reluctant to use ICT. Axis 3: Equality. The third axis focuses on reducing the gender gap in the use and access to new information technologies. The measures included are directly related to the Second Action Plan for Equality of Women and Men in the Information Society whose publication was provided by the Institute for Women in the third quarter of 2013. With a little delay, and after public consultation to the citizenship in general and the associative movement in particular, in June 2014, is released the final draft of the Action Plan for Equality between Women and Men in the Information Society 2014-2017 with the goal of contributing to improve the digital inclusion of women on equal terms with men (Ministerio de Salud, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, & Instituto de la Mujer, 2014). Axis 4: Employability. The fourth axis is oriented to the improvement of job training aimed at new ICT professionals and

professionals in other sectors. Likewise, measures to boost entrepreneurs, SMEs and freelancers to develop new business in ICT priority lines and skill training for entrepreneurship are articulated. The Digital Inclusion and Employability Plan has the following objectives to be achieved by 2015 (Table 2). It shows “how to make what the Agenda indicates that it had to be done”. On the basis of a detailed analysis of the current situation and the results of previous plans, analyzing weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities, as well as the consequences of the different alternatives of action arose, has been made a selection of the measures presented in the plan. For all the plans of the Digital Agenda for Spain, submitted measurements are temporary in scope to 2015, establishing that every year will be a review of the plan to evaluate the results, determine the need or not adapting objectives and measures where appropriate, extending them to meet the objectives already identified in the Digital Agenda for Europe or those additional established. This review mechanism may be extended to 2020. As it has been said, the Plan presented is the result of the contributions made by multiple actors, public and private, in the form of proposals for measures and actions which its entities or agencies have planned in the short, medium and long term, and that have been incorporated into this document to join efforts in the common goal

Table 2.­ Plan Targets

Value to Achieve

Year

Base Value Spain (2011)

Base Value EU27 (2011)

Regular internet users; Internet use by individuals

75%

2015

61.8%

67.5%

People from disadvantaged groups using the Internet on a regular basis

60%

2015

44.9%

50.9%

Individuals who have never used the internet

15%

2015

29.2%

24.3%

Individuals who use the mobile phone via UMTS (3G) to access the Internet

35%

2015

12.1%

11.8%

Penetration of mobile broadband among mobile phone users

75%

2015

41.2%

34.6%

Source: http://www.agendadigital.gob.es/planes-actuaciones/Paginas/plan-empleabilidad.aspx.

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of improving the quality of life of citizens and improving competitiveness and positioning of Spanish SMEs thanks to the use of ICT. Important institutions and organizations have participated in the preparation of this Plan, as well as other necessary partners mentioned in the concrete measures of the plan, but all of them are key elements on which to pivot the different measures and actions that make it. As previously referenced, during the drafting of this plan (2011) it is based on a percentage of 62% of the population who regularly access the Internet, i.e. we can say almost 40% of the Spanish population are outside the ICT. 28% of the population has no computer, 22.7% have never used the Internet (41.2% by knowledge barriers and 30.4% by barriers related to motivation, do not see the usefulness of its use); only 5.5% of people between 55 and 64 years old have used the Internet and 77% of Internet users have had problems with use. In these circumstances it is necessary to promote activities that support digital literacy and accessibility and promote equality of opportunity to achieve a socially and territorially cohesive society. Meanwhile, there is a growing demand for the digital economy —increasingly qualified ICT professionals— and Spain is not giving appropriate response to the requirements of the companies in the sector, concludes the study carried out by the National Observatory for Telecommunications and the Information Society (ONTSI) about “supply and demand for professionals in digital content” (2013), published in February 2013, so it is necessary to develop measures to adapt the offer of training, practice and qualification or skills, to the reality demanded by the companies. This Plan proposes to increase and improve the digital skills of all citizens, regardless of their age, place of residence or economic status, so they can access and learn about applications, technologies

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and functionalities that could be integrated into their daily lives, thus promoting faster and agile access to the services and products that meet their needs, both personal and professional. Initiatives that include the four main axes of the Digital Inclusion and Employability Plan are aligned with the Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment Strategy 2013-2016, with the Law to support the Entrepreneurs and its internationalization and the Royal Decree of 2013, February 22 of labor support to entrepreneurs and encouraging growth and job creation measures.

Indicators and Monitoring The National Observatory for Telecommunications and the Information Society (ONTSI) will carry out regular monitoring of key objectives through the indicators system established by the Digital Agenda for Europe, in response to any future revisions, and incorporating specific indicators for the specific objectives of Spain. The key indicators for digital inclusion of the 2020 Digital Agenda for Europe presents the next evolution for Spain ((European Commission, 2012b) (Figures 7, 8 and 9). In 2013, 66% of the Spanish population reported using the internet at least weekly (regular users), below the EU average of 72%. Spain exhibited lower rates of daily use of the internet (frequent users), with 54% of the population reporting going online every day, compared to an EU average of 62%. In 2013, 24% of the population had still never used the internet; lower than in 2012 and higher than the EU average of 20% (Table 3 and Table 4). With respect to the key indicators for the digital inclusion of the Digital Agenda for Spain, evolutionary data are as follows (Table 5), already knowing the corresponding to 2013 (Red.es, 2014b). The ONTSI has been published the annual report “Society in Network”, publication detail-

 Institutional Policies for Digital Inclusion in Spain

Figure 7. Regular internet users

Figure 8. Frequent internet users

ing the degree of penetration of the Information Technology and Communication (ICT) in Spain, Europe and the world from multiple angles and which constitutes a key element in the design and monitoring of the Digital Agenda for Spain. The last of them, which has just seen the light, reveals data about the year 2013, as the significant growth in the professional use of social networks, by Spanish companies (Red.es, 2014). The reported increase is 11.7 percentage points in the case of SMEs and large companies, and 17.6 percent-

age points in micro-enterprises case. Thus, the percentages of use are placed in the 29.1% and 26.6% respectively. Another significant fact refers to mobile broadband, which also grows significantly for the third consecutive year and recorded a rate of penetration among the companies with Internet access of 73.6% in SMEs and large companies, and 56.8% in micro-enterprises. It is also noteworthy the important growth in the penetration of tablets and smartphones in

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Figure 9. Individuals who have never used the internet

Table 3. Comparison between digital inclusion Spain-EU indicators Indicator (Including Breakdown and Unit)

Spain Value

EU28 Value

2012

2013

2013

Internet users going on-line weekly (Regular internet users - All individuals, in % of individuals)

65

66

72

Internet users on a daily basis (Frequent internet users - All individuals, in % of individuals)

51

54

62

Individuals who have never used the internet - All individuals (in % of individuals)

27

24

20

Table 4. Current Differential of Spain and the EU 27 to the 2015 goal Internet Usage Indicators

Spain - Goal

UE - Goal

Goal 2015

Individuals regularly using the Internet

9 pp

3 pp

75%

Disadvantaged people who regularly use the Internet

8 pp

3 pp

60%

Individuals who have never used the Internet

9 pp

6 pp

15%

Spain (2013)

Value to Achieve 2015

Table 5. Key indicators for digital inclusion evolution in Spain. Plan Targets

Spain (2011)

Spain (2012)

Regular internet users

61.8%

65%

66%

75%

People from disadvantaged groups using the Internet on a regular basis

44.9%

46%

52%

60%

Individuals who have never used the internet

29.2%

27%

24%

15%

Individuals who use the mobile phone via UMTS (3G) to access the Internet

12.1%

22.8%

35%

Penetration of mobile broadband among mobile phone users

41.2%

58.4

75%

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homes and in the Spanish population. The use of smartphones has increased by 12.2 percentage points and reached 53.7% of individuals, while tablets grow 16.7 percentage points, with a penetration rate of 28.5% in households. The press release of the report also highlights the penetration of Internet in Spanish households, which still experienced a positive growth. Thus, the 69.6% have Internet (2.7 percentage points higher). The penetration of mobile telephony is the most important, with 96%, followed by fixed telephony (83%), Internet (70%) and pay TV (21%) (Red.es, 2013, October 9). In the framework of the Plan of digital inclusion and employability we are analyzing have been carrying out some specific actions, such as the agreement signed by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, through Red.es, and the National Centre for Accessibility Technologies Foundation (CENTAC) to work together for digital inclusion. Both organizations will collaborate in the verification of the universal accessibility of web sites as well as in the analysis of accessibility of mobile websites and applications for smartphones, with the focus on those developed by the public administration. Similarly, both agencies can advise on this matter to the administrations and the ICT sector (Red.es, 2013, October 9) The entity under the Ministry of Industry and CENTAC will also collaborate in the diffusion and the promotion of accessibility through the development of joint actions that have the purposes of the training of professionals and citizens. Both institutions shall pay special attention to the inclusion of accessibility requirements in public procurement procedures and their incorporation within the Smart Cities program that Red.es is launching. Finally, the agreement establishes that CENTAC will conduct at least two face-to-face workshops at the headquarters of Red.es with the aim of improving the skills of the staff of this entity in relation to ICT accessibility. Also framed in the digital inclusion and employability Plan is the Digital Agenda Line, aimed

at supporting the implementation and development of business projects in the field of ICT through equity loans with a minimum amount of 25,000 euros and a maximum of 300,000 euros. Within the priority areas include technologies for accessibility (Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo, & Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas, 2013c).

THE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES IN SPAIN AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY As it is known the Spanish State is organized territorially into municipalities, provinces and Autonomous Communities, entities that have autonomy for the management of their respective interests (Constitution, 1978). The Autonomous Communities of Extremadura and Andalusia, in this order, are which have lower economic level according to the nominal GDP per capita in 2013, without regard to Melilla having legal status of Autonomous City. Meanwhile, Catalonia is in the fourth position at the head of the Autonomous Communities that exceed the national average in the year 2013, in terms of per capita GDP in euros. Taking into account this context, in this section the state of the information society in general and particularly the approach to digital inclusion in the Autonomous Communities of Extremadura, Andalusia and Catalonia will be analyzed. According to the Annual Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Households (ICT-H) in the year 2013 conducted by the National Institute of Statistics of Spain (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, 2013, October, 25) addressed to people aged 10 or older living in family housing that collects information about household equipment of the information and communication technologies (television, telephone, radio, computer equipment) and the use of computers, Internet and e-commerce, Catalonia is

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above the Spanish average in the use of computer and Internet, while Andalusia and Extremadura are below. The same applies with regard to the use of mobile telephony, although in this case reversed the trend and Extremadura surpasses Andalusia in this indicator (Table 6). Meanwhile, the eEspaña Report 2014 on the development of the information society, the Orange Foundation has been publishing annually and whose new edition has just seen the light, points out that the most economically disadvantaged regions are those with greater digital exclusion (Fundación Orange, 2014, p. 101). It confirms, with data from the INE (National Institute of Statistics), that

the regions in which there is a combination of inhabitants with low average incomes and higher rural population, such as Extremadura, have lower levels of digital inclusion (p.127) According to ICSI index, Convergence Index of Information Society, which prepares the report, and whose main source of information is the INE of Spain, concerning the adoption of ICT, there has been convergence in the development of the Information Society in most of the Autonomous Communities. Catalonia is in second place in the Spanish State, followed by Madrid, making it one of the regions most advanced in the development of the Information Society.

Table 6. Percentage of ICT users by autonomous communities Año 2013 Computer Users within the Last Three Months

Internet Users within the Last Three Months

Internet Frequents Users (at Least Once a Week)

Mobile Phone Users within the Last Three Months

TOTAL

72.0

71.6

65.8

94.2

Andalucía

67.0

67.0

60.4

93.7

Aragón

75.3

74.4

70.3

95.3

Asturias, Principado de

70.3

69.4

66.6

92.9

Balears Illes

76.4

75.8

70.3

94.7

Canarias

66.5

66.0

60.6

93.4

Cantabria

75.3

73.9

69.6

91.6

Castilla y León

73.3

71.7

64.7

93.3

Castilla - La Mancha

67.4

65.6

59.7

91.8

Cataluña

75.5

74.9

69.5

94.6

Comunitat Valenciana

69.4

70.0

63.7

94.8

Extremadura

63.6

65.7

58.7

94.0

Galicia

66.4

65.3

60.0

93.2

Madrid, Comunidad de

80.7

80.1

75.1

95.6

Murcia, Región de

67.1

68.8

61.1

95.5

Navarra, Comunidad Foral de

73.5

72.0

66.1

93.4

País Vasco

79.1

76.6

72.3

93.9

Rioja, La

71. 4

71. 3

63.4

95.1

Ceuta

76.1

76.9

74.8

94.7

Melilla

53.4

55.1

53.4

89.2

(Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE. (2013, October, 25).

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Andalusia has improved convergence of Information Society (IS) indicators in 2013 and there has been an increase in some indicators, especially in the use of social networks, becoming the leading community in this field. The study ensures the evolution of digital citizenship progresses, especially indicators of Internet applications, which places this autonomy above the Spanish average (p. 190). Following the analysis of the report eEspaña 2014, Extremadura is the region which least converge, especially in business, but in the field of digital citizenship, the distance with the rest of the Autonomous Communities is not so pronounced. The general situation of the IS in Extremadura continues being lower than in the whole of the country, there is a digital gap with the rest of Spain. However, it leads the indicator relating to Web surfers who do online courses. With regard to e-Government or e-Administration, the only indicator that manages to reach the Spanish average, is submitting forms via the Internet (p. 210). Meanwhile, Catalonia has a high level of digital inclusion in the regional comparison, after the Balearic Islands and Madrid, is one of the communities with higher incomes per capita as it has been said. The Catalan eGovernment exceeds the national average in all its parameters for citizenship, however half of the indicators of Internet use are below the average (p. 206).

Digital Inclusion Policies in Extremadura Extremadura Autonomy sought to converge with Europe and the rest of the Spanish State, in terms of development of ICT, developing the Digital Agenda of Extremadura (Gobierno de Extremadura, 2014), which involves all sectors of the region. Thus, among other objectives, this initiative will facilitate citizen inclusion, so the people of Extremadura are participants of the progress of the Information Society (IS) and

develop new professional profiles that conform to the current market challenges in the field of communications and new technologies. Despite the clear digital disadvantage with respect to the regions of it environment, Extremadura has been an international benchmark in recent years in implementing ICT-based public policies. Free software and LinEx put Extremadura on the map as a model for implementation of public policies in Information and Communication Technologies, and there are three principles which have supported the Information Society policies carried out by Extremadura, freedom, equity, and technological independence: 1. Freedom: One of the concepts in which open source technologies are based on. 2. Equity: Conditions of connectivity for all equal, universalization of access to telecommunications infrastructure. 3. Technological Independence: Free software is the only technology that allows you to be independent, technologically speaking. The Plan for Technological Literacy and Free Software and GNU/ LinEx was recognized by international organizations such as UNESCO or the European Union as a pioneer project and good practice of universalization of free and open access to ICT (Gobierno de Extremadura, 2014, p.16). Extremadura was the European Region with a higher ratio of computers per student and inspired large international educational technology projects. This act of incorporation of adult people to the Knowledge Society, within the framework of non-formal education, was developed through the so-called New Knowledge Centres, public spaces in rural areas and socially disadvantaged neighborhoods of cities. It was a singular model of technological literacy in Europe and especially to Latin America, on the initiative of, at that moment, President of the Regional Government of

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Extremadura, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, whose management is entrusted to the Association of Popular Universities of Extremadura through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Equipo Técnico de la Asociación de Universidades Populares de Extremadura, 2005) The Digital Agenda also follows the path started in the Strategic Plan for the Information Society 2010-2013 (Junta de Extremadura, 2010). This plan addressed the need of a digital convergence with European policies. Training and citizen inclusion, is therefore one of the main objectives of the Digital Agenda of Extremadura, those actions are aimed at training professionals to generate new profiles designed to cover niche markets in the technology sector; equally high level training for the attraction and retention of talent; as well as to the development of the European initiative New skills for new jobs. It aims to combat the barriers of citizen use of ICTs, through incentives for use by citizens in their relationship with the Public Administration, raise awareness of cloud computing, and promote the use of free software applications, opening up applications for its release for being available to citizens, businesses and administrations. Digital Agenda of Extremadura intends to complement a set of public actions or specific plans, among others, continue the Plan for Technological Literacy of Extremadura (Gobierno de Extremadura, 2014, p. 78 et seq.), The Ministry of

Employment, Enterprise and Innovation through ICT training for employability, such as training in basic computing, online job search workshops, managing social networks and professional use, networking and personal digital marketing; use of public employment portals; sessions to present the most demanded emerging ICT professions. These training activities, both face-to-face and online mode, are addressed to unemployed, workers, workshop schools, craft schools, as well as companies and entrepreneurs to disseminate the various options offered by the technologies for the improvement of the productivity of a business.

Andalusia and the Information Society There are several programs that the Autonomous Community has set up related to the improvement of the position in the Spanish State with respect to the development of the Information Society. Among others, the Andalusia Mobile Broadband Plan and Andalusia Information Society Plan (ASI / AIS) initiatives that have benefited the strong increase in the proportion of individuals who access the Internet via mobile phone, although the Community / Region is located just below the national average in this indicator using data from 2013, as seen above. Also, Andalusia has continued its advance in the ICT equipment in homes, in line with the

Table 7. Citizen Inclusion Objective 5 Training and civic inclusion, facilitate their access to the progress of the Information Society and to develop new professional profiles for the current market challenges. Subject Blocks Digital Citizenship

Actions Training aimed at generating new professional profiles for new market niches. High level training for the attraction and retention of talent. Develop the European initiative: New Skills for new jobs. Tackling the barriers of citizen use of ICTs.

Cloud Computing

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Awareness of cloud computing

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Andalusia Digital Commitment program, which aims to enhance ICT penetration through the Telecommunications Infrastructure Strategy of Andalusia 2020 (Junta de Andalucía, 2013). The purpose of this strategy is to promote the achievement of the objectives set by the European Digital Agenda for 2020 in terms of broadband. Andalusia Digital Commitment (ADC) is defined as an innovative initiative launched in 2008 by the Department / Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment for the development of Information Society (IS) in this Autonomous Community / Region. It is based on the movement of Andalusian society through a network of collaboration formed by people, companies and organizations for opening doors to opportunities offered by ICT. Thanks to the disinterested collaboration of its stakeholders (sponsors, contributors and collaborators), ADC has a portfolio of services constantly updated regarding access to the Information Society (IS), and a more advanced use of ICT, in safer environments. The initiative develops training programs, both face-to-face and online, and is open to new activities that can meet the needs of users. Digital Patron Network of ADC are private companies that provide both human and material resources by engaging in social activities and digital inclusion. Entities Network is formed by public agencies, non-profit organizations, and associations registered in the Andalusian Register of volunteer organizations, that support the dissemination of the project and the development of its activities. Finally the ADC network has a coordination centre in each of the eight provincial capitals of Andalusia that provide information to the public about its services, and manage the network of digital volunteers. There are numerous associations that benefit from these services as Users Entities (Junta de Andalucía, 2008). Andalusia Digital Commitment has formed so far more than 230,000 people. It has had to train

more than 2,500 volunteers, although it currently has approximately 350. The program is co-funded 80% by the European Social Fund, which has been a trancendental promotion for digital inclusion, and has been requested its continuation for the period 2014-2020. The Autonomous Community of Andalusia does not have a Digital Agenda, but it has approved in December 2013 the Telecommunications Infrastructure Strategy Andalusia 2020, taking into account one of the specific objectives of the Digital Agenda for Spain, the development of networks and services to ensure digital connectivity. Among others, it has been considered, as a fundamental principle, guarantee universal broadband coverage with increasing speeds in Andalusia as a fundamental element of the principle of social inclusion. But Andalusia has other initiatives of training and access to ICT with a long temporary route, as Guadalinfo, the network of social innovation in Andalusia (Junta de Andalucía. (2003). Created in 2003, has 752 centers (692 in Andalusian towns under 20,000 inhabitants and 62 in urban areas at risk of social exclusion) and 25 Andalusian communities abroad. On behalf of the eight Andalusian provincial councils and the Department / Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment, Fernando de los Rios Consortium is a tool for managing this network of over 800,000 users and has already generated more than 1,700 citizenbased innovative projects in areas such as tourism, employment, training, inclusion, environment, web 2.0, sustainability, accessibility or culture. Guadalinfo, is part of the worldwide network of laboratories for social innovation through ENoLL, European Network of Living Lab; European Association of Telecentres, Telecentre-Europe; of the Network of Networks of Telecentres LAC of Latin America and the Caribbean, and holds the presidency of the Spanish Association of Telecentre Networks and Social Innovation

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Centers, an organization founded in 2008 which brings together the Spanish Telecentre networks addetelecentros.ne. Guadalinfo has had and has a great influence on Andalusian society, in terms of the application of technology in the daily work of citizenship, and also has a positive impact on the socio-economic growth of Andalusia. Another innovative initiative of the Department / Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Junta de Andalucía is the creation of Edukanda (Junta de Andalucía. (n.d.), a web repository for sharing educational resources on the Information Society and Knowledge. Hosts learning resources in multiple formats: video, audio, presentations, images, text documents and even full courses in SCORM format. All resources provided should promote among the citizens of Andalusia digital culture in its broadest sense and, above all, it will always be open contents, based on free licenses, especially Creative Commons. Edukanda is also the platform collecting resources of training programmes aimed at the development of the Information Society in Andalusia.

Catalonia and Digital Inclusion In the field of digital citizenship, the Catalan Government is promoting the development of ICT through different projects (Generalitat de Catalunya, n.d.b). One of them is called ICT Accreditation Program (Programa de Acreditación en TIC - ACTIC) (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2013), which aims to enhance the effectiveness in the use of the them from personal, social and economic perspective, as well as to define a standard accreditation of professional qualifications and training of citizens in general. Another initiative is the Telecentre Network or TIC Points of Catalonia, which aims to promote connectivity and ICT use by Catalan citizens. The acronym ACTIC corresponds to the name “accreditation of competencies in information technology and communication.”

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The ACTIC is accrediting certification of digital competence, defined as the combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes in the field of technologies of information and communication that people develop in real situations to achieve certain objectives with effectiveness and efficiency. The ACTIC allows any person older than 16 years to demonstrate their ICT skills through a computer test. The test is telematics, although it should be done in a collaborating center authorized by the Generalitat (Calalonia Government), which guarantees that it is done in the right conditions. There are more than 300 centres distributed throughout Catalonia, with a great variety of assessment schedules. The request and obtain the certificate are also telematics. There is no need to expect any call to apply. Those who successfully pass the test receive a certificate (basic, medium or advanced) issued by the Generalitat, and which enables them to prove a certain level (1, 2, or 3, respectively) of ICT skills to any company or administration. These certificates are, therefore, a tool that can facilitate the obtaining of an employment, professional development, access to e-learning tools or obtain a professional certification. The ACTIC opened to citizenship (levels 1 and 2) in November 2009 and was completed on display (level 3) at the end of 2011. It is based on general policy frameworks such as the strategy for IS defined by the European Council in Lisbon in 2000 and renovated in 2010, or the Strategic Agreement for the internationalization, the quality of the employment and the competitiveness of the Catalan economy, signed between the Generalitat of Catalonia and the main employers´ organizations and trade union organizations in 2005, and renovated in 2008. The ACTIC refers to the guidelines of the European Union and the OECD on learning skills. In this sense, digital competence is considered one of the basic skills. The Xarxa Punt TIC (Point ICT Network) (Generalitat de Catalunya, n.d.c) are centres of reference at local level for digital training. They

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are public access points to the Internet, trying to reduce the digital gap and ensure territorial balance and social cohesion in the knowledge society. The PuntTIC.cat portal is the virtual space of the network. This space has a dual purpose: 1. For citizenship it offers educational resources, news about the Internet and ICT in general, and provides spaces for participation such as forums, blogs or wikis. Also facilitators, entities and public administrations reported their policies, actions and proposals, on the one hand, and knowledge sharing, reflections, thoughts, and resource, on the other. 2. For the facilitators of ICT Points, is a meeting place and to share experiences and best practices, a repository of information resources and any other practices which help them in their daily work and contact with the public. This site is a space for exchange, learning, discussion and reflection, a place for all its members and constantly evolving.

As for the most current policies related to the Information Society, idigital is the Digital Agenda for Catalonia 2020, highlighting among its strategic axes, the one dedicated to digital citizenship and social cohesion. Its objective is to enhance the knowledge, use and appropriation of ICT by citizens as a way to promote personal development and improve the quality of life in the information society, as well as foster social cohesion. At the same time, it seeks to promote the professional profiles related to ICT through training and job insertion actions. The Digital Agenda for Catalonia 2020 is fully aligned with the EU strategy in this field, and recognizes the leading role of the European agenda sharing their fields of action to address the obstacles that restrain the development of the information society. As initial concrete projects in the field of citizenship include the information shown in Table 8 (Generalitat de Catalunya, n.d.a).

Table 8. Brief description of the impulse projects related to citizens field Electronic Employability

This project will promote the improvement of employability through training in the use of ICT. It is working globally to increase the index of employability providing citizens with the necessary tools for their professional development. The project also aims to promote the technology sector as a generator of employment and promotion of new professional profiles associated with ICT. It is achieved in this way two objectives: employment and the increase of skills in ICT for citizens and businesses.

Citizens Social Networks

The development of ICT is closely related to the activity of citizens in social networks. In this line, the objective of this project is to promote the different existing community networks and digital communities in the country, and support, as well as to assist in the creation of new ones, promoting models of networking and facilitating the exchange of knowledge.

Social and Territorial Cohesion Citizen Card

ICT are also one of the tools that can improve social and territorial cohesion of Catalonia. In this sense, the Government is committed to promoting universal access to the information society and citizenship training in the use of ICT. The citizen card is the document that identifies and accredits users of health services and the benefits they have access to. As identification element has the distinction of reaching the entire population, which is clear to the development of countless eAdministration services user-centered.

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CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

The digital inclusion policies in Spain, as it has happened in Europe, have been integrated into the general policies of promotion of the Information Society. As reflection of the various European initiatives for the Information Society driven in within the EU, Spain has been promoting their own plans, reflecting the broad outlines of those. Also, due to the particular characteristics of the organization of the State in our country, a large part of the effective implementation of the policies outlined lie in the Autonomous Communities. Spain began to promote digital inclusion policies since 2000 The Digital Agenda for Spain incorporates specific objectives for the development of the economy and the digital society in Spain and to promote that the general public and professionals, have a high degree of digital preparation and can thus take advantage of the intensive use of ICT. It can therefore be concluded that the situation regarding the digital skills of the Spanish population is not tarnished at all compared to the European average, although in some aspects we should still improve. The key indicators for the digital inclusion in Spain are positive and there are on track to achieve the 2015 goals. Catalonia is above the Spanish average in the use of computer and Internet, while Andalusia and Extremadura are below according to 2013 INE data. But concerning the adoption of ICT, there has been convergence in the development of the IS in most of the Autonomous Communities / Regions. The eEspaña Report 2014 confirms that the regions in which there is a combination of inhabitants with low average incomes and higher rural population, such as Extremadura, have lower levels of digital inclusion. Spain is on the road!

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Barroso Barrero, J. (2004). La administración electrónica en España: un análisis de sus sectores clave. Información Comercial Española, ICE: Revista de economía, (813), 55-72. Retrieved from http://www.revistasice.com/CachePDF/ ICE_813_55-71__935E069B5B7805A3C6917 0C22B198A84.pdf Clinton, W. J., & Gore, A., Jr. (1993). Technology for America’s economic growth, a new direction to build economic strength. [online]. The White House, Washington, D.C. Retrieved from http:// www.mcreporter.info/documenti/technology.pdf Colmenero-Ruiz, M. J. (2004). La iniciativa eEurope y su reflejo en España. Retrieved from e-archivo.uc3m.es/handle/10016/11421 Comisión Interministerial de la Sociedad de la Información y de las Nuevas Tecnologías. (2000). [La sociedad de la información para todos: Iniciativa del gobierno para el desarrollo de la sociedad de la información Retrieved from http://www.internautas.org/documentos/infoxxi. pdf]. Info, XXI. Córdoba, J. A., & Sanz Domingo, P. (2004). España en la sociedad de la información. @bsysnet. com. Retrieved from http://eprints.rclis.org/8396/ EFE Agencia. (2003, July 24). Motorola y Sedisi: Nuevas críticas al Plan España.es. El Mundo. Navegante.com. Retrieved from http:// www.elmundo.es/navegante/2003/07/24/esociedad/1059059745.html

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El Plan de Alfabetización Tecnológica y Software Libre de Extremadura: Una estrategia libre para un proyecto de libertad. (2005). Tabanque: Revista pedagógica, (19), 71-82. Retrieved from dialnet. unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/2010141.pdf European Commission. (2010). Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/ LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:20 20:FIN:EN:PDF European Commission. (2012a). Digital Agenda Scoreboard: Spain. Retrieved from https:// ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/scoreboard/spain European Commission. (2012b). Digital Agenda Scoreboard key indicators. Retrieved from http:// digital-agenda-data.eu/charts/see-the-evolutionof-an-indicator-and-compare-countries European Communities Commission. (1994). Europe’s way to the information society: An action plan. Retrieved from http://aei.pitt.edu/947/1/ info_socieity_action_plan_COM_94_347.pdf European Communities Commission. (1999). eEurope: An information society for all. Retrieved from http://aei.pitt.edu/3532/1/3532.pdf Fernández, L. (2003, July 12). El Gobierno evaluará cada semana el cumplimiento del plan España.es. Cinco días. Retrieved from http:// cincodias.com/cincodias/2003/07/12/tecnologia/1058253470_850215.html Fernández-de-Lis, P., & Muñoz, R. (2002, October 21). El fracaso del Plan Info XXI obliga al Gobierno a poner en marcha uno nuevo. El País. Retrieved from http://elpais.com/diario/2002/10/21/ economia/1035151201_850215.html

García Jiménez, L., & Carmona Martínez, M. (2008). El cuarto mundo digital en España: Análisis de las desigualdades tecnológicas entre comunidades autónomas. Revista Telos, (76). Retrieved from http://telos.fundaciontelefonica.com/telos/ articulodocumento.asp@idarticulo=2&rev=76. htm Generalitat de Catalunya. (n.d.a). Agenda Digital para Catalunya 2020. Retrieved from http:// www.idigital.cat/documents/10501/405750/ Agenda_Digital_CAT_maquetada.pdf Generalitat de Catalunya. (n.d.b). Ciutadania. Retrieved from http://www.idigital.cat/projectes/ ciutadania Generalitat de Catalunya. (n.d.c). La Red Punt TIC. Retrieved from http://punttic.cat/xarxa_punt_tic Gobierno de España. (2010). The Ingenio programme 2010. Retrieved from http://www. ingenio2010.es/ Gobierno de España. (2014). Punto de acceso general. Retrieved from http://administracion.gob.es Gobierno de Extremadura. (2014). Agenda Digital de Extremadura. Retrieved from http://www. extremaduradigital.org/ Growth, competitiveness, employment - The challenges and ways forward into the 21st century [White Paper]. (1993). Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement 6. Retrieved from http:// europa.eu/documentation/official-docs/whitepapers/pdf/growth_wp_com_93_700_parts_a_b. pdf Iberforo. (2001). El plan de acción InfoXXI. Revista Bip, (24). Retrieved from: http://www. ibermutuamur.es/revista_bip_antigua/24/pdf/ Bip24_Iberforo_2.pdf

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Instituto Nacional de Estadística [INE]. (2013, October, 25). Encuesta sobre equipamiento y uso de tecnologías de información y comunicación en los hogares (TIC-H) año 2013. Nota de prensa. Retrieved from http://www.ine.es/prensa/np803.pdf

Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología. (2003). España.es: Programa de actuaciones para el desarrollo de la sociedad de la información en España. Retrieved from http://campus.usal.es/~derinfo/ derinfo/Espana.es/espana_es.pdf

Instituto Nacional de Estadística [INE]. (2014, March 31). Producto interior bruto regional año 2013: Contabilidad regional de España. Base 2008. Nota de prensa. Retrieved from http://www. ine.es/prensa/np835.pdf

Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, & Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo. (2014). Sobre RedIris. Retrieved from http://www.rediris. es/rediris/

Junta de Andalucía. (2003). Guadalinfo. Retrieved from http://www.guadalinfo.es/ Junta de Andalucía. (2008). Andalucía compromiso digital. Retrieved from https://www.andaluciacompromisodigital.org/que-es-acd Junta de Andalucía. (2013). Estrategia de Infraestructuras de Telecomunicaciones de Andalucía 2020. Retrieved from http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/organismos/economiainnovacioncienciayempleo/areas/tic-telecomunicaciones/infraestructuras/paginas/estrategia-2020.html Junta de Andalucía. (n.d.). Edukanda. Retrieved from http://www.edukanda.es/ Junta de Extremadura. (2010). Plan Estratégico de Sociedad de la Información 2010-2013 (PESIEX 2013). Retrieved from http://www.creex. es/joomla/files/Acuerdos%20pactos%20planes/ Plan%20estrategico%20Sociedad%20informacion%20Extremadura/Plan%20Estrategico%20 de%20la%20Sociedad%20de%20la%20Informacion%20en%20Extremadura%202010_2013.pdf Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología. (2001). Info XXI: Plan de acción (2001-2003) de la iniciativa del Gobierno para el desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información. Retrieved from https://web. archive.org/web/20010803120815/http://www. infoxxi.es/strc_d.htm

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Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo, & Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas. (2013a). Agenda digital para España. Retrieved from http://www.agendadigital.gob.es/ Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo, & Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas. (2013b). Plan de inclusión digital y empleabilidad. Retrieved from http://www.agendadigital.gob. es/planes-actuaciones/Bibliotecainclusion/Plan/ Plan-ADpE-7_Inclusion-Empleabilidad.pdf Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo, & Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas. (2013c, October 17). 30 millones de euros de financiación TIC Agenda Digital para emprendedores y PYMES. Nota de prensa. Retrieved from http://www.agendadigital.gob.es/agenda-digital/ noticias/Paginas/PrestamosENISA.aspx Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio. (2005). Plan Avanza: Plan 2006-2010 para el desarrollo de la sociedad de la información y de convergencia con Europa y entre comunidades autónomas y ciudades autónomas. Retrieved from https://www.planavanza.es/InformacionGeneral/ PlanAvanza1/Descargas/2a392d4f65d9404fb83fc 3d2f64eceadplan_avanza_documento_completo. pdf

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Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio. (2009). La sociedad de la información es ya una realidad en España: Plan Avanza2. Retrieved from https://www.planavanza.es/InformacionGeneral/ ResumenEjecutivo2/Descargas/2009-12-16%20 Contexto%20Avanza%20SI.pdf Ministerio de Salud, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad, & Instituto de la Mujer. (2014). Plan de acción para la igualdad de oportunidades de mujeres y hombres en la sociedad de la información. Borrador definitive. Retrieved from http://www. inmujer.gob.es/actualidad/NovedadesNuevas/ docs/BorradIIPlanAccionSocInf.pd Mora, F. (2003, April 15). Estrategias para el e-business. Cinco días. Retrieved from http:// cincodias.com/cincodias/2003/04/15/economia/1050519345_850215.html Mota, J. (2003, April 20). Fracasos previsibles. El País. Retrieved from http://elpais.com/ diario/2003/04/20/negocio/1050844464_850215. html Muñoz Sanandrés, M. (2003). La Comisión Soto. Sociedad de la información en España: nuevo asalto. Revista Telos, (56). Retrieved from http:// telos.fundaciontelefonica.com/telos/articulonoticia.asp@idarticulo=2&rev=56.htm ONTSI [Observatorio Nacional de las Telecomunicaciones y de la Sociedad de la Información]. Oferta y demanda de profesionales en contenidos digitales. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.ontsi. red.es/ontsi/sites/default/files/informe_oferta_y_ demanda_de_profesionales_en_contenidos_digitales.pdf Red.es. (2013, October 9). El Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo colaborará con CENTAC para promover la accesibilidad de las tecnologías de la información. Notas de prensa. Retrieved from

Red.es. (2014a). ¿Quiénes somos? Retrieved from http://www.red.es/redes/quienes-somos Red.es. (2014b). La sociedad en red: informe anual 2013. Edición 2014. Retrieved from http://www. ontsi.red.es/ontsi/sites/default/files/informe_anual_la_sociedad_en_red_2013_ed._2014.pdf Report on Europe and the Global Information Society. Recommendations of the high-level group on the information society to the Corfu European Council (Bangemann group). (1994). Bulletin of the European Union, Supplement No. 2/94. [followup to the White Paper] (commonly called the Bangemann Report). Retrieved from http:// bookshop.europa.eu/en/growth-competitivenessand-employment-pbCMNF94002/ and http://aei. pitt.edu/1199/ Sanz, A. (2002, May 22). Internet para todos, el proyecto más prorrogado del MCyT, ya es real. Computerworld España. Retrieved from http:// www.computerworld.es/innovacion/internetpara-todos-el-proyecto-mas-prorrogado-delmcyt-ya-es-real Spanish Constitution. (1978). Boletín Oficial del Estado (311) de 29/12. Retrieved from http:// www.congreso.es/constitucion/ficheros/c78/ cons_ingl.pdf Special Commission of Study for the Development of the Information Society / Comisión Especial de Estudio para el Desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información. (2003). Aprovechar la oportunidad del desarrollo de la sociedad de la información en España. Retrieved from http://tecnologiaedu. us.es/cuestionario/bibliovir/informecome.pdf

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Andalucía: Andalucia is in the south of the Iberian peninsula. The Andalusian Autonomous Community is officially recognized as a “historical nationality” of Spain by its Statute of Autonomy.

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The territory is divided into eight provinces: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga y Sevilla. It is the most populated and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities in Spain. Autonomous Communities: In Spain, an autonomous community is a first-level political and administrative division, created in accordance with the Spanish constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing the autonomy of the nationalities and regions that comprise the Spanish nation. Catalonia: In catalan Catalunya, is an autonomous community of Spain and designated a “historical nationality” by its Statute of Autonomy. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Barcelona is too, the second largest city in Spain. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the north. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranse (an Occitan dialect). Extremadura: Is an autonomous community of western Spain. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west. Extremadura was the source of many of the initial Spanish conquerors and settlers in America.

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Internet Public Access Points: Public places where people are able to access ICT technologies as well as other ICT oriented services. In Spain, they can have different terms: Guadalinfo centers in Andalusia, telecenters, CAPIS (Centers of Public Access to Internet), among others, and aims to extend the use and benefits of technology to disadvantaged groups. ONTSI: The National Observatory for Telecommunication and Information Society is a body attached to the Red.es public company, whose main objective is the monitoring and analysis of the telecommunications sector and information Society. Red.es: The public corporate entity attached to the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism (MINETUR) which is responsible for promoting the development of the Information Society in Spain. RedIRIS: Spanish academic and research network that provides advanced communication services to the scientific community and national universities.

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Chapter 19

Trends in Information Literacy Programmes to Empower People and Communities: Social Technologies Supporting New Citizen Needs José-Antonio Gómez-Hernández University of Murcia, Spain Tomás Saorín University of Murcia, Spain

ABSTRACT It is explained how an understanding of information literacy programs should evolve to empower people and communities. These programmes, it is suggested, would serve as training in those types of social technologies that enhance the capability of self-organization, social and democratic influence, alternative systems of consumption and services, and so on. Keeping in mind the social and technological attempts to face situations of scarcity caused by the present European economic crisis, the framework of this approach is in the main documents of the European Union concerning citizenship skills, as well as in social demands on open government (transparency, participation and collaboration). Based on the absence or inadequacy of the issues in the syllabi of most information literacy programmes, guidelines are suggested in order that they may be promoted by library systems and other public networks of socioeducational action, emphasizing learning for social innovation.

INTRODUCTION These days the importance of knowing how to accede to and how to apply knowledge throughout life is acknowledged. Furthermore, it is believed that public policies, not only educational ones,

must create the context so that such knowledge can be a public asset within the reach of all. But it is not a question of whatever knowledge; rather, as Pérez Oliva (2014) says, “Of a contextual knowledge based on a changing reality, which allows us to grasp that contextuality and interact with it;

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch019

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 Trends in Information Literacy Programmes to Empower People and Communities

a knowledge essential to remain connected and exercise a citizenship that is critical, responsible and committed”. The objective of these reflections is to justify that such informational literacy activities (hereinafter referred to as INFOLIT) can be diversified to include new themes; re-evaluating their conceptual focus and their teaching practices. Basically, it is considered that until now instrumental of information search and its evaluation have been prioritized. But it is believed that a more empowering focus of INFOLIT would be to also focus on the users’ capability for a more autonomous-, more personal- and communitybased life with a related decision-making and intervention capability. In these reflections this focus will be the basis; linking itself to two dimensions of daily life. The first is those daily interactions which are already better resolved with technological support – buying, exchanging, expressing oneself in communication, - and, secondly, the desire for participation in aspects of community life - such as citizenship - is collectively demanding; open government, transparency, and collaboration or participation in decision-making processes. Attention to Information Technology (hereinafter designated as IT) and media literacy has been present for a number of years in a multitude of public policies and strategies which are channeled through concrete programs and actions originating from institutional agencies; in the fields of education, citizen participation, technology promotion, equal opportunities, employability and worker training, and, of course, also from public and university libraries. By observation of the interventions being fulfilled by INFOLIT, the predominance of those directed towards an instrumental capability can be appreciated; giving prominence to the learning of tools; especially in information search and evaluation, or in the online publication of content. This bias is inherent in the whole educational sphere;

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where the debate, as always, is between applied and theoretical knowledge, between the teaching of content or of competencies. But INFOLIT is a key component of digital inclusion frameworks. Beyond access to internet or training courses these frameworks are remarking “Civic engagement” and “Social connection” as roles in which libraries can moblize their resources to move communities forward in digital, social and economic context (IMLS, 2012). INFOLIT ought to be evolutionary, open and contextual, since it responds to an ever-changing socio-cultural need and not to a closed academic syllabus. It is important to give a lot of attention to what is taught, and for what purpose. Furthermore, of course, attention is to be given to its being innovative in both the manner of its organization and in the learning-teaching relationship, of informational competencies. It is within this latter concept that the risk of limiting IT literacy to the aforementioned instrumental ends is recognized. Whitworth (2011) synthesizes this situation by contrasting the terms “instrumental progressivism” and “empowerment”; an opposite contrast which has important implications; not only in the conceptualization of INFOLIT, but also in its practical implementation; such as these reflections want to put forward. There are some well-known examples of advances of INFOLIT programmes in Spain. Within the Spanish University framework, the Conference of Rectors (CRUE) has supported IT certification programmes together with those of personal competencies within the spheres of group work, of problems-solving, of responsibility or the taking of new enterprising initiatives (named CERTIUNI). In the content proposals for tasks in “IT and Information Competences” (CI2), adopted by the University libraries as cross-disciplinary competencies, there is a primary concern for technological or methodological tools, including indicators to evaluate each sub-competency; thereby constituting a very formalized model to facilitate

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an “objective” evaluation. In the same direction, means of accreditation of IT competencies, such as Catalunya’s Certificates of Digital Competence (COMPETIC) for the education of adult persons, and its Certificates accrediting competencies in IT Technologies and Communication (ACTIC) have been unfolded. But there are different and complementary approaches. When less attention is paid to the givenand-determining pre-requisites for certification, the focus can shift to individual’s learning needs. These individual needs are not easily objectifiable, but are, indeed, very relevant. Learners, whether an individual or a group, lose their autonomy to address the learning process according to their own interests. IT competencies, paradoxically, can come to be seen as a trial to be overcome; as another external requisite to be accomplished, and not; as a resource of intrinsic value that can advance one’s own goals and needs.

every dimension of social life, these technologies are the primary triggers of the change process that is prone to amplification. Moreover, within these technologies, the world is currently in a disruptive stage, in which hundreds of agents intervene in a plural, accelerated and asymmetric way; but almost always with large and collective participation doses in their practical orientation and application. When speaking about these things, one is accustomed to think of “social networks” and some of its better known ends (to gather and share information, to work together, to add to, and distribute, content). But in this work, the emphasis is placed on other purposes; those related to collective action and to collaboration; directed at social and personal objectives, such as those identified by the experts of the Future Trends Forum (Weigend, Dias, & Chow, 2012), and which have to do with collaborative consumerism, social activism and even economic activity; namely to:

SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES: EMPOWER CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT AND EVERYDAY LIFE

• •

Every so often, it is appropriate to return to ask oneself, “What are the needs of the users?; and not to take them for granted; to again reflect on their training, expectations and conflicts, so as to identify, from these, the content in which they are interested. Likewise, in what format will the learner best acquire them and which channels are closest for him. In the “Connected Society”, in which communication relationships support one another progressively more so in technology and networks, there is a question: What can be the most relevant INFOLIT content for individual and collective development? A primary content basic of INFOLIT programmes would be training in the so-called social technologies. By reason of being multi-use tools, and through their impact on the re-design of processes, of costs, and of their application in

•

Share opinions and to seek advice, Call to action and to arrange coordinated events, Carry out commercial operations such as to buy and to sell.

To speak about daily tasks, which people carry out with IT technologies, brings one to elementary examples; such as, being able to fill out a form, operating one’s bank account, sharing photos with one’s grandchildren, reading the newspaper, buying theatre tickets online, comparing prices before changing a washing machine, or asking for an appointment in one’s local Health Clinic. Nevertheless, citizens can be social participants in richer and more complex senses than those mentioned: beyond, let’s say, making speedier transactions, monitoring bank movements without going to one’s branch, or buying on the internet. There is a need to express opinions, to share and create social relationships, to dissent, to support, to organize, or to pressure. Lifetime learning is

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not only to fill appropriate formats; but also to produce certain types of social change. Can such content be included in INFOLIT services? The answer is “Yes”. It has been found that INFOLIT is conceptually aligned with the very visible, spontaneous, but sometimes uncoordinated, dynamic social movement for an open and participative government. Therefore a second basic content of INFOLIT programs could be the enabling of technology to be used in these community processes. The two teaching thematic blocks which are being promoted in this chapter are situated under the “conceptual umbrella” of the term “empowerment”. These are seen as a “collective digital literacy” task, which brings users to “an undefined access to media which favours participation by way of an education that stresses, above all, critical capacity, the reconstruction of meaning beginning from multiple, fragmentary sources, the collective generation of both answers and of proposed alternatives” (Lafuente, Alonso, & Rodríguez, 2011). INFOLIT, and empowerment, are being linked with civic activism, ideological plurality and the demand for the regeneration of institutions and markets. “Empower” and likewise its action and effect, “empowerment”, are terms which are used extensively in the social action context and in respect of groups and populations at risk; and especially so in international cooperation and humanitarian help. Their meanings have to do with personal autonomy and change of values, with access to and control of economic and social resources, and likewise, with socio-political participation and influence. Although its definition is “To make a disadvantaged individual or social group powerful or strong”, it is possible to reconcile oneself to the incorporation of a qualifier “To supply means to make powerful or strong …” so that through selfmanagement they will improve their conditions of life. To empower implies to develop and to know how to use capabilities so as to defend objectives

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and, in the process, to win individual and group power. That “power” is also manifested in alternate ways in respect of institutions and businesses; in ways of volunteering and mutual help. Moreover in this sense, San José Montano (2013) wrote that “empowerment” has broadened its field-of-action beyond the conventional vulnerable groups. This supposes “an impressive instrument for strengthening the adaptation to change in the social context; by means of lifelong learning”. These approaches, moreover, are believed to be coherent. Support for them can be found in a group of key documents, for example, those which link digital competence to citizenship and participation; according to The European Framework for Lifelong Learning Competencies (European Parliament, 2006) from which two headings are quoted: • •

“Social and civic competences”, and The “sense of initiative and of entrepreneurship”, in which are present aspects of the citizen as a consumer, and as a generator of change, and on whom digital competencies do have transforming effects.

And in the DIGCOMP Report for the European Commission’s Framework of Developing and Understanding Digital Competence in Europe, relative to the field of Communication, mention is found of the competence for “Engaging in online citizenship”, whose domain implies that the person, “knows that technology can be used for engagement in democratic actions (e.g. lobbying, petitions, parliament)” (Ferrari, 2013). These two references justify the inclusion in INFOLIT programs of these fields of knowledge, which help to resolve, in a relational manner, any related problems or necessities. These can be of an economic, educational, family character, or can be emotional at either group or individual citizen levels. Some problems will be practical or functional; others will have a scope more related

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to social transformation. In both cases, support for them can be based on the possibilities of some technological and digital co-operative services. Perhaps it may be easy to accompany new user groups in their approach to these tools which will improve daily life, which stem from participative possibilities of the social networks, but above all, which are based on a vision of the world in which there are present values such as solidarity, co-operation, or equality. With this focus, information technologies are becoming empowerment technologies; learning, participation and co-operation. There is one type of appropriation that turns “ICT” (Information and Communication Technology) into “TEP” (Technologies for Empowerment and Participation), as used in the expression of Reig (2012). It deals with learning processes that are put into practice, that activate their transformational potential. This, in turn, activates the necessary collective dimension which they have as a core. From a similar focus, that of “ecosystems of learning”, Freire (2011) which indicates that a technology focus only converts itself into a social one “when user communities exist which incorporate the collective dimension into their daily practices and give them innovative uses”. In the main frameworks for building digital inclusive communities (IMLS, 2011) foundational principles are extended, comprising not only those well known (availability and affordability, public access, accessibility for people with disabilities, Adoption and digital literacy) but also consumer education and protection. In the same way, target principles now remark the importance of coping with education, economic and workforce development, civic engagement, public safety and emergency services, health care and quality of life. To propose this, is not to state anything that is not already known; it is a suggestion that libraries offer practical paths for particular technologies which can now be useful and into which type of activities they can best fit. It is a form of expression, as in the manner of the Advanced Digital Training

Plan of Euskadi (Basque country of Spain) titled “Libraries that promote dynamic communities” and puts the focus on the digital dimension which can be called library-based “Citizen Training” (Jaramillo, 2012).

SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES AS COMMODITIES THAT STREAM EMPOWERING ON AN EVERYDAY BASIS In accordance with the argument already developed, mention can be made of social technologies of three varieties from which examples can be taken to constitute objects of INFOLIT teaching programs, grouped as: •

•

•

Technologies for social inclusion, which bring together citizen, science and social implementation interests; especially in areas with great infrastructural deficiencies, environmental problems or urban degradation. For instance, “Red de Tecnologías para la inclusión social/ (Network of Technologies for Social inclusión)”. Means for the management of alternative forms of democratic structures and of government; generating new possibilities of representation, decision-making and control of public matters. Here, there is a link to electronic citizenry, digital democracy and buzzwords of that style (Innerarity & Champeau, 2012). Connection routes between citizens and experts; those of co-production and those that are prototyped, when they are used in “citizen labs” (Estalella, Rocha, & Lafuente, 2012). Although, when speaking of libraries as community workshops, it is common, that the cool way of doing so appears to oblige speaking of 3D printers... The idea which appears to be longerlasting is that of a centre full of tools of the

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knowledge economy, with special attention to new commons (new values) (Resnick, 2014). Proposed thus, it can appear that to put social technologies into action demands a high degree of specialization, dedication and organization, linked to social movements with already longestablished structures or in the hands of the technological vanguard, usually with programming knowledge, creativity and a great capability for communication. It is not quite so simple. Professionals and active users tend to see the technologies as commonplace, as simple and within the reach of all, overlooking cultural and generational gaps. But the examples which it is intended to point out in this section, are very close to average skills of most of the citizens: •

•

•

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Do citizens want ◦◦ Social influence; so that political and social decisions are more just, or to avoid those which are taken in an autocratic manner by the administration? ◦◦ To make the infrastructural or service problems of their district seen, so that the responsible public officials tackle them? Can people or individuals ◦◦ Support one another in economic assistance to undertake a project or an initiative? ◦◦ Learn together in a practical community, or in mutual help groups? ◦◦ Share a car with someone, when they have to travel, so as to save money or to reduce contaminating action. Does one have to ◦◦ Relocate him/herself to lodge in another city at a lower cost? ◦◦ Take joint action to make text books available openly; so as to allow access into, and learning of, curriculum content at no cost?.

•

Are consumers of an intelligent type, sharing with others, information and decisions of choice and purchase?

In the sections which follow, account must be taken of the significant difference between many of the websites shortlisted. Some of them are still in a startup stage, just within reach of early adopters; that is, by those users with experimental tendencies. At the same time there are others websites which have achieved dominant mindshare and market positions, profiting from the “network effect” - user concentration around some few agents who offer connections of high value. These positions are not stable; as much because of new competitors who offer technological disruptions, as because of failures in finding a mature market or a sustainable business model (Moore, 2001), and besides, simply to note the troublesome spreading of some service models, which supposes an alteration in traditional economic relations, especially in regulated sectors. Well-known examples are tensions such as those between taxi drivers and Uber, or those between the hotel sector and shared accommodation.

Everyday Life: Reshaping Consumption and Lifestyle Habits In the first place, it is worth quoting some social technologies which have to do with underutilized assets in everyday economy, with the saving, or the achievement of complementary earnings. All people relate themselves to others; in so far as they are consumers with similar needs to others. Things can be done in such a way as to achieve economic effects, generating resources for personal development or other motives. The reflection about collaborative consumption is not new (Bostam & Rodgers, 2010); but indeed, it is true of its generalization, and that thanks to the impact of services on collaborative networks. These characteristics are the interaction between producer and consumer who maintain a

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continuous dialogue and a relationship between equals. (Valor, 2014). It is customary to differentiate between three systems of collaborative consumption; those based on sharing products (access as opposed to ownership), those that are different distribution markets (connectivity and negotiation) and, in the third place, those based on collaborative lifestyles (social value as opposed to mere economic value). It would be possible to begin this brief look by presenting the Crowdgifting platforms as a usage case of how digital practices have an impact even on the minute details of ordinary lives. Contributing money to a common gift, or a shared-expenses, fund - known colloquially as a “kitty” - the kind of things that have been until-very-recently easy to accomplish. As it began to become complicated, it used to be benefited from a simple online support: • • •

Kolecta LetsKickin Leetchi.

However, it is not desired to use in this work, as the only reference, the listing of digital platforms identifiable with the sector Crowdsourcing; those ones that are based on network capabilities for coordinating on a grand scale innovative relational ways of doing. For example at InfoCrowdSourcing, is itemized an ample list of resources in Spain and Latin America. A wide range of deeply-connected with well-worn reality of life´s everyday experience services are not irrelevant to information literacy scope. Consequently, clearly commercial websites are also included below, due to the significant portion of social factors in their main proposal of value. Many examples of webs (among many other eligible ones) can be seen in which there is an immediate benefit; thanks to the internet’s capability of magnifying small interactions to a large scale, and in which the user can be as much user as provider.

• • • •

Utilizing shared transport systems such as BlaBlaCar, Amovens or Carpooling. Making use of networks for shared accommodation, such as Airbnb or HomeAway. Buying and selling second-hand: Segundamano o Ebay Buying with price and offer knowledge, such as in Rastreator, Teenga o Kelkoo.

The reality is that buying occupies an appreciable part of everybody’s life, and if note is taken of what consumer and user organizations do, one can be motivated to propose services such as these for one’s own INFOLIT programs. It is possible that many users do not know, do not use, indeed under-use, or mistrust and have difficulties with, such tools and technologies. However, with simple explanations, and discussion workshop groups in which - with explanation, and with encouragement of these same users to share their usage experiences - they will have a starter kit in this tools. To teach somebody to be a digital consumer is important; not only so as to consume more; but rather, to do it better. Taking another step towards becoming a proconsumer, a pro-active consumer who shares in order to create collective value, other internet services can be added into teaching programmes, although they are now thought of as almost commodities; since they have been installed into one’s life in a natural way. One can learn to open oneself up in commentaries on travel experience, such as in Tripadvisor or learn to share opinions as in Ciao. As every freak knows “with great power comes great responsibility”; therefore learning how to ethically comment and share one’s own opinions about commercial transactions is an issue where INFOLIT is concerned. There exists a responsibility to society about what is expressed in a public forum, and it is learnt the hard way through new and evolving forms of socialization and “netiquette”. Individual expres-

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sion and collective choices form a part of these changing forms of constructing digital reputation and of finding on-line confidence. The conventions which are valued in face-to-face situations need to be redesigned for the digital media, and that redesign is also a process of reflection which ought to be conscious of allowing the acquisition of autonomy and making the most of the numerous opportunities which digital services provide. What is known about online collaboration and coordination? Many of mechanisms involved are invisible to users, since the application supplies them, but nevertheless one has to be aware of them. To know the coordinating mechanics will make users more capable of participating in the design of processes of this type. In a given situation, these then can be the necessary instruments for launching personal, collective or even business projects. To understand the formulation of the framework for implanting trust in BlaBlaCar (known by the acronym DREAMS, for Declared, Rated, Engaged, Active, Moderate, Social, is an interesting know-how, or, in a more political arena, the amazing algorithm of decision making provided by Appgree. Finally, here one has to consider including even though it can be controversial - the teaching approach of participation in web portals of personal contacts. In contemporary society in which many people live alone, change residence often, or feel themselves out-of-place, and in which family models are either diverse or lacking permanence, many users frequently support their sentimental relationships by way of websites that promote all types of relationships. There is an awareness that institutional digital literacy programmes have never considered training in the use of these tools; by reason of the association with the intimate or emotional facets. Furthermore, they can even be stigmatized through ignorance or because of contingent risks. But, precisely for those reasons, it could be appropriate to include them in INFOLIT teaching programmes; to debate them, to analyze their inherent informational literacy possibilities,

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to overcome taboos and promote responsible usage. One should not forget that the percentages of couples who have met through these networks are already significant. These demonstrate that sites for promoting meetings and relationships are responding to a need, a way of life, a change of circumstances and expectations, about what it means to be connected. Networks such as Mobifriends, eDarling, Meetic or Parship do not require much publicity; but indeed; more reflection about how connections are designed by service providers, how to construct one’s identity, one’s expectations of others, values such as sincerity and privacy… is needed. All these processes, although containing elements of spontaneity, are also mediated by technology; personal profile design, and the affinity criteria employed by each competitive network service. It is appropriate to indicate that all these services are not immune from the market’s economic logic and, for that reason, often compete among themselves so as to connect to the critical mass of users. These latter gravitate towards dominance in the sector, on account of the known network effects, which tend to concentrate in some few successful sites, because the principal value of such a service stems from the number of potential connections it offers. Over and above these considerations, there is the need to find a business model that serves the delicate balance between service levels and profit levels. Cases of the short lives of such sites are not infrequent, nor likewise are conflicts with other economic sectors which are adversely affected in their customer bases, their margins, or by grievances brought on by the demands of the regulating agencies. The above mentioned taxi-drivers (Uber conflict and that of tourist accommodation hoteliers) reflect the difficulty of profiting from all of technology’s efficiency promises when operating in a real-life context, outside of the laboratory and of the private sphere. Aspects such as taxes, responsibility, and quality come into play.

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Cooperative Action using Digital Channels At another level, more related to collective action, there is also a bunch of technologies that deserve attention; online platforms applied to the selection of ideas, citizen-debate, the organisation of initiatives, conflicts mapping, and the interchange of services of the Help-one’s-Neighbour type (domestic, minor repair, semiprofessional, language interchange, etcetera). There exist websites for the selection, negotiation and voting on ideas such as Uservoice, or Ideas4All. For civic action, online voting platforms or “social polling” can have an important value which allows them to capture opinions and priorities on specific collective problems. Through sites such as Agora Voting or Propentum anyone can mobilize collective awareness towards an objective. All usual participative systems put together a series of norms and routines that make sense in an appropriate social context. No longer do they appear to be “technologies” – in the sense of a social artifact limited by existing communication devices, calculation capacity and mass media. The mass meetings, the delegate’s vote, placards at a protest meeting, the voting rules are evolving participatory technologies. Therefore it is important to know, to put to the test, to filter and classify user experiences and the digital systems which codify the formats of supporting, debating, and commenting to reach consensus. Platforms such as Vote it are recognised by prestigious digital media, such as TechCrunch, in their follow up of innovative technologies. There exist substantial differences between these types of social technologies, and the numerous marketing applications of surveys to be completed by website users as a tactic to construct relations with a consumer.

•

•

•

Collaborative Spaces with more specific territorial purposes, for interchange or sharing platforms, such as Cercamia for Time Banks such as Bdtonline or other projects which still are trying to reach a sufficient critical mass so as to work out, such as De Persona a Persona or even interchange and barter agencies such as Imixme, eTruekko o Quiero Cambiarlo. Other Collaborative Spaces in which users can supply information and content on an information grid, or schematic map, which allows for pooling of information about a place or a theme: Meipi, Crowdmap, or Ushaidi. There are websites for mobilizing opinion and capturing support; such as the wellknown Change which allows for the creation of, and following up of, campaigns.

It would also be interesting to spread the use of collective financing platforms or those of micro-patronage, as much for their direct effects in the initiation of projects, as for the learning of transparency practices in economic management and decision processes. There are a good number of websites with these characteristics: •

•

Goteo, a project that takes great care of new undertakings, their transparency and a kind of social return of inversion (ROI); in the form of re-usable deliverables (models, reports, design, open licenses). Others with slight differences in respect of target markets, sectors and associated dynamics, such as ◦◦ Mi aportación ◦◦ Crowdtilt, ◦◦ Indiegogo, or, for business projects, ◦◦ Lemon Fruit.

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To merge crowdfunding with public debate, the platform Yovox is advertised with the slogan “Think, Publish, Share. We Act”.

Teaching and Training Considerations For the teaching of these contents, it is proposed, for the sake of consistency, to use participative methodologies, based on the experiences or usage cases shared by users, or between them, within a workshop environment where dialogue is fundamental. In this way, the pros and cons, the purposes, the difficulties and expectations, etcetera, will be debated. The library is able to act as revitalizing agent for individuals who share experiences that function for them, by way of training and recommendation among peers. Conversations could be generated which, beginning with digital tools, can incorporate other content about responsible consumerism, making the most of the community’s collaboration, resources and networks. It could be intended that citizens participate, not only in the exchange of experiences, but also in the selection and detailing of some future learning topics, and also facilitating inter-generational training. The tools with which IT procedures are concerned are not learnt through a tutorial; they require to be put into practice; they require the presence and involvement of others; because they are relational tools. As some of them allow for construction and experimentation, an appropriate focus could be the incorporation of play and challenge elements, or even gamification. A game is an important activator in respect of one’s capabilities; by creating appropriate contexts, the game in question can act like a “an important and impulsive driver in social and cultural environments” (Castronova, 2013). To learn in a network, doesn´t end with training-on-line, or with video-recorded seminars on the internet, or with a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) format. Most certainly, thought

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should be given to unconventional methods and solutions which could be taken from the sphere of the expanded education ambience; a melting-pot of “practices, ideas, educational methodologies which are considered to be ‘out-of-place’“. (Díaz & Freire, 2012). In addition to the participative methodology, INFOLIT’s programme design also ought to be collaborative, beginning from surrendering more power to one’s citizens and their affected, or simply implicated, groupings. In the face of single-minded institutional activity, there can be found the generation of dynamic participations and the opening up of processes for decisionmaking; facets identified within the broad focus of participative public services (De Miguel, 2014, p. 14; Gutiérrez-Rubí, 2014, p. 26). In the long run, the so called “Open space Technology” (OST) methodologies are a desirable approach, especially as a mean to organize a collaboration between a wide range of varying entities (Owen, 2008). Monereo and Badía (2012) consider that it is difficult to achieve meaningful knowledge transfer in formative activity if it is carried out as an activity isolated from daily practice, and without “ adapting itself to the real IT problems which are problematic for users”. Because of that, they emphasize the need for exploring and investigating methodological approaches based on “the resolution of authentic problems, prototypes and embryonic ideas (in particular, those that carry with them a strong emotional charge, and suppose critical incidents)”. Note of this should be taken, so as to achieve personal relevance in formative activities. It will be a determining element in the motivation and putting-into-practice of one’s learning. Training in social technologies will become a creative opportunity, an applicable proposal and with the possibility of autonomous continuity beyond its initial or supported stages. In their own development, institutions have to encompass accompanying processes, so as to be able

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to support the life cycle of a project. INFOLIT should be inspired by business incubators and co-working places.

INFORMATION LITERACY FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION These focuses impel INFOLIT towards the civic action arena, and towards social critique. The tools and procedures are articulated on a series of values orientated towards action and social change. This orientation doesn´t question the objectivity and neutrality of information services such as public libraries. However, to create conditions for individual or group actions which seek changes, which in turn can have repercussions (which would qualify them as being polemic), or even economic impact, there could arise ethical conflicts, or even labour disputes, within the heart of institutions and communities. In any case, it is a risk that can be managed professionally, and is based on broadly accepted civic values. Because of that, it appears to be a positive thing that, in spite of the risks, professional librarians chose and then include these formative contents which empower potential: fostering formats of political participation, in ways of consuming and living, which, deep down, align themselves with thirdgeneration human rights as equal opportunities, democratic participation or sustainability. When INFOLIT connects with communities, it is often supported by culture, identity and local autonomy through local content aspects (González, 2011; Gómez & Saorín, 2012). This is so, for example, in the cases of Biblioredes (Chile) y el Plan ALBA (Andalucía, Spain). The very dynamic of digital participation is used to lead to many other concrete actions so as to reduce the social and digital divide; by teaching competencies related to employability, linguistic proficiencies in foreign languages or peer training. These are topics dealt with by many librarians

and by committed professionals with the social role of cultural and educational public services. Broadening even more this type of content, in accordance with previous proposals in this paper, it is considered that - to further deepen this teaching and to promote the use of this resource cocktail - social technologies ought to open the way to an improvement in the quality of both material and relational life. In the domain of political activism, one can find analogies with the focus towards “technological tools of organization and participation” in the formative collective programme of Traficantes de Sueños, called “Democracy Re-loaded”, in which a techno-reflexive and instrumental focus is adopted. Already, some forms in which INFOLIT could be directed to teach these applications have been pointed out, so as to resolve daily and civic necessities of individuals and groups. The necessities are only, in part of an IT variety; insofar as information and communication are a significant part of a every social activity; or using Shirky’s (2010) metaphor, the “connective tissue” of the very society. What is more, these technological applications can help to identify and diagnose situations. Knowledge is thereby put, not only within the grasp of experts, but it broadens the capability of a group to intervene on its own behalf, to acquire knowledge of its needs, and to plan ways to confront them. Interventions variously known as interpretive mappings, incident grids or infographs (Risler; Ares, 2013), produce a new storytelling through collective practices supported by visual, organizational and informative tools. Examples vary from a simple catalogue of abandoned public buildings in Córdoba to a followup on attacks on women in India via Safetipin, a mobile phone application, whose purpose is to promote direct local action by means of which civil society implements solutions that governments do not tackle. In this case, there arises the dilemma of whether, through this manoeuvre, the local powers and institutions will be giving up their responsi-

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bilities. It is the inverse of the co-production and collaboration dimension based on the concept of open government. However, INFOLIT thinks that, on the contrary, these innovative initiatives serve to transform the very activity level and the level of demand on the institutions legally empowered for citizen service. Such organisations learn from the experience of other agencies because of leaks from an environment of an active citizenry. Another way of constructing knowledge linked to a territory and its needs are the Communities of Practice (Local knowledge-sharing or craft cooperatives) which form a part of the more advanced public policies for participation and open government, and become a channel for interaction between citizens and administrators so as to confront the challenges of community life and collective organisation (Kaufman, 2013). “To empower” can also be related “to embark on”. In a society in which support systems, economic securities and institutional networks collapse, social endeavour is at times a question of survival. Therefore, it is important to remember the reflections of Daniel Pimienta (2008), who, so as to surmount the digital divide, proposed a model to profit from technologies. This would culminate in the achievement of a social innovation, that is, that those technologies “may come to supply original solutions created by an individual or a community which contributes to human development” The garnering and collective generation of ideas for the solution of social challenges begins to be considered as an instrument to be used more within public policy, such as in the European Union’s project, CHEST (Collective EnHanced Environment for Social Task). One step further on, the option is that; the diagnosis and identification of social problems is carried out also in an open and collaborative form in line with CAPS (Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation) and field studies for knowing the state of Digital Social Innovation (DSI).

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There is an increasing number of bibliography references which deal with non-governmental organisations which display their social leadership potential by way of new formats of management, communication and service (Rodríguez Blanco, Carreras, & Sureda, 2012). Not only do businesses innovate; civil society does so too, as reviewed at Empodera or in any of the toolkits named under the title “Digital Tools for NGOs”. For that reason, INFOLIT orientated towards collective and social processes will be applicable within the framework of all types of enterprises. Understood in this way, INFOLIT therefore also has benefits for workforce training and integration. In their Manifesto Crowd, Gutiérrez-Rubí y Freire (2013) try to stimulate the generation of value in creative projects, where technologies “can be social if they are designed for citizen empowerment; facilitating its autonomy and production capacity”. And they insist that, over and above their direct utility, these technologies generate recursiveness by facilitating civil development of new infrastructures. The scenario here being outlined is being constructed through a good number of public and civic initiatives; as much innovative as traditional. There are new neighborhood movements, technocounterculture, experimental sociability spaces, and there are new minor players in the media, with whom the libraries must weave alliances and tighten their collaboration. Also the undertaking of initiatives is incumbent on INFOLIT as an evolving strategy.

CONCLUSION Contents presented so far ought to be propelled into educational services, in the knowledge that it is not convenient to fall into a digital utopia. That means to say that; one ought not expect that technology may come as “an automatic source of liberating social transformations” (Rendueles,

 Trends in Information Literacy Programmes to Empower People and Communities

2013). Technologies can provide opportunities through their capacity for connection and transformation, but they are only a useful layer on top of an earlier social system. Every socially significant process is sustained by the dynamics of groups, joint projects, incentives and the verifiable value rendered. Technologies are not neutral. Hence, people focus in this main direction, disregarding other ways of doing or thinking. To join the pragmatic appropriation of technological media with participative strategies and with shared learning, it is important to put more capacity and possibilities into communities, into the local sphere and into the fabric of society. Given that the mainstream discourse on entrepreneurship and digital innovation is concentrated in a subgroup of developers with a high capability for IT programming, or in qualified collectives so as to exploit open datasets, as in the case of data journalism, INFOLIT should avoid overestimating citizens as software developers. INFOLIT’s own space is where other agents are not active. INFOLIT can direct itself or reduce entry barriers into easy-tolaunch platforms for individual or collective use. While some may organize hackathons for geeks, others will promote the use of online services for autonomous community projects. Equally, it should be taken into account that information and knowledge are spaces in which social imbalances balance one another out. Any educational process contains the seed of disagreement with the status quo, and of the activation of the struggle for values and public space. The collaborative economy is also considered by many as a lobby behind which there are economic interests, or a form of submission and acceptance of a progressive degradation of economic and social rights or even some other form of consumerism’s seduction (Morozov, 2014; Han, 2014). Socio-political activities that are organized are not always totally neutral. Therefore one can presuppose complications, both during and after their completion. Certainly many professionals have suffered these types of undesirable effects,

feeling themselves under question by their managers and colleagues. If, as a result of socially-formative activity organized from a library, citizens have a greater awareness of their problems and options, and some type of protest or activity critical of the system occurs, some tensions could be provoked against the INFOLIT institution itself. In respect of this problem, it can only be said that the professional person ought to reflect on his level of participation or implication as an informational facilitator, from the perspective of criteria brought together in professional ethics codes. When professionals participate in projects directed at the community, they should forewarn the authorities of any foreseeable problems, and study them objectively; professionally analyzing and weighing them, and then exposing their organization, to the steps taken and the professional reasons which support them. To conclude; the role which libraries and community services can play, by accompanying and facilitating the processes of media technology usage, is again stressed; since without this formative training there will be no democratic culture in collective practices of technology use (Area Moreira, 2013). Social technologies and collaborative practices can be mere palliatives of contemporary pathologies; they can simply be comfortable and efficient. Alternatively, they can also be the drivers of social change.

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Bostam, R., & Rodgers, R. (2010). What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption. New York: Harper Business. Castronova, E. (2013). Juegos e internet: un terreno fértil para el cambio cultural. In C@mbio: 19 ensayos clave acerca de cómo Internet está cambiando nuestras vidas. Fundación Open MindBBVA. Retrieved from https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/articulo/juegos-e-internet-un-terrenofertil-para-el-cambio-cultural/?fullscreen=true

González Fernández-Villavicencio, N. (2011). Plan Alba de contenidos digitales locales. Propuesta de creación y desarrollo. Retrieved from http://eprints.rclis.org/17547/ Gutiérrez-Rubí, A. (2014). Toma de decisiones. In 42 Voces sobre el gobierno abierto (26). Barcelona: Xarxa d’Innovació Pública. Retrieved from http:// www.xarxaip.cat/2014/05/06/42-voces-sobre-elgobierno-abierto/

De Miguel, M. (2014). Generación de dinámicas participativas. 42 Voces sobre el gobierno abierto (14). Barcelona: Xarxa d’Innovació Pública.

Gutiérrez-Rubí, A., & Freire, J. (2014). Manifiesto Crowd: la empresa y la inteligencia de las multitudes. Laboratorio de Tendencias. Retrieved from http://manifiestocrowd.com

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Estalella, A., Rocha, J., & Lafuente, A. (2013). Laboratorios de procomún: experimentación, recursividad y activismo. Teknokultura, 10(1), 21-48. Retrieved from http://teknokultura.net/ index.php/tk/article/view/121

IMLS. University of Washington Technology & Social Change Group, International City/ County Management Association Proposed Framework for Digitally Inclusive Communities: Final Report. (2011).

Ferrari, A. (2013). DIGCOMP: A Framework for Developing and Understanding Digital Competence in Europe. European Commission. Joint Research Centre. Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (Report EUR 26035 EN). Retrieved from http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=6359

IMLS. University of Washington, International City/ County Management Association. (2012). Building Digital Communities: A framework for action. Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Freire, J. (2011). Tecnologías sociales y ecosistemas de aprendizaje. Conferencia TEDxUIMP. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=w7QOERmeG9s Gómez-Hernández, J. A., & Saorín, T. (2011). Wikipedias y biblioteca pública. Participar en la información local digital a través de localpedias. Anuario ThinkEPI, 5, 78-84. Retrieved from http:// eprints.rclis.org/15984/

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Innerarity, D., & Champeau, S. (2012). Internet y el futuro de la democracia. Barcelona: Paidós. Jaramillo, O. (2012). La formación ciudadana, dinamizadora de procesos de transformación social desde la biblioteca pública. Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología, 35(1), 72-82. Retrieved from http://eprints.rclis.org/19990/ Kaufman, E. (2013). Hacia procesos participativos y de co-producción en el gobierno abierto. Red de Gobierno Electrónico de América Latina y el Caribe. Retrieved from http://www.oas.org/ es/sap/dgpe/pub/coleccion4RG.pdf

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Lafuente, A., Alonso, A., & Rodríguez, J. (2013). Todos sabios!: Ciencia ciudadana y conocimiento expandido. Madrid: Cátedra.

Rendueles, C. (2013). Sociofobia. El cambio político en la era de la utopía digital. Madrid: Capitán Swing.

Monereo, C., & Badia, M. (2012). La competencia informacional desde una perspectiva psicoeducativa: enseñanza basada en la resolución de problemas prototípicos y emergentes. Revista española de Documentación Científica, Monográfico. 35 (monográfico), 75-99. doi:10.3989/redc.2012. mono.978

Resnick, B. (2014, January, 24). The Library of the Future Is Here, The Atlantic cities. Retrieved from http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2014/01/ library-future-here/8193/

Moore, G. A. (2001). Crossing the chasm: marketing and selling high-tech products to mainstream customers. New York, NY: PerfectBound. Morozov, E. (2014, October 3). La tecnología que nos aísla. El País. Retrieved from http://elpais.com/ elpais/2014/10/03/opinion/1412336783_752251. html Owen, H. (2008). Open Space Technology: a user’s guide. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Parlamento Europeo. (2006). Recomendación del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo de Europa sobre las competencias clave para el aprendizaje permanente. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa. eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:3 94:0010:0018:ES:PDF Pérez Oliva, M. (2014). (Des)conectados, El País, 22 de junio de 2014. Retrieved from http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2014/06/21/catalunya/1403378235_834678.html Pimienta, D. (2008). Brecha digital, brecha social y brecha paradigmática. Concepto y dimensiones. In J.A. Gómez-Hernández, A. Calderón Rehecho, J.A. Magán Wals (coords.), Brecha digital y nuevas alfabetizaciones. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Retrieved from http://eprints.ucm. es/8224/ Reig-Hernández, D. (2012). Socionomía. Barcelona: Deusto Planeta.

Risler, J., & Ares, P. (2013). Manual de mapeo colectivo: recursos cartográficos críticos para procesos territoriales de creación colaborativa. Buenos Aires: Tinta Limón. Retrieved from http:// www.iconoclasistas.net/post/manual-de-mapeocolectivo-en-pdf/ Rodríguez Blanco, E., Carreras, I., & Sureda, M. (2012). Innovar para el cambio social: de la idea a la acción. ESADE. Retrieved from http://itemsweb.esade.es/wi/research/iis/publicacions/2012InnovarParaCambioSocial-web.pdf Rojas, P. A. C. (2012). La formación de los ciudadanos para el empoderamiento de la acción social. Educere, 16(55), 385–394. San José Montano, B. (2013). Los cibervoluntarios, el empoderamiento y las bibliotecas. CLIP, 67. Retrieved from http://www.sedic.es/p_boletinclip67_sehablade.asp Saorín, T., & Gómez-Hernández, J. A. (2014). Alfabetizar en tecnologías sociales para la vida diaria y el empoderamiento. Anuario Thinkepi, 8, 342-348. Retrieved from http://eprints.rclis. org/23752/ Shirky, C. (2012). Excedente cognitivo: Creatividad y generosidad en la era conectada. Bilbao Deusto. Valor, C. (coord.) (2014). Economía en colaboración. Economistas Sin Fronteras, 12 [Dossier]. Retrieved from http://www.ecosfron. org/wp-content/uploads/DOSSIERES-EsF-12Econom%C3%ADa-en-colaboraci%C3%B3n.pdf

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Weigend, A., Dias, G., & Chow, A. (2012). Tecnologías Sociales. El poder de las conversaciones en red. Fundación para la innovación Bankinter. Retrieved from http://www.fundacionbankinter.org/system/documents/8614/ original/00FTF17Cast2.pdf Whitworth, A. (2011). Empowerment or instrumental progressivism?: Analyzing information literacy policies. Library Trends, 60(2), 312–337. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/31882 doi:10.1353/ lib.2011.0039

ADDITIONAL READING

Ebay,www.ebay.es eDarling,http://www.edarling.es Empodera, http://www.empodera.org Goteo, http://goteo.org HomeAway, www.homeaway.com Ideas4All, http://www.ideas4all.com Indiegogo, http://www.indiegogo.com InfoCrowdSourcing, www.infocrowdsourcing. com Kelkoo, www.kelkoo.com Kolecta, www.kolecta.com

Agora Voting, https://agoravoting.com

Leetchi, www.leetchi.com

Airbnb, www.airbnb.es

Lemon Fruit, http://www.lemonfruits.com/es

Amovens,www.amovens.com/es

LetsKickin, www.letskickin.com

Appgree, http://www.appgree.com/how-it-works

Meetic, www.meetic.es

Bdtonline, http://www.bdtonline.org

Meipi, http://meipi.org

BlaBlaCar, www.blablacar.es

Mi aportación, http://www.miaportacion.org

Carpooling, www.carpooling.es

Mobifriends, http://www.mobifriends.com

Cercamia, https://www.cercamia.com

Parship, www.parship.es

Change, http://www.change.org/es

Propentum, https://www.propentum.com

Ciao, http://www.ciao.es

Rastreator, www.rastreator.com

Crowdmap, https://crowdmap.com

Red de Tecnologías para la inclusión social, http:// www.redtisa.org

Crowdtilt, https://www.crowdtilt.com De Persona a Persona, http://www.depersonaapersona.es

Segundamano,www.segundamano.es

Democracy Re-loaded (Traf icantes de Sueños),http://www.traficantes.net/nocionescomunes/democracia-reloaded

Tripadvisor, www.tripadvisor.com

Disponible en Córdoba, http://disponibleencordoba.colaborativa.eu

Ushaidi, http://www.ushahidi.com

DREAMS, http://www.betrustman.com

Yovox, http://www.yovoxproject.com/spa

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Teenga,www.teenga.com

Uservoice, https://www.uservoice.com Vote it, http://www.voteit.com

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Citizen Empowerment: Although this concept is similar to citizen participation, but strengthening individual and group contributions to community development decision-making and planning processes, keeping in mind the target of promoting social changes concerning institutions, infrastructures and resources. Collaborative Consumption: It’s a wellstablished field of study about economic relations concerning the shared use of a good or service by a group. Collaborative consumption differs from standard commercial consumption in that the cost of purchasing the good or service is not borne by one individual, but instead is divided across a larger group as the purchase price is recouped through renting or exchanging. Digital platforms transforms the viability of putting into practice this alternative markets. Collective Practices: From the conceptual framework of anthropology and sociology, collective practices are considered any system of coordination and orientation which includes ideologies, social representations, action strategies, mechanisms of collective decision-making, and organizational structures which puts people in a certain mode of relation with the other social actors in the social field. Community Driven Information Literacy: It is a ‘grass roots’, community-driven, approach which it’s proposed to be adopted in information literacy programmes, in order to addressing the use of information and communication technology to support community necessities, including everyday life utilities and civic actions. Digital Inclusive Communities: Communities that can set up opportunities enabled by tech-

nology applied to social relationships. The five foundational principles are stated as: Availability and affordability, Public access, Accessibility for people with disabilities, Adoption and digital literacy, Consumer education and protection. Besides, there are six targeted principles, as follows: Education, Economic and workforce development, Civic engagement, Public safety and emergency services, Health care and, finally, Quality of life. Social Innovation: Digital innovation is a driver of novel solutions to many social problems in non-ever-seen ways. This concept is related to more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals. Non profit organizations are investing in social innovations inspired by digital capabilities, trying to connect people and resources, and produce social benefits, usually disregarded by enterprises in the business context. Social Technologies: Social technologies can be understood in three different but complementary ways. As technologies for social inclusion, which bring together citizen, science and social implementation interests; especially in areas with great infrastructural deficiencies, environmental problems or urban degradation. Also they may referred as means for the management of alternative forms of democratic structures and of government; generating new possibilities of representation, decision-making and control of public matters. There is also a third component of experimentation, often named as “citizen labs”, as a way to deploy and test new tools of the knowledge economy, with special attention to new digital commons.

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Chapter 20

Technologies for Digital Inclusion:

Good Practices Dealing with Diversity Jorge Morato Carlos III University, Spain

Sonia Sanchez-Cuadrado Jot Internet Media, Spain

Alejandro Ruiz-Robles University of Piura, Peru

Miguel Angel Marzal Carlos III University, Spain

ABSTRACT Digital inclusion proposals are oriented towards specific groups of people. These groups are excluded due to their qualities or lack of them, their attitude, socio-political factors, economic factors, or just by the geographic zone where they live. Since 1999 several strategies have been proposed, either related to educational or technological aspects. The lessons learned are collected with the aim of proposing an adapted model that allows defining a set of good practices. In order to know what technology is the most suited to promote the digital inclusion of each group, multiple variables are analysed. A higher number of variables allow better groups description regarding their context and the relevance of each variable for each group. In this work the authors discuss the dimensions of the group profiles, the factors affecting them, and the infrastructure and software solutions that can change the situation. Finally a simple graphic is proposed to show the dimensions of causes and user groups in order to improve their comparison.

INTRODUCTION As information technologies are more ubiquitous in everyday activities, there are more and more groups of people excluded of these technologies. Each new technology could widen the gap with those who do not have skills, access, and awareness of its existence or motivation to use it. Technologies can also be a solution to these inequalities in

our society when good practices are included in the design of new technologies and tools. E-inclusion deals with participation of individuals and communities within the information society through their access to ICTs (Information Technologies and Communications). The term e-inclusion was coined in 1999 as one of the e-Europe objectives for the inclusion of every European citizen in the online context as fast as possible. Since then, sev-

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch020

Copyright © 2016, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

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eral strategies, initiatives, and policies have been implemented in the European Union in order to promote this e-inclusion. Almuwil, Weerakkody & El-Haddadeh (2011) summarizes all of them in their study about factors influencing e-inclusion. In the “Millennium development goals and beyond 2015” (2013) report, authored by the United Nations, the eighth goal is aimed to encourage the private sector to make available new technologies to developing countries. The fact is that in these countries only 31% of population uses the Internet, compared with 77% in the developed world (United Nations, 2013). Universal access to ICTs in developing countries can only be achieved by a two stages approach (Figueiredo, Prado & Kramer, 2012): firstly, reducing digital literacy with small communication devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets); and lately, with professional capacity-building. Therefore, technologies in these areas should be focused on their reality and oriented to meet user’s needs. By analyzing technology solutions for digital inclusion, there have been take into account three aspects: degree of inclusion, time, and multidimensional nature. In the first one it is analyzed the degree of inclusion, avoiding a binary approach between inclusion and exclusion. The second aspect is the time, in the sense that current technological problems may not be in the future, and vice versa, this can be seen with new connectivity solutions and their decreasing cost. The third aspect is the multidimensional nature of digital inclusion, where there is no single factor that explains the digital inclusion, and there are minorities that may not be classified under a single criterion. Factors and criteria for classification in turn have a gradual nature. The limits between young and old individuals are fuzzy. In fact, there are intermediate grades in every aspect considered. Therefore, there is not a unique technology to solve an e-exclusion problem.

BACKGROUND In 2003, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations, national governments and civil society organizations, celebrated the World Summit Information Society (WSIS) in order to prepare the action plans and policies that would help to reduce the inequality in the ICTs access. In fact, countries, and public and private organizations have promoted different initiatives and projects to minimize the e-exclusion. Since 2005, there have been five editions of the WSIS report, presenting initiatives, tools and policies that have been developed by several countries (ITU, 2013). The main projects to avoid e-exclusion are related to each one of the action lines presented in Table 1. Several strategies for social inclusion have been started around the world, like those promoted by the Colombian government (González & Sanchez, 2013) for ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and low-income people. In Australia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the USA and Norway there are concerns regarding how ICT may impact schools and education (Chat el al., 2011; Zhog, 2011; Hatlevik & Christophersen, 2013), and several strategies related with digital competences in schools have been implemented. The e-inclusion initiatives are also proposed as a mean to overcome poverty. The countries subscribing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), work in the development of cost-effective models to spread information and communication technologies in order to eradicate poverty and promote social justice. Countries like China, Russia, India and Brazil are developing digital inclusion projects related with universal access to ICTs because it represents an important nation status indicator (Figueiredo, Prado & Kramer, 2012).

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Table 1. ITU’s main categories Line

Description

C1

The role of governments and stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development. This includes national e-strategies and the ICT for development in international and regional organizations.

C2

Information and communication infrastructure regarding broadband, connectivity, accessibility, and availability of ICT equipment and services.

C3

Access to information and knowledge, dealing with aspects related to software and open access, information access, research and development, digital libraries and archives, and community centers.

C4

Capacity building. That covers aspects such as ICT literacy, national policies, distance learning, ICT for professionals and experts, and cooperation initiatives.

C5

Build confidence and security in using ICT. Governments, through European Commission or ESCWA among others, develop projects at national and international scale to detect cybercrime, in addition to legal, technical and procedural measures. These measures involve e-transactions, e-commerce, intellectual property rights, data protection, censorship and freedom of expression, etc.

C6

Enabling environment. Policy and legal regulation reforms are undertaken. There have been promoted laws to regulate the Internet, policies related with small and medium sized enterprises, consumer related and dispute resolution, e-governance, and regulatory reforms

C7

ICT applications. Some of the applications of ICTs for what they are devoting efforts are e-government, e-business, e-health, e-e-employment, e-learning, e-agriculture, e-environment, e-science.

C8

Cultural diversity and identity. The WSIS highlights the need to develop initiatives and policies that encourage preservation, respect and promotion of linguistic and cultural identity.

C9

Media. One of the WSIS action lines is aimed at promoting press freedom and plurality of information.

C10

Ethical dimension of the information society. This dimension includes the initiatives aimed at promoting the values ​​of respect, freedom, equality and solidarity, as well as the protection of personal and sensitive data and preventive measures against abuse of the ICT.

C11

International and regional cooperation

Regarding the age groups, there are initiatives to senior citizens and the ethics of e-inclusion (Mordini et al., 2009) or projects such as SHAREIT that focuses on a particular group of young people in the Veneto Region in Italy. This proposal has the following specific objectives: (1) to identify good practices on the efficient use of ICT to foster integration and strengthen among young migrants and natives; (2) to make available the most innovative and performing ICT tools, courses and insights into technology; (3) and to raise awareness on the use of ICT tools among social operators, policy makers, and vulnerable groups (Kranenburg et al., 2010). Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can improve and complement mechanisms fostering the social and economic integration and inclusion of Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities (IEM).

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The INCLUSO project presents tools to assist social work organizations in defining successful strategies for adopting ICT and social software within their organization for the social inclusion of marginalized youth (Engelen, Dekelver & Van Den Bosch et al., 2010; Prinzjakowitsch & Seisenbacher, 2010). Other initiatives are oriented to the design of e-inclusion programs for the digital literacy of elder people. Specifically, they propose a methodology to address the design of digital literacy programs based on criteria like the autonomy degree, as well as programs focused on the context, the age group, the motivation, and the competence to access to the information (Abad, 2014). The described initiatives establish good practices oriented towards digital inclusion of specific groups. Good practices are guidelines that have

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worked in a particular situation in the past and that may offer a solution for similar contexts. A defining characteristic of good practice is that it must be transferable completely to others situations, but in practice it is not possible, because there are cultural or environmental or other contextual factors that are different (Wright & Wadhwa, 2010). In summary, it is observed that in order to extract the good practices in a way that can be implemented in other projects, it is necessary to abstract the involved factors according to the diversity of the groups and characteristics of each country. Each group and each context require a specific adaptation. The ITU report proposes the line of action C1, which is one of the most mentioned elements in the literature (Wright, 2010; Finn & Wright, 2011), and tries to establish improvement channels for the communication between stakeholders (researchers, developers, managers, marginalized minorities, etc.). In eGovernment (2014) the electronic identification is proposed as a key element. This refers to key elements in specific ambits. Another interesting aspect to be taken into account as a good practice is the ethical one. According to Wright and Wadhwa (2010) some groups of people could not want to be e-included. Therefore, the ethical aspect must be analyzed and perhaps just some online services should be offered in order to respect the diversity and idiosyncrasy of each group. In the web page epractice. eu (http://epractice.eu/en/geospatialData/cases) it can be found e-inclusion, e-government and e-health good practices cases. Good practices play an important role in the strategies, and examples can be found in ehealth, e-learning, e-government, e-inclusion and other domains. In fact, the European Commission sponsors the European Journal of e-Practice, a digital publication which promotes the sharing of good practices in e-government, e-health and e-inclusion (Wright & Wadhwa, 2010).

DIVERSITY AND DIGITAL INCLUSION The group of e-excluded people is not a homogeneous one, due to they can be excluded by several reasons. The exclusion could be caused by the geographic zone where they live, or due to the area has no Internet access. It could also be caused by the lack of resources to acquire a computer or the monthly access to the Internet. The exclusion could be due to the lack of knowledge or training in the tasks required to use a computer or navigate on the Internet, even it could be caused by a cognitive impairment or physical disability. Another cause of e-exclusion is related to the motivation when the technology is not fit for purpose, does not solve the expected problem or it is not accessible (Wright & Wadhwa, 2010). The digital inclusion is a phenomenon whose counterpart is the digital divide, since the digital divide is the negative definition of digital inclusion. There are three barriers associated with the digital divide: (1) Connectivity, infrastructure and affordable access to the Internet, (2) Capability or competency, this is related with the skills needed to operate hardware and software, and (3) Content, relevant, useful and accessible information and online services, that is information and data literacy that helps to recognize when a resource solve an information need. Precisely, for a more effective digital inclusion for a digital citizenship, not only focusing on technology gaps, one of the more relevant aspects is the third barrier. It is possible to tackle this barrier through information literacy programs, improving educational opportunities, increasing the usability, or using strategies like gamification, among others. These digital inclusion strategies should respect those reluctant to use the web. This aspect is known as otherness, this is, recognition of the other, not to be respected or tolerated, but to be accepted as such. And this fact is the foundation not of the multicultural policies, but of the

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intercultural policies. In other words, solutions should be focused on principles and values, in order to avoid approaches based on ethnic, national or cultural groups’ differences. Almuwil, Weerakkody & El-Haddadeh (2011) have proposed a classification of the main key facets related to an individual perspective of the citizens, in order to ensure the e-inclusion when it comes to adopting and promoting e-government. The generic concepts of this classification are: demographic (age, marital status, race & ethnicity), economic (employment, income, urbanization), social (education, health, and lifestyle), and cultural (language, knowledge, traditions). In the literature other proposals can be seen, among them, the most relevant are those focused on vulnerable groups, based on some influencing factors and the innate characteristic of each group, as: age, gender, ethnic group, education, per capita income, or physical or mental conditions. From the different initiatives this paper collects some groups at risk of digital exclusion. Some examples are: Mental conditions such as substance abuse (e.g. drug addicts or alcoholics), and mental handicapped (e.g. down syndrome); Integration and assimilation groups (immigrants, ethnic minorities, etc.); Education (early school leavers, unschooled population or level of schooling); Age (elders, youngsters, kids and minors); Groups with economic problems (e.g. poverty and unemployed people); Physically handicapped (hearing impaired, visual impaired, other physical handicaps). To Figueiredo, Prado & Kramer (2012), promoting digital inclusion could fail if education level, social networks or focused content are underestimated. However, the price of computers is the real problem. Initiatives such as OLPC project, cloud computing, public Wi-Fi hotspots could reduce, but not eliminate it. Another option is shared access through community telecenters (Figueiredo, Prado & Kramer, 2012) or the use of free and open source software.

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In accordance with the action line C8 from the ITU report (2013), and the ethnic minorities groups, there are initiatives focused on projects that allow the cultural diversity and identity. The ITU report highlights the representation of the indigenous people and the cultural values (e.g. in Colombia), the digitalization in the frame of the Heritage Cultural (in Latvia, Lithuania, Egypt, UAE, Romania), etc. Regarding linguistic diversity, it can be recognize the value of the automatic translation services of online documents that provide some web resources. For instance, in Europe, senior citizens are a growing group of people due to the welfare society. Different studies have found deficiencies in stakeholders’ coordination in ICT in ageing (Finn & Wright, 2011). However, like other groups, this is not a homogeneous one, though it is related to loneliness and social isolation problems. Unwillingness is related with fears to technology, lack of resources and access to IT, lack of skills and lack of interest, and concerns about security (Finn and Wright, 2011). Mordini et al. (2009) suggest that the goal is providing technologies that address the physical needs of the elderly, overcoming the lack of education or unfamiliarity with computers (Ofcom, 2014). Thus, isolation can be addressed through technological resources such as email, instant messaging, social networking, web meetings, and so on. Furthermore, loneliness can be enhanced with web sites like Eons, Rezoom, Multiply, Maya, Boomj, or Boomertown (Mordini et al., 2009). Youngsters are another priority group. Haché et al. (2010) have studied the use of ICT to reengage and foster the socio-economic inclusion of youth. Accordingly this study 95% of European youngsters have used a computer, but about a 20% of young people is at risk of poverty, and on average the income in the group between 18 and 24 years is around 15000 €. This profile has problems with isolation, for instance “bedroom culture” is defined as an alternative way of life where teen-

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ager prefer to remain in their bedroom instead to interact directly with other people (Livingstone, 2007). Technological solutions have to take into account the preferences of youngsters for some tools. Mertesn, Brotcorne & Valenduc (2010) studied differences regarding the age. Between 16 and 14 years old, the most used applications (more than 40%) are email, travel services, info of goods, chat, games, music and videos, but, between 25 and 44 years old, are email, travel services, info on goods and services, banking online, info of health, e-government. Passey (2010) suggested technological solutions to some problems in youngsters (Table 2). Regardless of the age criteria, there are several types of Internet illiteracies that go beyond the person who is not able to read. There are other illiteracies such as digital illiteracy and data illiteracy, which is the difficulties to query, extract, understand, manage, and express data and text in a digital environment. Illiterate groups have serious difficulties to interact with a keyboard, therefore technologies and applications have to avoid in a first stage these devices. In both cases, digital illiteracy is one of the biggest challenges to overcome. Mordini et al. (2009) also stresses that the challenge for younger and senior citizens is to access to ICT with an active role. Among the older senior citizens assistive technologies are the main concern. These technologies comprise memory assistance, ambient intelligence, sensors or movement recognition. The increasing number of elder people has caused many applications to be oriented to this group. This collective has a high economic impact, and is motivated by the need to communicate with distant relatives (mobility) and the need for social interaction. As support, the European Commission (2007) established that these applications should be accompanied by information campaigns and should meet the objectives of cooperation and or remove technological barriers. One of these solutions, digital storytelling, could be an excellent vehicle for fostering intergenerational interaction between youth and elders.

For instance, according to E-Government European Commission (2014), user groups for European countries have different problems when interact with e-Government. For instance, the lack of willingness is lower in the UK or the Netherlands and the lack of capability and awareness are compelling factors in Greece or Turkey. These differences among countries are justified by the diversity regarding socio-cultural factors. Surveys about the reasons for using these online services show these differences among countries. Main factors for using e-government services are simplification (in countries country like Estonia, the UK, or Norway) and saving money (in Croatia, Poland or Estonia).

FACTORS AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPLEMENT AND IMPROVE DIGITAL INCLUSION TECHNOLOGIES Most of the listed projects by the ITU are based on three goals (Thinyane & Terzoli, 2009): connectivity, affordability, and capability. Wright & Wadhwa (2010) point out seven variables affecting the e-inclusion: infrastructure and connectivity, affordability, illiteracy and capability, motivation and usefulness. Almuwil, Weerakkody & ElHaddadeh (2010) collect some dimensions, from different sources, to consider in the analysis of minorities: connectivity, access, usage, continuity, skills, capabilities, attitude, and confidence. In this paper, the authors have made a new effort to collect the factors proposed in good practices and lesson learned described below.

Conectivity Connectivity is the ability to connect to the Internet. Bentivegna & Guerrieri (2010) propose that this dimension, together with others like affordability, availability of a home computer, availability of Internet connection and quality of connection, is part of the dimension of access. The strategies associated with this factor are policy 337

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Visual and hearing deficiencies, physical access

Dyslexia, dyscalculia, Asperger and Down synd., autism

Marginalization, criminal activity, drug abuse

Shyness, distraction, elective mutes

Disruption, aggression, sexual misconduct, bullying

Isolation, limited travel choice

Dissatisfaction, low literacy engagement

Timeliness, awareness

Physical

Cognitive

Social

Emotional

Behavioral

Geographic

Attitudinal

Opportunity

(Abstracted from Passey 2010)

Examples

Factor

X

Motor Access Aids X

Visual/ Hearing Support Aids

X

X

Mobile Alerts

X

Home Comput.

Table 2. Factors and technological solutions in youngsters

X

X

X

Laptops and Mobile Devices

X

Cognitive Aids

X

Graphical Calculatos

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Virtual Learning Environ.

X

X

Role Play Simulations

X

Interactive Whiteboards

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measures by governments to adopt a broadbandfor-all. Typical solutions are the availability of a Broadband Infrastructure, due to the fact that only if there is a broadband Internet access is possible to carry out an online learning project. There are other cheap and easy to set-up approaches like VSAT, but maybe the most affordable solution are public Wi-Fi hotspots. The type of infrastructure can advise focusing on the mobile Internet.

Affordability Affordability is the quality that represents the costs associated with acquisition of hardware or software in terms of reduced and affordable rates. One of the most well-known initiatives has to do with Availability of computers. In the One-laptop-per-child (OLPC) program non-profit organizations manufacture computers to create an affordable education device to be distributed in the developing World. Free and open source software can also reduce the costs. Although there have been chosen the topic as defined by Bentivegna and Guerrieri (2010), years before Van Dijk (2006) had proposed a related concept in 1999. There are other economic solutions, besides Wi-Fi, like Cloud-computing and Shared access. Some projects have tried public shared access in telecenters financed by the community, like in Dominican Republic (Figueiredo et al. 2012).

Capability Capability (Van Dijk, 2006; Helsper, 2008; Verdegem & Verhoest, 2009; Thinyane & Terzoli, 2009; Bentivegna & Guerrieri, 2010) is related with user’s literacy levels, ability, and skills. Complexity has been reported as one of the main problems for the rejection of e-Government services (2004), although the perception of complexity varies with the skills the user has. Within this dimension, it have been included the findability, because a low findability impairs the knowledge of the existence

of a web service (eGoverment, 2004). Low findability may be due to bad design to be positioned by search engines, but more often is due problems arising from the user’s search ability. We have found some efforts regarding literacy improvement such as: search for information, research topics of interest, read the news, chat, browse freely, create web pages and blogs or buy things. Other interesting approach proposes to facilitate the interaction through personal computer and the level of usability (Aleixo, Numes & Isaias, 2012). Usability evaluates the learnability and ease of use of user interfaces. Strategies aimed to facilitate the usability and to reduce the need of training is a priority for some stakeholders. It is possible to facilitate the understanding about how a site is organized. There are applications that decrease the need of learning the basic skills like touchscreens or chatbots. Chatbots or virtual assistants are computer programs to simulate a human conversation with a user by a written or spoken input. An example can be tested with the virtual assistant SIRI, in the Apple’s iPhone. Abbott (2007) points out that other strategies like screen display technology can benefit learning thanks to 3D and holographic representation.

Diversity in E-Excluded Groups The content and design of tools and websites should take into account the characteristics of the groups who are targeted. It is a priority line in the ITU, the C8. Overlook the value of cultural factors, traditions, or physical impairments could cause the exclusion of those users associated with these characteristics. Two noteworthy aspects of diversity are related to knowledge centric and context sensitive. 1. Context Sensitive: Has into account the context and presentation of the information that should take into account the cultural idiosyncrasies, social relational dynamics

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and sociolinguistic factors in the design of technology for a community (Thinyane & Terzoli, 2009) . 2. Knowledge Centric: Every community has a specific and local knowledge. Acknowledge the culture, traditions and the history is an essential component to increase the interest in the resource. If the digital resources ignore or undervalue the culture of a community, these groups will, in turn, eventually ignore these resources. According to e-Government (2014), a comparison between Germany and Finland reveals that there are similar levels in Internet skills (persons that are able to use online services) and similar e-Government online services, but the percentage of Internet population that refuses e-Government services is very high in Germany and quite low in Finland. Therefore geographic differences are a factor to take into account in order to analyze these services (Thinyane & Terzoli, 2009). Thinyane & Terzoli (2009) added these additional categories, context-sensitive and knowledge-centric, to explain the reason why so many projects to reduce digital inclusion in the past have failed. Their claim is that context and knowledge plays a central role in e-exclusion. Thinyane & Terzoli (2009) also proposed an architecture taking into account these aspects. In KnowNet project, they developed a software application to tested them. Authors claim that the obtained results with a marginalized community in South Africa were satisfactory. 3. Web Accessibility: Deals with guidelines to improve the Internet access. Accessibility is cornerstone for physically handicapped, like visually impaired. Examples of groups that are sensitive to this factor are senior citizens, groups with low digital literacy competences or groups mentally or physically handicapped. Abbott (2007) suggests

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that physically handicapped can be helped by eye-gaze software. Besides physically handicapped users, web accessibility has impact on any project, to every user in one way or another (Marzal, Colmenero & Morato, 2003). There are tools that can detect the degree of compliance with the guidelines, like TAW. TAW, is an online tool for determining the accessibility to a web. This tool analyzes the web site in accordance with W3C Web Accessibility Guidelines and provides information about accessibility issues with recommendations for improvement.

Motivation and Willingness Users sometimes refuse digital technologies, despite the fact that they have skills and access to these technologies. This dimension is related with other two in the literature: continuity (Almuwil, Weerakkody & El-Haddadeh, 2011) and attitude (Helsper, 2008; Verdegem & Verhoest, 2009) that is the disposition toward to technology. In this dimension it is remarkable the demotivating role that web services can have, by technical failures, time-consuming processes, complexity and incompleteness of the solution. In the e-Government report (2014) it is indicated that 51% (between non-believers and drop-outs) of potential users refuses to use this medium, despite most of these are real Internet users. The causes are, mainly, lack of willingness (80%) by preferring personal contact or by needing further visits to complete the process, ignorance to complete the paperwork, difficulties accessing information or services, or concerns about the security of personal data (11%). The authors Almuwil, Weerakkody & El-Haddadeh’s have reported a series of studies on how changes in lifestyles or the influence of social networks can encourage the use of ICT. There are two approaches that can be highlighted among the solutions adopted to facilitate motivation for digital inclusion: gaming and re-

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sources with an added value for the community. Gaming is a strategy for converting into games all the knowledge and skills to be learned. Thus, the motivation to perform a task is changed by the challenge of winning a game. This approach is mainly used in youth groups. Game analysis and its application in e-inclusion can be found in Stewart et al. (2013). In the INCLUSO project to show youngsters a quick tour around, it was implemented a game based on guidelines of “Social by social game” (Engelen, Dekelver & Van Den Bosch, 2010).

Value-Added Resources for the Community The specific services that facilitate Internet are an attached element to the motivation for using the service. However, factors such as accessibility, quality, security and complexity of the offered service may also explain the acceptance or rejection of the ICT’s. In Bentivegna and Guerrieri (2010) it is proposed the concept of Internet Impact as a relevant factor in the E-inclusion index, a measure of e-inclusion based on access, usage, impact and quality of life. Examples are: •

•

Virtual Communities in Social Networking Services: Humans, as social beings, prefer to live in community or interact with other humans. This aspect is quite important in youngsters, but also in senior citizens, due to their reduced mobility that causes social isolation, in this context. Online communities could be a solution to encourage these groups to use these online services. Augmented Reality: The goal of this approach is to provide additional information in a view of the real-world. There is a variety of hardware to show this information: eyeglasses, contact lenses, virtual retinal display, handheld in the user’s hand, or digital projectors on physical objects. This

•

•

•

•

approach could be used in education giving supplementary information or alternative graphs and virtual animated models (e.g. to explain osmosis). Gaming and everyday activities could benefit from this approach. The Internet of Things: Deals with dayto-day physical objects that are connected to the Internet and are able to identify themselves to other smart devices. This is one of the most promising solutions, together with pervasive computing and smart environments (e.g. room temperature regulated automatically with our own temperature or a mug that shows a signal if the liquid in it is cold). E-Government: Studies like e-Government (2014) or Almuwil, Weerakkody & El-Haddadeh (2011) have reviewed the factors behind the e-Government rejection. An illustrative fact is the difference among countries where it is analyzed the number of offered e-Government services and number of users. Almuwil, Weerakkody & El-Haddadeh (2011) considered seven factors to study different population groups in the European Union: Connectivity, Usage, Continuity, Skills/Capabilities, Access, Confidence and Attitude. E-Health: This is the use of the Internet for health care, it includes cyber medicine, health record management, medical research, and other aspects related with health informatics. An example in remote location is the telediagnosis, a diagnosis that is based on the data transmitted from devices that monitor the patients, even mobile phones. Some concerns are related with privacy and online security. E-Learning: ◦◦ MOOC: (Short for open online course) in a basic level there are platforms like “Learn my way” where are covered topics from reading skills to improve the fluency in English.

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◦◦

There are other less basic resources; two good examples are Coursera and Khan Academy. Both of them are non-profit educational organizations that offer courses for free. The first is focused on providing university courses, the second offers 4300 educational videos in pre-university level. E-Learning Platforms: Like Moodle, an open source platform for e-learning.

Trust and Confidence Trust and confidence are related to concerns about protection and security of personal data. According the e-Government report (2014), the less implemented aspect in the e-Government is the electronic security (35%). Different works have claimed the importance of this factor, in eGovernment or in groups like elder people (Mor-

dini et al., 2009; Wright, 2010). In e-Government (2014), e-government performance is measured by five Key Enablers: Electronic Identification (eID); Electronic Documents eDocuments), which allows users to send and receive authenticated documents online; Single Sign On (SSO), which is a functionality that allows users to obtain access to multiple websites without the need to log in multiple times; Authentic Sources, which are base registries used by governments to automatically validate or fetch data relating to citizens or businesses; Electronic Safe (eSafe) is a virtual repository for storing, administering and sharing personal electronic data and documents. To sum up, factors involved in the technologies for digital inclusion have to deal with several dimensions, where any of them is more important than the rest. In this way, a project or an application intended to solve a problem with digital inclusion could be depicted as shown in Figure 1. The authors have avoided a composite index due to the loss of information that implies, by aggregating

Figure 1. Multifaceted aspects in technologies related with digital inclusion

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data into a single number. Therefore, it has been preferred to propose a multidimensional graph to show the different dimensions of digital inclusion.

GOOD PRACTICES FOR DIGITAL INCLUSION: ANALYSIS OF PROJECTS IN MARGINALIZED GROUPS Throughout this document there have been seen the complexity of profiles and dimensions that affects digital inclusion. Our approach is that due to this complexity the first step to design a solution is to look up statistics and successful projects in the past. Later these data should be represented to detect if there are any discrepancy between data, implemented projects and dimensions and factors that affect complexity. Next, there have been shown some examples. To show the variability in groups that a set of

communalities shares, three groups of projects related with youngsters in Europe were collected. 1. Marginalized youngsters in Europe 2. Youngsters with autism in Europe. 3. Young migrants in Europe. As it can been see, different groups cannot be represented in a single dimension. These groups face multiple problems due to a complex context. The authors propose to represent these characteristics in a graph (Figure 2), including aspects poorly discussed in the literature, like soft-skills. Soft-skills are a measure of the features that characterizes relationships with other people (personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, etc.) (Haché et al., 2010). Figure 2. shows possible conditions that may affect people, either permanently or temporarily. These conditions as poverty, isolation, ethnic

Figure 2. Facets to describe marginalized group’s context

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segregation, physical handicapped, etc. are rated on a scale with values ​​between 0 and 1. In this graph, isolation is an important issue. For example, mobile health such as health care remote monitoring, diagnostic support, and training for health professionals could be a solution for remote areas. A variety of resources can improve the communication in these areas like online banking. Isolation also affects to underdevelopment countries. Many of these countries have a low-bandwidth. This factor impacts in the possibility of sharing videos in these areas. In this regard, geo-political and socio cultural factors have also an important impact (Sanchez-Cuadrado, Morato, Moreiro & Palacios, 2009).

Profile: Marginalized Youngsters in Europe Table 3 shows some projects carried out in Europe, for young people at risk of e-exclusion. Low income is one of the characteristics of this group, according to Eurostat (2013). Youth unemployment by age is 21% from 15-19 years in the European Union. Education, between 15 and 24 years, is a main concern, 15.9% has completed

upper secondary education or more. There have been analyzed three projects focused on this group, listed in Table 3. In this profile, experiences have been tested under a well-grounded basis. Social software solutions are pervasive, as it can be visualized the result in the next graphs (Figure 3 and Figure 4). The importance of every aspect has been represented in a scale from 0 to 1. Comparing the shapes (Figure 3 and Figure 4) it can be seen that most of the projects disregard affordability as a main component in their solution, despite the fact that poverty and unemployed is high in youngsters in the European Union. Connectivity has surpassed the expected impact in studies that were carried out mainly in European cities.

Profile: Youngsters with Autism in Europe The same procedure has been performed for youngsters with autism in Europe (table 4). Results have shown great variations from one context to another in the group of young Europeans at risk of digital exclusion (Figure 5 and Figure 6).

Table 3. Projects related with marginalized youngsters in Europe Project

Group

Approach

INCLUSO (Engelen, Dekelver & Van Den Bosch, 2010; Hache et al, 2010)

Youth at risk from Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria, Poland and UK

• Social software tools (Motivation) • Browse web safely (Trust) • Promote active roles (Motivation) • Gaming (Motivation) • Improve communication skills (Capabilities) • Working on personality avatars (Diversity)

ComeIN (Hache et al, 2010)

Marginalized youngsters from England, Ireland, Sweden and Austria

• Online social networking software for mobile phones (motivation, connectivity) • Use of multimedia tools and videos (connectivity, capability)

Replay (Hache et al, 2010)

Marginalized youngsters with anti-social behaviour in three European countries

• Gaming platform (motivation) • W-learning (motivation) • Working on personality (diversity and trust) • Pedagogical assessment tool (capabilities)

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Figure 3. Graph depicting the profile of marginalized youngsters

Profile: Young Migrants in Europe And one last group is the one of young immigrants, either first or second generation. Table 5 shows some projects and its approach carried out in Europe for young migrants. Figure 7 and Figure 8 show conditions that affect young migrants. In Share-it project, students tended to overestimate their ICT skills. However, outputs have shown an increase in young’s motivation, the project’s

authors interpret these results as the improvement of social inclusion due to ICTs when between the group participants there is an existing base of social relationship. In three profiles of youngsters in Europe, it can be seen how different are among them. The solution approach is also quite different, despite all of the projects have successfully dealt with these groups.

Table 4. Youngsters with autism in Europe Project

Group

Approach

HANDS (Hache et al., 2010)

Teenagers with autism

Toolset for everyday situations, with virtual reality provided on mobile platforms (connectivity, motivation)

UMSIC (Hache et al., 2010)

Children with social, emotional, learning, language disorders or physical disabilities

• Interactive environment and music enhance communication and social sharing skills(motivation) • Modular and portable open source software (affordability and connectivity)

Ispectrum, and its follow up ASC-Inclusion (Stewart et al., 2013)

People with autism

Developing games to improve the work-based social interaction skills of people (motivation)

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Figure 4. Facets of the approaches in the project marginalized youngsters

Figure 5. Graph depicting the profile of youngsters with autism

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Figure 6. Facets of the approaches in the project youngsters with autism

CONCLUSION Digital inclusion tries to improve the extent to which users can access ICTs. Neither user profiles, nor the causes of digital exclusion have a single dimension. However, this type of study should take into account the temporal dimension that can change the perception of exclusion or inclusion

of a group with respect to the technology used at the time. Identify technologies best suited to this complexity is a dynamic and constantly changing area, but certainly critical to digital inclusion. Currently, many of the technological solutions whether software or hardware are developed for a specific project and not as part of a methodology for e-inclusion. Guidelines based on good

Table 5. Young migrants in Europe Project

Group

Approach

Rete G2 seconde generazioni (Redecker, Hachè & Centeno, 2010)

Young people of foreign origin (young immigrants and ethnic minorities)

Blogs to improve language skills and to promote cultural exchange (Capabilities)

SHARE-IT (van Kranenburg et al., 2010)

Vulnerable economic exclusion in young migrants from the Veneto (Italy)

• Italian as a foreign language (immigrants) (Capabilities) • Creative use of computers (comics) for second generation teenagers (Capabilities and motivation)

Bordergames (Redecker, Hachè & Centeno, 2010)

Young people of migrant background in Spain

• Learning of 3D animation, video editing, phososoft, etc. (Capabilities) • Social skills, team building, organization and self-respect (Diversity, motivation)

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Figure 7. Graph depicting the profile of young migrants

Figure 8. Facets of the approaches in the project Young migrants

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practices from success cases are necessary. But for this, it must be considered that a consensual representation of the user profiles dimensions and the factors affecting them can help. In this study the main dimensions of both, groups and factors of digital inclusion are collected. Also, there were reviewed success cases and collected best practices. A graphical representation was created to help to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the initiatives.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Almuwil, A., Weerakkody, V., & El-Haddadeh, R. (2011). A Conceptual Study of the Factors influencing e-inclusion. Proceedings of the European, Mediterranean & Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems (CD-ROM). Athens: Brunel University. Bentivegna, S., & Guerrieri, P. (2010). Analysis of e-Inclusion impact resulting from advanced R&D based on economic modelling in relation to innovation capacity, capital formation, productivity, and empowerment: A composite index to measure digital inclusion in Europe. European Commission.

This work has been founded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, project no. HAR2011-27540

E-Government European Commission. (2014). Delivering on the European Advantage? eGovernment Benchmark. (Final Insight Report, SMART n. 2013/0053-3). European Commission.

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Passey, D. (2010). Using technologies to support young people at risk of learning exclusion: considering key factors when identifying impacts. Proceedings of the Conference on Social Media for Social Inclusion of Youth at Risk (pp. 141-150). Leuven: Kath University. Prinzjakowitsch, W., & Seisenbacher, G. (2010). Social software tools in open youth work. Proceedings of the Conference on Social Media for Social Inclusion of Youth at Risk (pp. 21-28). Leuven: Kath University. Redecker, C., Haché, A., & Centeno, C. (2010). Using information and communication technologies to promote education and employment opportunities for immigrants and ethnic minorities (JRC57947_TN). Luxembourg: Publications Office European Union. Sanchez-Cuadrado, S., Morato, J., Moreiro, J. A., & Palacios, V. (2009). Factores económicos y políticos en la brecha digital. P II International Conference on the Digital Divide and Social Inclusion. Leganes, Spain: Universidad Carlos III. Retrieved from http://e-archivo.uc3m.es/bitstream/10016/12323/1/factores_economia_brecha_digital.pdf

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Stewart, J., Bleumers, L., Van Looy, J., Mariën, I., & All, A. Scjir,ams, D., … Misuraca, G. (2013). The potential of digital games for emporwerment and social inclusion of groups at risk of social and economic exclusion (Report EUR 25900 EN). Luxembourg: European Union. Thinyane, M., & Terzoli, A. (2009). Universal digital inclusion: Beyond connectivity, affordability and capability. In Innovations for Digital Inclusions, 2009. K-IDI 2009. ITU-T Kaleidoscope (pp. 1-8). Mar de Plata: IEEE. United Nations (Ed.). (2013). Millennium Development goals and beyond 2015 (Fact Sheet). New York: UN Department of Public Information. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ pdf/Goal_8_fs.pdf Van Dijk, J. (2006). Digital divide research, achievements and shortcomings. Poetics, 34(4–5), 221–235. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2006.05.004 van Kranenburg, R., Steyaert, J., Schouten, B., Mermans, E., Costan, D., Otrebska, A., & Florin, A. & Helena, G. (2010). SHAREIT, e-inclusion, social inclusion and vulnerable youth. In Proceedings of the INCLUSO 2010 Conference, Social Media for Social Inclusion of Youth at Risk, (pp. 121-132). Leuven: Kath University. Verdegem, P., & Verhoest, P. (2009). A useroriented policy for ICT acceptance: The “relative utility” approach. International Journal of Public Information Systems, 3, 179–189. Wright, D. (2010). Structuring stakeholder einclusion needs. Journal of Information. Communication and Ethics in Society, 8(2), 178–205. doi:10.1108/14779961011040587

Wright, D., & Wadhwa, K. (2010). Mainstreaming the e-excluded in Europe: Strategies, good practices and some ethical issues. Ethics and Information Technology, 12(2), 139–156. doi:10.1007/ s10676-009-9213-y

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Digital Divide: Difference between people who have access and skills to use ICT and those who do not have these opportunities or skills. Digital Exclusion Factors: Different dimensions on which digital exclusion occurs with the advancement of technology. Digital Exclusion: People at risk of being excluded from access and use of digital technologies. Digital Inclusion: Degree to which information technologies are employed by a community. E-Inclusion: Policies and social movements intended to encourage the use of digital technologies. Marginalized Communities: Socially excluded groups of people for different reasons, such as age, physical or mental disabilities, economic status, access to education, or live in isolated places or depressed areas. Non-Believers: Users who refuse to use eGovernment services, despite most of these are real Internet users. The causes are lack of ability, lack of awareness, lack of trust, or because they prefer a personal contact, simplicity or do not expect to save time.

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Chapter 21

Discussion on Digital Inclusion Good Practices at Europe’s Libraries Maria-Jesús Colmenero-Ruiz Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT In this chapter the social role of digital libraries as agents to promote digital inclusion is discussed. It analyzes how European policies of promotion of the Information Society, aimed at digital inclusion were developed and incorporated by the European Libraries, mainly through projects and efforts for the dissemination of good practices. Assuming a broad concept of what good practice is, some experiences considered good practice for digital inclusion in the various stages of this process in European Libraries are shown. Dissemination of good practices has had uneven success without having established a stable formal and institutional channel that favors it.

INTRODUCTION Libraries are one of the major pillars in our society for their outstanding role in different phases of the information cycle (selection, access, dissemination, preservation), as well as their contribution to the cultural and educational life of the citizens. Since the emergence of the Information Society (IS) this role has become a key factor, in particular in the area of digital inclusion and, therefore, in the efforts to achieve social inclusion for all. The European libraries have been adopting policies of impulse of the Information Society in the EU, since they are aware of their role as a cor-

nerstone in this process, adapting and expanding their services to traditional users. In general, this feeling has been planned taken into consideration its function as educator and facilitator agents for social inclusion. The importance of each of these aspects has varied depending on the type of library: national libraries and heritage libraries have become more involved in accessing to their documents through its digitization, promoting their use in the field of culture and research, through digital libraries; the university libraries have opted for information literacy for the university community; public libraries are those that have had and continue to have an activity more closely to

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch021

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the promotion of digital inclusion, as a result of their social function, that inspired its emergence in the 19th century. However, despite the recognition made of the role of libraries in the documents issued by the EU in relation to their key position, few efforts global nature have been made to promote it, strengthen it and create support networks that enable European libraries sustain their activities providing free access, digital literacy and lifelong learning for social inclusion. Most of the initiatives are developed at local level, been implemented and carried out thanks to the efforts and motivation of librarians that are who, aware of the needs of their users, plan new services. Many of these activities are not known beyond the limits of action of the libraries. Others have transcended through its links to projects, awards or broadcasting through existing collaborative networks or publications. Knowing about these activities, their scope and outcomes obtained in their development allows the dissemination of good practices and, therefore, improves their reuse elsewhere with a guarantee of success, providing they are adapted to the local context. The European Union is a supranational body formed by European countries considered members of the developed world. Since the proposal of its first policy to promote the Information Society in 2000, e-Europe 2002, as a means to achieve that all citizens can benefit from their advantages in the future, the EU as a whole has been making great strides. And this, even though they have not been as fast as desired due to the incorporation of members with poor figures in digital inclusion. The challenge that is facing at this time was explained with great clarity by Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, in a conference on Innovation for Digital Inclusion some years ago (2011): Soon, 90% of jobs, whatever the sector, will require some level of digital literacy. But about 25% of all

EU citizens have never touched the Internet. And Internet usage is particularly low - 20% lower in fact – among groups like the elderly, the poor, the lower-skilled and the unemployed. Even though these groups are more likely to be excluded in other ways, and would stand to gain the most from getting online. This link between digital and socio-economic exclusion must be kept in mind, because a “digital divide” could have significant social and economic consequences. At present, end of 2014, the percentage of non-users is 20% according to the latest published data (European Commission, 2014). The Digital Agenda for Europe has a key performance target to decrease by half the number of non-users from 30% in 2009 to 15% by 2015. We are very close to 2015 and reduce this figure a 5% in a year is probably an overly ambitious goal. Libraries are not alone in this effort. There are other agents involved in it, of various kinds, but none of them has a network so homogenously spread over Europe. Consequently, they are able to act as a general distribution system across the EU: a circulatory system that distributes the good practices throughout the country in both directions, successful ideas and implementation, to increase the effectiveness and the results obtained.

BACKGROUND In 1994 UNESCO and IFLA adopted a revised version of the Public Library Manifesto (UNESCO, 1994). The Manifesto proclaimed UNESCO’s belief in the public library as a living force for education, culture and information, and as an essential agent for the fostering of peace and spiritual welfare through the minds of men and women. This document was first published by UNESCO in 1949 and it was further revised by IFLA in 1972. This Manifesto stated that “The public library, the local gateway to knowledge, provides a

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basic condition for lifelong learning, independent decision-making and cultural development of the individual and social groups.” It reflects that its services are provided “on the basis of equality of access for all” which means that it should provide even specific services to collectives that for any reason can’t access to the regular services (ie, linguistic minorities, people with disabilities or people in hospital or prison). Clearly, these collectives tend to be coincident with those who today are at risk of digital exclusion. Among the missions that the Manifesto exposes as characteristic of this type of libraries are included some that are in the target of the digital inclusion policies: • • •

Ensuring access for citizens to all sorts of community information Providing adequate information services to local enterprises, associations and interest groups Facilitating the development of information and computer literacy skills

We can’t forget that, although the World Wide Web was released by the CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in 1993, into the public domain the use and dissemination of personal computers had occurred previously. Consequently, since the 80s was already beginning to produce a “technological gap” that began to worry about and that was the germ of the initial policies of information.

First Steps towards E-Inclusion: Access Infrastructure in Libraries In 1990s European policies focused their interest in the physical infrastructure of telecommunications and data exchange, i.e., to facilitate access to allow the development of ICT in the entire territory of the EU. It was the fundamental starting point to enable the digital inclusion of all citizens in the emerging Information Society (IS).

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Libraries were involved in this process due to the fact that the European Parliament stressed the importance of libraries to the Community in a declaration, known as the Schwencke Resolution, calling for action by the European Commission in this sector (Official Journal NC 117 of 30.04.1984). As a result the Council of Ministers with responsibility for cultural affairs adopted a Resolution a year later on “Collaboration between libraries in the field of data processing” (Official Journal N C 271 of 23.10.1985). This Resolution acknowledged the importance of libraries in the European Community, both as a major force on the information market and as intermediaries to knowledge and culture. At that time, the situation was described as “too diverse is the European libraries scene, too fragmented and too disparate”. On the other hand the “digital revolution” along with new and exciting technologies had already taken a firm grip on many (more profit oriented) sectors of the economy, and libraries everywhere in Europe (in some countries more than in others) were facing a real threat of falling behind in adopting these technologies, of losing ground to other, more agile players in the information market and of “wasting” their vast and valuable resources by not being able to make them as accessible as they could be” (Stork, G., 1995). Two phases of activities were carried out in order to know the library sector in depth: an exploratory phase (1985-1988) and the preparatory actions (1989-1990. Afterwards, a programme destined to libraries was established by the European Commission in co-operation with the European Commission DG XIII/E.4. Electronic Publishing and Libraries1, as one of the areas of the Telematics Programme under the Third and the Fourth Framework Programmes (1991-1994; 1994-1998). The libraries programme of the Third Framework Programme aimed to facilitate telematic users access to the wealth of knowledge held in libraries while reducing the handicaps caused by the disparate infrastructures in the Community at

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that time. Fifty-one projects were launched. Stork (1995) stands out, among the projects grouped as new services, those whose purpose is to facilitate the use of ICT: “It is quite heartening to see that public libraries are making a particular effort in this direction. Four projects, SPRINTEL, REACTIVE TELECOM, MOBILE and PLAIL should deserve an honourable mention at this point.” The first two combined telephone and cable TV with voice recognition and synthesis tools, in order to provide citizens with library services in their homes; MOBILE introduced I&CT into mobile libraries and thus extending I&CT based library services to inhabitants of rural and remote areas. The latter gives the means to allow librarians to provide help and guidance to adults to improve on their own their professional skills and knowledge. Other projects focus on education and training, with mainly academic libraries involved: EDUCATE gives the students access to courseware on information sources related to physics and electrical engineering; SESAM, access to the library’s learning resources via the campus network, and MURIEL, collaborative and distributed production of courseware to be used by students of librarianship via Euro-ISDN connections. The main results of The Libraries Programme was improving co-operation amongst libraries in Europe, establishing improved services to European Citizens, and through technological development focused on technological developments for libraries, cooperation and standards. It was the first step to walk in the same direction, contributing to the goal of achieving a European Library Space (European Commission, 1998). The next Libraries programme covering the period 1995 to 1998, implemented under the Fourth Framework Programme, gave continuity to the previous projects whilst at the same time moving into important new areas. The participation of public libraries in the Libraries Programme was very low taken into account that there were around 40,000 public libraries at that moment in the EU.

Therefore, a concerted action was established in 1996 to achieve a more local level impact. This action was called PubliCA and its goal was to support the development, enhancement and modernization of public library services throughout the EU and to help the European Commission ensure an active role for public libraries in the Telematics for Libraries programme. The overall objective of PubliCA programme was to support development of public library services throughout Europe including Central and Eastern Europe. It was a direct consequence of the PLIS studies, Public libraries and the information society (Thorhauge, J., Larsen, G., Thun, H.-P., & Albrechtsen, H., 1997) and PROLIB, Open and Distance Learning in Public Libraries (Brophy, P., Allred, J., Allred, J., & European Commission, 1996), commissioned by the European Commission. Six more public libraries-related projects were carried out in this second edition of the Libraries programme: with the objective to give users effective access ILIERS (Integrated Library Information Education and Retrieval System), CHILIAS (Children in Libraries) and LIBERATOR (Libraries in European Regions – Access to Telematics and Other Resources), to support distance learning LISTED (Library Integrated System for Telematics-based Education) and DERAL (Distance Education in Rural Areas via Libraries). Finally HERCULE (Heritage and Culture through Libraries in Europe) was a proposal of web site for European school children. Many of the actions began to aim in the web, in the beginning of its expansion. Together the two Telematics for Libraries programmes have enabled different achievements, as: the entry of technology in libraries, the adoption and development of standards, and the cooperation between them. Also, is laid the groundwork for the provision of new services that “had the potential for a wide user-base, including: student users and specialist researchers in both cultural and scientific/technical areas; users with special

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needs, such as visually disadvantaged people, library users in remote rural areas; and distance learners.” (European Commission, 1990).

The Beginnings of Policies for the IS: The Digital Content The Fifth Framework Programme research & development run from 1998 to 2002 (European Commission, 1998). It was reduced to fewer lines in this programme: it treated together the areas previously covered by the ICT (ESPRIT) programme, by ACTS (the advanced telecommunications programme) and Telematics as a single Information Society Technologies Programme, with the goal of creating the user-friendly information society. Within libraries, the multimedia content and tools were included in the key action 3. It was implemented together with other non-research programmes (eContent and Internet Action Plans). All of them under the umbrella of the “eEurope An information society for all” initiative. After previous efforts that had been focused at the technical means (networks and tools/systems) needed for new services could be delivered, Patricia Manson, member of the European Commission, explained the spirit of this program before being launched in relation to libraries (1997): A major shift in context is involved. Libraries, along with museums and archives, find their main focus in the multimedia content area which, in addition to culture, includes activities in the fields of interactive publishing, lifelong learning, language technologies, and information access. The multimedia cultural content actions are still at the planning stage. However, there are a number of key challenges facing all players in this area. [...]. The second challenge is to make content accessible, involving technical, organisational and societal issues which must be addressed. On the technical side, lie all the issues associated with

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providing access to [...]. At the same time, steps are needed to ensure that there is equity of access to information, to culture, and to knowledge and learning and to obtain recognition that libraries can play a key role in this. [...]. Within this new focus, content clearly drives technologies. In 2000 the European Council issued guidelines that sought to establish the policies that should guide the actions of European libraries (Council of Europe, 2000) and in which clearly defends their public function, providing access to information, free (services), attending to the needs of users of their community without distinction, and based on their diversity. According to times, it included reference to the availability of any kind of materials and internet browsing. A survey made by NAPLE (National Authorities of Public Libraries in Europe), in 2002 a platform for European public libraries, showed great differences regarding internet penetration in European public libraries among countries and about the services available through it. The most important library project in this programme, in relation to the new services to be developed, was PULMAN (Public Libraries Mobilising Advanced Networks). The PULMAN Network of Excellence tried to underline the vital role of public libraries and other cultural organizations in the information age. The activities carried out included compiling manuals on innovative public library service provision and hosting consensus-building conferences. The project was also encouraging Europe-wide collaboration and dialogue, promoting international cooperation to disseminate its work internationally, sponsoring training workshops for public library managers, and maintaining a distance-learning registry for professionals working in public libraries, museums and archives. PULMAN issued a manifesto, known as Oeiras Manifiesto (The Oeiras Manifesto The

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PULMAN Agenda for e-Europe, 2003) setting out the goals for the development of public library services, including those that are aimed at people at risk of digital exclusion. European strategies for the information society of that period had focused on boosting public internet access points, enhance web contents and accessibility for people with disabilities, mainly. Libraries were then part of this network of access points along with telecentres, which were created for the occasion. PULMAN results were reflected in the publication of the PULMAN DGMS: Digital Guidelines Manuals (The PULMAN Guidelines, 2003), translated into 26 languages. The Social inclusion guidelines included specific recommendations for digital inclusion (digital exclusion at this moment). It also included good practice guidelines and a selection of resources that pointed to examples of good practice. His broadcast at that time was widespread throughout Europe thanks to the high number of participants. However, the evaluation of the social aspects of the FP5 (Holm el al., 2001) had shown that “in the libraries sector, there has been (too) much emphasis on specialist issues [...]. There was a social potential (e.g. in libraries as links to the citizens, as achieved in part by the TELEMATICS Programme in FP 4) that has remained substantially unexpressed”. So, “actions are recommended that effectively endeavour to recover this role.” For this reason and as a follow up and to take advantage of the results of the PULMAN project, the European Commission’s IST research programme FP6 promoted the CALIMERA (Cultural Applications: Local Institutions Mediating Electronics Resource Access) project, which ran from December 2003 to May 2004. It was a coordination action to help citizens right across Europe to join the Information Society through innovative digital services -engaging, interactive and easyto-use- provided by their local cultural institutions

(public libraries, museums and archives). One of the objectives of this project was: “Increase the sharing of best practice by local institutions, by producing guidelines and benchmarking tools and by preparing high-impact dissemination activities.” The CALIMERA partner network involved directly 52 organizations from 42 European and neighbouring countries, including local and municipal public libraries, museums and archives, national authorities, research institutions and solutions providers. The CALIMERA Guidelines were published in 2005 (The CALIMERA Project, 2005).They were “intended to explain how technologies can be deployed to develop digital services designed to meet real user needs – social, cultural and economics – to stimulate wider take-up and creativity among the professional community. They are also intended to support a clearer understanding of the way in which local cultural services can play a key role in the fulfilment of major policy goals in Europe, including those of the e-Europe Action Plan” as stated in its introduction. There were 23 separate Good practice Guidelines in all, structured as three main groups covering Social, Management and Technical issues. The last part of each Guideline included links to innovative applications of technology examples, designed to help users to assess leading developments across Europe from their own perspective. CALIMERA guidelines are organized according to a similar structure as PULMAN’s ones, but CALIMERA´s update the previous version and extend their scope to include services offered by archives and museums. Currently, they have been translated into 30 languages.

Riga Ministerial Declaration: Fostering E-Inclusion Although the i2010 initiative launched in 2005 included a specific objective to promote e-inclu-

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sion, in 2006 it was clear that the adoption of the Information Society was not being homogeneous by European geography nor among citizens, despite of the policies implemented. The Riga Ministerial Declaration (European Commission, 2006) summarized the situation, becoming the starting point of European policies to achieve digital inclusion and where are set a series of goals to be achieved before the end of the year 2010 in terms of use of the internet, web accessibility and digital literacy. In 2007 the Commission adopted the Communication “European i2010 initiative on e-Inclusion - to be part of the information society” that proposed a strategic framework for action and an e-Inclusion campaign “e-Inclusion, be part of it!” to raise awareness and connecting efforts during 2008. This year, 2007, the Commission launched the ePractice.eu web portal (European Commission, 2007) to provide leading-edge services to specialists in eGovernment, eInclusion and eHealth across Europe including a knowledge base of good practice cases. As a result of the “e-Inclusion, be part of it!” campaign, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) began to conduct studies to learn about the role of those who called intermediaries in eInclusion, among which include the Public Internet Access Points and public libraries. This had been one of the objectives of the MIREIA project (2009). The European Commission also established the European e-Inclusion Awards to discover and celebrate the most innovative ways of plugging the digital gap and helping people to enjoy the benefits of the internet. They have been granted in 2008 and 2012. Despite the interest in reducing the digital gap, the reality is that policies end up not bear fruit by focusing primarily in promote accessibility (largely left in the hands of the market) and be very fragmented those aimed at promoting digital skills of groups at risk. These, in addition, require intervention at the very local level, with various professionals in coordination.

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Next Steps: Europe2020, Digital Agenda and Libraries Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth was the next step for the European Commission in their policies to boost the Information Society program, launched in 2010 and current development European Commission (2010). The first of seven flagships it’s initiatives under the Europe 2020 it’s the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), which includes specific goals to promote digital inclusion in its Pillar VI: Enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion. As already mentioned, recently it have been released the DAE data related to Digital inclusion showing that 64% of disadvantaged people (aged 55-74, low educated, or unemployed, retired or inactive) have an insufficient level of digital skills, a thirtyeight per cent have no digital skills European Commission (2014). The year 2013 left us the results of two large studies related to digital inclusion that provide data on the role of libraries as facilitators. One of them is a result from the MIREIA project report, the “Survey on eInclusion Actors in EU27” (Rissola, G. and Garrido.M., 2013). This survey has highlighted that there is a huge variety of digital inclusion intermediary actors and roles. Most of these actors belong to the public sector (58%) and mainly consist of public libraries and municipal / local government organizations and governmentrun telecentres. A 58% of this sector are public libraries (51%) and formal educational institutions (primary, secondary, high school, technical schools and universities) (7%) which often have libraries that support the teaching of digital skills. The municipal / local government organizations are 21%. It is possible that a certain number of them are also libraries, as it’s the case in Spain. Thus, between 29 and an approx. 35% of digital inclusion intermediary in Europe are libraries. The services most often offered to users by all this actors are online access and basic ICT digital literacy training. To a lesser extent employment-

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related training services, access to government and social services and access to online courses are offered. The report urges that the European policy decision makers need to recognize and empower the role of these digital inclusion intermediary actors in support of the achievement of Europe 2020 economic and social goals. The second study to which we have referred was a research about users’ perceptions of the benefits of ICT in public libraries in the European Union published by Quick, S. et al. (2013), with the aim of understanding the impact that they have on users’ lives. It estimates that there are more than 65,000 public libraries across the EU, most of it them offering Public Access Computers (PACs), the exceptions being Germany and Bulgaria. Coincides with MIRELLA project results in the kind of services related to digital inclusion, offered by libraries (free internet and several training services access). 23% of the EU adults population were regular users during the 12 months preceding the study and 4% of them (near 14 million) have used public access computers (PACs) in libraries, with usage highest among young people (ages 15- 24). One of the most striking results is the finding that the maintenance of this service is essential for social and digital inclusion because, despite the “PAC use is a relatively infrequent activity” is regularly used by digitally or socially excluded groups (ethnic minorities, migrants and those who finished their full-time education at a relatively early age) that are particularly reliant on the service. Echoing these results, the European Parliament registered on the 7th of October 2013 the Written Declaration 0016/2013 requiring recognition by the European Commission of “essential services that public libraries provide to local communities and disadvantaged groups in relation to digital inclusion, social inclusion, lifelong learning and pathways to employment, and the role of those services in assisting with the delivery of the EU’s objectives “. Unfortunately the proposal finally was not approved in the European Parliament,

obtaining only a scant 28% of the votes in favour, somewhat surprising considering that no endowment is asked and that digital inclusion is one of the pillars of the European Digital Agenda.

GOOD PRACTICES IN DIGITAL INCLUSION ON EUROPEAN LIBRARIES An aspect that attracted interest from the very beginning regarding the development and implementation of e-Inclusion strategies has been the identification and diffusion of good practices. We have already mentioned earlier in relation to this particular activity the publication of the PULMAN and CALIMERA guidelines as a result of both projects, the EU Commission ePractice.eu web portal and the good practice e-inclusion awards. However, what can be considered good practice? What criteria follow to select an activity like this? Over time the concept of good practices has been replacing the Best practices initially in use in the area of business to be difficult to distinguish the best practices of the procedures or standards of performance and, sometimes, be misunderstood and limit the continuous improvement. Thus, the concept of good practices involves more performing an action so that the desired results are obtained, being replicable in another context. The FAO has adopted a definition which, in our opinion is pretty clear, simple and that highlights the important features of what a good practice should be, from that provided by another source: the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDC) Learning & Networking Team: A good practice is simply a process or a methodology that represents the most effective way of achieving a specific objective. Some people prefer to use the term ‘good practice’ as in reality it is debatable whether there is a single ‘best’ approach – and of course approaches are constantly evolving and being updated. So another way of

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defining a good practice is one that has been proven to work well and produce good results, and is therefore recommended as a model. ... The essence of identifying and sharing good practices is to learn from others and to re-use knowledge. The biggest benefit consists in well developed processes based on accumulated experience (SDC Knowledge and Learning Processes Division / Learning and Networking, 2004).

… it may not be possible to completely transfer the practice, simply because there are cultural or environmental or other contextual factors that are different. Thus, careful evaluation is needed before adopting any so-called good practice. One person’s good practice is not necessarily the best for another person, company or country. Applying a good practice unquestioningly might have a negative impact in a different context. […]

The ePractice.eu web portal claims that “Our constantly increasing knowledge base of good practice contains hundreds of real-life [...] cases” (close to 1800 at November 2014) and that The European Journal of ePractice is part of the European Commission’s good practice exchange activity. It explains that ePractice.eu cases are:

A good practice is inherently a case study. It must be capable of being described and transmitted, or promoted, to others. In some fashion, it must offer guidance for others.

…written summaries of real-life eGovernment, eHealth and eInclusion projects or business solutions developed by public administrations, entrepreneurs and corporations. [...] are based on actual experiences, and reading them provides a picture of the challenges and dilemmas faced by the professionals working in the new eGovernment domains. The use of ICT leading towards the reorganisation of eGovernment, eInclusion or eHealth processes must be a basic factor in all the cases published in the portal. And clarifies that “Research projects or events are not considered cases. In order to be included in the database, a case must be a real-life project, already executed and developed in a particular context.” In the analysis that the SENIOR project (einclusion for ederly people) makes about good practices (Wright, David, 2009) is considered this definition a bit severe because a good practice doesn’t necessarily involve a reorganisation process and a research project may also include them, which adopts a more inclusive approach. It also provides other considerations of interest:

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The dissemination of good practices is a crucial aspect for reuse logically. However, it is not always easy to find them. Generally are scattered and are disseminated through scientific publications, research projects or events and professional forums. Sometimes, only on the web site of the library itself. In our case, the European Commission provided the ePractice channel (2007) with its collection of cases. However, these cases include activities carried out by communities of eGovernment, eHealth and eInclusion professionals, implying that the number of them published specifically related to digital inclusion carried out by libraries is a small figure. Also the European Journal of ePractice includes this activity but suffers from the same problem in relation to our field: contains several broad thematic areas. It stopped publishing from December 2013 (21 issues in total). Not always the criteria applied to select an activity as a good practice (Wright, D., 2009) are known, so it is difficult to compare among themselves. At least they should have a clear description of the situation, objectives to be achieved, methods used and results obtained. Now, we will present some cases of good practices in digital inclusion in EU libraries located throughout different sources of information,

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reflecting the effort made by them as agents of digital inclusion since it began to shows the need for the incorporation of the citizenship into the Information Society. The criterion to be incorporated was no other than have been published and selected by others (for conferences, publications, awards,...), usually experts in the area, although the selection criteria have not been explicit. The projects description is taken from information sources which have been located, mainly in The einclusion awards (2012a) and related documents2.

Selection of Examples of Good Practices Internet Bus “Netti-Nysse”: Tampere City Library (Finland) As we see provide access to computers and the Internet had been the most wider (extended) and usual service on e-inclusion by EU libraries (and other places) supplemented with the free training in basic computer skills. The Tampere City Library in Finland was one of the first to provide this type of service, as soon as June 2001, and it did it differently than usual: creating a mobile space, for access and training, inside a bus. The service is call Netti-Nysse. It is based on the same idea that inspire the bookmobiles services, bring the service to citizens who, for various reasons, cannot travel to the library. The Tampere City Library had mobile library services since 1966. Netti-Nysse began as part of the eTampere project (2001-2005). This project was the first big initiative on knowledge society in EU. The aim of the programme was “to transform Tampere into the world’s leading city in the research, development and application of knowledge society by strengthening the knowledge base, creating new business activity and introducing new public online services”. Netti-Nysse is continued until the beginning of the year 2014.

Painted in yellow to be easily recognizable, Netti-Nysse has been used by near 30,000 people until 2012, especially for older people who had no experience with the basics of the Internet and search for information on this medium, but also other e- excluded groups (immigrants, women, young unemployed people, people with hearing problems and Parkinson’s disease,...). You can read the details of this good practice case at Harju, E. (2008, 2013). Netti-Nysse service had received several awards. Shares with the city of Tampere the 2011 European Commission award for “Best eGovernment Practice”; also in 2001 received the national Ministry of Education Adult Education Quality Award; in 2004, The Millennium Technology Prize Foundation gave it a Special Recognition Award for a people-centered application that exploits the World Wide Web and Internet Technology, and, finally, in December 2008 was among the five finalists in the e-learning category at the European Commission e-Inclusion Awards. The last recognition was shared with another service launched by this same library, Net Squares. These are places in two branch libraries where people can use computers free of charge, supported by special staff. In 2012, Netti-Nysse began providing health advice on a bus, obtaining positive results, especially in meeting the health advice needs of elderly residents.

eHungary Program 1.0 and 2.0 Finalist in the Inclusive Public Services category at the 2008 European Commission e-Inclusion Awards, the purpose of the Programme, initiated in 2003, was to establish public internet access points (IAPs) all over Hungary, offering access to information available on the internet for those without access at home, at work or at school. In order to promote the implementation of the programme, the Ministry of Informatics

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and Communications (IHM) supports municipal governments, public institutions (schools, libraries, hospitals, retirement homes) and businesses (bookstores, internet cafés) that already IAPs or commit to establishing and operating new ones as eHungary points. The 2007 year started with the launching of the eHungary Program 2.0, with narrowing the digital divide as one of the main goals (Fejer, A. and Pósfai, M., 2008), that currently continues.

Cibernàrium – Barcelona Activa – Local Development Agency of the Barcelona City Council – Spain This project was winner of the 2012 European Commission e-Inclusion Awards, Be Part of IT (Large Organisations). Cibernàrium (2012) is the IT skills acquisition programme of Barcelona Activa, the local development agency of the City of Barcelona. Cibernàrium offers training for professionals and companies to improve their competitiveness, as well as free digital training for internet beginners for all citizens at two Cibernàrium centres (Cibernàrium Centre of IT Skills Acquisition for Professionals and companies at first floor of the MediaTIC building of Barcelona and Cibernàrium of Barcelona Nord Technology Park) and 11 satellite centres located in public libraries, called Antenes. Cibernàrium provides a wide range of practical internet-related training activities that help people to develop their IT skills, promoting their e-inclusion and employability. The digital literacy programming of Cibernàrium includes training activities “characterized by their short length (between 1 and 2 hours), practical and innovative contents and flexible timetables. The courses are offered on an ‘a la carte’ basis to give users the maximum flexibility in order to create a course that suits them. Courses are updated quarterly”.

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Library Development Programme, FRSI, Poland Another winner of the 2012 European Commission e-Inclusion Awards, Be Part of IT (Large Organisations). The main objective of Library Development Programme (2009–2014) of the Information Society Development Foundation (FRSI) is” to provide equal opportunities for the underserved population living in rural areas in Poland. This has been achieved by revitalizing local libraries and providing them with multimedia equipment and internet access”. It includes training in order to improve staff capacity. “The initiative covers more than 3,300 libraries servicing 10.6 million inhabitants. It has provided internet access to c. 750,000 people, half of which have made their first click on the internet in libraries”. The libraries participating in the program assist more than 50,000 people annually, offering group classes and individual consultations on the hardware and internet usage. The assistance is given primarily to seniors and is free-of-charge. The librarians enjoy a high level of trust, which is conducive to the learning process. The users value the friendly atmosphere created in the libraries, now perceived as open and welcoming places. You can see videos about this programme on Youtube. The Information Society Development Foundation (FRSI) is a non-governmental organization established in 2008 by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. The Library Development Programme (n.d.) is a result of the partnership between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. Recently they have decided to prolong the implementation of the Library Development Program until March 31st, 2015.

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UK Online Centres Like the previous one, was a winner of the 2012 European Commission e-Inclusion Awards, Be Part of IT (Large Organisations) and, like the eHungary program, includes the libraries as part of the network of centers, along with other agents. UK Online Centres is Britain’s leading digital inclusion initiative, supporting over 3,800 centres throughout the country to help people get online in their communities. Through working with partners and running marketing campaigns, they have supported 1 million people to get online since April 2010. As the number of offline residents in the UK decreases, and those left offline become harder and harder to reach, UK Online Centres has developed innovative outreach programmes helping people to get online in unusual locations, including pubs, cafes and launderettes - places which are more accessible than traditional learning environments, combating traditional misconceptions associated with formal learning. The impact of the work done is huge. 70% of learners visiting UK Online Centres progress to using government websites, 67% to further learning and 60% to employment. Staying positive and being proactive is really important when looking for work but it’s not always easy. That’s why I’m so proud of all the new skills I’ve managed to gain while being out of work. UK Online Centres has also recently launched two specialist networks to provide support to the two groups who are often most in need. The Specialist Into Work Network is a group of centres with the specific resources and expertise to support those who are offline and unemployed (29% of UK online centres users classing themselves as unemployed), upskilling them and helping them get back into work. The Specialist Network comprises centres that help those with a disability

get started online. Almost half of the total offline population has a disability, so they need the in-depth support.

State Agency Culture Information Systems, Latvia - Library Gets Closer to Its User: Development of New IT Training Initiative for Socially Marginalized Groups in Latvia This project was awarded with a WOW mention (“the judges felt their stories offered something special and deserved to be told”) at 2012 e-inclusion awards for mainstreaming e-accessibility. “The Global Libraries Initiative Project in Latvia” also known as the “Father’s Third Son” (the hero of a Latvian folk tale) has implemented outstanding changes to reduce the digital divide and social exclusion of, in particular, the rural population in Latvia. The project has equipped all of Latvia’s 825 public libraries with PCs, software and free broadband internet connectivity as well as providing a comprehensive training programme for librarians. Since 2006, working in partnership with the government at both national and municipal levels, this project is the biggest culture-education-social project ever implemented in Latvia and has created unprecedented opportunities for everyone in Latvia to have free access to the internet and ICT training. The project has demonstrated outstanding results for the entire country. Since the beginning of the project in 2007, the number of public library non-users have reduced from 62% (2007) to 9% in 2011, the number of inhabitants using free internet access in public libraries has increased almost three times. The majority of those who regularly use the library internet live in rural areas and have relatively low incomes. Every fifth public library internet user has no alternative internet access.” Additional information at the 2012 e-Inclusion Awards (2012b).

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Biblionet: Romanian Libraries Biblionet is a five-year program that helps Romanian libraries better serve their communities through training and technology. An overview of their activities was presented by Scott Andersen (2011) at the Thirth European Congress on EInclusion (ECEI11) which took place in Brussels. One of this activities was designed to help farmers: a relative handful of librarians have helped 100,000 farmers get $187 million in subsidies via new Internet and computer services in just two years. They helped farmers to learn how to use the technology to access financial forms and submit them to the government. The efforts have meant a world of difference for farmers, saving them lengthy trips and expenses and allowing them to be more productive. Successes resulting from the 2011 pilot were transformed into a standard service in 2012. The more than 1,000 librarians who participated in training made the decision to bring the services to their buildings together with local mayors. They realized the services were useful for farmers, who no longer needed to travel to another city to fill in the applications, thus saving time and money. Most of the mayors understood that this service is in the farmers’ interest. The Romanian Agency for Payments and Interventions in Agriculture (APIA) facilitated talks with local mayors to help meet specific infrastructure requirements. They paid special attention to local needs and came up with local solutions. The librarians assisted the farmers in various ways, including promoting the services, scheduling the farmers, and connecting them to APIA experts. In many places, they became familiar with the entire application process. The program also boosted the community’s awareness of other library resources. Libraries continued offering the service throughout 2013. APIA also began a

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promotional campaign in 1,400 locations inviting new libraries to participate in the program.

BiblioHealth Program: Kaunas County Public Library Over 1,430 senior citizens attended 18 healthy lifestyle events organized by Kaunas County Public Library and three municipal libraries in Kaunas in less than a year (2011/12). The events included yoga, exercise, relaxation and meditation classes and lectures on alternative remedies. The BiblioHealth service also provides free access to computer literacy and internet research training for the over 60s. An online BiblioHealth resource includes useful links to health information, webportals, e-government health services, clinics, hospital websites and other websites promoting healthy lifestyles. The service was initiated with support from the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) in 2011. The case is based on impact assessment conducted by library in 2012 (EIFLPLIP, 2012).

Glob@l Libraries: Bulgaria Foundation The Glob@l Libraries - Bulgaria Programme was a joint initiative of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and the United Nations Development Programme supported by a USD 15 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Glob@l Libraries - Bulgaria was designed to facilitate access to information, knowledge, communication, e-contents and community services through Bulgaria’s public libraries network. The program aimed to increase library usage throughout the country and help Bulgarian citizens integrate into the global information society.

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In 2013 was founded The Global Libraries - Bulgaria Foundation (2013) as a non-profit in public service.

Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania: Libraries for Innovation The project Libraries for Innovation is by far the largest computer literacy development project ever in Lithuania. It helped over 65,000 people to improve their digital skills. Technical capacities of libraries, skilled librarians, and numerous outreach campaigns focused on specific target audience led to a success of the project. 1,276 public libraries, branches and subdivisions, about 2,000 libraries’ staff participated in the project. The libraries received technical equipment, they were equipped with broadband Internet connection. All libraries were included in the training activities of specialists and visitors, encouraging electronic service usage and consulting. Duration of the project was four and a half years (2008-2012). The complete description can be found at Libraries for Innovation Project (2008).

Issues, Controversies, Problems Although “The development of successful inclusive e-services is very much dependent on local circumstances, especially historical patterns of social exclusion” (Wyatt, Sally, 2008) best practices provide examples and guidelines for success that can inspire and help others, avoiding duplication of efforts, repetition of mistakes and increasing the possibilities of success. However, not always locate them is easy. Although there are some databases that collect these good practices, within publications and other resources, in practice most of the information sources suffer from several problems that limit the dissemination of the information provided. On one hand, there is the language. Many of these experiences are implemented locally, and their outcomes are not translated into English.

On the other hand, diffusion could not be among the objectives of the professionals who have launched the project, taken into account the great scarcity of resources and time in many cases. It is relatively easy to locate those projects or programs that are promoted by organizations or foundations because they have the means and interest in disseminating the results of their activities. But not so with the actions at an individual level or in small networks of libraries, which tend to be unknown beyond the local professional network in which they can participate. Another difficulty lies in diverse categories of activities labelled differently but that often involve digital inclusion, as it happens frequently with e-learning and e-Government. This is the case of the database of good practices Unite IT project (2012-2015), an European network project and a community site for professionals interested in digital skills and eInclusion in Europe, developed under the EU Lifelong Learning Programme, where we can find several projects from libraries (UNITE IT, n.d.), or as can be seen in the Entitle project (MDR Partners, 2009). Unfortunately there is no similar repository containing only the experiences carried out in libraries on digital inclusion no matter the guidance they have. However, it is not surprising on the other hand: libraries are not the only social agent of digital inclusion; increasingly they must interact with others to join efforts, not interfere the functions of other agents, improve their potentials, and collaborate with a common goal.

CONCLUSION There is no need to reinvent the wheel, particularly in areas where resources are scarce. One of the main problems is the lack of information on cases of success, in a detailed and useful way for reuse. The situation is aggravated by the absence or lack of updated information of the different projects carried out. Actually, this is a loss of relevant

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and valuable information to get good practices for global policies. Although actions at a local level helps to intervene more effectively according to the real needs of the citizens of a particular group, the atomization of information on such actions does not favor the generation of useful knowledge that can be reused, and amortize the costs that carries to produce it. European libraries are making a continued effort for e-inclusion which is diluted in part by the lack of coordinated actions, among them and with other agents. In April 2014, the United Kingdom has established a specific national policy on digital inclusion combining efforts from the government and involving all stakeholders, including libraries, in line with what experts in that area have been showing in recent years. Their results, in any case, can be a reference for all as to the working direction to follow.

REFERENCES Andersen, S. (2011). Helping Bridge the Digital Divide: How IREX’s Biblionet Program and Romania’s Public Libraries Increasingly Afford Access to eGovernment Services to Digitally Excluded Citizens. In Thirth European Congress on E-Inclusion (ECEI11) Transforming Access to Digital Europe in Public Libraries, 6th -7th of September, Brussels. Retrieved from http://www. slideshare.net/CivicAgendaEU/tag/public-library Brophy, P., Allred, J., & Allred, J. (1996). Open distance learning in public libraries. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities; Retrieved from http://bookshop. europa.eu/en/libraries-in-the-information-society-1996-pbCD9596601/ Cibernàrium (2012). Retrieved from http://w144. bcn.cat/cibernarium/en/que-es-cibernarium/ index.do

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Council of Europe/Eblida guidelines on library legislation and policy in Europe. (2000). Retrieved from http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/resources/DECS_CULT_POL_ book(2000)1_EN.pdf EIFL-PLIP. (2012). Library service builds healthy lifestyles of over-60s. Kaunas County Public Library, Lithuania. Retrieved from http://www. eifl.net/system/files/resources/201408/lithuania_hires.pdf European Commission. (1990). Creating a European library space telematics for libraries programmes 1990-1998. Retrieved from http:// cordis.europa.eu/libraries/en/intro.html European Commission. (1998). Fifth (EC) Framework Programme - Creating a user-friendly information society (IST). Retrieved from http:// cordis.europa.eu/fp5/src/t-2.htm European Commission. (2006). Riga Ministerial Declaration on e-Inclusion. Ministerial Conference ICT for an inclusive society. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/ activities/ict_psp/documents/declaration_riga.pdf European Commission. (2007). ePractice. Retrieved from https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/epractice/home European Commission. (2010, March 3). Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. COM (2010) 2020 final. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52010DC2020&from =EN European Commission. (2014). Digital Agenda for Europe: scoreboard 2014, digital inclusion and skills in the EU 2014. Retrieved from http:// ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/scoreboard2014-digital-inclusion-and-skills-eu-2014

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European Journal of ePractice (2007-2013). Retrieved from https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/epractice/og_page/european-journalepractice Fejer, A., & Posfai, M. (2008). The eHungary Program 2.0: building an army of eCounsellors to fight against digital illiteracy. European Journal of ePractice, May (3), 14- 21. Retrieved from http://www.epractice.eu/files/ePractice-JournalVolume-3.pdf Harju, E. (2008). Surfing, creating and networking: Tampere City Library drives into the information society. European Journal of ePractice, February (2), 65-74. Retrieved from http://www.epractice. eu/files/ePractice-Journal-Volume-2.pdf Harju, E. (2013, May). Go where the people are: The Netti-Nysse bus in Tampere. Governance International. Retrieved from http://www.govint. org/good-practice/case-studies/the-netti-nyssebus-in-tampere/ Kroes, N. (2011, October 5-7). Digital Inclusion: putting Europe into top gear. Proceedings of Innovation for Digital Inclusion Conference, Gdańsk. Retrieved from http://europa.eu/rapid/pressrelease_SPEECH-11-633_en.htm?locale=en Libraries for Innovation Project. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.bibliotekospazangai.lt/en/ Library Development Programme. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.biblioteki.org/en Manson, P. (1997 June 16 -17). Telematics for libraries: actions and initiatives of the European Union. Proceedings of Beyond the Beginning, Westminster, London. Retrieved from http://www. ukoln.ac.uk/services/papers/bl/blri078/content/ repor~14.htm MDR Partners. (2009). Libraries for lifelong learning: best practices. Retrieved from http:// es.slideshare.net/CarolUsher/entitle-libraries-forlifelong-learning-best-practices

MIREIA project: Measuring the Impact of eInclusion Actors. (2009). Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies. Retrieved from http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/ EAP/eInclusion/MIREIA.html National Authorities of Public Libraries in Europe (NAPLE). (2002). The Public Library in the Electronic World. Retrieved from http://www.bs.dk/ publikationer/english/naple/index.htm Quick, S., Prior, G., Toombs, B., Taylor, L., & Currenti, R. (2013). Cross-European survey to measure users’ perceptions of the benefits of ICT in public libraries: final report. http://www. minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Kirjastot/ kansainvaelinen_ja_eu-yhteistyoe/Liitteet/Final_ Report_-_Cross-European_Library_Impact.pdf Rissola, G., & Garrido, M. (2013). Survey on eInclusion Actors in the EU27. Sevilla: European Commission. Joint Research Centre. Institute for Prospective Technological Studies; Retrieved from http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC84429.pdf SDC Knowledge and Learning Processes Division / Learning and Networking. (2004). Identifying and Sharing Good Practices: Knowledge Management Toolkit. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC. Retrieved from http://www. sdc-learningandnetworking.ch/en/Home/SDC_ KM_Tools/media/SDC-KM-Toolkit/Good%20 practice/13_Good%20Practice_150dpi.pdf Tariffi, F., Christensen, P. H., & Le Guyader, H. (2001). Third Socio-Economic evaluation of Cultural Heritage projects under the IST 2001 Work Programme. Report of the Evaluation Panel. Commissioned by DG INFSO D2. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/ist/docs/digicult/ socio-economic-eval-3.pdf The 2012 e-Inclusion Awards (2012a). Retrieved from http://www.e-inclusionawards.eu/

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The 2012 e-Inclusion Awards (2012b). State agency “kulturas informacijas sistemas” (culture information systems) – library gets closer to its user: development of new IT training initiative for socially marginalized groups in Latvia. Retrieved from http://www.e-inclusionawards.eu/entries/ state-agency-kulturas-informacijas-sistemasculture-information-systems-library-gets-closerto-its-user-development-of-new-it-training-initiative-for-socially-marginalized-group/ The CALIMERA Project. (2005). CALIMERA Guidelines. Section 1: Social Policy. Social inclusion. Retrieved from https://web.archive. org/web/20070607093126/http://www.calimera. org/Lists/Guidelines%20PDF/Forms/DispForm. aspx?ID=25 The Global Libraries - Bulgaria Foundation (2013). Retrieved from (http://www.glbulgaria. bg/en) The Oeiras Manifesto The PULMAN Agenda for e-Europe. (2003, March 13-14). Proceedings of PULMAN policy conference in Oeiras, Portugal: Public Libraries Mobilising Advanced Networks. Retrieved from https://web.archive. org/web/20070101211238/http://pulmanweb.org/ documents/Oeiras_v2.1_5mar%20_1_.pdf The PULMAN Guidelines (2nd ed.). (2003). Public Libraries Mobilising Advanced Networks. Retrieved from http://digit.nkp.cz/CDMK/PulmanGuidelines.pdf Thorhauge, J., Larsen, G., Thun, H.-P., & Albrechtsen, H. (1997). Public libraries and the information society. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Retrieved from http://bookshop.europa.eu/ en/public-libraries-and-the-information-societypbCDNA17648/

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Public Library Manifesto. (1994). UNESCO. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ libraries/manifestos/libraman.html UNITE IT e-inclusion network. (n.d.). UNITE IT. Retrieved from http://www.unite-it.eu/database Wright, D. (2009). Report on good practices in e-inclusion, ethical guidance and designing a dialogue roadmap. Retrieved from http://www.ifa-fiv. org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/059_Report-ongood-practices-ethical-guidance-15-Nov-09.pdf Wyatt, S. (2008). Inclusive e-Services: Editorial. European Journal of ePractice, (3), 2. Retrieved from https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/sites/ default/files/4a/c2/0f/ePractice%20Journal-Vol.3May%202008.pdf

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Digital Skills: Set of skills that allow a person to the strategic use of information through information technology. European Commission: An executive body of the European Union. It is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU. European Union: Politico-economic union of 28 European countries form to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members. Good Practice: A process or a methodology that represents the most effective way of achieving a specific objective. Public Library: A nonprofit library maintained by public funds that is accessible by the general public. Riga Ministerial Declaration: After the Ministerial Conference “ICT for an Inclusive Society”

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the Ministers responsible for digital inclusion policy of the European Union and other 9 countries approved a Ministerial Declaration to promote an inclusive society and free information barriers. Social Agent of Digital Inclusion: Any institution, group, association and organization that directly or indirectly contribute to the process of digital inclusion.

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ENDNOTES

1

From 1987 to 2004 the Directorate General XIII - Telecommunications, Information

Market, and Exploitation of Research (in short DG XIII) was responsible for dealing with that issues. DG XIII comprised five Directorates, called A, B, C, D and E. The Directorate E was the Directorate for information industry and market and language processing, including six units. Electronic Publishing and Libraries unit was the Unit 4 (DGXIII/E4). The same information is located at different webpages or articles for each project. So, they are included “as is”, since they are the best abstract available.

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Section 4

Digital Inclusion Projects in Americas

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Chapter 22

The Geography of Digital Literacy:

Mapping Communications Technology Training Programs in Austin, Texas Stuart Davis Texas A&M International University, USA Lucia Palmer University of Texas at Austin, USA Julian Etienne University of Texas at Austin, USA

ABSTRACT Building off of Straubhaar, Spence, Tufecki, and Lentz’s Inequity in the Technopolis: Race, Class, Gender, and the Digital Divide in Austin, TX (2013), a ten-year study of how social, cultural, and economic tensions in Austin have been buried under the city’s highly lauded model of technology-led development, this chapter discusses three programs that attempt to promote different forms of media and technology training within the city. Adapting a definition of “digital literacy” theorized by Jenkins (2009) that emphasizes competency, capacity, and empowerment, we examine how these programs present disparate yet potentially compatible approaches for harnessing the transformational potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within underrepresented, marginalized, or at-risk populations.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF DIGITAL LITERACY: MAPPING COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAMS IN AUSTIN, TEXAS Since the mid-1980s, the city of Austin, TX, has received copious attention for providing the blueprint for what University of Texas business

professor George Kozmetsky called “the technopolis model” of technology-based local economic development (Gibson & Butler, 2013). This model, whose name comes from a portmanteau of “technology” and “polis” [Greek for “city”], proposes a combination of aggressive public subsidization of technology research at the state and national levels, the creation of university-based business and technology incubators that provide seed

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch022

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 The Geography of Digital Literacy

money and training in business model generation for individuals involved in small start-ups, and coordination with municipal governments to provide tax breaks, small business loans, and other tools for incentivizing entrepreneurship (Hartenberger, Tufecki, & Davis, 2013). The logic behind these public-private partnerships argues that public support could help foster the growth of a large number of tech-focused start-ups that either already existed (e.g. Southwest Airlines; Dell Computers) or were in the inchoate stage. This technopolis model, centered on the University of Texas’ Innovation, Creativity and Capital Institute (IC2), would be exported to over 30 countries ranging from the usual suspects (e.g. Russia, South Korea, Japan) to unlikely areas like Israel, Kenya, Malta, Ghana, and Poland (Butler & Gibson, 2013). To give total credit for the success of the technopolis model to any one actor, from the University of Texas tech industry giants like Texas Instruments or Dell, would be to miss the unique conceptualization of the local in this model. For the architects of the technopolis, the glue holding together the various different actors was the hospitable climate for creative business development in the city of Austin. The famous/ infamous urban studies theorist Richard Florida has labeled this element the “creativity index” of an area. Though an elusive and difficult to measure facet, Florida and collaborators have argued that an area’s creativity index can be linked to a tolerance for LGBTQ communities, a thriving arts, theater, and music scene, and a high degree of multicultural and multi-ethnic cultural events and cuisine (Florida, 2002; Lee, Florida, & Acs, 2004). The combination of these factors produces a location’s creativity index. Even though the technopolis model convincingly narrativizes the relationships between industry, university, and city as a symbiotic process, many critics argue that this story fails to address the class background of technopolis leaders who generally tend to come from higher

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socio-economic backgrounds (Markusen, 2006), the largely Caucasian ethnicity of most creative class workers, and related issues. Among the critiques of the techno-utopian predilections of Austin’s tech industry, Straubhaar et al.’s (2013) work offers the most sustained investigation of how the growth of a technopolis model in Austin explicitly and inadvertently reproduced patterns of economic and political disenfranchisement within the African-American, immigrant, and other communities. In the concluding section of that text, Straubhaar reflects on the difficulty of operationalizing information and communications technologies (ICTs) for promoting social and economic transformations within historically marginalized or underserved populations before finally arguing that the promotion of public access internet centers offers the most feasible strategy for overcoming the divisions implicit in the creative industries model (Straubhaar et al., 2013, p. 282). Starting from the difficult and potentially irresolvable question of how to draw on ICTs to promote changes within these communities, this chapter attempts to track a few programs that have developed in Austin in the past twelve years that focus on digital media training directed at youth populations from underserved areas. Our analysis of these programs attempts to extend the conversation started by Straubhaar and colleagues by looking explicitly at the training strategies developed by individual projects. While the creation of readily available internet access points certainly filled an important need in the late 1990s/early 2000s for readily available public access, a large number of projects in Austin have developed trainings focused on much more specific uses or functions of ICTs. This area of training, what media sociologist Ezther Hargattai called the “second digital divide” (2002), frames access in terms of digital literacy. This reformulation of information access from a question of increasing availability to increasing capacity to use adds a layer of richness to the conversation about the role of the Internet within individual communities. At the same time, though,

 The Geography of Digital Literacy

it has also generated a plethora of issues around defining exactly what constitutes “literacy”. Does it refer to a set of critical interpretation skills that individuals can draw upon better understand the way media reflects certain power relationships embedded in society? This “media literacy” approach has historically not been associated with digital access projects (Lewis & Jhally, 1998; Livingstone, 2004). Other definitions of digital literacy have adopted a more pragmatic approach that entails technical training in various types of digital media from Microsoft Office Suites to e-government (Warschaeur, 2010). The openness of “literacy” as an objective entails the creation of a robust taxonomy of different projects that adopt this concept as the primary goal of their work. While textbooks like Renee Hobbs’ Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and the classroom (2011) or the World Summit on Information Society’s Knowledge Communities Platform provide copious examples of digital literacy initiatives (often with accompanying “how to” guides), we argue that the most effective way to differentiate between these various projects comes through the mapping of multiple types of project within the same geographical space. Using the city of Austin as our case allows us to develop a cross-section of digital literacy programs working within a shared space. By putting multiple programs in conversation with each other, the analysis attempts to index some of the different objectives, technology choices, and obstacles facing this type of endeavor.

THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS: COMMUNITY INFORMATICS AND PARTICIPATORY DIGITAL MEDIA EDUCATION If we are to accept that the technopolis boom did not naturally produce a increase in employment, higher standards of living, or general community

development for all of Austin’s citizens, the next question should center on how technology might serve to promote a more egalitarian process of city development that goes beyond start ups and business students to address a wider array of social, economic, and political concerns for the city writ large. In order to think about how different media training programs fit within the geo-culturalpolitical space of Austin, we will draw on two bodies of theory that explicitly attempt to track various forms of information production and usage within the same physical space. The first body of literature comes from the now wildly popular community informatics (CI) movement spearhead by Michael Gurstein and others in the late 1990s. Though this movement is far too large and variegated to have a single theoretical agenda, one of its main assertions is that initiatives designed to use communications technology to improve certain environments would inevitably fail unless they first assessed the “information needs” of a certain locale. By first assessing the history, culture, economic situation, and major issues facing a given locale, CI research is able to create dialogues between local stakeholders and outside technologists. This attempt at symbiosis offers a much more catholic conceptualization of technology that moves beyond many definitions that focus on a specific facet of technology-enabled development such as digital media production, skills training, or e-commerce. Instead, as Gurstein describes, CI utilizes a highly flexible notion of technology-enabled development that attempts to address the contingencies of individual communities (Gurstein, 2007, p. 14). In this spirit, many CI projects have turned to earlier participatory communication projects focused heavily on soliciting community input in every aspect of their programs from project design to the evaluation of results (Finquelivich, 1999). Thus CI pioneered an approach that Ball-Rokeach, Kim, and Matei would later call “location-based communication

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ecologies” (2001, p. 393) by looking at how multiple forms of communication technologies work within the same geographic area. In this paper we combine CI’s emphasis on community-instigated and customized approaches to technology training with pedagogical concerns derived from the burgeoning research area of participatory digital media education. This area combines concerns within humanities-based research on how to engage media audiences and fans in content creation within a technological environment increasingly characterized by interactivity (Jenkins, 2006; Bal, Nolan, & Seko, 2014) with sociological interrogations of the impact of new communications technologies on traditional forms of civic and political engagement (e.g. Putnam, 2000). While hundreds of pieces have been published in English addressing this constellation of topics (see Buckingham, 2013), the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative has generated the most robust data about organizations that work in these interrelated forms of digital literacy (Jenkins, 2009; MacArthur Foundation, 2012). In the 2009 piece that introduced the first wave of MacArthur studies, Henry Jenkins presents a three-pronged definition of media literacy emphasizing competency, capacity, and empowerment (Jenkins et. al, 2009, pp. 29-35). Competency, closely linked to traditional definitions of literacy, refers to the ability to understand the basic operations of a technology from reading comprehension to programs like Microsoft Word and Excel. The second element, capacity, is connected to a deeper understanding of how technology might be used in the process of creative work. Web design, blogging, and audiovisual production would be considered examples of capacities in this definition. Empowerment, the most difficult of the three elements to teach, focuses on building the confidence and social interaction skills required to make students comfortable enough with both

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the technology itself and the situation to create media in ways that are meaningful to their own lives (Jenkins, et. al, 2009, p. 40). All of the Austin-based projects under discussion exhibit some combination of competency, capacity, and empowerment. By analyzing how these different forms of literacy training interact and diverge, we hope to not only complicate shallow or unconsidered attempts at promoting digital literacy but also show how potential conversations between projects might by facilitated through municipal and state planning and policy making.

RESEARCH APPROACH As part of their macro-level examination of the relationship between technological development and the perpetuation of socio-cultural and economic inequality in Austin, Inequity in the technopolis offered a thorough history of the various community-based technology training and Internet access programs in the city of Austin. Building off of this work, we offer short profiles of three technology training projects: the Manor High Tech High School (usually shortened to Manor New Tech), the NGO Latinitas, and Austin City Libraries’ Connected Learning initiative. Each of these projects offers a different approach to how technology might be used to promote transformative change for users. The Manor New Tech High School, was launched in 2007 as part of the US Department of Education’s nationwide “New Technology Network” initiative designed to promote technology-enabled project-based learning in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) charter schools. This new school, which recruited heavily from the low socioeconomic status (SES) communities of the town of Manor (a suburb of Austin), aimed to help students accomplish STEM objectives through the use of computer-enabled project based learning (Manor

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New Tech, 2014). The second project, Latinitas, uses a curricular model with dual emphases on media literacy and skills training in film, magazine, and news production. Aimed explicitly at first and second-generation females who self-identify as Latinas, this group creates workshops that integrate assignments that require participants to combine a critical understanding of media representations of Latinas with explicit training in digital media production (Cunningham, 2009). The final project discussed is Austin Public Library’s “Connected Youth” program, launched in 2000 by APL’s Youth Services Branch in partnership with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. This program began as an attempt to provide public Internet access points at each Austin public library. However, following the trends described in our literature review, this program has shifted towards designing programs to familiarize children with the computers as a way to encourage them to work together on collaborative projects while at the same time making them comfortable with the basic layout and functionalities of computers. For each of these projects, we engaged in qualitative interviews with managers and program coordinators and project participants. Our analyses of Latinitas also draw upon participant observation of training sessions. Research on Manor New Tech was conducted between March and May 2011, and October 2014. Research on the other two projects was conducted between February and September 2014. In processing our data we drew upon a few central elements of the projects including funding and fundraising, community outreach, training protocols (including ideas about the affordances of each technology (Heeks, 2002), and outcomes. The following sections offer a comparison between the three projects; the conclusion uses the comparison to argue that by developing more precise definitions of “digital literacy” academic, professional, and policy fields like information science and mass communication can develop new syntheses of different forms of technology-enabled training.

CASE 1: MANOR NEW TECH HIGH SCHOOL Manor New Tech opened in August 2007 as the state of Texas’ first public “technology high school”. This model, originally pioneered in Napa, California in the mid-1990s, offered two innovations previously non-existent in public high schools: a networked infrastructure where every all instructional spaces were linked together through a hardwire Ethernet network and a curriculum overall that forewent traditional subject-based instruction for a combination of technology skills training and project-based learning (Congressional Committee on Education and the Workforce, 1997). These two elements were seen to mutually complement each other, as the hands-on technology training facilitated experiential learning as well as creative decision-making on the part of students. Manor New Tech High School is located in the small town of the same name 15 miles southeast of the city of Austin. Despite this relatively short distance, the town itself does not share any of the technopolis-like industrial or cultural booms experienced by Austin—despite being located in the same county (Travis). It displays significantly lower levels of household income, educational attainment, and gross economic productivity (US Census, 2012). Furthermore, the educational system in the state of Texas is broken up according to an “independent school district” model where each district draws upon property tax revenues from households within its jurisdiction to fund schools (Farkas et. al, 1990). Hence, Manor’s economic underachievement has had a direct impact on funding for public education. Manor ISD’s position as a poorly funded, minority populated public high school in a largely rural area made it an ideal partner for the burgeoning federal “New Technology Initiative” program. From the outset, the planning and development of Manor New Tech was initiated at the federal level through the US Department of Education

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(DOE). It was also funded through the publicprivate Texas High School Project (now Educate Texas). In this respect, the high school was both modeled on tech high schools in other states and designed to resonate federal guidelines that privileged aptitude testing, career training, and related areas (Manor New Tech, 2014). Unlike the other projects in question, Manor New Tech’s architects designed its approach to ICT training in lines with current trends within professional and practitioner literature on technology in the classroom (National Academies Press, 2014; Zipkes, 2011). At Manor New Tech, students are not only permitted to use personal mobile devices including iPads, laptops, and smartphones; the high school actually builds most of its assignments so that they can only be accomplished by using Internet-based technologies (Manor Independent School District, 2012). In this way, the program integrates a tech-friendly attitude with topical training in line with nationally and internationally popular Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) curricula as well as a pedagogical model heavily indebted to project-based learning. While these innovative changes reflect a clear example of a project that is thinking about how technology might be used to better help high school students meet objective goals, one might argue that it lacks the participatory, grassroots elements of the other projects in question. The school’s approach to technology training was almost directly determined by needs interpreted at the nationwide level. Also, Manor New Tech differed from other projects discussed in that it recruited and hired a new staff from outside of the local community. Through these elements the project might be seen as what educational theorist Michael Fullan calls a “shallow restructuring” of education that makes grand changes at higher (often district-wide) level without considering lower levels of planning in the schools themselves (Fullan, 2007, p. 25). Though the school defined its learning objectives and its technology training protocols on student needs determined at the federal level, its

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approach to recruitment attempted to address perceived local inequalities in Manor and surrounding vicinities. The most important actor in this regard was the school’s first principal, Steve Zipkes. Though not from the area himself, Zipkes had studied at the University of Texas and participated in digital access programs as early as the 1980s. Therefore, he brought with him a great deal of experience working on this type of project in Austin (Zipkes, personal conversation, November 10, 2014). From its earliest stages, Manor New Tech sent recruiters to middle school special programs and student organizations, churches, and community organizations that catered to Latino immigrant and African American populations. It has also developed subsidized meal plans and afterschool care to further incentive lower SES families to send their children. Finally, in 2011 Zipkes started the Manor Teaching and Learning Institute to re-train and re-culturate (to use a famous term from educational theorist Michael Fullan (2007) teachers in the purpose and operations of Manor New Tech (Zipkes, 2014). Since it finished its first graduating class in 2011, Manor New Tech has reported scores on statewide Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skill tests in the upper 80th (Math) and upper 90th (Science) percentile. These tests, before being replaced by a new assessment instrument in 2013, were used to assess how well students ranked according to national guidelines laid forth by the DOE. The scores recorded at Manor New Tech tracked 15 percentage points higher in Math and 11 percentage points higher in science (Edutopia, 2014). Furthermore, the school has seen a rapid increase in students being accepted to and often receiving merit –based fellowships to attend not just local universities but national colleges including Princeton and the University of Michigan. The program has also received copious attention from national press including the Wall Street Journal, Popular Science, and US News and World Report. Furthermore, US President Barack Obama visited the school in 2013 and gave a speech lauding its

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work as “something all teachers and principals across the country should come down and see” (The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 2013). Hyperbole aside, these accolades reflect the school’s innovative approach to technologyenabled learning. In the first seven years of its development, Manor New Tech has provided an innovative space for students to employ laptops and mobile devices to meet national educational goals, achieve success in gaining admittance to college, and build skills in group communication and collaboration. However, from the perspective of Jenkins’ multifaceted definition of digital literacy, the project really only speaks to the “competency” level. Questions of capacity building and empowerment are largely left unaddressed by the project.

CASE 2: LATINITAS Latinitas is a nonprofit organization located in Austin and El Paso, Texas, with a focus on the empowerment of young Latinas through media and technology education and creative selfexpression. Co-founders Alicia Rascon (Chief Executive Officer) and Laura Donnelly-Gonzalez (Chief Operations Officer) originally conceived the organization in 2002 while both were earning journalism degrees at the University of Texas at Austin. With support from Professor Federico Subervi-Velez, Rascon and Donnelly initially formed Latinitas as an official student organization at the university. The group began to reach out to local middle schools and youth community organizations, founded a Board of Directors, and extended its outreach campaigns. In 2003, Latinitas launched a digital magazine (Latinitasmagazine. org) designed for and written by Latina youth. The organization expanded its afterschool programming, and in 2006 entered into a partnership with Austin Independent School District (Latinitas, 2014). In 2007 Latinitas acquired a tax-exempt nonprofit status, and began to hire employees. Al-

though the organization charges a fee1 for some of its camps and workshops, the majority of its funding comes from corporate sponsors, foundation supporters, government contributions, and in-kind donations. Currently, Latinitas has offices headed by Rascon in El Paso and Donnelly in Austin, each with ongoing camps, clubs, afterschool programs, and community workshops. Latinitasmagazine. org is an active part of the organization, publishing articles and multimedia projects written and created by Latinitas participants and interns. Latinitas primarily targets Latina girls ages 12-17, which means predominately Latinas in middle and high school. However, the organization also reaches out to college-aged Latinas to work as mentors, interns, and students. Since 2009, Latinitas has offered a scholarship fund designed to help young college students work towards their educational goals.2 During volunteer participant observation in the 2014 Austin summer camps, it was noteworthy that most of the camp volunteers, counselors and teachers were college-aged or college-bound late-teens and early-twenties Latina women, many of whom participated in Latinitas when they were in middle and high school. These young women interacted with the camp participants in leadership and mentorship roles, working closely with and relating personally to the younger girls. The target participants for Latinitas are recruited through the organization’s relationship with Austin schools, as well as through community organizations and networks. Many of the girls in the summer camps found out about the programs through school, friends and family, or had been involved previously with Latinitas elsewhere. During the three weeks of volunteer participatory research, it was observed that the 2014 summer camps were small, fitting easily into the space provided in the Latinitas office (located in the East Austin area) and numbering between five and around a dozen campers depending on the week. Latinitas conceives of the empowerment of young Latinas as achievable through technological

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education, media literacy and creative multimedia production. The organization expresses goals of building confidence, reinforcing positive selfperceptions, and encouraging self-expression. Latinitas also hopes to motivate young Latinas to pursue higher educational goals, and to spark interest in communications, informational and media industries. In the summer camps, it appeared that these goals were largely worked towards through efforts to make technology and multimedia production fun and accessible, while instilling critical media literacy skills. Additionally, the participants were regularly taken on trips and were visited by local professionals to encourage them to pursue their interests and perhaps to work towards a future career in a related field. For example, the girls were taken on a field trip to Dell each week of the summer camps, which included a talk on the need for women in ICT industries. Beyond the summer camp, Latinitas has a variety of programs aimed at the empowerment of adolescent and teenage Latinas. Club Latinitas is an afterschool program associated with several middle schools in Austin and El Paso. The organization describes these clubs as spaces where girls can learn media, technology, art and cultural skills in order to build confidence and leadership abilities. Latinitas also has programs designed specifically for high school age participants, which they label teen programs. Again, these focus on creative self-expression and confidence through building multimedia skills. These clubs and programs all contribute journalistic articles, photographs, and videos to the Latinitas digital magazine. Latinitas also regularly offers community workshops and presentations built around the organization’s general goals of creative self-expression, but which are focused on particular themes and daylong activities. For example, the Code Chica Conference in Austin brought girls ages 9-18 together with computer coding professionals to create a coding project and potentially incite interest in computer science (Latinitas, 2014).

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From observations made during volunteer participation at the four-week Austin summer camps in 2014, Latinitas infused its defined goals of empowerment throughout the diverse subject matters covered week to week. Each week the theme changed, from filmmaking to game design, fashion and style and health and fitness. Throughout the weeks, the curriculum incorporated multimedia production, in particular video and photography, into the topic of the day. Even when the topic at hand was not directly linked to media production, as was often the case with the health and fitness week, exercises were designed to continually draw the participants back to developing their media skills. For example, in the health and fitness week, the girls were asked to shoot their own miniature cooking show based on the lessons they learned about healthy eating. In general, the summer camps appeared to create a safe space for girls to play with media and technology. In contrast to research at Austin libraries that found that girls used media chiefly for social purposes in mixed-gender environments, the Latinitas camp participants seemed to be confident with employing the laptops, video cameras, and photography cameras for creative purposes. Further, the girls seemed to absorb lessons about healthy body image, self-confidence, and personal potential, which was evident in their ability to communicate these values to parents and other adults.

CASE 3: CONNECTED YOUTH This section provides a description of the public access services currently offered by the Austin Public Library, the library’s role in Austin’s Digital Inclusion Strategy 2014 and then focuses on Connected Youth, a specific public access program geared towards teenagers created with private and public funding. Many library systems’ Internet public access and digital literacy programming

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are funded through a mixed array of private and public funds at the national, state and city level. Austin Public Library is no exemption Across the US, libraries have become important centers for the provision of free access to computers and Internet. From a rare resource it is now one of its core services, one of libraries most sought. In 2009, 45 percent of the 169 million library visitors connected to the Internet using libraries’ infrastructure. Technology also draws teens to the library. An estimated 11.8 million of US 14-18 years old reported using a library computer during the same year (Becker et al., 2010). As previously mentioned, Austin is a unique city not only for its deliberate efforts to develop the high-tech industry but also the myriad of initiatives that have addressed the digital divide by providing computer access and training (Cunningham et al., 2013). However, while there are and have been different organization serving the public none of them have the library’s reach. Previous work on Austin libraries (Lentz et al., 2013) focused on stratified public access to information and communication technologies by studying the possible enabling or constraining role of the libraries. In a ten-year period, the authors noted positive changes in infrastructure, resources and librarian attitudes toward computers yet limited technology related programming. The Austin Public Library (APL) system is comprised of one central library, twenty branches, the Austin History Center and the Recycle Reads bookstore. It offers public computers and free public wireless Internet access in all its locations and regular free computer classes for adults in four locations (including one in Spanish) (Austin Connects, n.d.; Austin Public Library, n.d.-c) Classes cover a range of topics such as basic computer skills, emailing, use of social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook, Microsoft Word or how to use the Internet for job searching.3 In 2012, APL had 640 desktop computers for public use. Public workstations logged almost 820 thousand sessions accounting for nearly 435 thousand hours

of use. Additionally, it facilitated 270 thousand Wi-Fi sessions (City of Austin, n.d.-a). Each user is given 120 minutes of computer access per day system wide. Time allotments per session and computer category vary across the system. APL is committed to Austin citizens’ life long learning by offering the necessary information and materials for such intellectual endeavor (Austin Public Library, n.d.-d). It is difficult to judge how public access policies fit in with libraries roles and objectives since the APL most recent strategic plan doesn’t provide a statement on digital literacy, digital inclusion or technology beyond customer satisfaction within the library (Austin Public Library, n.d.-a). APL participated in the elaboration of the City of Austin Digital Inclusion Strategy 2014 (DIS) and this document provides a picture of the library’s perceived role by other city government and non-government stakeholders (City of Austin, n.d.-b). Three of DIS principles explicitly refer to the library. Regarding the principle of accessibility, the plan calls for assuring sufficient bandwidth and speed as well as staffing to public multi-user environments such as libraries. Through the principle of public access, the plan justifies the provision of uninterrupted connectivity for which facilities such as libraries are instrumental. Finally, while discussing the inter-departmental dialogue within the city government principle, the library is recognized as a community service voice needed to fulfill the plan. The DIS also discusses libraries in its community assets section: one as an object and twice as an instrument. Access, availability and affordability require reliable transportation so non-users can reach public Internet services providers such as the library. The library is then understood as a valuable physical space to connect the population with digital resources through public-use computers. Another asset is the digital literacy training provided by non-profit agencies and educational institutions. Here, the library is included not as a training facility per se but as a purveyor of free online tools to increase “digital knowledge”.

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The DIS calls for specific actions to be taken. To connect needs with offerings, the DIS recommends the creation of an inventory and map of resources and its promotion through facilities across the city, including libraries. It also recommends the City to partner with the library and other community organizations to conduct events that foster community engagement and advocate for digital inclusion. To demonstrate the relevance of access, services such as the library’s e-books and databases should be displayed at public events as well as marketed through media and promoted by leveraging DIS partner’s own networks. Austin Public Libraries can also help identify and recruit volunteers willing to assist individuals build their digital skills as well as to target residents to understand their digital literacy needs. The DIS calls for libraries to include consumer safety in their digital literacy programming and seek grant opportunities and private sponsorships to improve their digital infrastructure and literacy training program while building collaborations with the City and other non-profit digital literacy providers. The DIS recognizes the libraries for providing digital literacy in both English and Spanish and recommends its data collection and evaluation procedures to facilitate ongoing evaluation for organizations that provide digital inclusion programming across the city. This last point came as a surprise to the authors.4 Connected Youth Centers (CYCs) are computer labs set aside for library patrons between 10 and 18 years old. Once youth turn 18 years old, they are eligible for an adult library card, which has more generous borrowing privileges. Some of these centers have a room of their own; others are only designated areas more or less marked with signage, dividers or furniture settings. Kids and non-staff adults are not allowed inside. Ten out of twenty-two locations have CYCs. The centers offer desktops and laptops equipped with Windows XP and software such as Photoshop as well as free printing. CYCs are an expansion of the Wired for Youth (WFY) program started in 1999 through a

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$500,000 award by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and $350,000 matching grant by the City of Austin. Back then ten branches received computer stations and other equipment. Additionally, new staff was hired to provide services for youth interested in learning about technology (Jayson, 1999). At the time, WFY distinguished itself from similar teen programs in other urban library systems such as Phoenix or San Antonio with one centralized location for its distributed approach (Gorman, 2002). The Dell Foundation awarded $315,000 in additional grants during the decade (Lentz et al., 2013). In 2009, Wired for Youth was transformed into the “Connected Youth Project” which put laptops in libraries and created new programs for youth with the goal of “encouraging users to sign up for a library card, use computers to do homework, build collaboration skills and exercise their creativity in these teen-only spaces” (Austin Public Library, n.d.e). The Connected Youth web page states that its activities and events encourage: “individual empowerment & leadership; collaboration & teamwork; role-modeling; diversity of interests & technologies” (Austin Public Library, n.d.-b) For the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation, to which the Dell foundation awards its grants, computers are just one part of Teen Services through which youth are “encouraged to read and discover library resources, get to know library staff, and find a place for themselves within the library” (Austin Public Library Friends Foundation, n.d.). Missing in these mission statements is gaming, the activity to which kids dedicate most of their computer time. Computing and network technologies are mainly used for communication and entertainment purposes, not for informational or educational ones, as expressed in the library’s institutional discourse about technology. Teens use the library, offline and online, as a space of peer socialization. Libraries are a respite for teens from the adult-regulated places of home and school where they can hangout. Instead of fully embracing gaming as a component of digital lit-

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eracy, technology at APL is pictured as a gateway to attract teens to other library resources. Video games such as Minecraft are then foregrounded as a way to engage youth “who might otherwise be caught in the digital divide” with technology (Austin Public Library, n.d.-e). In reality they are the main avenue of youth engagement with technology and the library.

CONCLUSION: THREADING TOGETHER MULTIPLE INTERPRETATIONS OF DIGITAL LITERACY Returning to Jenkins’ three-pronged model of literacy, we can now begin to classify each project. Manor High Tech High School, with its focus on technology’s role in facilitating projectbased learning towards STEM objectives, only addresses one element: competency building. By anchoring itself to this curriculum, Manor New Tech seems to privilege competency at the cost of empowerment. Latinitas, on the other hand, focuses on empowerment through media literacy while promoting production skills acquisition as a path for participants to re-articulate their own identities and senses of the world. However, Latinitas certainly does not offer instruction in core areas that students need to move through the US educational system. Connected Youth focuses almost exclusively on building capacities by desensitizing participants to the difficulty of using computers. From the perspective of comparative case study research (c.f. Yin, 2003), then, these projects seem to be so different that there is no justification for comparison. At first glance the three projects corroborate this perspective by offering a chaotic view of the ways digital literacy has been operationalized by training initiatives in Austin and surrounding areas. However, the disparities between projects

might become productive if coordinated together. Each of them reflects one of Jenkins’ taxonomy: Manor New Tech focuses on competency; Latinitas focuses on empowerment; and Connected Youth focuses on capacity building in computer usage. Funding streams for each project reflect the differences in how digital literacy is defined. Manor New Tech receives largely federal funding; Latinitas draws on NGO and foundation support; and Connected Youth has a longstanding financial arrangement with the Dell Foundation. Returning to the notion of local communication ecologies, Austin’s policy-makers might look at these disparate yet potentially complimentary projects as part of a larger process of strengthening the area’s capacity to build digital literacy for individuals with less resources to build these capacities on their own.

REFERENCES Austin Public Library. (n.d.-a). Austin Public Library 2011-2013 strategic plan. Retrieved from http://www.austinlibrary.com/downloads/ apl_strategic_plan.pdf Austin Public Library. (n.d.-b). Connected youth. Retrieved from http://library.austintexas.gov/ connected-youth Austin Public Library. (n.d.-c). Events. Retrieved from http://library.austintexas.gov/events Austin Public Library. (n.d.-d). Fact sheet. Retrieved from http://library.austintexas.gov/basicpage/fact-sheet Austin Public Library. (n.d.-e). Library connects teens with technology through video games. Retrieved from http://library.austintexas.gov/es/ press-release/library-connects-teens-technologythrough-video-games-47499

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Bal, A., Nolan, J., & Suko, Y. (2014). Mélange of making: Bringing children’s informal learning cultures into the classroom. In M. Ratto & M. Boler (Eds.), DIY citizenship: Critical making and social media (pp. 210–214). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Ball-Rokeach, S.J., Kim, Y.C., & Matei, S. (2001). Storytelling neighborhood: Paths to belonging in diverse urban environments. Communication Research. 28(4), 392-428. doi: .10.1177/009365001028004003 Becker, S., Crandall, M. D., Fisher, K. E., Kinney, B., Landry, C., & Rocha, A. (2010). Opportunity for all: How the American public benefits from Internet access at US Libraries. Institute of Museum and Library Services. Buckingham, D. (2013). Media education: Literacy, learning, and contemporary culture. London: Wiley and Sons. Digital Inclusion Strategy 2014. (n.d.). City of Austin. Retrieved from http://austintexas.gov/ sites/default/files/files/Telecommunications/ Digital _Inclusion_Strategy_ADOPTED.pdf City of Austin information technology annual report 2012. (n.d.-a). City of Austin. Retrieved from http://www.austintexas.gov//sites/default/ files/files/Information_Technology/COA-ITAnnual-Report-2012.pdf Congressional Committee on Education and the Workforce. (1997, January 29). Education at the crossroads: What works? What is wasted? [Public hearing]. Retrieved from http://aufdenspring.com/ conghear.html Cunningham, C. (2009). Technological learning after school: A study of the communication dimensions of technological literacy in three informal education programs for female and minority youth [PhD Dissertation]. University of Texas-Austin.

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Hobbs, R. (2013). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and the classroom. New York: McFarlane. Jayson, S. (1999, September 16). Dell gift to library will click with kids: $500,000 donation to add. Austin American-Statesman, B1. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press. Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Cambridge: MIT Press. Latinitas home page. (2014). Latinitas. Retrieved from http://www.latinitas.com Lee, S., Florida, R., & Acs, Z. (2004). Creativity and entrepreneurship: A regional analysis of new firm formation. Regional Studies, 38(4), 879–891. doi:10.1080/0034340042000280910 Lentz, R. G., Straubhaar, J., Dixon, L., Graber, D., Spence, J., Lethalien, B., & Lapastina, A. (2012). Structuring access: The role of Austin Public Access Centers in digital inclusion. In J. D. Straubhaar, J. Spence, Z. Tufekci, & R. G. Lentz (Eds.), Inequity in the technopolis: Race, class, gender, and the digital divide in Austin. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Project-based learning: Success start to finish. (2014). Edutopia Schools That Work. http:// www.edutopia.org/stw-project-based-learningbest- practices Straubhaar, J., Spence, J., Tufecki, Z., & Lentz, R. (2013). Inequity in the technopolis: Race, class, and the digital divide in Austin, Texas. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. (2013, May 9). Remarks by the President at Manor New Technology High School. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/2013/05/09/remarks-president-manornew-technology-high-school Warschaeur, M. (2004). Technology and social inclusion: Rethinking the digital divide. Cambridge: MIT Press. Yin, R. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Zipkes, S. (2014, November 1). Think forward teaching institute opens new classes for 2014 [Press release].

ADDITIONAL READING

Lewis, J., & Jhally, S. (1998). The struggle over media literacy. Journal of Communication, 48(1), 3–16.

Beaton, B. (2004). The K-Net story: Community ICT development work. The Journal of Community Informatics, 1(1). www.joci.org

Manor New Tech High School. (2014). About us. Retrieved from http://mnths.manorisd.net

Hargattai, E. (2004). The second-level digital divide: Differences in people’s online skills. First Monday, 4(7). http://firstmonday.org/article/ view/942/864

Markusen, A. (2006). Urban development and the politics of a creative class: Evidence from the study of artists. Environment & Planning A, 38(1), 1921–1940. doi:10.1068/a38179

Lin, R. (1998). Case study research: Evaluative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

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Schuler, D. (2010). New community networks: Wired for change. New York: ACM Press.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Community Informatics: An approach to the use and adoption of information and communication technologies in daily life that emphasizes local information needs and practices to support the social, economic and cultural developments of communities. Creative Industries: An economic sector of production and labor whose output is generated through the development of technological innovations, scientific research and creative problem solving by intensive knowledge-based professions. Digital Divide: The disparities between populations with relatively easy access to information and communication technologies and the capacities to make use of their affordances and those populations who remain underserved by such technologies or underutilize them. Digital Literacy: The ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce messages and information across a range of digital information and communication technologies in a variety of social settings. Media Education: The systematic instruction of media critical analysis and production skills through various media contents and technologies.

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Public Access: Set of policies, regulations and infrastructure to provide free access points (wired and/or wireless) to the Internet. Technopolis: A city or urban corridor with a high density of technology oriented creative industries and a strong array of public, private and public-private funded initiatives that foster their creation and growth.

ENDNOTES 1



2



3



4



The fees for its summer camps are relatively inexpensive, ranging from $100-200 per week for all day camps. They also offer scholarships for students in need of financial support for the camps. The workshops and events are typically less expensive, ranging from just a few dollars to under $50. Since the scholarship was initiated in 2009, there have been 1 to 3 recipients each year up to the present. Four other locations also offer scheduled help sessions to sync personal devices with APL’s digital services. The library administration denied requests to use existing information regarding the program’s outcomes. The authors wish to acknowledge Raquel Merlo for her support soliciting the information.

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Chapter 23

Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies in Mexico Javier Tarango Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico Celia Mireles-Cárdenas Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico

ABSTRACT The social and digital inclusion, is currently one of the main concerns of developing countries and peripheral economies (as in the case of Mexico), whereas it is mainly characterized by low levels of information literacy of the general population, causing marked differences in digital, social and employment gaps. This chapter analyzes the problems of Mexico regarding the levels of use and access to information through ICT and its position as a country in relation to others. Furthermore, two fundamental questions of national development strategies in relation to information: a) the status of the general population (which indicates that only 43.5% have internet access) and b) the issues of low generation of knowledge and reliance on information consumption abroad. Finally studies the National Development Plan, questioning whether he truly believes inclusive and if alternative proposals have been raised only in the rhetoric of government documents.

INTRODUCTION Every country seeks to create effective social and digital inclusion programs through the generation of adequate environments that allow and foster the access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly the internet and all the elements on the web, as well as through the

formation of information policies and services that measure the development of a series of information use and management competences, also they develop actions towards the improvement of information institutions such as libraries, archives and other educational and cultural institutions. These conditions are necessary to measure a significant effect on the general population, since when the

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch023

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 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

elements and conditions described above do not exist, they may exclude great majorities from accessing opportunities for a successful social, digital and labor insertion. Mexico, like all countries, has developed its own actions aimed at the reduction of any kind of gap (social, economic, technological, etc.). Although this study is focused specifically on digital aspects, it is undeniable there is a relationship with other kind of gaps and they are affected simultaneously. This study develops from the documentary review of the literature on the subject, it is attempted to create points of comparison between their approaches and their correspondence with the public policies set forth in the National Development Plan 2013-2018, issued by the Federal Government of Mexico, taking as specific references the digital and social inclusion, and also the proposals which refer to the development of competences in informational literacy, this related to the possibility of knowing real scenarios and possibilities of inclusion in different communities and sectors of the country. The main concern of Mexico’s government in relation to the observed condition in the levels of digital gap and social inclusion (especially through the actions taken in the educational sector) is avoiding the emergence of poles of dominion and oppression, creating social differences even more marked than those identified with the individuals’ social-economic level, provoking a wider underdevelopment in the quality of life, income and economic diversification (Serrano-Santoyo & Martínez-Martínez 2003). Mexico’s social disparity comes mainly from an unequal distribution of education, wealth and human development, so the digital gap is conditioned to non-uniform distribution of telecommunications, access to basic technology and social distribution of knowledge, causing high social exclusion rates. Mexico seeks competitiveness as a nation, but before it compares to a world level, it is mainly concerned by the internal conditions and those observed in other countries in Latin America,

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though characterized as an emergent economy, in several indicators (especially those related to the digital gap) it is placed below Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, being in fourth or fifth place in relation to the countries within its own geographical area and with a similar language. There are factor and conditions of which it is difficult to generate a systematic planning, such as: the geographical distribution of an important sector of the population for which it is complex to improve their conditions; the lack of recognition of regional differences; and the plurality of social and cultural characteristics; in addition to this, unequal opportunities for the population to access education, commodities and sustainable development of their life conditions. Unlike the social and economic behavior of developed countries where the conditions are uniform, Mexico has a marked unequal distribution of the benefits among its population.

PURPOSES OF THE STUDY Thus when considering the growing importance of information and knowledge in all human activities and the world, this study provides an overview about the prevailing situation in Mexico on the matter, from two general approaches: 1. The situation of the general population (without differentiating specific traits related to academic aspects) through the presentation of indicators of population behavior in relation to the use of ICTs and the global levels of digital gap and social inclusion observed in the country. 2. The role of the universities in the generation of knowledge, in the understanding that the maximum level of reduction of digital gap is to overcome the dependence on the consumption of information resources that belong to other entities, exchanging these practices for the culture of knowledge generation. It

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

would be expected that the in analysis of these kinds of populations, subjects with informational literacy levels sufficient to influence social development and innovation be being studied. Later, through the analysis of the contents of the government policies set forth in the National Development Plan 2013-2018 as the regulative document of the country’s development, several aspects were identified that refer to the achievement of an integral informational infrastructure, namely what is related to technologies, information and education to access them, with the purpose of detecting the insertion opportunities that increase the possibilities of promoting a social and digital inclusion towards a better development of the human being.

INFORMATIONAL LITERACY FOR SOCIAL AND DIGITAL INCLUSION Currently the demands and opportunities of access to knowledge are multiplied, but we are dealing with knowledge that not everybody is able to use through their own means, which causes a new form of illiteracy and social exclusion, since the so-called knowledge society requires the citizens to have the knowledge, informational and technological skills to be able to access, read, download, copy, distribute, reproduce, search or link full texts under a perspective of respecting copyright, in order to solve their daily problems. That means developing the competences established in the informational literacy. Precisely the constant changes to which modern society is subject have fostered the appearance of a set of terms that start from the traditional concept of “literacy” but adapted to the technological development to cover the current different educational needs of people, such as informational literacy, digital literacy, media literacy, multiliteracy and transliteracy, that means the ability to read, write

and interact through a variety of platforms, tools and electronic and print communication media and by means of oral expression in the press, television, radio and cinema, as well as in digital social networks (Marín-Gutiérrez, Tirado-Morueta & Hernando-Gómez, 2013; Thomas, et al., 2007). About this multitude of concepts, HernándezSalazar (2007) defines informational literacy as a systematic educational action destined to promote in individuals a set of abilities, critical thought processes and attitudes that allow them to access, evaluate and use information effectively to cover a given need. This action should promote learning to learn and generate knowledge for all life. Kurbanoglu (2013), Moore (2012) and Boekhorst (2013) encompasses the competences (abilities and values) referred to in each concept as a set of approaches, mainly determined by the information skills (define, locate, access, use, etc.), higher thinking abilities (synthesis, analysis, critical thought, etc.), the identification of the information format (print, electronic, audio, etc.), other skills and literacies (interpersonal skills, media literacy, digital literacy, etc.) and other related issues (ethical, social, political issues, etc.), in a way that implies all actions are interrelated and dependent as an integral system. Informational literacy allows people to make sense of the information-rich environments in fostering the access to the proper information, extremely fast and with the reasonable assumption they individualized and recovered everything the users need, which increases their efficient participation in the communities where they are inserted (Solimine, 2012). However, there is a difference between the student communities who are exposed to informational literacy experiences, to which they respond quickly, and those communities such as the elderly, indigenous groups and other social groups that do not have easy access to education and ICTs, which at the same time creates the possibility for informational literacy to widen the existing learning gaps. Therefore, informational literacy, being a

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 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

global, social and educational process requires the joint participation of different social, government, educational and research institutions, organisms and entities, and the involvement of political, social and professional stakeholders such as librarians, educators, economists, information technologists, in a way that allows for the creation of a balanced vision about the impact of informational literacy on each sector and to establish a good communication with the consulting and government groups in charge of promoting and setting forth the policies that outline the actions of every government (Lau & Cortés, 2006). Informational literacy is considered as a key educational competence for the 21st century, where libraries (especially public ones), but above all the basic educational systems play an important role for the conformation of a true information and knowledge society (García-Gómez, 2014), especially in countries such as Mexico where they represent an opportunity to help reducing the gaps and to foster the social inclusion of traditionally excluded societies such as handicapped people, gender segregation, indigenous communities, migrants, the elderly and in special cases the youth that is excluded from school and work opportunities. In is undeniable that the new ways of knowledge generation, use and distribution present in contemporary times have changed in the ways of interaction between individuals that intervene in different social groups and their interaction with the environment, creating great opportunities for improvement, but also great areas of social, cultural and digital exclusion, which implies ethical, social and economic questions about their real impact, since the generation of wealth starting from production systems based on a highly qualified intellectual work, requires the members of the community (Olivé, 2008): •

388

To have the capacity of appropriating the available knowledge and the knowledge generated in different contexts.

• •

To take advantage of the universal knowledge produced historically, including the scientific and technological knowledge. To generate knowledge whose characteristics are related to a personal demand in order to understand and face their own problems (educational, economic, health, social, etc.), with the capacity to offer solutions.

It is necessary to emphasize the creation of conditions that guarantee the educational development of people, in a way that allows them to take advantage of the already existing knowledge, as well as to generate new knowledge to realize their life plans and to solve the problems they face, that is, to boost the capacity of distributing, using, appropriating, and generating knowledge for a better understanding of social problems, propose a solution and act accordingly. The types of knowledge expressed in the knowledge society may be classified in four categories: knowing what, knowing why, knowing how and knowing whom. Fostering an informational environment that allows the access to technologies, the internet, libraries and other educational, cultural and informational institutions, as well as to the development of the competences required to access and use the information, is a necessary challenge in contemporary societies, since the absence of one of these factors may exclude great majorities from opportunities for a successful social and labor insertion. That is why we should elaborate and promote government policies that foster: • • •

The access to information, communication and knowledge technologies. The public availability of knowledge. The total involvement of citizens in the use of information and information technologies.

The incorporation of these three elements is interesting for eliminating the digital gap (under-

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

stood as the identification of differences produced in the access or optimal use where information and technologies are produced and disseminated) and to give room for digital inclusion (defined as the sum of policies, projects and strategies to counteract these informational and digital inequalities) (García-Gómez, 2014).

INFORMATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND INFORMATION USAGE IN MEXICO The digital gap and social inclusion may be measured by different indicators, clearly defined by the OECD (2001), such as: network infrastructure (development of infrastructure and competence in utilities); spreading to individuals and homes, schools and public institutions; education and training (vocational aspects as well as contributions to cultural development); spreading to businesses (electronic commerce); government projects (utilities); and multilateral cooperation (regional, national and international), all of them of a macro-social character. However, this proposal focuses its attention on brief elements that describe the country’s condition, taking as reference actions related to technology in daily activities and characteristics of the individuals, such as access to technology and internet usage, being the major concern the distribution of the population, since Mexico must respond to priorities, especially with a demographic pyramid with a high rate of people in basic education age. Part of the analysis of data presented in this study use as main source the information generated by the National Statistics and Geography Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, INEGI), official government organization that provides statistical data about the national conditions, represented globally and without comparison with other countries. Under national policies, all the information of other government entities

is concentrated by the INEGI, and the national development plans take the information generated by this institution as a base. Starting from the objectives of analysis intended in this chapter, next we present an overview of the prevailing situation in Mexico in relation to the main educational and cultural indicators, as well as access and use of ICTs. Thus, it is reported that the current population in the country is 112’336,538 people (INEGI, 2010) and by age distribution, it may be considered a young country, since approximately half of the population will be in working age during the next 20 years, so young people mainly compose it. Another indicator is that the economy has decreased in the last 30 years, giving as a result that 46.2% of the population live in poverty conditions and 10.4% in extreme poverty, a situation that represents a limitation for national development where millions of Mexicans face in their daily activities a series of factors which keep them in vicious circles of development where the opportunities for progress are scarce (Gobierno de la República, Mexico, 2013). Also the demographic bonus that the young people may represent may be lost, since according to information from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), out of 34 member countries, Mexico has the third highest percentage of youth who do not perform academic or work activities, that means they neither work nor study, only surpassed by Turkey and Israel (OCDE, 2013). Within these factors, education represents an important limitation, even in the National Development Plan 2013-2018 it is acknowledged that a lack of education is a barrier for the country’s productive development since it limits the population’s capacity to communicate efficiently, work in teams, solve problems, use information technologies effectively to adopt superior processes and technologies, as well as to understand the environment where they live and being able to innovate. It will suffice to mention that accord-

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 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

ing to official records, 38.5% is falling behind in education, that means the number of illiterate people 15 years of age or older (they do not know how to read and write), plus those who did not finish elementary education or middle-school (INEA, 2012). The data shown in table 1 represent a population percentage as per educational characteristics according to INEGI. According to scholars, in modern economies the knowledge through education has become one of the most influencing factors in the advancement and progress of people and societies, since in addition to providing knowledge in itself, education through its environments and infrastructure enriches many aspects of human life (culture, spirit, values, etc.). Education has an effect on all social aspects, from progress and well-being, to the advancement of science, technology and innovation (Narro-Robles & Moctezuma-Navarro, 2012). The scenarios proposed for Mexico are represented in table 2, which represents the cultural overview of the country according to the National Development Plan 2013-2018 through indicators related to educational and cultural spaces, mainly those destined to informal education, this means educational centers are not included. In relation to the access and use of the ICTs, the average percentage of homes with internet access of the OECD’s 35 member countries (including Mexico) was 71.6% in 2011, while in Mexico the general result represented a low indicator (30.7%) giving it the penultimate place (Table 3). On the Table 1. Population’s educational characteristics (2010) Indicator 15 YO population and older with some passed degree in basic education 19 YO population and older with some passed degree in technical or commercial studies

% 61.3 5

19 YO population and older with some passed degree in high-school

10.2

24 YO population and older with some passed degree in higher education

12

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other hand, the area of homes with equipment for information and communication technologies reports 11.1 million homes with a computer, out of which 17 percent mentioned they did not have internet access; more than half mentioned this is due to lack of economic resources and little less than the fifth part mentioned they did not need it (INEGI, 2014). In addition, the reasons why Mexican homes in general do not have a computer with internet access were analyzed, and different results were observed, the main reason was the lack of economic resources (figure 1). The diagnostic data collected by INEGI (2014), though they identify the main reasons that may lead to decision-making, offers a very broad section of vaguely defined data, which correspond to the area of “others”, in which different feasible causes may be identified. The current paradigm dominated by the access to a great amount of information, the technological advance and globalization, requires competences in the youth and in citizens of all ages where the capacity for innovation is measured, for this reason education must have a close collaboration with research and with the country’s productive life, supported by a platform that fosters the development of abilities to process information effectively and to extract what may be useful or important, as well as their application.

Table 2. Cultural overview (2013) Data Archeological zones open to the public

Numbers 187

Museums

1,205

Theaters

594

Cultural centers Concert halls Libraries in the national library network (Includes public, specialized and school libraries)

1,852 869 13,301

Bibliographic collections (millions of volumes)

76.9

Average queries registered in libraries of the National Library Network (millions)

61.1

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

Table 3. Percentage of homes with internet access in OECD’s member countries (2011) Position per Country 1. South Korea

% 97.2

Position per Country 13. Canada

% 78.4

Position per Country 25. Japan (2009)

% 67.1

2. Netherlands

93.6

14. Ireland

78.1

26. Poland

66.6

3. Iceland

92.6

15. Belgium

76.5

27. Czech Republic

66.6

4. Norway

92.2

16. France

75.9

28. Hungary

65.2

5. Luxemburg

90.6

17. Austria

75.4

29. Spain

63.9

6. Sweden

90.6

18. New Zealand (2009)

75.0

30. Italy

61.6

7. Denmark

90.1

19. European Union

73.2

31. Portugal

58.0

8. Switzerland (2010)

85.0

20. Slovenia

72.6

32. Greece

50.2

9. Finland

84.2

21. United States (2010)

71.1

33. Turkey (2010)

41.6

10. Germany

83.3

22. Estonia

70.8

34. Mexico (2013)

30.7

35. Chile (2009)

30.0

11. United Kingdom

82.7

23. Slovakia

70.8

12. Australia (2010)

78.9

24. Israel (2010)

68.1

Figure 1. Distribution of homes without internet connection: main reasons

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 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

This is reflected in the statistics, which refer to the use of ICTs in the Mexican population, which evinces a new form of exclusion, where only 6% of the general population uses it for commercial transactions, just to mention an indicator. The educational reform proposals provide for the implantation of digital education communities integrated by networks of students, professors, school officials and parents, also they intend to achieve a universal internet access in Mexico, specifically in seven areas: e-Government (taxes, proceedings, queries, etc.); e-education (interactivity in educational spaces and online training); e-Health; e-Banking; e-Commerce. All this would generate changes in training, culture and information (Narro-Robles and Moctezuma-Navarro, 2012). The challenge is huge considering the current conditions against the proposed and desired conditions. In relation to age, 43.5% of the population 6 YO or older stated they are internet users and within that group, 74.3% is younger than 35 and among others, all this according to the preliminary data of users provided by INEGI (2013) by age of the population (table 4). The mere record of internet usage in daily life is not as representative in the attempt to study the levels of digital gap as when it is also attempted to study the reasons why this kind of technological services is used. Though several different analyses focused on academic communities and not in the general population have been developed, the relationship of the individuals to the ICTs requires the differentiation of levels that go from

the access, usage, appropriation, empowering and the contributions to social innovation and human development (Romo-González, Tarango, Murguía-Jáquez & Ascencio-Baca, 2012). According to the preliminary data of INEGI (2014) in relation to the type of internet use by the Mexican population (figure 2) and making a comparison with the preceding proposals for the differentiation in levels of usage, the Mexican population in general uses internet in the level of “ICTs usage” (level two out of five) since it includes, in great percentages, the basic use of this service; low percentages of little significance have to do with “empowering” (corresponding to level four out of five) that would include actions such as internet use as a means for social change, citizen participation, reducing distance with authorities and participation in decision making, where only 1.7% uses it for banking operations and 1.3% to interact with the government. The recent results of the World Economic Forum, analyzed by Bilbao-Osorio, Dutta and Lanvin (2014), evince the behavior that Mexico has followed in the world and in particular from the perspective of the levels of Latin-American countries, where it is explained that after a couple of years with important improvements in the ranking, Mexico does not manage to consolidate its indicators and it falls down 16 places in the world level, to reach position 79. Despite some advancements in the extension and improvement in the ICTs infrastructure (position 81) and social inclusion in relation to technologies (position

Table 4. Mexico’s internet users by age groups (2013) Age Groups

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Absolute

Percentage

Age Groups

Absolute

Percentage

6 to 11

5’393,665

11.7

35 to 44

6’070,250

13.2

12 to 17

10’876,958

23.6

45 to 54

3’750,549

8.1

18 to 24

9’622,940

20.9

55 and older

1’987,351

4.3

25 to 34

8’324,737

18.1

Total: 46’026,450 people: 43.5%

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

Figure 2. Internet users by type of usage (2013)

89), this has not been enough to catch up to the progresses in relation to other economies, so Mexico does not manage to converge digitally with the most advanced countries. The cost of access to ICTs infrastructure is still high (position 93) and the quality of its educational system (position 119) is still a big problem to give the country the necessary abilities for a change and a more digital economy. All the above is translated to low levels in the usage of ICTs by the society in general and of companies (despite the government efforts to offer better online services), low levels of innovation, low productivity and low capacity to face work positions that demand enough knowledge. The recommendations of international organisms are that Mexico demands the development of a wide digital agenda and faces the weaknesses of the innovation system, which would greatly help to solve some persistent problems.

In order to understand better the general conditions that Mexico is experiencing in relation to the marked levels of digital gap and social exclusion in major sectors of the population, in Table 5 a summary of the main indicators related or that indirectly influence this phenomenon is presented, considering that the country has more than 112 million inhabitants. Even in some indicators, to better understand the dimension of the condition, the data are complemented with data from other countries (INEGI, 2010; SCT, 2011). Mexico’s efforts to improve its conditions in relation to the technologies incorporated to the daily life foster, first, the need to cover the marked differences within the country, and second, to generate strategies for an international competitiveness, in such a way that the indicators reflect an image similar to or higher ranked than countries with a similar social-economic condition.

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 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

Table 5. Mexico’s main indicators related to digital gap and social inclusion Indicator

Characteristics

Geographical areas according to social-economic conditions

It is divided in three regions: North (62% of the national territory, 26% of the population, 30% of the GDP and traditional illiteracy rate of 5.7%); Center (18% of the national territory, 58% of the population, 60% of the GDP and traditional illiteracy rate of 9.3%; Southeast (20% of the national territory, 16% of the population, 10% of GDP and traditional illiteracy rate of 18.3%).

Number of telephone lines for every 100 inhabitants

11.2, with high variability by region, the results favor urban areas, rural areas have lower indicators (almost null in towns with populations under a thousand).

Infrastructure of networks for data access and transmission

86 thousand kilometers, that amounts to 10% of a developed country such as France or England.

Access to information technologies by number of homes

43.3% of the population are computer users and 39.8% are internet users (both figures approximate for 2011)

Homes with a computer

32.2% (data for 2012)

Telephone and television at home

83.6% with telephone service; open access television 94.9%; pay television 32.2%

Population that interacts with the government through technology

Only 1.2% of the Mexican population develop interactions using technology for queries and payment of government services (OECD average: 39%)

ICTs development index

Mexico’s global rank: 79 (data from 2011)

PRESENCE OF KNOWLEDGE GENERATION PROCESSES IN MEXICO Though the digital gap is usually directly related to the availability, access and usage of technology, there is also a need to measure aspects related to the appropriation of ICTs, which has been called appropriation digital gap, defined by Ramírez-Martinell, Morales-Rodríguez and Olguín-Aguilar (2013) as that which evaluates a sector of over-informed users with access to different media and usage of ICTs for academic, social and civil purposes. Also authors such as Tello (2007) claim that within the digital gap there is a cognitive gap, which at the same time has an important relation with the new forms of social structuration based on knowledge, with an emphasis on the importance of its transmission and transference, but also its generation. Individuals and organizations in the knowledge society demand the need to manage information, the challenge is its transformation in knowledge; technology is only a means that does not entirely work while in the society there are no individuals who are capable of accessing,

394

evaluating and transforming the information into knowledge, obtaining tangible benefits with it. The justification of addressing different aspects related to the generation of knowledge in relation to the digital gap, analyzing conditions of scientific production of teachers and researchers, is that they are stakeholders that influence major population groups fostering the reduction of the dependence on the use of information from other countries and they generate the capacity to acquire and spread knowledge and information for social development (CONAPO, 2005). In order to attain such conditions, it is necessary the expression through creation in publications of a strict, highly-visible peer-reviewed journals. The higher-level educational sectors should be considered competitive in as much their main stakeholders (teachers and researchers) have a high level of informational literacy, being able of producing scientific publications derived from research processes. Then, according to the objectives established at the beginning of this study, first it was established the concern of analyzing the condition observed by the general population of Mexico about the main indicators related to the digital gap and social inclu-

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

sion levels; and second, to contemplate a similar analysis, but reduced to specific populations in Mexican universities, whose main characteristic is the high academic development they experience and which gives them a position of privilege over the general population of the country. It is true that the first group of analysis offers greater challenges because it spans big groups of people with a marked diversity of social, economic and cultural characteristics, considering for it the basic education system as the formal means that may contribute systematically to improve the observed conditions. About the second focus of analysis, it may be expected that the population of professors in Mexican universities lack any kind of digital and informational competence gap, but above all that they are at the level of competence of informational literacy that allows at the same time the development of their students and especially the individual and collective capacity to generate knowledge, since this would be one of the most feasible ways of measurement through different indicators. In order to study the conditions observed in Mexico in the matter of the capacity for the generation of knowledge in Mexican universities in general, several aspects of the registered behavior are studied, first through different indicators provided by the government authorities themselves, and second through data obtained in scientific observatories about Mexico’s scientific production in two dimensions: by state of the country and by kind of university. According to the government data in relation to innovation and science and technology, Mexico is still falling behind in the global knowledge market as shown by the following data: only 7.6% of patents granted in the country are requested by Mexicans, which places the country in position 72 out of 145 countries in the Knowledge Economic Index of the World Bank Institute; the country’s contribution to the world production of knowledge is less than 1% out of the total; and

Mexican researchers for every 1,000 members of the economically active population represent about the tenth part of what is observed in more advanced countries and the number of doctoral graduates per million inhabitants (Gobierno de la República, Mexico, 2013). Table 6 includes some of the main indicators in science and technology of Mexico (INEGI, 2010). According to a study developed by LópezCarrasco (2013) through a project financed by the National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT) in relation to the scientific production generated in Mexico (2008-2011), where there is a comparison between the different states of the country, it was observed as first indicator that there is not an equitable distribution in each of the states, while some of them show greater accumulation others have very low indexes. This study was developed from the collection and analysis of data provided by a platform by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, 2013), developed through a Comparative Study of Mexican Universities (ECUM), project that systematizes, measures and compares the performance of 2,800 public and private Mexican entities (composed mainly of universities and research centers). Table 6. Science and technology indicators in Mexico (numbers 2010) Indicator

Number

Applications for patents in Mexico

14, 576

Patents granted in Mexico

9, 399

Human resources in science and technology (thousands of people)

10,118.8

Population that is occupied in science and technology activities (thousands of people)

5,893.8

Rate of economically active population that Works in science and technology activities

13.3%

Bachelor degree graduates

334,651

Doctoral program graduates

2,927

Members of the National Researchers System (SNI)

16,600

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 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

In order to analyze the scientific and technological competitiveness of Mexico the ECUM’s information was used, adding the data of the universities by state, assuming a simplified theoretical model that considers the scientific and technological competitiveness as an additive linear function of productivity, quality and innovation, obviously also in the scientific and technological areas, that is: Scientific and technological competitiveness = f (Productivity + Quality + Innovation). Such theoretical model is derived from the concept proposed by Palacios-Blanco and VargasChanes (2009) about organizational competitiveness, which says that the competitiveness of any organization is integrated and supported by three elements that are necessary conditions: produc-

tivity, quality and innovation, being the main specific indicators: number of articles published in peer-reviewed and indexed journals, levels of international collaboration in the development of publications, amount of scientific publications generated, citations by authors, number of researchers with national and international recognition, professors’ academic degrees certifications, applications for patents and patents approved, as well as the quality of the graduate programs according to their levels of accreditation (figure 3). The application of the model gave as a result inconsistence in the distribution of scientific production and generation of knowledge, with a high concentration in few states and low distribution in most of them. This also allowed to infer two

Figure 3. Scientific and educational competitiveness by state (yearly average 2008-2011)

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important aspects: first, the states that have a better economic development are not necessarily those with higher indexes of scientific production; and second, when considering that knowledge generation is proof of the levels of informational literacy, reduction of digital gap and social inclusion, then, from the observation of the number of professors and researchers with information competence levels, there are few highly competitive states and there are many with a low competitiveness. To assert the preceding results, the study presents an analysis of the general results for scientific and educational competitiveness, measuring data with the purpose of equaling all the states of Mexico, with the intention of identifying which are

above and below their own averages, observing a high accumulation of scientific production in only four (12.5%) out of the 32 states, 12 (37.5%) out of the total are above the average and 20 (62.5%) are below this indicator (figure 4). Using the same source of information, the ECUM scientific observatory described above, an alternative analysis was developed, related to the behavior in scientific production and generation of knowledge, this time taking as element of analysis the kind of university, since in Mexico there are identified nine groups of institutions of higher education, which vary in amount of institutions and their size.

Figure 4. Weighted scientific and educational competitiveness (yearly average 2008 – 2011)

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Higher education institutions in Mexico are divided in nine groups: federal public schools, state public schools, private schools, federal technological institutes, technological universities, state technological institutes, polytechnic universities, intercultural universities and other public universities. The history of each group is varied, the oldest and bigger are the federal public schools, the most recent institutions are the polytechnic and intercultural universities. According to the average data collected in 2007-2011, the nine groups of universities attended 2’799,512 students in higher education through 290,932 teachers (in average 12.11 students by teacher). The analysis of the main indicators described next are in relation to the teaching bodies, which have a strong influence in the student formation and whose professional development demands a high level of informational competence and a capacity for the generation of knowledge, as well as a low or nonexistent digital gap. The main indicators evaluated through averages in 2007-2011 are (Hernández-Gutiérrez, 2015): •

•

•

Articles published in ISI. According to the results of table 7, the greater concentration of articles published in ISI is located in federal public universities and state public universities, and the results of the rest

of the groups are low or nonexistent. In the case of private universities (that in general are approximately 1800), there is some production in some institutions, however, due to the amount of institutions, when obtaining averages the results become negligible. This indicator keeps consistence in relation to publications in other indexes such as SCOPUS, Latindex and other national databases of peer-reviewed publications. Professors with recognition as national researchers. In Mexico, the highest government entity that recognizes teachers in their category of national researchers is the National Researchers System (SNI), which grants designations considering the scientific production levels and the generation of high quality knowledge. The results of table 8 show that federal public universities and state public universities are the only two groups with significant records for this indicator. Professors with national recognition for their academic quality. A measure implemented by the Mexican government to improve the quality of the body of professors is the teacher’s evaluation through the Professors’ Improvement Program (PROMEP), which, unlike the SNI pre-

Table 7. Average of article production in ISI, 2007-2011 Kind of University

Year 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Federal public universities

439

498

526

535

589

State public universities

62

74

85

94

107

Public technological universities

0

0

0

0

0

Polytechnic universities

0

1

0

1

1

Intercultural public universities

0

0

0

0

0

Federal public technological institutes

1

2

2

2

3

State public technological institutes

0

0

0

0

0

Other public universities

2

5

6

6

7

Private universities

0

0

0

0

0

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 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

Table 8. Average of professors with recognition as national researchers, 2007-2011 Kind of University

Year 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Federal public universities

606

644

663

681

711

State public universities

103

117

129

142

156

0

0

0

0

0

Public technological universities Polytechnic universities

1

2

2

2

2

Intercultural public universities

0

0

1

0

1

Federal public technological institutes

2

2

2

2

3

State public technological institutes

0

0

0

0

0

Other public universities

3

4

4

6

6

Private universities

0

0

0

0

0

•

sented above, is exclusive of the public higher education institutions and it is practically mandatory. This indicator, with data in table 9, shows again the unequal distribution of averages by kind of university in professors registered with this recognition. Accredited academic programs. This indicator records the quality of the academic programs that have experienced evaluation processes for accreditation purposes, specifically applicable only to Mexican public universities through a peer evaluation system. The results shown in table 10 have the record of important results in federal public universities and state public univer-

sities, these last show leadership overall the other groups of universities, both in the amount of accredited programs, as in the longitudinal progress.

POLICIES OF THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT FOR THE SOCIAL AND DIGITAL INCLUSION Information and knowledge society requires of government and information policies that support the incorporation of citizens to the educational, cultural and work processes they require. In the case of government policies that refer to social

Table 9. Average of professors with national recognition for their academic quality, 2007-2011 Kind of University

Year 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Federal public universities

53

22

55

48

49

State public universities

83

56

72

72

79

Public technological universities

3

0

3

3

4

Polytechnic universities

2

0

2

3

3

Intercultural public universities

0

0

0

1

2

Federal public technological institutes

1

0

1

2

2

State public technological institutes

0

0

0

0

0

Other public universities

5

0

5

4

5

399

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

Table 10. Average of accredited academic programs, 2007-2011 Kind of University

Year 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Federal public universities

0

15

16

16

17

State public universities

0

46

49

51

54

Public technological universities

1

3

4

5

5

Polytechnic universities

0

0

0

1

1

Intercultural public universities

0

0

0

0

0

Federal public technological institutes

0

1

1

1

1

State public technological institutes

0

0

0

0

0

Other public universities

0

2

2

2

2

and digital inclusion, it is desirable that the informational literacy is present as a strategy to foster systems in knowledge use, generation and application in the benefit of the understanding and solution of social problems. When a government announces a policy, what it does is establishing an ordered and coherent set of backgrounds, values, general criteria, intentions and objectives, expressed in short-term and middle term norms. Also in terms of procedural and operational measures that guide the more immediate government decisions and lines of action in a determined area of the social life and of a sector that is considered a priority. It should be considered that a policy is an agreement that contains the definitions and orientation lines for decision making and the development of present and future actions, in a way that they allow to create conditions for community members to participate in the social, cultural and democratic life, which benefits the citizens because they have a common instrument that provides support and guides their action in social topics (SánchezVandercast, 2012). In the Mexican environment, the government policies have as a main referent the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, in article 3º it establishes the right of every individual to receive education, which is given freely by the

400

State in the levels of pre-school, elementary school and middle-school, which are mandatory along with high-school. Later in article 6 º, it is if every person has the right of free access to plural and timely information, as well as to search, receive and disseminate information and ideas of any kind by any means of expression. The State will guarantee the access to information and communication technologies, as well as to the radio and telecommunication services, including broadband and internet (Congreso de la Unión, Mexico, 2014). To comply it establishes regulations for the backup and access to public information, it also defines the following on the subject of radio and telecommunications: •

•

That the State will guarantee to the population their integration to the information and knowledge society, through a universal digital inclusion policy with yearly and sexennial goals. That telecommunications are public services of general interests, therefore the State will guarantee they are rendered in conditions of competence, quality, plurality, universal coverage, interconnection, convergence, continuity, free access and without arbitrary interferences.

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

Based on these articles and coming from social consulting, the National Development Plan 20132018 that is presented by the current government, starts from the recognition that economic growth in the last decades has not been enough to raise the conditions of living of all Mexicans and to reduce consistently the poverty levels and it sets forth as a general objective: To take Mexico to its fullest potential, considering the attention of five national goals and three transversal strategies, followed by expressed actions of the Mexican government, each goal identifies the aspects where explicitly is referred the usage of information, the education in and the usage of information technologies as a means to resolve and reduce the gaps in the use of information, technologies and social inequalities and to insert the country in the information and knowledge society. These are (Gobierno de la República, Mexico, 2013): •

A peaceful Mexico. With this, it seeks to strengthen institutions through dialogue and the construction of agreements with political and social stakeholders, as well as the formation of citizenship among other aspects.

The strategies proposed in this area refer to the use of communication media to contribute to eliminate social discrimination and confrontation, as well as to foster social and work inclusion, indigenous communities and the right and equality of handicapped people in the society. It is considered that in order to perform this strategy, there are two objectives: to strengthen scientific research and development making use of information and communication technologies, as well as to disseminate the government public information following the principles of legality, judicial certainty and respect for human rights. The recognition of the relationship between technologies, research and public information is important in the attempt to incorporate marginalized social sectors.

•

An inclusive Mexico. It refers among other issues to the guarantee of social rights with the purpose of contacting the human capital with the opportunities generated by economy, to reduce the inequality gaps and to promote social participation in public policies as a cohesion and citizenship factor.

In this goal, it is proposed to focus the State’s action on guaranteeing the exercise of social rights and to close the social inequality gaps that still divide Mexican society. For this, the plan of action is to integrate a society with equity, social cohesion and equal opportunities; it sets forth the strategy of fostering the inter-institutional strategic planning process and the implantation of a corresponding information and evaluation process (with a specific direct application in the Health System). It also considers pertinent to acknowledge the importance of information in social integration processes. •

A Mexico with quality education. It proposes to guarantee an integral development and prepared human capital. It seeks starting with the promotion of policies to increase the quality of education and to close the gap between what is taught at school with the intention that the population has the tools and abilities that the world of today demands to develop their learning throughout their lives. In addition, this line seeks to stimulate a greater and more effective investment on science and technology that feeds the development of the national human capital, as well as our capacity to generate products and services with a high benefit.

It establishes that it is fundamental that the nation directs its efforts to move into a knowledge society. This is the key concept in which this

401

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

goal refers the main elements to achieve it, such as the promotion of science and technology, the dissemination of culture and the development of abilities required to be successful given the contemporary abundance of easy access information, partially thanks to the internet, which requires that the citizens are in conditions of managing and interpreting that information. It proposes as a plan of action: to articulate education, science and technological development to achieve a more just and prosperous society. It refers that quality education will be the base to guarantee the right of all Mexicans to raise their level of life and to contribute to national progress through the development of their skills, knowledge and innovative capacity and fostering civic and ethical values that allow for the construction of a responsible citizenship that is solidary with their communities. In order to achieve it is necessary to make knowledge an asset that serves as leverage to achieve the individual and collective progress, that allows to drive the country to a new stage of development based on a more inclusive economy and society as well as locating culture as a basic service to extend their access as a means for the citizens’ integral formation. The above requires as a strategy: the promotion of permanent training of teachers to improve the understanding of the educational model, the pedagogical practices and the management of information technologies for educational purposes; to foster from elementary education the knowledge, abilities and skills that stimulate scientific and technological research and innovation. It is also pertinent to promote the incorporation of the new information and communication technologies in the teaching learning process. Some lines of action specify the development of a national policy of educational information technology, focused on students developing their abilities for learning to learn through the use of ICTs; to improve on the furbishing of computer equipment and to guarantee the connectivity in educational campuses; to intensify the use of

402

technological innovation tools at all levels of the educational system. Another strategic objective that would allow the inclusion and equity in the educational system, the opportunities of access to education should be extended in all the regions and sectors of the population, in addition to improving the infrastructure, equipment and the conditions of accessibility to the facilities to favor the attention of handicapped youth. Other strategy proposed is locating culture among the basic services given to the population as a form of favoring social cohesion and the lines of action in this section include the culture as a component of the social prevention actions and strategies, as well as a national program to promote reading. Among the strategies related to approaching the ICTs, it is proposed to facilitate the universal access to culture through the use of information and communication technologies and the establishment of a digital cultural agenda within the framework of the National Digital Strategy, referring as lines of action the definition of a policy for national digitalization, digital preservation and online accessibility of Mexico’s cultural heritage, as well as the usage of the technological systems and devices in the dissemination of art and culture; stimulate creativity in the field of technological applications and developments based on digitalization, presentation and communication of cultural heritage and artistic expressions, especially for children and the youth; stimulate the creation of projects related to science, technology and art that offer contents for new platforms; furnish the country’s cultural infrastructure with spaces and means of public access to information and communication technologies. In the transversal approach, it is considered pertinent to democratize productivity. The lines of action are centered in extending and improving collaboration and coordination between all the instances of the government, to take technical and higher education in different modalities to locations without this kind of educational of-

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

fer and to geographical areas of high and very high marginalization; to design and to promote, along with the different levels of government and civil society, the start of activities directed to the creation and strengthening of the proper technological infrastructure for learning through digital platforms; to foster the acquisition of basic abilities, including the use of other languages, in order to incorporate to a competitive work market at the global level and to foster the certification of work competences. •

A prosperous Mexico. It promotes the constant growth of productivity starting with a climate of economic stability and through the generation of equal opportunities. It seeks to provide favorable conditions such as a proper infrastructure and the access to strategic supplies that foster competition and allow for greater cash and knowledge glows towards individuals and companies with the greater potential to take advantage of it.

It mentions that telecommunications have become a strategic asset to compete in the modern economy. The access to telecommunication services at a competitive price and with satisfactory quality is nowadays a requisite for individuals and companies to be competitive and to take advantage of the potential of the new information and communication technologies. Therefore, the plans of action to achieve this are: quality in the service and contents in a way that we count with faster, more reliable and diverse services. The telecommunications reform establishes the right to the free access to plural, timely information, as well as to search, to receive and to disseminate information and ideas of every kind by any means of expression. The use of new information technologies and an integral improvement to regulations in order to simplify the proceedings undertaken by individuals and companies will boost economic growth.

It is set forth as an objective to democratize the access to telecommunication services and it is established as a strategy to promote the technological development and innovation in telecommunications to extend the coverage and accessibility to promote better services and promote competition, seeking a reduction of costs and efficiency in telecommunications. The lines of action presented are: the creation of a national network of community centers for digital training and education; the creation of a broadband program that establishes the sites to be connected every year, as well as the strategy to connect the research, education, health and government institutions that so require it, in the metropolitan areas that have sites of presence of the service of the National Broadband Promotion Network (NIBA network); to continue and to extend the National Digital Inclusion Campaign; increase internet use through the development of new optic fiber networks that allow the extension of the coverage throughout the national territory; promote the public-private participation in the deployment, development and efficient use of the country’s connectivity infrastructure. In order to give response to the proposals mentioned above, strategic lines of action are proposed, such as the design and implementation of an information, follow-up, evaluation and dissemination system of the impact of entrepreneurs and micro, small and middle-sized companies. In the transversal approach (A prosperous Mexico), it is established as a strategy to promote the digital economy and to foster the development of abilities in the use of information and communication technologies, with the intention of taking advantage of the opportunities of the globalized world. •

A Mexico with global responsibility. It seeks to strengthen the country’s international presence and to achieve a positive and proactive positioning in the world based on the incorporation of the national reality and internal priorities in the benefit of the great global causes.

403

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

It acknowledges that international economy has developed an unprecedented level of integration: in the 21st century, no country is isolated from the effects of economic events that happen in other systemic crises such as the one unleashed in 2008 in the financial environment, to expand later with severe consequences to other economic sectors in the whole world. All this came along with a deep scientific and technological revolution that progresses fast, multiplying exponentially the capacity to process information, as well as the contacts and exchanges through means of communication and transport. From these goals, projects and programs have been implemented, such as the project México Conectado (Coordinación de la Sociedad de la Información y el Conocimiento (2012), whose objective is contributing to guaranteeing the constitutional right of access to the service of broadband internet, starting on the deployment of telecommunication networks that provide connectivity in the sites and public spaces such as schools, health centers, libraries, community centers or parks, in the three levels of government: federal, state and municipal. Among the benefits of the project is the reduction of the digital gap to avoid an increase in the social inequalities in our country. On the other hand, the Secretary of Public Education promotes campaigns where they foster the participation of the youth in the teaching of electronic devices to undertake government proceedings. Another aspect to consider in the analysis of proposals are those generated from the recent educational reforms implemented in Mexico, which caused a new General Law on Education applied at the national level (Congreso de la Unión, Mexico, 2013), however, its influence seems not to be generalized in all the educational levels, since although its content is public and of social interests, it covers all educational levels except universities (higher education). The concept of the citizen formed through the educational processes, especially the elementary education, indicates

404

that it will produce citizens with wide knowledge (acquire, transmit and increase culture); at the same time, it intends to create profiles related to critical subjects (development of the individual and transformation of society); also, a person aware of their environment (sense of social solidarity); and pragmatic subjects (contribution to the development of human abilities). Other substantial activities proposed by the new law are: the promotion of the culture of legality; fostering a culture of nutrition, physical education and sports as means to prevent health issues; create awareness towards environmental concerns and sustainable development, and support to students with outstanding abilities. It is interesting to observe that at no point are considered the aspects related to the inclusion of ICTs in the educational processes. Although the General Law on Education does not make provisions for the informational literacy explicitly nor for the inclusion of ICTs in the educational strategies, outside of this regulation a series of actions have been presented among which is relevant the development of reading competences through the concept called literacidad (perhaps a literal translation from English “literacy”), in which it is proposed to train teachers, especially the elementary school teachers, to teach their students to identify key ideas in the texts, reach conclusions from their reading, capacity of expressing ideas and use of ICTs to obtain information, managing to generate actions of research, problem resolution, material production, information transmission, ordering of ideas according to categories, hierarchy and relations, and also to choose relevant sources of information, the ability of discriminating relevant and reliable characteristics in information, evaluate arguments and opinions, identify information that comes from gossip through critical reading, the interpretation and ordering of ideas, data and explicit and implicit concepts in the texts; evaluate texts taking as a reference the use of previous knowledge to generate inferences and the use of new knowledge; and the presentation of assump-

 Informational Literacy as Key Element in Social and Digital Inclusion Policies

tions from cultural and natural phenomena of a context (Congreso de la Unión, México, 2008; Castillo-Rojas, 2004).

CONCLUSION The development of this chapter denote the complexity of analyzing and attending the issues of digital gap and social inclusion in countries from emergent economies such as Mexico, since while it may be considered that the solution starts with the access to the ICTs, it is observed that there are specific and complex needs related to their effective use, where in addition to access, it is necessary to generate the necessary elements in relation to connectivity, education and culture in the use of information. The intention of this study is not related to the need of evincing the needs that Mexico may experience in the manifested levels through different indicators, but to present the dimension of the problem with aims at defining concrete strategies, however, it is observed that in addition to the National Development Plan 2012 – 2018 as ruling document, it is an expression of good intentions respect of the government’s vision in relation to the national growth and the excess of alternative initiatives (laws, regulations, programs, etc.) that do not evince the true measurement of the impact on the growth of its indicators. This kind of document offers different alternatives that may even be expressed in different proposals. The information professionals in particular are worried about the non-inclusion of library and information services through the different proposals, sometimes only mentioned through statistical charts about the current reality, they are even considered only as public sites where it is projected to incorporate internet access. This situation is also a concern in the case of the initiatives proposed by different educational levels, such as the case of the basic level (elementary

and middle-school) and higher education, since they do not offer systematic ways to help solve the problem, leaving aside other educational levels that have not been considered at any time. The national education system is acknowledged as the most viable medium for the implementation of initiatives that reduce the digital gap and improve social inclusion, if they start from formal and inclusive public policies for all academic levels. These activities should not only take the students as main stakeholders, but also the teachers, who as it may be observed, in particular in higher education, present indicators that cannot determine whether they are favorable, but cannot necessarily show a constant distribution among all the entities that compose the country’s educational apparatus. To articulate education, science and technological development in order to achieve a more just and prosperous society, as well as locating culture as a basic service, are important guidelines that are highlighted in the National Development Plan 2013-2018 and that are essential for the elaboration and dissemination of quality contents, as well as to promote digitalization, digital preservation and online accessibility to Mexico’s cultural heritage and the access to public government information. Also interesting are the proposals of fostering the acquisition of basic abilities and quality accessibility to contents, which requires faster, more reliable and diverse services, a role where, again, the educational, library and cultural institutions, as well as the information professionals, should be present. The demands of the information and knowledge society require fostering the citizen commitment and responsibility, since this may not only be in the hands of the government, and we may not forget or overload the private institutions. Mexico and Latin American countries should face great challenges that affect the society in general, in a way they may be positioned at the demanding level of competitiveness required by globalization.

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Hernández-Gutiérrez, P.Z. (2015). Métrica de la producción científica en universidades públicas estatales mexicanas [Tesis]. Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. Hernández-Salazar, P. (2012). Contexto teórico de la alfabetización informativa. In Tendencias de la Alfabetización Informativa en Iberoamérica. D.F., México: CUIB/UNAM. Instituto Nacional de Educación de Adultos. INEA. (2012). Estimaciones del rezago educativo al 31 de diciembre de 2012. Retrieved from http://www.inea.gob.mx/ineanum/pdf/ rezago_2012_16abril13.pdf Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. INEGI. (2010). Cifras al 2010. Retrieved from http://www.inegi.org.mx/ Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. (2013). Cifra preliminar de abril de 2013. Retrieved from http://www3.inegi.org.mx/sistemas/ sisept/default.aspx?t=tinf214&s=est&c=19446 Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. (2014). Estadísticas a propósito del día mundial del internet (17 de mayo) datos nacionales. Retrieved from http://www.inegi.org.mx/inegi/ contenidos/espanol/prensa/ /estadisticas/2014/ internet0.pdf Kurbanoglu, S. (2013). An analysis of the concept of information literacy. Media and information literacy for Knowledge societies (pp. 78–87). Moscow: Interregional Library Cooperation Centre. Lau, J. & Cortés, J. (2006 enero-junio). Directrices para el desarrollo de habilidades informacionales: propuesta IFLA abreviada. Revista Brasileira de Biblioteconomía y Documentación, Nueva serie, 2(1): 83-104.

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López-Carrasco, M. (2013). Análisis de la producción científico-tecnológica en universidades mexicanas: comparación Estado de chihuahua y otras entidades, 2008-2011 [Tesis]. Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. Marín-Gutiérrez, I, Tirado-Morueta, R. & Hernando-Gómez, A. (2013). La competencia mediática en personas mayores. Edmetica: Revista de Educación Mediática y TIC, 2(2). Mexico. Congreso de la Unión. (2013). Ley general de educación. Retrieved from http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/reformaeducativa/assets/downloads/reforma-a-la-ley-general-de-educacion.pdf Mexico. Congreso de la Unión. Diario Oficial de la Federación. (2008). Acuerdo 444 por el que se establecen las competencias que constituyen en Marco Curricular Común en el Sistema Nacional del Bachillerato. (On line). Retrieved from http://www.cbachilleres.edu.mx/cb/comunidad/ docentes/pdf/Reforma_curricular/Acuerdos/ ACUERDOS_RIEM/Acuerdo444SNB.pdf Mexico. Gobierno de la República. (2013). Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2013-2018. Retrieved from http://pnd.gob.mx/ Moore, P. (2012). An Analysis of Information Literacy Education Worldwide [White Paper]. Retrieved from: www.nclis.gov/libinter/ infolitconf&meet/moore-fullpaper.pdf Narro-Robles, J., & Moctezuma-Navarro, D. (2012). Hacia una reforma del sistema educativo nacional. Retrieved from:http://www.planeducativonacional.unam.mx/PDF/completo.pdf OEDC. (2001). Understanding the digital divide. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/sti/1888451. pdfinformeespanol.pdf?documentId=0901e72b8 16996b6

OEDC. (2013). Panorama de la educación. Indicadores OCDE: Informe español. Retrieved from http://www.mecd.gob.es/dctm/inee/internacional/ panoramadelaeducacion2013 Olivé, L. (2008). El libro, la lectura y las bibliotecas en la sociedad del conocimiento. ONU/ CERLALC. Retrieved from http://www.cerlalc. org/Prospectiva/Leon_Olive.pdf Palacios-Blanco, J. L., & Vargas-Chanes, D. (2009). Medición efectiva de la calidad: innovaciones en México. D.F., México: Editorial Trillas. Ramírez-Martinell, A., Morales-Rodríguez, A. T., & Olguín-Aguilar, E. (2013). Brecha digital en el contexto universitario: una estrategia para su medición. Memorias del XII Congreso Nacional de Investigación Educativa. Guanajuato, México: COMIE. Romo-González, J. R., Tarango, J., MurguíaJáquez, P., & Ascencio-Baca, G. (2012). Cibercultura estudiantil en comunidades académicas de universidades públicas mexicanas. Anales de Documentación, 15(1). doi:10.6018/analesdoc.15.1.138301 Sánchez-Vandercast, E. (2002). Apuntes del taller “Políticas de información”. San Luis Potosí, México: Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Escuela de Ciencias de la Información. Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes. SCT. (2012). Agendadigital.mx. Retrieved from http:// www.sct.gob.mx/ Serrano-Santoyo, A., & Martínez-Martínez, E. (2003). La brecha digital: mitos y realidades. D.F., México: Editorial UABC. Solimine, G. (2012). El conocimiento como bien común y el papel de las bibliotecas. Anales de la Documentación, 15(1).

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Tello, E. (2007). Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) y la brecha digital: su impacto en la sociedad de México. Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento (RUSC), 4(2). Retrieved from: http://www.uoc. edu/rusc/4/2/dt/esp/tello.pdf Thomas, S., Laccetti, J. C., Mason, B., Mills, S., Perril, S., & Pullinger, K. (2007). Transliteracy: Crossing Divide. First Monday, 12(12). doi:10.5210/fm.v12i12.2060

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Digital Inclusion: Capacity of individuals and groups to access and use information and communication technologies. Information Competencies: Ability to determine whether the information is useful and appropriate to achieve interpret and communicate it to others.

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Information Literacy: Ability to know, identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use information for the issue or problem at hand. Information Usage: They are actions that allow draw upon available documents to increase knowledge, make decisions and generate new knowledge. Informational Infrastructure: It is comprised of people, processes, procedures, tools, facilities, and technology, which supports the creation, use, transport, and storage of information. Knowledge Generation: As a consequence of research, science is communicated in various document formats (scientific articles, books, book chapters, patents, etc.). Public Policy: It’s a system of courses of action, regulatory measures, laws, and funding priorities concerning a given topic promulgated by a governmental entity or its representatives. Social Exclusion: Process in which individuals or entire communities of people are systematically blocked various rights, opportunities and resources.

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Chapter 24

Digital Revolution in Latin America beyond Technologies Maria Cristina Gobbi Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho,” Brazil Francisco Machado Filho Universidade Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita Filho,” Brazil

ABSTRACT The challenge of interactive digital television (iDTV) in Latin America is to give opportunity of technological access and participation to a significant parcel of the population whose main information source is (still analog) television. The increase in connected device possession and system digitalization has been modifying consumption habits of audiovisual content. Television is still the home center, but now it divides the attention with mobile phones, smartphones, tablets and laptops, delineating a consumption that is multitasking, portable, mobile etc., but not always linked (independent devices use), there are multi-platform services and products that allow this interaction, though. Several externalities must be considered, either the different stages of digital signal development and application, or the cultural diversity, laws, technological unfolding, education, and even the economic aspects of each country. The paper aims to provide demands of how to digitally include these millions of citizens who don’t have internet access.

INTRODUCTION There is a social search for informational democratization in Latin America, but its accomplishment passes through diversified structural, social and political-cultural aspect. Technologies such as mobility, interactivity and connectivity combined with computer science and radio broadcasting are changing information consumption and production

means in the continent. However, the distribution, integration, access and assimilation processes of these technologies by the society are conditioned to several factors, such as signal coverage, network capacity, speed, devices price, technical characteristics, and others. A significant part of latin-american knowledge and evolution in communication is a result of the products that circulate through massive media

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch024

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(radio and television), directly attached to urban culture, added to cultural industry development. To understand digitization context in the region is essential to know this society by citizenship perspective, because this results are in a practical interference on what has been done, especially in communication processes, technological access and information dissemination. Between 1950 and 1970 the researches in Latin America had focus on ideological issues related to popular memory, political management, informational flow, polemics around national identity, political-cultural projects designing, appliance of hegemonic models generated by the necessity of self-identification in social values universe, producing development as a way to satisfy basic necessities, and on epistemological landmark critic and etc. Later, new cultural matrices (especially the ones related to popular culture) bring other configurations in the local and global identity formation. Sender and receiver role is reformulated, the communication is not ‘one for all’ anymore, but it is ‘all for all’, mainly after World Wide Web (www) creation by Berners-Lee, between 1989 and 1991. It is the beginning of digital culture and of new ways to democratize information and knowledge ingression. Network, connections, interactivity, access, sharing, new communication processes, new media, other forms of audiovisual products etc., are characteristics of a new paradigm, which defines cultural change lines that the region has been experiencing since then. Many overviews have been discovered in the continent along, mainly, the last decade. The communication inclusion in governmental and non-governmental organizations global agenda, the audiovisual and sound industries expansion and solidification, the universities growth, where the action focus in specific areas of communication such as journalism and publicity was increased, for transmedia spaces usually supported by digital technologies, have been expanding the necessity of putting together the actions, production centers

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and results achieved in a communication development commun axis in Latin America. In spite of its encouraging effects, social and digital inclusion still face many challenges. Considering only population and geographical dimension in Latin America it is possible to imagine the extension of the problem that need to be faced. If other variables were included, like economy, culture and laws, for example, the challenge would gain exponential proportions. Since 1970 decade, governments, researchers, research cores and others, have been making efforts, in many places in the region, regarding development policies and the necessity of including a suitable national communication policy for new demands in radio broadcasting and use of digital technologies. At the same time, a huge effort has been made by several social agents to create a dialogue among latin american countries representatives, universities, governmental agencies, research centers, content producers, media industries and non-governmental organizations aiming the creation of national and international associations of really representative communication researchers together with agencies from several operating areas, in several countries, in order to increase the access to digital technologies and reduce social and digital exclusion by making a joint effort. Brazilian Digital Television System has characteristics related to transmission and reception, like the screen format (16:9); ‘cinema’ image presentation or widescreen, making reference to television height and width; a high definition television, transmission with image resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (which demands 16:9 format) and monoprogramming/multiprogramming, that deal with the capacity of transmitting one or more channels simultaneously. Interactivity is discussed as control capacity over the content received and exchange information resources with the user. Mobility/portability focus on reception capacity in mobile devices, while multi service environment is related to supply of additional service, computer

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programs and contents by applications, understood as technologies and resources arrangement, usually operated by a software, to effectively provide something valuable or useful for the users. All these possibilities in Brazilian digital system define what can be supplied by the user point of view. However, its application requires compliance of other stages, undertaking other business models, because these ones are going to define how, in fact, all this technology is going the be implemented. Business models depend on backward channel, equipments technical conditions, ecosystem and mainly on the service financing ways by the involved agents. The financing is a fundamental issue, since the new business models need to be coherent with the current broadcast television financing models, that are under use. In some Latin American countries this support can be assumed by the users, as defined in cable television models; by sponsorship, as in broadcast television models; or by tv stations funded by the government, as in educational television models, especially in Brazil. There are many variables involved in digitization theme, and adding Latin America diversity into this, in all aspects, the challenges that need to be overcome are huge. Especially in Brazil, where the strongest commitment of digitization, funded by the governmental and civil society, is to maintain broadcast television. By tracing this wide overview, the paper aims to bring data about the information and communication digital technologies development and use in region, highlighting the current moment in Brazilian Digital Television System (SBTVD) and the actions being taken to reduce digital divide.

BRAZILIAN DIGITAL TELEVISION SYSTEM SCENARIOS Regular brazilian television transmissions started in 18th of September in 1950, preceded in a few days by Mexican transmissions, that occurred in

31st of August, 1950. In Cuba it started in 24th of October, 1950. This way, Brazilian television was the first TV in South America and the second in Latin America, declare Magnoni and Gobbi (2012). Nearly 20 years (1994) have passed since the first incursions to define a digital standard started in Brazil. Three available systems were considered: The European, with Digital Video Broadcasting system (DVB), adopted in more than fifty countries (The whole Europe and also Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore and Taiwan); The North American, with Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), adopted in U.S.A, Canada, Mexico and South Korea, and finally, the Japanese, with Integrated Digital Broadcasting System (ISDB) standard. Although Academy begun the tests on MPEG-2 standard in high definition in 1996, it was in 2003 that the existing models started to be analyzed in a joint work between academy and market. In December 2007 digital transmissions started. Based on Japanese digital signal plus the technologies developed and tested in Brazilian universities, Brazilian Terrestrial Digital TV System (SBDTV-T) was created. Decree 4901/03, as stated by Bazanini and Donato (2008), singularized European model, but directed the focus “[...] towards information democratization. (...) the aforementioned decree favored media fragmentation, making new players insertion possible” (Bazanini & Donato, 2008, p. 41). The laws highlighted system general basis and definition of digital television concept in Brazil for beyond technical issues. The decree includes political, strategy and social aspects; expanding the participation of several sectors of organized civil society, including partners, enablers, government and organized civil society as a whole. However, there were many things to be deliberated yet and political, economic and social obstacles needed more precise definitions, as it is a new communicative process. Government, telecommunication industries, organized civil society and academy did not understand each

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other, it was the opposite. In spite of being centered in the same key-words (democratization, integration, development, digital inclusion and civic awareness), some of them gave priority to some themes, others defended that it was necessary to use national technology, others that the focus should be high definition, signal quality, coverage, cost and goes on. In 2006, together with José Dirceu fall, chief of an important government department that assists the governor’s office, and the entrance of Hélio Costa, who was a former employee of the TV station Rede Globo de Televisão, as minister of communication, a significant change occurred in country’s technological-communicative scenario. Decree 5.820/06 was signed to replace decree 4.901/03, it established Japanese system as national digital television standard. In a wide range, the model chosen met radio broadcasting commercial interests, once it did not give priorities to media convergence and multi-programming, but brought substantial adequacy to high and mono definition, which were country’s interests in that time. However, this discussion cannot be naively seeing as the possibility to insert country, and even the region, in Information and Knowledge Society of digital age. The perspective of using a powerful platform, opened for improvements, free of royalties payment, with the capacity of transmitting without interference under bad weather conditions or in places with uneven relief, also motivated the system adoption. In the same way, the technology allows television signal direct reception in mobile phone and other portable and mobile devices, which are important for popularization and convergence among television, computer, mobile phone and tablet, which are nowadays the four main audiovisual screens. Knowledge and technology transference, allowing national production of platforms, softwares, products and services to advance in the construction of networks with proper topology

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for several internal realities and the development of less concentrated business models for digital communication are essential to Brazil for taking part of Information Society as material and symbolic goods producer, “[...] not as technology and finished products importer, but developing state-of-the-art technology in poorly explored scenarios” in Latin America region (Magnoni & Gobbi, 2012, p. 56) and having interactivity as one of the main resources. Development of content distribution models and interactive applications became the focus of TV stations that transmit with digital technology and define a big and important convergence area between Information Technology and digital television. Because of its Reference Model brazilian digital system is defined as a terrestrial digital television standard, in broadcasting, opened and interactive (Funttel, 2005). With a wide range of TV stations, above 10 thousand official, among generators and retransmitters, and with a population of nearly 202 millions of inhabitants, the digital signal came to all brazilian capital cities and to 56% of the population (data from the mid of 2014). 100% in Distrito Federal (midwest region), 81% and 86% in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (both southeast regions), these are the regions with the best coverage. The smallest percentage is in northeast region, Maranhão and Piauí states with 27% of the population (DTV, 2014). Feed-production chain of current brazilian digital television system is strategic and ambitious and add infrastructure, services, electronic components, human resources specialized graduation, possibilities of generating jobs because of the expansion in equipments production, such as set-top Box, computer based receiver apparatus, portable platforms, transmission equipments, antenna and technological accessories that generate direct and indirect recipes for the sector. “[…] In practice, the new ‘digital’ industry might articulate binary convergent technologies, which will allow regional development of a diversified

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IT industry, essential to geo-economic and social strengthening in Latin America” (Magnoni & Gobbi, 2012, p. 60). Aiming system adoption in other Latin American and African regions, national expectation is that the immediate potential to produce recipe is openly linked to contents production, which the demands of Latin American formats and themes might become faster with revitalization of digital television image reception in other regions. With improvement of image quality, sound, portability, interactivity, hypermedia and bigger range the digital television feed-production chain will be built by demanding of new contents developed in independent and own studios, private transmission systems or public network operators, transmission and reception structures and different audience category, significantly expanded in Latin American scenario, which will appear motivated by market growth and/or competition, fed by other rising digital means. This will increase dispute for new content types, which will demand from production complexes with huge supply capacity and good esthetic and cultural quality.

DIGITAL CHALLENGES, SOCIAL DEMANDS In Latin America development model, television has always represented an international and national integration factor. Possibilities coming from system digitization, supported by promises of access expansion, large interactive contents production and return channel, brought the hope of an effective participation of the audience in communicative processes, opening a bidirectional communication way, supplied by broadcast and broadband, where anyone can talk, produce and interact in a more effective way, in large scale, with affordable cost and in short time. Although Latin American countries have the same digital signal standard, their development

stage is not the same. Trade models, development policies, access, connectivity, laws, business models, costs, interactivity, contents production, ingress, distribution etc., are factors that mark big differences. In the same way, some countries look for resources in private enterprise or partnerships with the government. For others, there is a bigger dependence on public sector to increase infrastructure of broadband access, mobile services and network application and expansion. In Brazil, for example, the norm 001/2009 prohibits multiprogramming that can only be used by public companies. In other words, only TV Brasil, TV Senado, TV Câmara and TV Justiça can offer this option. Regarding this, and in a wide range, there is an effort to define public policies that can meet the diversity of telecommunications and radio broadcasting demands in region, which aims to assure network neutrality (in brazilian case, with approval of Civil Rights Framework for Internet Use), spectrum management policies (specially auctions) and normatives to convergence between telecommunications and radio broadcasting, creating principles so competition and entrance of small groups exist, and also ensure and protect citizens interests. Figure 1 shows digital television standards adopted in Latin America, briefly remembering main development stages and highlighting some differences. Besides the countries that were mentioned, Botswana (or Botsuana, officially Republic of Botswana, is an Austral Africa country) also chose Brazilian standard, apart from Brazil and Japan. In Brazil the switch off, foreseen to start in 2012 was postponed and one of the reasons was digital signal low coverage in the country, it might start in 2015 and will be done in scales. Pilot-switch off will occur in Rio Verde city, In Goiás state, located in midwest region. After this, in 2016, will take place in main capital cities: Brasilia (3rd of April); São Paulo (15th of May); Belo Horizonte

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Figure 1. Digital TV Standard adopted in Latin America

(26th of June); Goiânia (28th of August); and Rio de Janeiro (27th of November). In 2017, will take place in the rest of the country, final deadline is established to November. Switch off in Latin american region started last year (2013) in Mexico, and it is planned that until 2014 all countries in the region will have

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completed the transition to digital radio broadcasting. In Argentina it is predicted for 2019, and according to internet data, the country will count on 220 Argentinean Digital Television (ADT) open signals, received by citizens. Even under these advances, there are still many challenges to be overcome. One of the most

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important is that the changes announced by system digitization are not shared with majority of viewers in Latin America yet. One of the barriers is population lack of information about available resources, since system digitization, and others like interactivity social possibilities; Moving toward laws definition, for example, the delay on Ginga middleware regulation, occurred only in 2010, that determined compulsory installation of the software in television apparatus produced in the country starting from 2011, breaking up some manufacturers monopoly; definition of business models which attract and stimulate big and small producers; broadband access, price reduction of television apparatus and set-top Box (digital signal converter) and others. These issues, that seem basic, meet the process of communication democratization, digital inclusion and, as a consequence, social inclusion in the whole region. As Souza Filho (2010) states, TV receptors, for example, must be free access platforms, providing open channels signal reception and equally to receive information from other sources, such as internet, enabling web technology arrival in all citizens living-room and in an integrated way with Digital TV.

INTERACTION AND INTERACTIVITY Interaction, as a process, is an option presented since the beginning of television media, either through letters, by phone or even viewer’s choice of a program or channel, ensuring television audience. “Targeting to program’s site is more and more commun, where in chats, groups, discussion lists, blogs, twitter and all social media repertory the viewer can participate and interact with broadcast TV programming” (Santos, 2011, p. 109). On the other hand, as Becker and Zuffo (2009) state, there are several definitions for interactivity concept. Usually related to internet,

is also associated with computer science, arts, cinema and communication. “In spite of the lack of agreement about the concept, the majority of definitions points to software transmission together with audiovisual programming in order to improve communication between message sender and receiver” (Becker & Zuffo, 2009, p.47). Whatever is the definition taken, softwares applied and equipments (hardware) used to allow interactivity, the most important thing is to attract and keep viewers interest on what is available on the first screen (television), either entertainment, education or information content. Interactivity is already on new generation of television apparatus, which allow internet connection, offering access to several sites, bringing the experience of browsing in web pages into television screen. On the other side, a huge part of TV stations, that do not know exactly what to do with system interactivity, disseminate sound and image quality, or even the capacity of tune in digital signal on mobile devices (mobile phones and smartphones), called mobility, as the digital signal big possible change. This Latin American scenario in quite different from what occur in Europe, where interactivity in broadcast TV started around 10 years ago, “(…) only in England application of iDTV was kept as a potential. In the majority of other countries connected TVs have already controlled the market and broadcast diffusers do not consider the application as something affordable in terms of business” (Santos, 2011, p.111). In Brazil, with the World Cup arrival (2014) and previous World Cup (in South Africa) some communication companies, such as Rede Globo de Televisão and Grupo Bandeirantes de Televisão did some interactivity application ‘tests’. However, Brazil still faces some basic challenges. A lot of viewers, who receive digital signal, do not have Ginga in their apparatus with built-in converter. The same occur in external converters. Therefore,

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although they receive signal with high quality sound and image, interactivity applications are not available for these apparatus use. Santos (2011) claims that in the current moment there are three contradictory stages on Brazilian Digital Television System: 1. In spite of potentially having the chance of revolutionize communication technologies scenario by adding to unidirectional broadcast TV model in Brazil the possibility of effective and bidirectional interaction with viewer, iDTV depends on a pretty pragmatic evaluation in terms of market, viewer and diffusers, these last ones are still partly working with uncertainty about commercial feasibility of interactivity applications. 2. The majority of applications currently developed, as they were done in order to test Ginga and programming language used, have few interest, few appeal to the viewer, exactly because they were created by programmers instead of audiovisual content producers. 3. iDTV seems to position itself between traditional broadcast TV experience and internet customized experience. The richest application require interactivity channel to work and exactly because of this we could ask why a person who can access internet on the regular way would do it on TV, with viewing difficulties and without the most efficient computer entrance devices, like keyboard and mouse (Santos, 2011, p.113). Therefore, interactivity in Latin America is still an option for a few people. Another aggravating factor in this scenario is that there is not a public policy for all these changes which came from signal digitization yet, either on business model definition, or on cooperation among producers, radio broadcasting and programmers, determining what is Brazil real vocation for interactivity in terms of broadcast TV, and others. These themes

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are essential to expand interactive productions options in compatible scale with national and latin american market demands.

INCLUSION ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS To understand digital inclusion current stage in Latin America it is necessary to remember the discussions that preceded World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), when Kofi Annan (secretary-general of UN -United Nations) proposes to Silicon Valley the challenge of creating Information and communication systems to places and communities which do not have access. Results brought the perspective that digital inclusion was possible in global terms. Among results presented, the following can the quoted: Simputer (that means simple and computer) movement in India; Pocket PC from Microsoft, free metropolitan wireless systems; 100 dollar laptop created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT Media Lab; Linux location in languages not supported by commercial suppliers yet, and others. Afterwards, meetings in 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland, and 2005 in Tunis, Tunisia, defined and reinforced the goal of World Summit on the Information Society to promote free access on tools and technologies that allow extension of education and knowledge spreading. According to Kofi Annan (2005) Information Society must be understood as “[...] human capacities are expanded and recognized, giving people access to tools and technologies that they need, with teaching and training for efficient use of this new knowledge” (International Telecommunication Union [ITU], 2014a), he stated in a speech during the meeting in Tunis. Although full of critics due to non effective attendance of organized civil society, the group that reunited main governments and private sectors, in the stage held in Geneva, and in consonance

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with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), established a Declaration of Principles and an Action Plan to be achieved until 2015. Among the most important things in the plan are: connectivity encouragement - in villages, education institutes, scientific and research centers, public libraries, cultural centers, museums, post office stations, archives, health centers, hospitals and governmental departments; adaptation in primary and secondary schools curriculum to face information society challenges; ensure global access to ICTs, including television and radio; support to content development, and also make internet presence and use easier. In Tunis, Tunis Commitment and a common agenda were approved, and also proposals to make some modifications on the original text, for example, companies connection by ICTs, definition of measurement ways and creation of Internet Governance Forum (IGF) (ITU, 2014a). Definitions and goals of World Summit on the Information Society are global reference in search of access expansion and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), as well as provide reference rates to the evaluation of Information Society global goals. “Besides that, the goals of WSIS aimed to achieve specific targets in national level based on local characteristics, strategies and development policies” (ITU, 2014a, p. 106). Guidelines equally pointed that Information and Communication Technologies represent economic growth to nations and directly influence other important areas, such as development and access to health, education and public services, providing more agility, transparency and speed. With introduction of Internet Protocol (IP) and broadband, and with internet use expansion, convergence impacts positively point to Information and Communication Technologies global access growth, but combined with huge economic, social and cultural differences (and different countries development stages) the results draw a digital divide, as can be seen below (ITU, 2014a).

Latin American governments concern about broadband access implementation and expansion, and this perspective is related to social and economic development in the region. According to ITU data (2014a), nowadays around 20 american countries adopted broadband plans in order to support demands, goals and specific objectives of each country, such as to provide good traffic conditions, interdependence to infrastructure expansion, easy access for the population, including rural area citizens, costs reduction, to support population that have lower income, etc. These actions allowed “(…) several social, cultural and economic benefits of being ‘on-line’” for all population (ITU, 2014a, p. 106). In other words, it is necessary to give priority to public policies that are able to promote broadband structure expansion, “offering society access to internet easiness by use of networks with high speed data traffic”. However, the cost is still a decisive factor. This way “(…) resources, always scarce, are channeled only to these platforms, erroneously leaving behind the ones considered old, and which structures are completely installed”. It is necessary to review some concepts and operate interactive use of digital television as an option for everyone “[…] excluded from digital world of smartphones and tablets” (Barbosa Filho, 2013, p. 16). Without doubts, media convergence (television, internet and radio broadcasting) positively waves in all regions, but there are wide society layers that are left behind Information Society and benefits provided by digital networks. They are called “digital excluded”, who take part of a huge contingent in Latin America, forming the well known digital divide, term used by some authors, that expand the concept and make reference to difference between digitally included and excluded. Worldwide, digital exclusion is directly related to poverty and low education, which generates difficult of technologies use. This way, it is essential to treat education, culture and technological access as democracy means, able to create spaces

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of discussion, planning and formation for beyond nations public system arena, allowing a joint interest space, open to public opinion formation about issues also related to daily life. The technological gap between rich and poor people mark the difference between who has access to broadband, convergence services, etc. and who has not. This ‘digital divide’ increase the difference among countries’ population, highlighting the fact that in some regions there is a better access infrastructure. Besides that, connectivity difference among population segments, such as elderly, low income or in areas (urban versus rural), is equally important, highlighting even more the technological gap in Latin America. Figure 2 shows these statements. Although Picture 1 data make reference to other countries, this paper analysis are directed to Latin America and do not aim to compare the region with highly developed countries, such as

Europe and United States, because this would only evidence the division between big and small, rich and poor, developed and under development. Regarding Latin America there are two extremes that should be observed. The first one, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico and Argentina, all of them with between nine and fourteen fixed broadband subscription per 100 inhabitants. The other one, Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras and Haiti, with one or less than one fixed broadband subscription per 100 inhabitants. (ITU, 2014b, pp. 6-7). According to the Report data (ITU, 2014b) there are more than 164 millions of fixed broadband subscribers in America in 2013, “(…) representing rate growth of nearly 8% compared to 2012”. Brazil and Mexico reached amounts of 18,2 and 12,7 millions, respectively. If mobile broadband data are analysed, numbers are even more representatives, with an introduction of 460 millions, “(…) an increase of 22% over 2012”.

Figure 2. Fixed (wired) – broadband subscription per 100 inhabitants, America, 2012

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Brazil passed from 10% in 2010 to 36% in 2012 and “Costa Rica grew from 2% of introduction in 2010 to 14.5% in 2012” (ITU, 2014b, pp. 6-7) Low technology access is even more remarkable in mobile broadband map, as observed on Figure 3. Considering Latin America, Brazil, among Latin American countries, emerged in the first place with almost 40 active-mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Barbados, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador, in this sequence; all of them had between 22 and 36 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. All the other region countries had less than four active-mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. In the next group, between 12 and 20 subscriptions, are Antígua and Barbados, Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica and Argentina. In the further edge are Haiti, Belize and according to ITU Report (2014b) also Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Granada, Guyana,

Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines and Suriname all of them with less than one active-mobile broadband subscription. In ITU Report (2014b) it is possible to notice an expressive increase in the number of activemobile broadband subscribers, increasing two or three times between 2011 and 2012 in certain regions. Some features are Brazil that passed from 21 to 37 subscribers per 100 inhabitants; Uruguay from 22 to 32; Chile from 18 to 28; Costa Rica from 10 to 27 and Ecuador from 10 to 22 per 100 inhabitants. In Brazil, the increase can be related to the National Broadband Program (PNBL), created by decree 7.175/2010, under Federal Government initiative, in order to massify broadband internet access in the country, especially in regions with less technology. The goal is to reach 40 million houses connected to global computer network in 2014. To achieve this goal, Ministry of Commu-

Figure 3. Active mobile-broadband subscription per 100 inhabitants, America, 2012

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nications has been acting in several areas, such as unburdening of networks and access terminal, expansion of optical fiber public network (administered by Telebrás) and even in smartphones unburdening program. Also implemented popular broadband, with 1Mbps speed of internet costing R$ 35 a month, including taxes (Ministry of Communications, 2014). For the increase in subscriptions number per inhabitant in Costa Rica, the report states that a possible reflex was mobile telephony market release, occurred in 2010. Even if the numbers still do not represent a big access, growth trend, which continues accentuated in the region, is highlighted. Research done in 2014 by Research Convergence group, involving 73 countries, where Qualcomm Index of Innovation Society (QuISI) was presented, which evaluates the adoption degree of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in society as raw material for innovation, placed Brazil as the fourth most connected among 20 countries of Latin America and Caribbean, standing only behind Uruguay, Chile and Argentina. There were 14 variables analyzed, such as smartphones and tablets penetration, connections average speed, mobile and active broadband and telephony services penetration, cable TV, use of mobile phone, MP3, office computer and laptop support, and investments on telecommunication sector (Mobits - QuISI, 2014). On analysis done by Convergence group among the countries that form BRICS (Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa), China (Hong Kong) emerges in the first place on connectivity index with 79.27 (out of 100) points. Brazil only lost to Russia in these criterion, but got 44th place in general analysis, with 34,1 (out of 100) points, among 73 countries researched worldwide (Mobits - QuISI, 2014). Regarding connection the results point Latin America as intermediate and highlights were “investments (21st place), mobile penetration

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(24th) and machine-to-machine connection (29th)” (Cordeiro, 2014). Yet according to the researches, Brazil can (…) accelerate development in mobility scenario with investments to obtain bigger mobile broadband penetration (39 position among 73 countries with index of 35% out of country total population) and bigger tablets penetration (36th place, with only 4% of penetration, while global average is 9.48%). Broadband speed is slower than expected. With only 2.3 Mbps of fixed broadband speed average (global average is 4.48 Mbps) and 1.1 Mbps of mobile broadband (global average is 2.28 Mbps) the country occupies 49 and 53 position, respectively (Cordeiro, 2014). Regarding user profile, three were defined: Basic (have one basic mobile phone - also called feature phones - and other devices, use at least one of the devices to connect internet), where are 36% of the sample. Smart (have one Smartphone and other devices, use, at most, two to connect to internet), representing 41% of the sample. Hyper (have one Smartphone and other devices, use at least three to connect internet) with 21% of the interviewed. Data also point that there are “(…) 82.9 millions of internet users, which represent 49.2% of population with age above 10 years old”. Within this total, “(…) 89% use social networks; 31% use microblog service; 69% use online multimedia service; 37% play online games; 23% download e-books; 10% use some kind of video service under demand, by subscription; 38% use mobile bank services and 60% bought something online in the last three months” (Mobits - QuISI, 2014). Analysing the data presented in several researches, which were important references in the paper, most of the time the focus is centered in quantifier data of penetration and use of several apparatus that nowadays are able to connect the person to internet in a specific society, especially

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the results that aim to verify digital inclusion, either through interactive digital television or through other fixed or mobile devices. However, digital inclusion is not only possible through fixed and mobile devices access, but mainly through communication policies that stimulate, encourage or condition communication companies, technology and service manufacturers to continue activities from adopting measurements that provide exclusive actions inside its business models. This is the path drawn by Brazil in digital television development in the country. Machado Filho (2011, p.110) points to presidential decree, which instituted Brazilian Digital Television System and in its genesis gave strong inclusion obliquity, signed by Luís Inácio Lula da Silva on 26th of November, 2003. The guidelines make explicit that the System must, among others, “I - Promote digital inclusion, cultural diversity of the country and mother tongue by means of digital technology access, aiming information democratization; II - Provide creation of distance education universal network; XI - Encourage local and regional industry to produce digital service and tools” (Decree n. 4.901 of 26th of November 2003, instituted Brazilian Digital Television System – SBTVD and give other providences). Nonetheless, changes and advances are not widely observed by Brazilian society yet, specially referring to population with less income and part of the population who are out of urban centers. The transition for digital systems was more marked by improvements on sound and image quality than new technology interactive possibilities. And this scenario is not different in Latin American countries that adopted Brazilian standard. Inclusive actions via interactivity in digital television come from educational TV stations and not from commercial TV stations, such as Brasil 4D, which is an interactivity project through digital television created by Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), that offer public services on television for low income population. Another equally impor-

tant action, to avoid completely loss of inclusive characteristic of brazilian digital television system, is Government compulsory rules for television apparatus manufacturers to incorporation of Ginga software (as quoted previously). Inter Ministerial ordinance 140 established changes in Basic Production Process (Processo Produtivo Básico, PPB) of television apparatus produced in Manaus Free-Trade Zone and instituted that in 2013, 75% of television apparatus should be produced with Ginga incorporated, and from 2014 it should be 90% of the apparatus. Besides this norm, other several government impositions have been allowing radio broadcasting to keep television communication structure in the country and mainly its business model, from which can be highlighted: 1. Law 10.610 was approved in 20th of December, 2002, allowing 30% of foreign capital participation in communication companies. Before this approval, brazilian laws used to prevent foreign capital participation; 2. On 13th of November, 2005, current minister of communications, Hélio Costa, presents Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial (ISDB-T) standard, which favored brazilian radio broadcasting mainly because of it allow mobility without the necessity of mobile telephony companies; 3. On 6th of August, 2010, for 7 votes against 1, Superior Federal Court deemed groundless the Unconstitutionality Action 3944, filed by Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL) against the rules established against multiprogramming, one of the digital system possibilities. This regulation maintained characteristics of analog television publicity market; 4. Law 12.485/2011 was approved on 4th of June, 2012, and became effective on 2nd of September, 2012. The law establishes national products placement quotas on cable TV channels programming and also defined

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the rules between content production and distribution. This way, telecommunication companies were prohibited to produce content and TV stations in Brazil maintained their hegemony in this criterion. 5. Finally, on 23rd of April, 2014, President Dilma Rousseff sanctioned “Civil Rights Framework for Internet Use” - which establishes, among others, network neutrality. Essential point for content distribution via on demand services on the internet. These regulations are possible due to lack of current laws about communication in Brazil. Law 4.117, which governs brazilian radio broadcasting, is from 27th of August, 1962, even with some changes in subsequent years, contributed to maintenance of systems constructed from this date, and that were benefited along time by successive Governments, they have neither historical commitments (except from some experiences of educational programs in low audience time) nor financial commitments with inclusion. Transition of analog to digital system in Brazil and in other Latin American countries gave priorities to technology rather than content. Notwithstanding, transition makes TDT advance fast among commercial networks, while funding is the biggest barrier for public, educational, non-cultural signal to technologically adapt itself and study new programming formats. Media oligopoly presence, besides being anchored in economic issue, meets resonance in conservative laws. Therefore, a scenario that do not present optimistic perspectives for plural deal of contents and agents diversity in a close future. (Brittos & Prevedello, 2012, p. 180) This way, Brazil, with its influence position in Latin America starts to play a decisive role in digital inclusion through interactive television, so that brazilian digital television standard

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was adopted in fifteen countries, among South America, Central America, Africa, besides others that show interests. In Argentina, digital system adoption was mostly a political issue. Transition process between analog and digital television in that country implied a deep restructuring of television power, its agents, its alliances and hegemonic groups (Bustamante, 2003). Decree 1148/09 publishing instituted digital television in Argentina with articles very similar to brazilian guideline and also focused the transition in social inclusion possibilities and aspects through television. While in Brazil decisions marked the continuity of communication groups with their hegemonic power, in Argentina adoption process of digital television system occurred as a way for the government to limit country’s biggest communication group, the Clarín, which clearly retaliated government actions. Clarín group reaction, clearly confronting government and broadcast television audience leaders in Buenos Aires city, was not rise its signal to TDT system. It was the opposite, they took advantage of their head position in cable sector (49% of the market, which reaches 80% of Argentinean homes) to transmit exclusive and high definition signal of their main channel (channel 13) to their subscribers. It is a political and commercial answer against TDT system. (Krakowiak, Matrini & Becerra, 2012, p. 208) Brazilian and Argentinean case are only two examples within Latin America political and economic environment which shows that digital inclusion is not only made of devices penetration and internet connection. The biggest problem within these markets is that commercial models are beyond communication state or public system and are more likely to suffer pressure from international television markets, mainly american television market, more than from political regulations of their countries, and commercial demands

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are always walking faster than social requests. The fact is that the technology able to provide audiovisual content and digital inclusion advanced so fast that interactivity through television became such a huge challenge even for governmental policies. Current Technological context allow digital inclusion through television in a different way from what had been thought previously and goes toward the ones who believe that television is not a vehicle where interactivity will reach large scales, even more in continental countries like Brazil. American television market trends on audiovisual content distribution and mobile devices use are the biggest pressures that enthusiasts of interactivity in television via HTML5, or essentially via Ginga, face.

DIGITAL TRENDS OF AUDIOVISUAL PRODUCTS CONSUMPTION American television market face its most challenge moment. Pressure from telecommunication companies for the use of spectrum for telephone services provision is threatening all television industry, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - the United States regulatory agency - has been placing themselves according to the interests of cable operators and communication companies. Because of this, the United States television has been looking for ways to keep its relevance for a society with high penetration of cable television, mobile devices and broadband internet. American radio broadcasting have been pointing that convergence between broadcast and broadband is the best way, and this junction must predict: use of Ultra HD (4k and 8k) standard, content delivery in multiple platforms, image high quality content, but interactivity and production low cost (via Hybrid TV or applications (app) for the second screen). To accomplish this, the USA is developing a new version of Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATCS) standard, which will

allow significant data transmission, flexibility in spectrum use, support for Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV), mobility, support for Hybrid Television and broadband content delivery. Advanced Television Systems Committee - ATCS 3.0 - standard intends to solve current standard mistakes, which give priority only to image and sound quality. However, it is in content issue that american market exerts biggest pressure in Latin American markets. Due to strong intellectual property regulation and severe surveillance against piracy, american technology companies offer a wide range of devices capable of distribute audiovisual content through internet. Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft have devices that allow user to consume movies, series and videos from services like YouTube, Netflix etc., independent from television grid, which directly meet commercial TV stations business model, based on programming breaks marketing, The highest audience, the highest cost of commercial spaces. The lowest audience, the lowest price charged and what these devices make is to break up even more the audience by offering a personalized content out of television programming grid. In the United States, broadcast television system has been dealing with audience break up since 1970 decade, mainly due to competition with cable television (Dizard Jr., 2000). Nowadays, with high penetration of mobile devices and broadband connection, only 6% of the populations watch television through broadcast system (Tele Viva, 2014). This configuration is propelling technology companies and producers to invest in new business opportunities in these ecosystems. It is a completely new values and services chain that can be offered parallel to programming, and the most important, without competing for viewer’s attention. There are many possibilities of audience engagement and retention, new sponsors, advertising based on viewer’s historical, propagation on

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social networks and much more. This configuration is called “Second Screen Ecosystem” (Machado Filho, 2013, p. 1). As Latin American markets adopt technologies that allow access to internet and audiovisual consumption out of television grid, audience break up in these markets becomes a huge challenge to be faced, because of this TV stations could become economically unviable. According to Nielsen data, in a research from 2013, in American market, around 40% of viewers use mobile devices while watching TV. Most of the activities occur during commercial breaks, among them are: check email or games score, look for information about an actor/actress, or interact in social network sites. However, this scenario is really favorable for digital inclusion in educational TV stations, because allow interactivity without necessarily using television apparatus or Ginga, this solve one of the main interactivity problems which is the backward channel. Applications in tablets and smartphones present more elaborated solutions than exclusive applications in interactive television apparatus. The main differences between Latin American and american market can be summarized in three important points: means penetration, content production and localism (local TV stations participation on programming). These differences impose different challenges and action for each market. In the United States broadcast television low penetration and uncertainty of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the future of American broadcast system have been generating insecurity in the industry. Some defend the end of air transmission system. In Latin American market broadcast television is still the vehicle with highest penetration. According to Ibope Media (2014), in Brazil the index is 96.8% of penetration. In Ecuador 99% watch broadcast TV, against 37% who have cable TV. These high index of broadcast TV penetration ensure political, economic and social power for the broadcast system to be kept,

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but at the same time weakens it under consumption possibilities through second screen devices or computers linked to internet. On content production issue, TV stations in the USA are prohibited by law to produce entertainment content, they only produce journalistic programs. In 1990 decade, american TV stations joined film industry or big conglomerates in order to increase its programming quality and attract public and advertisers. Now, internet, mobile and Over-The-Top (OTT) services challenge again the current model. To become equally relevant, TV stations have been investing in second screen content, social television, live programs and local programming. On the other side, in Latin America the focus on content production in TV stations increase production cost, which can cause programs quality fall in the future. In Brazil, with regulation of Law 12.485/2011 (which addresses to audiovisual communication of conditioned access), independent production market has been growing and professionalizing. In the future, TV stations can increase independent products amount in the grid, reducing costs. Interactive contents, on second screen or Over-The-Top (OTT), do not represent an expressive niche in Latin American market yet, if compared with the USA and Europe. Although these actions do not intent to make broadcast TV relevant again, they intend to hold audience and encourage new business opportunities. A brazilian characteristic in its television networks is the small participation of local TV stations in big TV stations programming. In the USA, local television have always played an important role within industry and today it is the main argument of National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) about relevance of broadcast system in public services and security provision for american citizens. National Association of Broadcasters has been reinforcing public service feature of broadcast system and local television as the only possible way to attend population in disaster situations in order to sensitize Federal

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Communications Commission (FCC) not only about broadcast system commercial importance, but also the necessity of keeping this system working and economically viable. Particularly in Brazil, TV stations historically privileged network transmission, which forced most of local TV station to dedicate themselves to tele journalism and a strong network commercial dependence. Localism is still one of the possibilities to be explored on broadcast television in the markets that are in transition to digital system, in the whole region. Whether large scale interactivity still come across resistance in commercial television due to the lack of a safe business model, in public television it can be applied without this concern. In this field, public TV station can significantly contribute to, mainly, distance education, telemedicine, e-gov services, among others, via interactivity in television apparatus or through tablets and smartphones. Content production issue, already thought for convergence age, could be used and/ or tested in public television, because without the commitment of bringing results for advertisers, public TV station can explore “cross media, allowing different digital platforms use.” (Barbosa Filho & Castro, 2008, p. 8) Wolton (2007) states that generalist television is essential for democracy and that hazard of television destabilization are as serious as its legitimacy before society. The author also sees in public television the possibility of an open (free), generalist and quality communication, understanding that TV stations paths are opposed to this direction, to digital convergence. For this, he presents four specific challenges to massive media, specifically about television. They are: a higher ambition for public television (according to author’s analysis, the European public television); non acceptance of technological speech that television is overcome; a specific television regulation, polemic theme which is under debate in Brazil; and a deep movement of public television valuation by the population.

Models for European public television, according to Wolton (2007), can perfectly be applied to brazilian public television, as a consequence, also in Latin American countries which adopted brazilian digital standard. Federal Government has a great opportunity to make television act in digitization vanguard, using interactivity as a truly inclusive mean not only with commercial goals. It is time to review the laws, if necessary, to give favorable conditions to public television structure maintenance. It is not the case of allowing advertisements, competing even more with commercial broadcast television, but to create legal devices which allow advertisers a contrast more favorable to cultural support. In case Wolton’s concern about quality fall on generalist TV stations programming is effective, this would result in digital channel individualization or extreme break up, and also in this case public television could be the vehicle able to ensure that broadcast television continue being a strong element in citizenship construction and social inclusion.

REFERENCES Abdalla, R., Chianca, L. C., & Castro, C. (Eds.). (2013). 4D estudo de impacto socioeconômico sobre a TV digital pública interativa. Brasília, DF: EBC. Brasil: Brazil Communications Company. Barbosa Filho, A. (2013). Foreword. In R. Abdalla, L.C. Chianca, & C. Castro (Eds), Brasil 4D estudo de impacto socioeconômico sobre a TV digital pública interativa (pp. 13-18). Brasília, DF: EBC. Barbosa Filho, A., & Castro, C. (2008). Comunicação digital: educação, tecnologias e novos comportamentos. São Paulo, SP: Paulinas. Bazanini, R., & Donato, M. (2008). Estratégias de posicionamento e disputas na implantação da TV Digital no Brasil. Communicare. Journal of Interdisciplinary Research Center, 8(2), 33–50.

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Becker, V. e K., & Zuffo, M. (2009). Interatividade na TV Digital: estado da arte, conceitos e oportunidades. In S. Squirra & I. Fechine (Eds.), Televisão digital: desafios para a comunicação (pp. 44–67). Porto Alegre, RS: Meridional. Brittos, V. C., & Prevedello, C. F. (2012). Brasil: entre la posibilidad del pluralismo y el mantenimiento del oligopólio. In L. A. Albornoz & M. T. García Leiva (Eds.), La televisión digital terrestre. Experiencias nacionales y diversidad en Europa, América y Asia (pp. 173–194). Buenos Aires, AR: La Crujía. Bustamante, E. (2003). Hacia un nuevo sistema mundial de comunicación. Las industrias culturales en la era digital. Barcelona, CT: Gedisa. Cordeiro, L. (2014). Brasil é 44º em ranking mundial de conectividade da Qualcomm. TI Inside Online. Retrieved on March 1st, 2014, from http://convergecom.com.br/tiinside/17/03/2014/ brasil-fica-em-44o-lugar-em-ranking-mundialde-conectividade-calculado-pela-qualcomm/#. U66_DvldUog Decree n. 4.901, of 26th of November 2003 (2003). Instituted Brazilian Digital Television System – SBTVD, and give other providences. Federal Official Gazette. Brasília, DF: Ministry of Communications. Dizard, J. R. W. (2000). A nova mídia na comunicação de massa na era da informação. (A. Queiroga & E. Jorge, Translated from the 3th ed.). Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Jorge Zahar Editors. (Original work published 1994). dos Santos, M. C. (2011). A Televisão Digital Interativa no Brasil: possibilidades de consolidação e contradições no encontro das políticas públicas com o mercado e o olhar do espectador. Contemporânea, 17, 9(1). Retrieved from http:// www.contemporanea.uerj.br/pdf/ed_17/contemporanea_n17_08_carneiro.pdf

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DTV. (2014, August 1). Cobertura. Retrieved from http://www.dtv.org.br/ Duarte, J., & Gobbi, M. C. (2009). Mercosul sob os olhos do mundo. Como jornais de 14 países apresentaram o Mercosul a seus leitores. Pelotas, RS: RECS-Specialized Meeting of Mercosur Social Communication. Funttel. (2005). Modelo de Referência. Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão Digital Terrestre. Brazilian Digital Television Project – OS 40539. PD.30.12.36ª.0002ª/RT-08-AB, FUNTTEL. Ginga. (2014, July 31). Ginga. Retrieved from http://www.ginga.org.br/ Ibope Media. (2014, July 30). Media Book. Retrieved from http://www.mediabook.ibope.com International Telecommunication Union - ITU. (2014a). Partnership on measuring ICT for Development. Final WSIS targets review. Achievements, Challenges and the way forward. Retrieved on from http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/publications/wsisreview2014/ WSIS2014_review.pdf International Telecommunication Union - ITU. (2014b). Reporte post Cumbre Conectar las Américas. Visión General de la Banda Ancha en América. Retrieved on from http://www.itu. int/en/ITU-D/Conferences/connect/Documents/ Post%20Connect%20Americas%20Summit%20 Report%20(Spanish).pdf Krakowiak, F., Matrini, G., & Becerra, M. (2012). Argentina: razones geopolíticas y perspectivas económicas. In L. A. Albornoz & M. T. Leiva (Eds.), La televisión digital terrestre. Experiencias nacionales y diversidad en Europa, América y Asia. Tucaman, AR: La Crujía Ediciones. Lobo, P. (2014). TV digital: Minicom finaliza teste com multiprogramação. Retrieved on July 6 from http://convergenciadigital.uol.com.br/cgi/cgilua. exe/sys/start.htm?infoid=35509#.U7nMSPldUog

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Machado Filho, F. (2011). TV Digital aberta no Brasil: perspectivas para a implantação de um novo modelo de negócios. [Doctoral dissertation]. Retrieved from http://ibict.metodista.br/tedeSimplificado/tde_busca/arquivo. php?codArquivo=2691

Wolton, D. (2007). Internet, e depois? Uma teoria crítica para as novas mídias (I. Crosseti, Trans. Original work published 1999). Porto Alegre, RS: Sulina. ()

Machado Filho, F. (2013). Segunda tela: tendências, oportunidades e modelo de negócio concomitante à TV digital aberta no Brasil. Paper presented at Brazilian Society of Interdisciplinary Studies of Communication Conference. Manaus, AM

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Magnoni, A. F., & Gobbi, M. C. (2012). Televisão Digital Brasil-Argentina: desafios e perspectivas. In M. C. Gobbi & O. J. de Morais (Eds.), Televisão Digital na América Latina: avanços e perspectivas (pp. 57–104). São Paulo, SP: Intercom. Ministry of Communications. (2014, August 1). National Broadband Plan. Retrieved from http:// www.mc.gov.br/programa-nacional-de-bandalarga-pnbl Mobits - QuISI. (2014, February 2). Índice Qualcomm da Sociedade de Inovação (QuISI). Retrieved from http://www.mobits.com.br/assets/2014/3/20/QuISI-Infografico.pdf Nielsen. (2013). Tops of 2013: TV and Social Media. Retrieved from http://www.nielsen.com/ us/en/insights/news/2013/tops-of-2013-tv-andsocial-media.html Souza Filho, G. L. (2010). Interatividade na TV digital pública. In D. M. F. Silva & S. R. Moura (Eds.), I Fórum paraibano de TVs públicas na era digital: contribuições da sociedade para a construção de uma televisão interativa e de qualidade. João Pessoa, PB: Universitária/UFPB. Tela Viva. (2014, June 9). Nos EUA, número de lares que dependem da Internet para ver TV se aproxima dos que dependem da antena. Retrieved from http://www.telaviva.com.br/09/06/2014/noseua-numero-de-lares-que-dependem-da-internetpara-ver-tv-se-aproxima-dos-que-dependem-daantena/tl/380344/news.aspx

Ginga: Open Middleware of the JapaneseBrazilian Digital Television System (ISDB-TB) and ITU-T recommendation for IPTV services used for the development of interactive applications for Digital TV. HTML: Hypertext Markup Language, version 5. Language for structuring and presentation of content for World Wide Web. Hypermediality: Multilateral Interface (one-all; all-one; all-all), each time more simple, friendly, ergonomic and powerful. People daily contact with digital devices fill real life with virtual. Human spaces joined with cyberspace also become ‘hypermedia spaces’. Linux: Open operating system software available under license, which allows use, modification and distribution. Multiprogramming: Possibility of watching different programs in only one television channel (6MHz). One Seg (or 1SEG): Digital Television transmission technology for mobile devices, such as laptops, netbooks, smartphones, tablets and others with video and audio integrated. Silicon Valley: Nickname for the San Francisco Bay area in California, United States that concentrates a large number of high-tech companies and startups. Simputer: Equipment, a bit bigger than handhelds that are available in the market, equipped with Linux based operating system, was originally created by Indian Institute of Science to lead internet to India rural areas.

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Chapter 25

Technological Illusions and Educational Resistances: The Public Discourse about OLPC in Peru and Its Policy Failure Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Peru

ABSTRACT OLPC, the One Laptop Per Child initiative, was accepted by just a few countries, including Peru. The largest acquisition of computers has produced a fairly low impact in education and is now being quietly phased-out. Peru’s government decision to adopt the computers, back in 2007, was not contested or questioned by the political class, the media or even teachers, with just a rather small number of specialists arguing against it. This chapters discussed the political and argumentative processes that brought OLPC into the public sphere, through the use of a specific narrative, that of hackerism, i.e., the hacker attitude towards computers, and how social and political validation resulted in adoption. An assessment of the process of framing OLPC as a hacker product and the perils of such reasoning lead to discuss the need for a counter-narrative about the role of computers in society.

INTRODUCTION The deployment of computers in schools appears as a popular and modernizing response to the demands of renewing primary and secondary education. This is particularly important in the context of Latin American school education, as we witness popular demands to leapfrog from current conditions, which are rather poor, to a better, quality-oriented system. As computers and the Internet become widespread and continue to be

signifiers of modernity and renovation, to bring them into educational settings as tools for changing the system is almost inevitable, especially as both the general public and a number of experts understand that competent usage of computers is a fundamental skill for all to have, no matter which prospective jobs are considered (Davidson & Goldberg, 2009). As such, this demand for inserting computers into educational systems brings two sets of problems, quite different but clearly related to

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch025

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each other. On the one hand, the pertinence of such a technology-driven response to the systemic weaknesses of educational services is, to say the least, a matter of dispute among specialists in education and public management (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). On the other, implementing computers at schools, a costly endeavor, demands a political discourse that frames technology as a solution to the aforementioned weaknesses, notwithstanding the first objection, as to help with the political consequences of prioritizing technology instead of many other potential uses of scarce resources, particularly in emerging economies. Considering the lack of reported success with computers in education, while there is abundant literature both academic and journalistic on the failure of such endeavors, it may be surprising that a political discourse that believes in computers as solutions to actual educational problems may be so widespread and popular. The route most taken is to connect the aforementioned public perception of computers as sophisticated solution to many problems to the specificity of the public’s demand for educational modernization. In other words: public policy and political discourse coexist without needing to actually communicate with each other, but they feed mutually of a set of perceptions and prejudices, mostly positive ones, that assume that computers are adequate solutions per se, without requiring actual evidence; this set of perceptions is not questioned by media or by experts from other domains, as it is obviously hard to stand for a negative: the nonexistence of successful computer-driven changes in education is not a proof of an structural impossibility, just a matter of not the right time, the right technology or the right implementation. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss this particular understanding of policy making regarding computers. Based on a vague, non-empirically sustainable perception, policy makers allow for ICT to be dressed up as a perfect solution, starting by assuming the best possible outcome promised by those embracing “hackerism”, or hacker-like

usage of computers. From hackerism is derived a set of practices and understandings of the way computers can affect the individuals and communities, that will be discussed under the term Hacker Social Imaginary (HSI). The use of this social imaginary to analyze the potential impact of computers in education drafts a narrative, that emphasizes a hacker-like set of results as the best outcome of using computers. The most emblematic example of this narrative is OLPC, One Laptop Per Child, the project started back in 2006 by Nicholas Negroponte and applied in very few countries as a national policy. The Peruvian reaction to this narrative and its incorporation into policymaking and political discussion is the subject of analysis as it was the basis for establishing the predominance of HSI as the leading narrative justifying the expenditure of a significant amount of money in an unproven, unfinished product. OLPC’s narrative embodied the most characteristic elements of the deterministic understanding of technology as development. Presented as a ready made, infallible solution to structural shortcomings, as well as a pole vault over the limitations embedded in educational systems, it was not just a technological solution but a categorical imperative, an opportunity everybody would want and thus, that should not be denied to anyone. At its most extreme version, OLPC proposes a technological solution to very complex, non-technological problems, ignoring research on the implementation and managing of technology as much as socio-technical analysis establishing the social nature of technology shaping. Education becomes a simple, technical problem, and the solution is already available. One aspect of the moral demand for computers as modernization is the narrative about what computers can do for children, borrowed from OLPC’s own narrative. This can be described as an specific manifestation of HSI. This paper will strive to demonstrate not just that this imaginary, developed through the writings of computer pro-

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grammers, commentators and journalists, mostly in the USA, has been incorporated as a subtext into the justification of OLPC, but that has also been assumed as part of the political justification of OLPC’s implementation in Peru. This chapter will start by establishing the nature of the hacker’s social imaginary, discussing the concept itself as well as the specific instance that lies under the OLPC movement; then will proceed to a discussion on the specific narrative developed by OLPC and its connections to the hacker’s imaginary; Peru’s political discourse incorporating this social imaginary will then be discussed. Finally, the consequences and resulting conflicts brought by this adoption will be established as general conclusion of this chapter.

REVIEWING THE HACKER’S SOCIAL IMAGINARY The Hacker’s Social Imaginary (HSI) is not an unique discourse, nor it has a formal expression. As presented in many different writings, it is based on a variable and varied set of issues that has changed along the emerging technologies and patterns of adoptions that have transformed computer science and practice, especially since the arrival of the PC and then, the generalization of Internet adoption around the world. Its origins can be traced to the 1950’s, when the first computing labs in the USA were developed, allowing users to interact with the computers with no specific purposes but for experimentation (Levy, 2001). Hackers define themselves not through the achievement of productive goals but as experimenters looking to control computers as ends on themselves, exploring their capabilities and designing new routes to implement programs and routines (Kidder, 1985; Raymond, 1996). Unlike productive usage of computers as tools for task-centered, business-specific tasks, hackers attempt to master the whole technical potential of the computer as hardware and software, shar-

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ing the railroad modeling community attitude of serious play and playful seriousness: witness the cross-pollination between MIT’s TMRC, a modeling club, and the first hackers at the Artificial Intelligence Lab, as extensively described by Levy (2001) and Raymond (1996), which brought the beginning of the hacker’s social practices and ultimately, social imaginary. Hackers see themselves as a highly motivated set of individuals, lacking institutional interests, ruled through a diffuse meritocracy, socially awkward and guided by a singular belief in the individual’s capabilities to develop solutions for specific problems (Raymond, 1996, p. 233-234). Their motivation comes from their own desire for success as defined on their own terms, not financial or social success. The creative and efficient mastering of computers becomes a goal in itself. They lack institutional interests because their work is not to be set as tasks that make sense in a larger sense, but rather something that is relevant in and of itself. Without the freedom to dedicate themselves to what they define as a pertinent or interesting, work becomes unrewarding; such reasoning lies behind the fabled decision by Google to allow for a 30% rule: any employee may dedicate such an amount of their work hours to individual-defined project, to reward creativity and allow for personal expression. Money is not the goal, but rather a means to an end. A meritocracy implies that any hierarchy among hackers would be based on abilities related to computers. A corollary would be that the one proof needed to gain credibility is through disseminating the results of hacking among peers. A post-facto justification of this sharing culture is the statement “information wants to be free”, while the basis for the actual sharing is the need for peer acknowledgement of achievements. While lack of social graces is usually presented by the media and popular culture as one main characteristic of hackers, this is more of a trope than an actual, or relevant, fact. Of course there are hackers with few social skills or showing dis-

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regard for social conventions, but as with many social traits it is more the case of an overexposed characteristic of a few that is easy to caricature. The goal-in-itself nature of the very individualistic, often lonely work that hackers do, combines with obsession about achievement to create an environment where individuals thrive but that may lead to less than optimal social interactions. As much as individualism is a trait, group-work is required for validation and large projects, and the appeal of open software development lies in its collaborative nature. What may be rejected is conventional approaches to social norms, as reflection of absence of interest in conventional attitude for work and goals. This individualistic approach bears an utmost belief in their own abilities, and leads to disproportionately value each individual’s capability to recognize his or her own abilities, and to develop them; also, it conflates freedom as the right that each person has to develop his or her individual abilities. In the context of societies valuing individual freedom as the foremost political goal, hackers re-interpret freedom as individualism expressed in access to and potential to modify programmable systems and to share the results among those that the hacker’s community may deem worthwhile. Certainly, as a community of strong-willed individuals affirming their own freedom, there is not a single definition of worthwhile; but the attitude is shared and of course, cherish, among the member of the collective. In an extreme interpretation, such an affirmation of individual freedoms and values necessary brings distrust of institutions, and particularly of educational institutions, since they are set to standardize their students and make them productive citizens, as defined by those in control of such institutions. Notwithstanding the social purpose of education, the fact is that individuals may feel alienated or unsettled in environments designed for compliance; this is understood as

a limitation of freedom, especially the freedom to explore, improvise and search for alternative ways to do things. This libertarian complaint brings other issues: freedom to modify a computer, instead of following specific instructions or a “must be”; freedom to learn whatever interests an individual at whatever rhythm or style it might be preferred; freedom from standardized evaluations. This oppositional attitude begets an implicit conclusion: the best way to educate someone is to follow the hacker way, leaving him or her free to explore, improvise and modify, and use computers as thought-expanding tools. Those opposing prioritization of freedom against structure are victims of institutionalset blindness, or are subject to ulterior motives (Barlow, 1995). Flichy (2001, p. 109) identifies at least three strands in what she calls the Internet imaginary: the amateurs, dedicated to establish the social practices developed in the original, non commercial Internet, into the new configuration created by privatization since 1995; the “Californian counterculture”, just like Markoff (2005) described it: in search of combining an ecological utopia with a community-based one, around computers that can “change the world” and thus create a better living for all; and finally, those looking for ways to establish paths to community development based on already existing social links, using computers to diminish global capitalism’s impact on lives around the world. These groupings, promoting the early Internet as a solution to many issues around the world, coalesced around computers as tools for empowerment. However, what could be considered a hacker perspective did not emerge from the combination of the three, but rather was reflected in the first two, since it had existed, without necessarily carrying significant political overtones, in the community of programmers that developed the early Internet, that combined at least partially the Californian counter-culture with the

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academic culture of hacking and free information that supported the early Internet (Abbate, 2001; Hafner & Lyon, 1997). This collection of practices and sensibilities can be described as a social imaginary, that is a collective understanding about how the world should be and how we should live on it, a dominant commonsense of a period or a place (Steger & James, 2013, p. 19): in other words, an ideology. Hackers establish a common understanding of the world, and infuse their practices and lives with it. Those incorporating themselves into the community of practice that identifies itself with the label “hackers” accept that worldview and promote it through their actions. An imagined community, to borrow Anderson’s term, one that does not require a physical territory but rather is created through technological connections and work. As Appadurai stated, the imagination has become an organized field of social practices, a form of work (in the sense of both labor and culturally organized practice), and a form of negotiation between sites of agency (individuals) and globally defined fields of possibility. This unleashing of the imagination links the play of pastiche (in some settings) to the terror and coercion of states and their competitors. The imagination is now central to all forms of agency, is itself a social fact, and is the key component of the new global order (Appadurai 1996, p. 31). This Hacker Social Imaginary becomes an institutional fact (Searle, 1997), that is a fact that is constituted through the agreement of human beings and becomes self-referential. But this institutional fact defines not just the way one individual would act, but what society is understood to expect of them. It turns into digital universalism, as Chan (2013) calls the notion of technology and technological practices being the same around the world, but also having the same expectations in every potential setting, in every potential society.

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Thus, HSI may be the result of a set of practices and mores clearly originated in a particular context, but it has become an institutional fact for those that find themselves being incorporated into the world of computer programming or design; this social imaginary strives to be universally valid, and purports to work similarly and with similar success all around the world. It validates itself through the actions and especially the beliefs of those adopting HSI for themselves, almost as much as through the actions and beliefs of those dealing directly with hackers, and through the depictions and interpretations of media, in the news or on entertainment.

OLPC AS EXPRESSION OF THE HACKER’S SOCIAL IMAGINARY HSI can, of course, be co-opted or borrowed by others. Coming from MIT and with members that come from a hacker background, One Laptop Per Child did at least borrow a significant part of its justification and moral grounding from HSI, and used it as a guidebook for public understanding not just of the potential, but of the social need, the moral need, that OLPC incarnated. The first appearance of OLPC took place in an incoherent place: not at a hacker’s festival or an education conference, but at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, 2006. It was an attempt to promote a global consensus around the idea that OLPC forthcoming computers would be the safest way to a complete renewal of education in the developing world. Besides technical discussions, widely covered elsewhere, the most significant issue is the narrative underlying the presentation of the XO-1 (the name that the computer received) as a necessity for education. As OLPC’s website stated: We aim to provide each child with a rugged, lowcost, low-power, connected laptop. To this end, we

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have designed hardware, content and software for collaborative, joyful, and self-empowered learning. With access to this type of tool, children are engaged in their own education, and learn, share, and create together. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future (OLPC, 2007b). In this single paragraph many of the tropes of hackerism are presented: “self-empowered learning”, i.e. each child learning by him/herself in his or her terms; “engaged in their own education” presupposes that this is potentially a new situation that was not taking place before, when education was directed by grown ups through institutions; ˝connected to each other” appears as a new form of agency brought by technology, filling the void created by traditional instruction that does not allow for interaction or conversation; “to the world and to a brighter future” states that widening the reach of communication allows for a larger understanding of the world that will bring better quality of life. Connectivity comes with an indisputable promise of a better world through technology. Of course it is marketing, but grounded on a larger narrative. Furthermore, ideas directly related to the HSI were proposed by OLPC: What children lack is not capability, it is opportunity and resources. The tool with which to unlock their potential is the XO. Put this ultra-low-cost, powerful, rugged, low-power, ecological laptop in their hands and contribute to making a better world. In the first years of OLPC we have seen two million previously marginalized children learn, achieve and begin to transform their communities. We are working to provide this opportunity to millions more (OLPC, 2007a). Thus, computers are the tools needed to liberate children’s potential, creating a better world along the way. Children will transform their communities through the realization of their potential; such

potential is just waiting for the right tool. In a way, what is presupposed is that being a hacker is not a possibility but a commonly occurring potential, something waiting to happen, requiring just the right kind of push. Using a computer will bring forth the natural state of childhood: an inquisitive mind, a vocation for exploring, and a disposition to engage their communities as agents of change. The route to this achievement is through the hacker community, not school or teachers. While the XO-1 was not ready to be used at launch time, as their hardware and software components were not yet finished; the expectation was that hacker communities in the countries deploying the computers and elsewhere around the world, would have engaged the project, using their collective knowledge to incorporate what was needed; and that children themselves, channeling their creativity, would solve any problems and fill any voids they would face while using the XO-1s. To reach this level of community support, OLPC demanded what is called one-on-one deployment: a computer for every student, at his or her disposition not just at school, but actually assigned as personal property, to be used and explored at any moment in any place. This has direct relationship with the notion of the XO-1 as the one tool needed to pass by school and any similar institutional arrangements, establishing learning as an individual activity similar to the hacker relationship with programming. Individual agency is empowered while collective, government-controlled approaches are dismissed as unfixable. The school is not mentioned; teachers are discussed as facilitators and enablers, but not as education’s central players as they are now. Thus, education is released from the social to become a personal challenge, about developing cognitive dimensions existing individually and with no relationship with the social dimensions that allow for knowledge to be used or produced. Without considering the specific context from where the students come from, and even more so, the context where the students are going to

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arrive after schooling is done, it is impossible to provide for successful education beyond individual achievement: thus, digital universalism as already discussed, the notion that individuals are similar all around the world and that computers are in fact not the product of a time and an age, but inevitable products of a larger evolutionary process where we all are headed to, is clearly present. At the end of the Mission statement, OLPC purpose is said to be empowering the world’s poorest children through education. Education is not seen as a socialization process, but as an acquisition of skills and development of personal agency. Social agency, as resulting of socialization, indeed a powerful function of educational systems, is missing. Why do children in developing nations need laptops? Laptops are both a window and a tool: a window out to the world and a tool with which to think. They are a wonderful way for all children to learn learning through independent interaction and exploration. (OLPC, 2007a). This individualistic approach is reinforced when crowdsourced materials are presented as the main resources for education that would have been provided through the XO-1s. Using Wikipedia, being the main showcase for crowdsourced knowledge in the world, is presented as a positive development, not just because of its nature but because it allows for the students to participate in the process of editing and enriching this particular work. Wikipedia’s model, framed as collaborative, is actually quite individualistic, as it expects that individuals without any connection between themselves will establish a working relationship based not on agreement around complicated issues but on the certainty that each one of them have on the pertinence and relevance of the subjects they are interested on (Royal & Kapila, 2009). Not a collectively curated work but rather an aggregation of individual perspectives, Wikipedia is an unbalanced though worthy enterprise (Hargittai & Shaw, 2015), where information on fictional

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characters may be denser and larger than historical figures from the poorer countries where the XO-1s are to be used; information as the end result of a collective process, as in universities and learned societies, is not exactly the forte of Wikipedia: it does reflect information gathered at these places of learning, but it does not allow for such a process to take place. As Warschauer and Ames (2010, p.34) state, “The OLPC program represents a marriage of Negroponte’s digital utopianism and the constructionist learning theory of Seymour Papert, Negroponte’s long- time colleague at MIT”. This univocal understanding of the potential of computers, explained at length in Papert (1993), can be criticized as an illusion, as abundant evidence about how school-age children around the world shows that the predominant interest that stems from computers is entertainment and consumption, including games and cultural products. (Montgomery, 2007, Serazio, 2010, among many others), creating conditions for invasive consumption practices that transform diverse activities, instead of transforming consumption into a creative space. (Villanueva-Mansilla, 2010). HSI is used to interpret the computer in a very positive way, as suited to the goals of OLPC, resting on the enthusiasm of the hacker community as much as on the ignorance of both the general public and decision-makers. As it is not the purpose of this chapter to discuss the end result of OLPC deployment, it is not necessary to discuss at length the fact that the computer itself have never reached the level of functionality announced by its promoters, neither at the hardware level (Ploskonka, 2010) nor at the software one (Vota 2009); limitations and failings are many and significant. The end of the line was the abandonment of computer development in 2013 in favor of a generic tablet-type device loaded with OLPC approved software. No further information on computer development, deployments or plans has been published since October 2013.

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Hacker credibility came to OLPC through the presence of a series of well-regarded computing specialists, like Walter Bender; and by association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an early cradle of hackerism. The actual head of the project, Nicholas Negroponte, had a long history of promoting technological solutions to education, and was able to call for participation from the hacker community, by promoting the open aspects of OLPC: open hardware, open software, innovative design that could be hacked and modified by any users. Not engaging teachers at all but rather presenting OLPC as a hack of the educational systems, Negroponte infused the project with certainties and a mission not unlike that of the common hacker: change the world through individual agency, for individual agency. OLPC framed itself through the main elements of the hacker’s social imaginary, associating the values of individual agency, personal initiative and freedom to explore with the product being promoted, the XO-1 laptop (Leaning, 2010). As such, OLPC enhances and re-signifies computers in education as tools for individual development, disconnected from collective achievement and socialization. A concrete incarnation of the virtues and values of hackerism, OLPC co-opted the help of a vast number of individual identifying themselves as hackers, that tried to develop and promote specific solutions to problems defined by them, without significant communication with OLPC nor with the educational systems they were trying to help.

IMPLEMENTING THE IMAGINARY: POLITICAL DISCOURSES AROUND OLPC IN PERU Adoption of OLPC computers was decided by the Peruvian government in 2007 (Villanueva-Mansilla, 2015). A pilot deployment was conducted in a rural town called Arahuay, in the Andean highlands

about five hours from Lima, the capital city; this pilot took place under conditions unlike those to be found elsewhere in Peru’s implemenation: the school had used computers during a previous government program, and a satellite connection to the Internet was available. Full deployment started in 2008 and was finished about 2011 (no exact deployment statistics were ever published). In the end, Peru bought 870.000 laptops, at an average price of 185 USD, according to figures published both by Peru’s Ministry of Education and the OLPC Foundation. In Peru the program was run by a group of political appointees, led by the Education Minister, Luis Chang Alvarado, that run a “systems and computing” engineering school (Facultad de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Computación) at Universidad Particular San Martin de Porres, in Lima, Perú. A close associate of Peru’s then president, Mr. Chang had been involved in higher education for years and had a circle of advisers and officials coming from his university with a Master’s Degree Program in Educational Computing and Technology at University of Hartford, as stated by one of the officials publicly. There was a personal connection with the MIT professors involved in the designing and early running of OLPC as well. The initiative was framed through three sets of ideas. First of all, a modernizing tool for education through a revolution based on “learning to learn”; also, as a way to train a new generation of programmers and developers of software and hardware; finally, as a egalitarian policy, providing equal access to the “haves” and the “have nots”, thus promoting social justice in a technology-driven era. This was complemented by highlighting the association of OLPC promoters with the MIT, and by using a number of computer specialists close to the ministry as informal backers and as pundits. Little actual public debate was conducted, and both Congress and the political commentariat opted to toe the technological line, with only hints about potential embezzlement or corruption appearing

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from time to time. No actual charges of corruption were ever seriously breached, and there is no shadow of doubt about the integrity of those involved in Peru with the project. No full policy statement or position paper was published, with only public statements for journalists and television interviews used as vehicles to communicate the intent behind the project. A number of these statements can be presented as expressions of the usage of HSI as the underlying understanding of why computers were needed at schools. These statements came not just from advisers or consultants, but from minister Chang or the President himself, Alan Garcia Pérez. Mr García stated in 2008 that “Deployment of these laptops allows children to become part of future’s education, and I am sure that it will allow for an extraordinary leap in children’s imagination and critical thinking” (“Jefe de Estado”, 2008, para. 4). He also stated that computers create conditions to release education from its traditional parameters, and thus leap through stages to transform the country, since they are “besides from an educational tool, for searching and thinking, computers are an element of self-esteem and prestige” (“Jefe de Estado”, 2008, para. 8). As reported by the official government news agency, Andina, the project was supported by a series of activists that promoted the tropes just discussed. For instance, the XO-1 was judged to be “a communications device of pedagogical usefulness, that may turn into a ‘gym for the development of skills’” (Prototipo de laptop escolar, 2007, para. 5). However, “for the potential of these small laptops to be achieved, it would be needed that educational activities are re-oriented to take advantage of these machines’s capacities, for instance connectivity” (“Prototipo de laptop escolar”, 2007, para. 8). Thus, changing education demands that education is changed first, around the premises of HSI: allowing for experimentation and individual activities conducted together, rather than the usual emphasis in collective measurements of achievement.

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The transformation towards a “knowledge economy” based on computing science was also used as part of the narrative, since the skills acquired were understood to trickle down into the productive sector. This allowed for some wishful thinking from the project supporters, like a consultant stating that “I foresee that in six years from now a first generation of people that, with the right motivation coming from teachers, are going to become great [software] developers. There is going to be children that will not need to learn to use applications, but [with] real computing skills. There is going to be people to will take us to a new change, where we could be technology exporters like India” (“Uruguay y Perú son los primeros” 2007). Tiny bits of success were conflated not just as directly related to the new attitude towards computers, but as solid trends, useful to set the idea that change has arrived. In the words of Minister Chang “Children now have a different attitude, and lower absenteeism has been achieved… most of the kids had never touched a computer before; now they can connect with a technological tool that will allow for a better school learning” (“Ministro Chang rechaza”, 2007). Politically speaking, adoption of OLPC meant not just a policy decision around how to implement certain aspects of a new subject in schools, but rather how to change the way education is understood and how to incorporate the idea of education as a road to individual achievement and development of individual agency, instead of the traditional, lecture-based, assessment defined education. Unmeasurable and irrepetible, success in using a XO-1 was not about socialization or learning and acquiring socially-relevant skills, but instead becoming an individual under the mold of OLPC’s interpretation of HSI. While the actual policy was not a success in Peru, the public discourse adopted, inscribed in a layman’s belief in the power of computers, was a significant political component. The absence of a counter-narrative allowed for it to flourish unchallenged.

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A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE IMAGINARY The premise from where OLPC educational model is built on is the preeminence of the computer as an individual tool, used as an empowering tool for children, as an extension of individual creativity. At the same time, this vision denies the complexity acquired by current computers, when it is proposed that they are one-dimensional instead of complex manifestations of socio-technical systems that is socially shaped and that allows for potential uses as well as limitations to those handling them. From a perspective considering computers as part of a socially shaped technological system, OLPC has to be evaluated in the specific context of a sociotechnical system, composed by the devices but even more importantly, by the potential uses of those devices as defined by abilities, capabilities and social approaches embedded in institutional practices, from the individual to the macro social level (Pinch & Bijker 1987). Following this reasoning, OLPC should not have avoided considering the school and its setting, the national educational system where the schools operate, since it is only through a fluid dialog with them that it is possible to become an agent for change. This would have demanded that the larger, societal objectives of the educational system, including better achievement in standardized testing, socialization and the best possible preparedness for higher education, are taken into account before empowering individuals. These individuals have to perform under societal expectations, and also under personal expectations shaped by the societal paths of personal achievements that education provides: good basic education, potential higher education and better jobs with good incomes. The path chosen by OLPC skips the societal demands to concentrate on the individual. But, to start with individual agency denies that the hackers themselves, notwithstanding the community image created through a self-referential

presentation, are more a collection of likelyminded individuals with different interests, and with a similar attitude towards the tool being used to achieve their goals, the computer. In different contexts, hackers act differently (Levy, 2001; Markoff, 2000). The group of people responsible for the early networks that would become the Internet (Hafner & Lyon, 1997) started from a set of stimuli, motivations and practices that were quite different to those of the group of people involved in the early microcomputer industry or those working on free software. (Levy, 2001, part 3). Thus, even if the potential of each children is realized through the XO-1, there such a range of potentials that many could be lacking what they need to function properly in activities that are not oriented to individual achievement. In a way, OLPC presents a world shaped by a very narrow understanding of potential, and by a very specific, and quite expensive, notion of education: to focus on individual achievement there is a need to dedicate many resources first to find the exact characteristic of each child’s potential, and then to work on it to turn potential into reality. Computers may help but they also hinder development for those that cannot reach their potential only through them. Summing this argument: If I were to summarize everything I learned through research in ICT4D, it would be this: technology—no matter how well designed—is only a magnifier of human intent and capacity. It is not a substitute. If you have a foundation of competent, well-intentioned people, then the appropriate technology can amplify their capacity and lead to amazing achievements. But, in circumstances with negative human intent, as in the case of corrupt government bureaucrats, or minimal capacity, as in the case of people who have been denied a basic education, no amount of technology will turn things around (Toyama, 2011).

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It appears then that the main problem with OLPC lies in the belief that the intentions and capacities of an specific group of people, embedded in a particular set of socio-economic and institutional conditions, are not just shared by people working under similar conditions all around the world, but that, in a way, are natural: under the right conditions, everyone will become a hacker. The Hacker social imaginary assumes that society should be compose of a variety of very intelligent people ready to take charge of any tool available, using them as ends to themselves and under the terms set individually by each one of the users. Thus, the right way for education to work is to orientate it to the production of hackers, which demands that education is to be devoid of all that is not hacker: repetition, predictability, social compliance and socialization, and replace it with individuality and exploration on each individual’s terms. OLPC defines itself as an education revolution, a recurring theme in HSI, as “change the world” is one of the mantras appearing in many incarnations of hackerism, with different meanings depending on the time and place. Assuming such a mantra and the potential of computers to making it real justifies turning delivering computers to all, especially to the poorest of the poorest, as a moral obligation. Through this process, HSI turns into a political presentation mechanism rather than intellectual support of the project. Although the open nature of OLPC brought interest from many hacker-like people from around the world, it is not through openness or the general affirmation of progress through technology that teachers lower their resistance to this particular strand of change; nor through the appellation to individual agency driven change that parents and students, concerned about grades and success as defined by the educational systems around them, may be convinced of the relevance and start supporting it. The narrative disseminated through this imaginary is quite

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frank: computers are powerful tools but only if acting as hacker you will be able to use their full potential. For those that reject the hacker approach to computers, failure is most probable, and at the same a justification for potential systemic failure has been set: those that had to fix a hacker attitude to the project did not do their part, thanks to the conservatism of school teachers, administrators, or parents. In practice, a computer is a means for entertainment as much or even more so than a tool for learning, even under very vague definitions (Arora, 2012). Even applied without such a heavy intent as OLPC tried, computers have not really changed much, being digital versions of practices and tools already in place. No equivalents of these technologically enabled transactions [...] exist within the prevailing educational paradigm or 1:1 computing models. What does exist are replacements: books replaced by web pages, paper report cards with student information systems, chalkboards with interactive whiteboards, and filing cabinets with electronic databases. None of these equivalents addresses the core activity of teaching and learning. Each merely automates the practices of the prevailing paradigm (a) non-differentiated large-group instruction, (b) access to information in classrooms, (c) non-engagement of parents, and summative assessment of performance (Weston & Bain, 2010, p. 10). In other words, computers reinforce and entrench educational systems as we know them, since they provide a patina of efficiency and modernity in the form of digital avatars of practices born in the 19th century. A change in educational approaches does produce better results, but to focus on computers becomes a hindrance rather than a path for change.

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INVADING REALITY: TECHNOLOGICAL IMAGINARIES AND THE CERTAINTY TROUGH To develop a project of OLPC’s scale requires establishing a narrative allowing for huge investments, financial and institutional, geared towards a deep transformation of the priorities of one of the state’s foremost services, education. The appeal to the HSI is just one of the components of such a narrative, but using it feeds into the attempt to reframe, radically, what is development, welfare and government’s role in society. As stated by Langdon Winner, “technological innovations are similar to parliament acts or political principles, as they establish a frame of action for public order that will last for many generations” (Winner, 1986, p. 29). Educational systems, created as they now stand by late 19th century, are a good example of such trend. This is what makes analyzing the narrative behind OLPC actions critical. While there may be a number of technological issues that brought OLPC’s failure, it was not a failure of the narrative; actually, it was embraced and adopted by Peru’s government and the media, without significant questioning; and it may lie ready to be rehashed and reuse in a new situation, when a new family of devices or new trends in computing arise. Criticism of HSI has to start by establishing that, counter to the stated nature of the computer as a tool for self-learning and innovation, there are other elements needed to consider the potential that a computer has in an specific context. In societies valuing cultural stability and preservation of social practices, for instance, the computer brings a number of challenges as it allows for individual to change course and decide differently about what should be the basis for their actions. The computer also brings change as it provides for quicker renovation of ideas and practices, while there are some areas of education where a less urgent pace may be the norm. As Valovic (2001, p. 63) stated,

When the emergent worldview of digital culture is properly deconstructed, understanding why there is so little resistance to the process of conversion from books to information in electronic format becomes a lot easier. Books, after all, are historical in their focus and represent our best cultural anchors to the richness of the historical narrative of ideas and events. Similarly, education is seen as a process of information and knowledge acquisition and processing, instead of a value-based system that provides for socialization. Computers are seen as modernizing devices, confronting an old system of workers’s mass production that is against the grain of a new class of “knowledge workers” that should be reared in a freer, more active environment, created by as much by the attitude towards computers as by computers themselves. Thus, development is a technological driven modernization, though technology is understood not as any technology but as ICT, especially Internet-connected computers, notwithstanding the fact that such devices are now heavily used for cultural consumption. Thus presented to public opinion, what are the expected effects? McKenzie (in Dutton, 1999, p. 43) proposed the concept of certainty trough: as he analyzed the implementation of intercontinental ballistic missiles by the United States Air Force, he discovered that uncertainty about the effectiveness of these weapons systems was inversely proportional to familiarity with their design, manufacturing and implementation processes. In other words, decision-makers had significantly higher certainty about the capability of such missiles to deliver on its military promise, while the actual people that knew how they work was much less certain. Certainty arose from stripping all the doubts and caveats provided by the designers and implementers, as the politicians and managers had to “sell” the systems to legislators and the general public, thus needing clarity and simplicity of message. In other words, those that have to connect the claims of the experts to the general

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public have a tendency to overstate capabilities since it is the only possible way to avoid policy failure, while masking their own ignorance of the details. Thus, if a group of alleged experts frame any technological device as good for an specific task, those that have control of purses but do not know about the specifics of the device’s potential will simplify and amplify the claims presented by the experts. In the case of OLPC, the claims were dressed up using HSI as a moral and intellectual justification of the power of this specific kind of computers. Politicians willing to accommodate them were interested in presented themselves as modernizers and good managers, without taking into account any potential counter narrative. Any relevant narrative about the potential that computers have for changing education should start by defining the issues affecting education and how computers could actually be inserted as solutions; most probably any analysis along those lines would arrive to the conclusion that computers are not the single most urgent thing to deploy, but rather that the condition and quality of teaching is quite critical. But computers in the HSI-inspired narrative, are devices lacking any politics nor defects, and thus are perfect to fill the blanks in any assertion of the urgency to modernize education. Under HSI, computers are blank artifacts of a very specific version of modernity, carrying no issues whatsoever, that at the same time transform individuals into hackers. By using HSI as a justification, OLPC transformed the empowering of the individual as a systemic goal; by accepting those terms, Peruvian politicians allowed the social purpose of education to be lost in the specific narrative of the individual as a hacker and the larger one of individualism as the one solution to the limitations of poor and mid-income countries’s economies. Success will be at hand to those that grasp digital opportunities and become hackers.

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Problem is, just a minority of those exposed to computers become a hacker, just as only a minority of those exposed to any form of content or any specific device becomes a fan. Individuality may express itself in different ways, but to anchor it around computers does not favor everyone, but just a tiny minority, as well as acting as an strengthening mechanism for the modernizationthrough-technology narrative, a modern relic, so to speak, popular in Latin America in the 1960s but now without any particular example of success. Herein lies the major weakness, as well as the major danger, of associating HSI and politics: accessing a device is enough to appropriate it, and to produce the same benefits brought from using such device in different societies under different conditions; thus, if we access those devices, we shall have everything required for development, according to the definition of development underlying this particular social imaginary. It is a very weak line of reasoning, since evidence points to a different set of outcomes. But it is dangerous because it is seductive and easy to agree with, reinforced through cognitive shortcuts like the certainty trough: a supporter, convinced of the power of an specific idea, may thrust it into public discussion with decision makers in no position to react but in agreement, as the conventional notion of computers being beneficial in and on themselves is enough to drive them towards agreement; and no counter narrative exists besides knee-jerk rejection of technology as a capitalistic plot, or something along those lines. Some healthy skepticism should be the starting point for an answer: technology of any kind is just a collection of possibilities waiting to be applied in actual circumstances, with actual people taking fallible decisions and making mistakes along the path. The effect that technology, specially personal-use technology as the computer, will have in each individual, will be the outcome of a

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series of decisions, institutional but also personal, and will not be a set of similar or identical results.

CONCLUSION OLPC conscious adoption of the Hacker’s Social Imaginary allowed it to promote their product, and in Peru’s case, this promotion bore fruit as a government-run implementation, the largest in the world, took place since 2007/2008. Using HSI created a narrative that incorporated the tropes of hackerism as one of the most significant elements of OLPC’s raison d’être, and infused a moral validation to the whole enterprise. However, the success of such a narrative was not enough to create a policy, and the shortcomings of the computer itself as well as those of the educational model based upon it, finally meant that OLPC won the battle of politics, but lost the war of policies. This was expected; the failings of transporting HSI premises into the reality of an educational system like Peru’s were previsible, but public debate was weak and the few voices against such a hurried decision, not welcomed. In the end, the lack of a counter narrative was glaring, and while right now it may not be the case that it will be needed, it is just a matter of time for HSI to return as a public argument. The need for such a counter narrative, thus, is still present, and it is the role of academia to develop and defend it.

REFERENCES Abbate, J. (2001). Inventing the Internet. Cambridge, MA: MIT. Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Arora, P. (2012). The leisure divide: Can the “Third World” come out and play? Information Development, 1(9). doi:10.1177/0266666911433607

Barlow, J. P. (1995). A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. Retrieved from https:// projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html Cammaerts, B. (2008). Critiques on the participatory potentials of Web 2.0. Communication, Culture & Critique, 1(4), 358–377. doi:10.1111/ j.1753-9137.2008.00028.x Chan, A. S. (2013). Network peripheries: Technological Futures and the Myth of Digital Universalism. Cambridge, MA: MIT. Davidson, C. N., & Goldberg, D. (2009). The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age. Cambridge, MA: MIT. Dutton, W. (1999). Society on the line: information politics in the digital age. Oxford. Flichy, P. (2001). L’imaginaire d’Internet. Paris: La Deìcouverte. Hafner, K., & Lyon, M. (1997). Where wizards stay up late: the origins of the Internet. Simon & Schuster. Hargittai, E., & Shaw, A. (2015). Mind the skills gap: The role of Internet know-how and gender in differentiated contributions to Wikipedia. Information Communication and Society, 18(4), 424–442. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2014.957711 Se adquirirán 300 mil laptops para modernizar la educación (ampliación). (2008, October 7). Jefe del Estado. Retrieved from http://www. andina.com.pe/agencia/noticia-jefe-del-estadose-adquiriran-300-mil-laptops-para-modernizareducacion-ampliacion-197561.aspx Kidder, T. (1985). The Soul of a new machine. New York: Penguin. Leaning, M. (2010). The one laptop per child project and the problems of technology-led educational development. In I.R. Berson & M.J. Berson (Eds.), High-tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 231-248). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.

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Levy, S. (2001). Hackers: heroes of the computer revolution. New York: Penguin.

Raymond, E. S. (1996). The new hacker’s dictionary (3rd ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT.

Markoff, J. (2005). What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry. New York: Penguin.

Royal, C., & Kapila, D. (2009). What’s on Wikipedia, and what’s not . . .?: Assessing completeness of information. Social Science Computer Review, 27(1), 138–148. doi:10.1177/0894439308321890

Ministro Chang rechaza críticas a plan Una laptop por niño y pide a instituciones educativas sumarse a cruzada. (2007, November 5). Retrieved from http://www.andina.com.pe/agencia/noticia-ministro-chang-rechaza-criticas-a-plan-una-laptopnino-y-pide-a-instituciones-educativas-sumarsea-cruzada-148335.aspx Montgomery, K. (2007). Generation digital: politics, commerce and childhood in the age of the Internet. Cambridge, MA: MIT. OLPC. (2007a). Education. Retrieved from http:// one.laptop.org/about/education OLPC. (2007b). Mission statement. Retrieved from http://one.laptop.org/about/mission Papert, S. (1993). Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas (2nd ed.). NYC: Basic. Pinch, T., & Bijker, W. E. (1997). The social construction of facts and artifacts, or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit from each other. In W. Bijker, T. P. Hughes & T. Pinch (Eds.), The social construction of technological systems: new directions in the sociology and history of technology (pp. 17-50). MIT. Ploskonka, Y. (2009). How to learn when 53 percent of XO laptops are broken? OLPC news, Retrieved from http://www.olpcnews.com/ implementation/maintenance/how_to_learn_broken_xo_laptops.html Prototipo de laptop escolar pasa prueba técnica solicitada por sector Educación. (2007, May 10). Retrieved from http://www.andina.com.pe/agencia/noticia-prototipo-laptop-escolar-pasa-pruebatecnica-solicitada-sector-educacion-125707.aspx

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Searle, J. R. (1996). The Construction of Social Reality. New York: Penguin. Serazio, M. (2010). Shooting for fame: Spectacular youth, Web 2.0 dystopia and the celebrity anarchy of generation mash-up. Communication, Culture & Critique, 3(3), 416–434. doi:10.1111/j.17539137.2010.01078.x Steger, M. B., & James, P. (2013). Levels of Subjective Globalization: Ideologies, Imaginaries, Ontologies. Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 12(1–2). doi:10.1163/1569149712341240 Toyama, K. (2010). Can technology end poverty? Boston Review. Retrieved from http://bostonreview.net/BR35.6/toyama.php Uruguay y Perú son los primeros países de la región en distribuir ordenadores a niños pobres. (2007, December 14). Retrieved from http://www. andina.com.pe/agencia/noticia-uruguay-y-peruson-los-primeros-paises-de-region-distribuirordenadores-a-ninos-pobres-153151.aspx Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies. (2009). U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. Valovic, T. (1999). Digital mythologies: the hidden complexities of the Internet. Rutgers. Villanueva-Mansilla, E. (2010). Vida digital: la tecnología en el centro de lo cotidiano. Lima: PUCP.

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Villanueva-Mansilla, E. (2015) One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Strategy. The International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society. 1–6. Doi:10.1002/9781118767771.wbiedcs032 Vota, W. (2010). Was the Sugar User Interface a Mistake? OLPC News. Retrieved from http:// www.olpcnews.com/software/sugar/sugar_user_ interface_a_mistake.html Warschauer, M., & Ames, M. (2010). Can One Laptop Per Child save the world’s poor? Journal of International Affairs, 64(01), 33–51. Weston, M., & Bain, A. (2010). The end of techno-critique: the naked truth about 1:1 laptop initiatives and educational change. The Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment, 9(6). http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/jtla/article/ download/1611/1458 Winner, L. (1986). The whale and the reactor: a search for limits in the age of high technology. Chicago University.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Developing Nation: Although there is no universal, agreed-upon criterion for what makes a country developing versus developed and which countries fit these two categories, a nation with a lower standard of living, underdeveloped industrial base, and low Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries is customarily called “developing”. Hackerism: The attitude and practice of computer hacking, that is the interest of mastering computers with no external justification, but just to comprehend and dominate the potential and

modify the computers to do whatever is deemed necessary. ICTD: Acronym used for Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Also known as ICT4D; it indicates both the practices and experiences of using ICT, that is computers and similar technologies, for development purposes, that is improving people’s lives at different levels; as well as the study and analysis of such practices and experiences, from a professional and academic research perspective. Libertarian(ism): A political position that asserts that liberty is the principal objective of human life. Libertarians propose the maximization of individual autonomy and freedom of choice against any potential collective benefit, emphasizing political freedom, voluntary association and the primacy of individual judgement, while striving to limit the power and functions of the State. OLPC: One Laptop Per Child, the project supporting the deployment of an specific, purposedesigned and built computer called the XO-1, as an educational tool for the developing world. Social Imaginary: A collective understanding about how the world should be and how we should live on it, a dominant commonsense of a period or a place. Sociotechnical System: The result of the deployment of a given combination of devices arranged to achieve specific goals in a social context. It includes not just the devices but also the specific techniques required to use them, as well as the organizational and societal arrangements, including the personal transformations needed, that both allow and result from this particular technological deployment.

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Chapter 26

Digital Inclusion Programs in South America María Gladys Ceretta University of the Republic, Uruguay Javier Canzani University of the Republic, Uruguay

ABSTRACT This chapter aims to provide an overview of digital inclusion in Mercosur countries. It is particularly focused on the description of the Plan Ceibal in Uruguay which is considered a national public policy. It promotes the integration of Uruguayan citizens in a digital context, contributing to equity and democratization of information and knowledge. This plan is based on the experience promoted by Negroponte OLPC. It was adapted to the peculiarities and needs of Uruguay. It was implemented in stages, beginning with a geographical area of the country that served as a pilot one. There were delivered more than 350,000 laptops for children in all primary schools of the whole country. Currently, the Plan also applies to secondary education level. It is presented data on assessments and studies about the implementation of the Plan.

INTRODUCTION The beginning of the new millennium consolidates the so called Society of Information and Knowledge which has its origins in mid 1970s. This Society positions humanity in a context of continuous changes and transformations, almost uncontrollable. One of its most relevant aspects is the importance given to information in its diverse dimensions before the strong presence of the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in all aspects of human lives. Castells (1999) states

“what has changed in our societies are not the kind of activities in which humankind takes part, but their technological capacity to use as their productive force what differentiates our species as a biological rarity, that is to say, their capacity to process symbols.” (Castells, 1999) Apart from the fact that the ICT are tools that provide for, facilitate the access and retrieval of information in unmanageable quantities, it can be stated that they have taken a privileged place in society. In this sense, they have become an object of interest and concern in all the countries

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch026

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around the world and because of them different state policies have been implemented in order to guarantee the digital inclusion of the society as a whole. Rivoir, Escuder and Baldizán (2010) state: “The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are linked to deep in social, economic, political and cultural changes that have increased since the early 90s. They cross macrosocial processes such as their role in the consolidation of globalization process, the increase of the importance of information and knowledge in the production processes and the changes at a cultural and symbolic level, as well as changes in the daily lives of people. We can say that while on the one hand, these technologies represent a breakthrough for humanity, on the other hand it is a new factor of inequality that has been called digital gap. ” (Rivoir, Escuder & Badizán, 2010) The countries in Latin America, especially those members of the MERCOSUR (Mercado Común del Sur): Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and recently Venezuela, have not remained aloof to the new trends of this global society, in which the information mediated by technologies has become a strategic element in human development. (Baica & Beguerie, 2012) Digital inclusion has become not only a desired goal but a necessary one. The so called digital gap has deepened the differences between the rich and the poor, and ways need to be found to try to diminish this gap. Nowadays it is not only a question of economic matters, but also of the intensification of the possibilities that some people have to access technology while others cannot, which directly affects their becoming an active part of a new world that suffers constant vertiginous changes. According to Rivoir (2012) it is possible to know a detailed and recent outlook of the strategies that the Latin American countries have been implementing to become part of the society of information and knowledge. The author analyses the Digital Agendas of eleven Latin American countries where their evolution and development

have been appreciated throughout time as well as the different statements that sustain the state policies of digital inclusion and the plans and programs that sustain the decisions taken by each country in order to achieve the concrete goals that will gradually allow all citizens regardless of their position in society to become an active part in it. Uruguay has not remained aloof to the new paradigms that have become part of the society, and even though the expression “globalization” is not always accepted, it is an indisputable reality, since all the countries in the world follow the same paths in order to achieve the same goals. Martín –Barbero (2000) states “globalization disconnects people, institutions and countries that do not correspond to what this hegemonic reason values, especially in Latin America.” (MartínBarbero, 2000) One of the fields that have been strongly affected by the use of technology is Education in its widest sense. We start from the assumption that individuals must have tools to learn to learn and this learning has to be fed all through their lives. The document by the Organization for the Cooperation and Economic Development, (OCDE) (2010) specifically refers to what the apprentices of the new millennium are like, their characteristics and their needs. This document provides with general guidelines on the dimensions to be taken into account when forming these individuals in a society in which technology is here to stay. (OCDE, 2010). According Area Moreira (2011): “Digital technology is already a substantial part of financial and business systems, administrative and management services of the governments, and of the leisure time of youth and many adults people, and of cultural and information industries. However, ICT are still absent from most classrooms, and when they are used, many teachers are not attracted to use them. “(Area Moreira, 2011) After this brief introduction information will be given of the situation in Uruguay with respect to the background and evolution of the strategies

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for the society of information and to put in context the subsequent development of the so called “Plan Ceibal.”

URUGUAY AND THE DIGITAL INCLUSION The context information that is presented below will allow to take knowledge of application scenario of Plan Ceibal, that is the specific aim of this chapter. Knowing the characteristics and peculiarities of Uruguay is the key to understand the digital inclusion policies and its development in a reference context worldwide and especially in Latin America. The Oriental Republic of Uruguay has a total surface area of 176,215 square kilometers. It is bordered to the north and part of the east by Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Río de la Plata and to the west by Argentina. The official language is Spanish. The State is secular. The country is politically divided into 19 Departments. The capital city is Montevideo located in the Department of the same name, in the south of the country on the Río de la Plata. The government is democratic, representative, organized in three powers: Judicial Power, Legislative Power and Executive Power, based on the principles of State of Law. The President of the Republic is chosen through national elections which are compulsory for all those citizens enabled to vote. The population is composed by communities of foreign origin, being the most important ones the Spanish and the Italian communities. Although there are no native communities, there are direct descendants, according to the information given by the National Institute of Statistics (INE, 2011). According to the updated data of the last National Census held in the year 2011, there is a total population of 3.286.314 people, being 1.577.725 (48.01%) male and 1.708.481 (51.99%) female. Montevideo: the capital city, is the most densely

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populated area. Of the total population, 3.110.701 (94.66%) reside in the urban area and 175.613 (5.34%) in the rural area. The state Uruguayan Educational System is characterized by being free, secular and compulsory; principles which are defined in the National Constitution (1967). The compulsory path of education involves: the starting level (5 year-olds and from 2009 onwards 3 and 4 year-olds as well); primary education (6 year-olds, level 6-11 years old); and secondary education (3 years, level 1215 years old). To have access to university studies students must finish 3 years that correspond to high school totaling 6 years of Middle and Higher education. Currently there are two state Universities: UdelaR (University of the Republic) which is more than 160 years old and has a total of 81.774 students and UTEC (Technological University of Uruguay) established by law in the year 2013, which will start working in 2015. For a long time, higher education was mainly public with a very small incidence on the part of private education. However, in the last twenty years there has been a strong rise in private education especially with respect to higher education, having opened different universities in the country. (Uruguay, MEC, Anuario Estadístico de Educación, 2012) Unlike most countries, in Uruguay the Ministry of Education is not directly in charge of the design and application of educational policies. “The MEC is in charge of the development of the general principles of education, facilitating the articulation among the national educational policies and the policies of human, social, cultural, technological and economic development, and also to record, compile and disseminate the statistics of the sector, involved in the National Statistics System.” (Uruguay, MEC, Anuario Estadístico de Educación, 2012) The different levels of education are autonomous. In the case of the starting level, primary, secondary and technical education under the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP)

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and in the case of higher education under the University of the Republic (UdelaR) and recently the Technological University of Uruguay (UTEC). On 12th December 2008 a new law was passed: the new Law of General Education No 18.437. This law defines the National System of Education as the group of integrated and articulated educational proposals for all the inhabitants throughout their lives. With reference to the statistical data relevant for the information related to the Plan Ceibal, the total number of students enrolled in primary education (1 to 6 year-olds) are 340.989 and in secondary school 321.659. The investment in education in relation to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has substantially risen in the last years, being 4.48% in 2011. (Uruguay, INE, Anuario Estadístico, 2013) With reference to the initiatives related to the digital inclusion and especially what refers to the strategies that the country has been developing in order to face the new socio-economic contexts of the society of information, the following can be noted: a) the creation of the National Committee for the Society of Education and Uruguay in the Net, in the year 2000: b) in 2005 the Advisory Group on Information Technology (GATI) was created which was highly influenced by private businesses and c) according to the Budget Law 17.930 from 19th December 2005 the Government Agency of electronic Management and Society of information and Knowledge (AGESIC) was created, which has become more important in matters referred to the development strategies of the society of information and has gradually replenished with public institutions with the aim of contributing to generate policies accordingly and elaborating the Digital Agenda of the country. (Rivoir, 2012) The strategic lines established by the Digital Agenda of Uruguay centered on: equity and social inclusion; democratic strengthening; transformation of the State; development of infrastructure; economic development based on knowledge; culture, education and generation of knowledge and regional integration and insertion.

The Paper 2007 of AGESIC specifies “the Society of Information and Knowledge (SIC) has placed the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as its most relevant tool. This is why it is vital to establish criteria of adoption of these technologies, strategic lines and specific goals with the objective of improving the quality of life of the population. This must be analyzed in the context of the Uruguayan reality where poverty and exclusion of an important sector of the population coexist with favorable conditions which can boost an economy based on knowledge.”(AGESIC, 2007) In this situation, one proposal strongly arises among others, the one called Plan Ceibal, which aims to provide personal computers to all students and teachers in the public education, with the objective of enabling the access of Uruguayans to computing and to the Internet, and as a tool to improve education and promoting social equity. According to data produced by the survey carried out by the Grupo Radar (2013), currently Uruguay has 1.950.000 Internet users including all age groups and all geographical places, which is approximately a 71% of the population. The biggest percentage of Internet penetration is 97% in the age group from 12 to 19 year-olds; 89% between 20 and 29 years old and 86% between 30 and 39 years old. The biggest increase in percentage appears in people older than 65 years old which went from 7% to 25%. The Anuario Estadístico de Educación (2012) states “With the Plan Ceibal, the low income households have been able to locate themselves, in proportion with households with computers, in similar standards with the richest sectors, and above middle-class sectors. Between 2006 and 2011 the percentage of people of 6 and older who used a PC in the last month increased 146% and the households with access to the Internet 217.7%.” In general lines it has been noted that Uruguay has not remained aloof to the transformations that the world society is experimenting, with regard to a new paradigm that has its foundation in informa-

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tion and knowledge. Gradually, the country has been taking decisions and implementing different actions with the aim of preparing citizens to become an active part in the new social contexts, reducing the digital gap, contributing to the social equity and to the democratization of the information and knowledge.

ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD (OLPC): THE PROJECT THAT SUPPORTS PLAN CEIBAL The Project One Laptop per Child (OLPC): “one computer per child” was introduced by Nicolás Negroponte, director of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), in the year 2005. The original idea was to develop and produce low cost laptops in order to give them out to each school child in the countries with low-income resources. Area Moreira (2011) says: “This concept of one computer per student has gained a remarkable importance in recent years, not only in the context of highly developed countries, as is the case of the United States that has had experiences of this kind for more than a decade, but also in developing countries, in Latin America, Africa and Asia.” (Area Moreira, 2011). In the particular case of Latin America, the process of implementation of what is known as the Educational Model 1-1 (a computer-a child), still needs more application time to get conclusive results about its benefits. The project was taken on by countries in different places of the world, especially those with problematic socio-economic situations because in this way technology could reach the highest number of individuals with very low investment, taking into account segments of the population that would hardly have access to a computer by their own means. Most of the laptops were distributed in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. A community was formed in order to support the implementation of the project with similar criteria. However, in the countries of the Mercosur the

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implementation of the project came into practice under different modalities and characteristics. The varied geographic dimensions, differences in population and in the economy in the countries of the Region implied that the model had to be applied in different ways. In Argentina the program Conectar - Igualdad was implemented through the Educational Web Portal Educ.ar from the Education Ministery; in Chile EducarChile and Enlaces which have been applied for a period of time; in Paraguay, Paraguay Educa and in Brazil the initiative was called differently according to the place where it was set into motion. The impact that the project had on each country was directly related to the government’s support and the political decisions that supported its being set into motion. The case of Uruguay is one of the clearest in this respect because the resolution to start implementing the project OLPC came from a decision made by the President of the Republic (Presidential Decree 144/007 from 18th April 2007), that is to say from the Legislative Power, in accordance with and with the assessment of AGESIC and was implemented, at the beginning, in the field of primary education applying it throughout the country as a state policy of digital and social inclusion. It is significant that the Uruguayan Educational System was not expressly taken into account to make the decision of acquiring the technology and introducing it in the classroom, so much so that the Plan Ceibal, which will be described below, operates in the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU) away from the educational area, but in articulation and coordination with it. It can be said that at the very beginning technology and education seemed to go separate ways, but this situation is reverting little by little. The idea that underlies the project OLPC (2012) is that advantage should be takenof “the innate abilities of the children to learn, share and create by themselves.”(OLPC, 2012) Vaillant (2013) states that the machine (known as XO in the project OLPC and “Ceibalita”, in the

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Plan Ceibal) was “designed to “learn to learn” and based on constructivist and constructionist orientations developed by Seymour Papert and his followers in the 1960s.” (Vaillant, 2013) Seymour Papert (1995), creator of the pedagogic model of the project OLPC (Model 1 to 1), stated from the very beginning that there would be a confrontation between the educational system centered on the children and their computer and the one centered on the teachers. From this point of view the idea is that a child faced with a laptop would be able to learn by himself, naturally, just the way children who go to school and are guided by a teacher do. However, according to Piscitelli (2010), reality has shown that the systematic and qualified education oriented by teachers shows evidence of a real and sustainable learning. Garrido (2009) states that behind this venture there is a political and social intention that wants to empower the more vulnerable social classes in the developing countries through a technological device, which has been given the name of “technological determinism.” The context in which this project is presented aims for social equity through the use of technologies and for the time being leaves aside the necessary changes so that the inclusion of technologies in the classroom comes together with a relevant pedagogic project, modern and thought of from a different point of view other than the traditional one. This aspect of the proposal has caused numerous debates among specialists who based their positions for or against the project. Nowadays it can be said that experts agree with the idea that technology by itself cannot produce neither learning nor knowledge. Garrido states that “Technological determinism: a too simple, easy, unassuming and prevailing view that imposes an action (social, political or strategic) which goes beyond what is evident. OLPC is, in short, a project full of good intentions, but implies a change in the paradigm of the educational model. Otherwise, we will make the usual mistake of focusing our attention

on technology and not on learning. Technology is a means, learning is an end.” (Garrido, 2009). According Area Moreira (2011) one of the main criticisms of the models 1-1 is that they have been based mainly in technology and not on the educational dimension of this phenomenon. The other important aspect about this topic is the importance of introducing the necessary changes in the training of teachers who can actually face new educational challenges of introducing technology in the classroom. Area Moreira says “Teacher training in digital skills and educational use of ICT should be one of the central goals of the models 1: 1. Without trained teachers, it can not afford quality education practices with computers and internet. Without teachers trained and capable of organizing teaching situations around ICT, students can not learn in a meaningful and relevant way. Teachers must have a crucial and fundamental leading role in the teaching-learning processes that occur in the classroom in model 1: 1. (Area Moreira, 2011) Warschauer and Ames (2010) quoted by Area Moreira (2011) express [...] “laptops should be considered as a component of a comprehensive education reform based on a wide technological infrastructure, in technical support, in the professional teacher, in curriculum development, and careful planning of the implementation process and ongoing evaluation “.

DESCRIPTION OF PLAN CEIBAL (PLAN OF EDUCATION CONNECTIVITY OF BASIC COMPUTING FOR LEARNING ONLINE) Although the Plan is in continuous evaluation and it is a public policy for digital inclusion, many aspects remains to be done to substantiate its impact on the educational process in general. Considering this aspect it has been considered

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more appropriate to make a description of it that makes it possible to show the work being done and the general lines of action. The Plan of Education Connectivity of Basic Computing for Learning Online known as PLAN CEIBAL began being implemented in Uruguay after the Presidential Decree 144/007 from 18th April 2007 in the context of the Equity Plan for the Access to Digital Information. (Unesco, 2009) At the beginning, it consisted of giving each school child and each teacher in the whole country a portable computer, something which has reached secondary school and the teachers involved in it. It is important to bear in mind that the Plan was boosted by political interests, without having a previous debate in the different areas of education. As a result, its implementation faced serious difficulties because educators were strongly opposed to carrying out this policy. It had different origins the opposition of the educators to the Plan. On one hand, teachers was not asked for its implementation and they found themselves confronted with the challenge of introducing technology in the classroom without a pedagogical project that would support this new way of teaching and learning. On the other hand mostly teachers were not properly trained to use the technology to its full potential and integrate it into the teaching process with new pedagogical approaches. Gradually, with the passing of time, and as it is here to stay, the Plan Ceibal has been accepted, not without substantial criticism that it faces even today. Among one of the most distinct difficulties we find the lack of training of the educational human resources to guarantee a successful insertion of the technology in the classroom; the shortage of educational content itself and the responsible use of the possibilities that technology offers regarding the access and the retrieval of information. In this sense, the beginnings of the Plan were closely linked to the concept that technology itself offered the children the possibility of learning and the teachers the possibility of teaching, taking

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as a starting point the beginnings of the project OLPC. However, during the implementation of the experiment different scenarios came up that have made the Plan Ceibal review its objectives and the course to follow and think about a pedagogic project different from the traditional one. Introducing technology in the classroom requires significant changes on the way education is conceived. One of the first issues addressed by the Plan was the continuous training of qualified human resources. The update of educators is performed continuously. The project is based on the initiative “One Laptop Per Child” (OLPC) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Model 1 to 1) and it adapts itself to the characteristics of Uruguay, becoming a referential experience worldwide in what implies the integration of technology in the classroom. In this sense, the world has set its eyes on the Plan Ceibal and the experience has become a model to follow. As the President of the Republic, who encouraged the creation of the Plan said: “The strategic principles behind this project are equity, equality of opportunities for all the children and teenagers, democratization of knowledge, as well as availability of supplies to learn and of learning, not only with respect to the education given at School but to learn themselves to use modern technology. The philosophy behind this project aims at diminishing the digital gap, offering the same opportunities, democratization of knowledge and new ways of literacy. The most important components of the Plan Ceibal are three: equity, learning, technology. “The implementation of the Plan is done through an interinstitutional project that initially involved the Presidency of the Republic, the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU), the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP), Central Board Council (CODICEN), the Primary and Initial Education Council (CEIP), Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), Agency for the Government’s Development of Electronic Management and the Society of Information and

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Knowledge (AGESIC), National Agency for Investigation and Innovation (ANII) and the National Telecommunications Administration (ANTEL).” (Unesco, 2008) From the Law 18.640 from 8th January 2010 and its changes envisaged in the Law 18.719 of the National Budget for the period 2010-2014, arises the creation of the Ceibal Centre for the Support to Education in Childhood and Adolescence. These rules give institutionalism to the Ceibal Centre transforming it into a legal entity of the public law not state-owned that answers directly to the Presidency of the Republic. His Centre is in charge of “the coordination and development of plans and support programs to educational policies for children and adolescents, besides the contribution to the exercise of the law in education and the social inclusion facilitating the equality to the access of knowledge, and the development of educational programs that have an influence on the population concerned.” (Uruguay, Poder Legislativo, Ley 18.640, 2010) Furthermore, the Centre for the Technological and Social Inclusion (CITS) is conformed, which is composed by: a delegate of the Executive Power and President of the Centre; a delegate of the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP); a delegate of the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) and a delegate of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). 350.000 portable computers with wireless connection were distributed by Plan Ceibal at the very beginning, which comprised 2300 state primary schools in the whole country. These computers reached 18.000 teachers. The most important strategic guidelines for the implementation of the Plan Ceibal were structured in four phases (Ceibal, CPA, Fererre, 2010, quoted by Vaillant, 2013):

Phase 2 (second semester of 2017): The rest of the Department of Florida until it was fully covered. Phase 3 (year 2008): All the departments in the country, except for Montevideo and the Metropolitan Area. Phase 4 (year 2009): Montevideo and the Metropolitan Area.

Phase 1 (first semester of 2017): School No. 24 in Villa Cardal, Florida (200 computers donated by OLPC)

•

In the first phase, focused on Villa Cardal, the roles and procedures to follow started to adjust. As a pilot plan, this period was useful to find solutions to all the difficulties that any large project might find when it is set into motion. As a result, in the second phase, a competitive hiring process was convened for the Pedagogical Coordination of the Plan Ceibal within the Primary Education Council. (Plan Ceibal, 2014) At the end of 2007, the Pedagogical Project of the Plan Ceibal was formulated by the Commission of Education of such Plan. Its foundations highlight “The introduction of computers in the school does not mean merely learning to use a technological resource, it implies thinking how its integration in the classroom boosts students’ learning, valuing not only the access to new knowledge but also the development of attitudes, skills, etc.” (Plan Ceibal, 2007 Proyecto Pedagógico del Plan Ceibal) The general objectives pursued by such Project are the following: •

•

Contribute to the improvement of the educational quality through the integration of technology in the classroom, in the school and in the family; Promote equal opportunities for all Primary School students giving one computer to each child and each teacher. Develop a collaborative culture in four lines: child-child; child-teacher; teacherteacher and child-family-school;

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•

Promote literacy and electronic criticality in the pedagogical community, bearing in mind ethical principles.

In the process of building and strengthening the Plan Ceibal objectives have been reformulated and new aspects that had not been considered were addressed: it was learning on the move. The need for qualified and trained human resources in order to introduce technology in the classroom (teachers) has led to the implementation of programs of “Teacher Training” at different levels; from basic issues on operating a computer and its applications to the elaboration of digital resources for learning. Furthermore, the connectivity system has been expanding all through the national territory, having all schools free wi-fi connection and having more and more public places which enable the citizens to access the net. The continuous renovation of the laptops, which were at the beginning the XO from OLPC, has also been a key element that has enabled technological updating, having faster computers, with better equipment and more advanced software development. Currently, tablets have been purchased in order to be used by children in initial education from 3 to 5 years old, so that the introduction to the technological world begins at a very early age. The use of computers of Plan Ceibal has expanded to give support to other areas of the Uruguayan society; for example, the university elections held in 2013 were implemented with “Ceibalitas.” Additionally, there is a plan for carrying out the national elections in October, 2014 using this technology, since in the internal elections of political parties in June 2014 a first experience was held which was very successful. The Plan Ceibal has also been promoting the “Ceibal Library” since 2011, which has stories, texts and different school books of free access. Recently, the Plan Ceibal has invested in other technological devices such as 3D printers and

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has donated this equipment to secondary schools which presented projects in which the use of these printers can be really useful. To end this item, it seems appropriate to make reference to the Project “Flor de Ceibo” prompted by the University of the Republic in mid 2008, in order to “construct a space of university formation, of an interdisciplinary nature, oriented towards community work beginning from an objective of national scope: the set into motion of the Plan Ceibal. With the intention of contributing to the digital literacy in the country, teachers and university students were summoned from all sectors of this place of study.” (Kachinovsky, 2009) The project “Flor de Ceibo” became not only a field for learning for university students but for contributions to the investigation and consolidation of the relation university-society promoting the social appropriation of knowledge. (Uruguay. Universidad de la República, Flor de Ceibo, 2013)

EVALUATION AND INVESTIGATION OF THE PLAN CEIBAL In this subsection different documents will be mentioned which gather assessments of the Plan Ceibal, both from the official area of the Plan and other areas, especially academic publications which have studied the impact of the project on the country from different approaches. The evaluation of the Plan Ceibal and the impact on the Uruguayan society has been a constant concern for the diverse participants involved in the Plan, and even for those who are not part of it. In this sense it is important to clarify that the evaluations coming from these different areas do not always coincide, but they provide content to the debate established in the country about the use of technology as a means of social inclusion and essential for the new learning contexts. It is worth mentioning how positive has been the fact that the Plan Ceibal has generated a space

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of continuous analysis and reflection in which the point of view of different disciplines converge and are involved in such a complex process as the one that is being carried out. The fact that the universities have taken the Plan Ceibal as a subject of study not only benefits the Plan itself but also the building of knowledge of the area nationwide. In 2009 the “Primer informe nacional de monitoreo y evaluación de impacto social del Plan Ceibal” (Plan Ceibal, 2009) was published. This was carried out in the field of the Area of Monitoring and Evaluation of the Social Impact of the Plan Ceibal. The report deals with different aspects of the Plan such as: the activities carried out as an experiment at the beginning of 2007; the access to computers and the connection to the Internet; who are the ones who use the computers (children, family); what abilities the children and their families have in order to use the computers; the good practices that arise in the school and in the community from the use of computers; the state of conservation and appropriation of the equipment on the part of the children and the families. Despite the fact that it is a very complete report, it specifically focuses on the use of technology and its appropriation rather than on the matters of pedagogical contents. No clear elements arise from this first evaluation which contribute to the pedagogical building of the process of teachinglearning by means of technology. Other evaluation documents which have arisen in the context of the Plan Ceibal can be checked in the Plan website, such as: • • • •

The impact on the use and access to the ICT, 2010 Survey to secondary public school teachers on the access, mastery and use of tools, ICT, 2011 Annual Evolution of Primary 2009-2011 Plan Ceibal, 2012 Evolution of the access gap to ICT and the contribution of the Plan Ceibal, 2012

• •

Evaluation of Ceibal learning in English, 2013 Evolution of the access gap to ICT and the contribution of the Plan Ceibal, 2013

All the evaluation documents have given an account of the advances, strengths and difficulties that the Plan Ceibal presents, but without a doubt they are essential input in decision making and reformulation of objectives. With regard to the academic publications which study the Plan Ceibal, they come from different sources. There is a strong production that comes from different Faculties of the University of the Republic. However, this issue has also been considered by private universities nationwide. The most representative results that arise from the above-mentioned documents are mentioned below: The publication “Learning with the XO: the impact of the Plan Ceibal on learning” (Ferrando et al, 2011), had the main objective of determining the impact of the Plan Ceibal on the learning of children in public schools in the country except for Montevideo and Canelones. It also “analyzes the effect of the Plan Ceibal on the motivation of children and the perception of their parents and teachers of how the availability of computers affects the children’s attitude towards learning and towards school life in general, and the commitment of teachers with the Plan.” A comparison was made between students of 2006 and those of 2009 (who had already been part of the process of working with XO), in specific parts of the country. Overall, a positive effect of the Plan Ceibal was determined in the performance of the children in mathematics, the impact was not the same in reading. On the other hand, the research did not present large variations concerning the motivation of children to attend the school taking into account the fact that the computers were in the classroom. De Mello et al (2013) released the publication “Looking into the effects of the Plan Ceibal”

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which is based on the research mentioned above and expands the time range from 2006 to 2012 to monitor and compare the results of the children and the use of computers throughout their school life. At first these results do not show a significant impact of the Plan Ceibal in relation to the teaching of mathematics and of reading. This view is consistent with the positions about it which are reflected in the specialized literature and which have their foundation on the fact that the presence of the computer in the classroom must be accompanied by an educational project according to the new contexts. There is no impact either on the self-perception of the abilities in the analyzed subjects or in the abilities related to the use of XO.” (De Mello et al, 2013) It is important to mention the research carried out by Pittaluga and Rivoir (2012) who have studied the contribution of the Plan Ceibal to the reduction of the digital gap and to the social inclusion. Additionally, Kachinovsky et al. (2013) analysethe impact of the Plan Ceibal on the cognitive and linguistic functioning of the children. Furthermore, Winocur and Sánchez Vilela (2013) carried forward a research of qualitative nature that aimed at knowing the experience of appropriation of the computers XO in the families and communities that benefitted from the Plan Ceibal. The research had the support of the Centro Ceibal and the BID-FOMIN (Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank). The study was envisaged from a socio anthropological approach that rebuilt the practices and inquired about the significance that the families give to the XO. The authors state “the challenge of our research was to try to go beyond the simple study of the uses and perception of virtues and problems of the XO, with the objective of understanding how the experience is carried out in the domestic field and its community surroundings, by rebuilding practices and family representations with the new digital device in the context of the symbolic universes of belonging.” (Winocour & Sánchez Vilela, 2013). The results

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of this research provide a different view of the problem area that involves the impact of ICT on the family environment and as a result on the other areas of individual development. Additionally, in the context of the Program for the Academic Development of the Information and Communication (PRODIC) of the Faculty of Information and Communication (FIC) of the University of the Republic, a research project has been carried out since 2010, called “Literacy in Information and Reading Competences: tools to access the society of information and knowledge” (Ceretta & Gascue, 2010-2014), which centers its study in the Plan Ceibal, in order to determine if it has considered the development of literacy programs in information or if it just focuses on digital literacy. The project has studied how children and teachers behavewhen they are faced with the selection, evaluation and appropriation of digital contexts and after the evaluation of the results of the investigation a Model of Literacy in Information has been proposed in order to formusers of information critical and qualified in handling the contents that the ICT enable to reach. This project focuses on the development of the differentiation between digital literacy and information literacy. (Ceretta & Picco, 2013) As it was mentioned in the beginning of this item, the Plan Ceibal has strongly impacted on the context of the country and has given rise to a series of investigations that position it as an object of study at national, regional and international level.

FINAL COMMENTS This chapter has focused its attention on the Plan Ceibal, which is carried out in Uruguay and corresponds with the philosophy of the project OLPC “one laptop per child”. This Plan arises from a decision of the Executive Power of the Uruguayan government and has the support and assessment of specialists in the technological issues.

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At the beginning, the Plan met strong resistance, especially on the part of the members of the educational context, who had not been asked about its viability and took the initiative as an imposition on the part of the government. The specialists in education adopted different positions, but almost all of them were critical of the project and not constructive about it. Anyway, the decision had been made and the investment in the purchase of the computers was carried out and it still is. One computer was given to each school child and currently secondary school students have received one as well. The Plan Ceibal has an important infrastructure for the allocation and maintenance of the computers, which are given to each child, teacher, teenager and secondary teacher with a personal identification, which allows each user to be responsible for the use of the computer they were assigned. Furthermore, in the Area of Teacher Training of the Plan Ceibal, created in 2010, work is being done on the basis of a planning which focuses on giving the teachers continuous training in order to pass through the changing processes of the traditional educational system to the one based on the use of technology. This aspect is coordinated with the authorities of the National Education although the study programs approved by these authorities not always take into account the existence of Plan Ceibal. This results in the lack of obligation in the use of computers and until now their use in the classroom is in the hands of the interest and will that each teacher shows. Different positions have been created which motivate the teachers to become part of this project, such as Ceibal Supporting Teachers (MAC), Ceibal Key Teachers and also Community Teachers who help along these lines. A very important fact is that the use of the “ceibalita” has become part of the Teacher Training Institutes, which guarantees a different future for the introduction of technology in the classroom. However, and according to the results of some of the investigations carried out, until now there

are few contexts in which it can be stated the use of ICT has impacted on the learning processes. The experience has been successful in teaching mathematics and English, but positive results still have not been achieved in the use of the language and even in what refers to the use and evaluation of the information. The Plan Ceibal is here to stay and becomes stronger each passing day. Its consolidation at national level has been given regional and international recognition, becoming a reference in the matter of content and an example to follow worldwide. The passing of time has shown that it is not enough to give out the computers to the people for them to learn, technology in itself does not create knowledge and the Model 1 to 1 (the child and the computer) could be a way to learn but does not encourage systematic learning. It is important to have present that it is not enough to have technology in the classroom. Technology by itself, does not produce learning or knowledge. It is important that before the acquisition plans and provision of technologies to have clear why, what for and how to use them. (Area Moreira, 2011). Another important aspect in this context is that it is not enough the access to technology, but it’s fundamental to know how to use critically the content offered by these technologies and this is the key of the information used with sense (Rivoir, Escuder & Baldizan, 2010) To sum up, the chapter has tried to present a general idea of the stage of digital inclusion in the countries which are members of the Mercosur and specifically focuses on the Plan Ceibal as a reference model of a project that is successfully valued in some aspects and that still needs work to be done in other aspects, especially pedagogical ones. The new society of information and knowledge requires multiple literacies and the education must assume this new paradigm to form individuals capable of permanent learning, in which the use of ICT is an inevitable and necessary reality that promotes the integration, collaboration and the nets of knowledge.

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Habilidades y competencias en el siglo XXI para los aprendices del nuevo milenio en los países de la OCDE. (2010). Organization for the Cooperation and Economic Development (OCDE). Retrieved from http://recursostic.educacion. es/blogs/europa/media/blogs/europa/informes/ Habilidades_y_competencias_siglo21_OCDE. pdf Papert, S. (1995). La máquina de los niños. Replantearse la educación en la era de los ordenadores. Barcelona: Paidós. Piscitelli, A. (2010). 1@1. Derivas en la educación digital. Buenos Aires: Santillana. Pittaluga, L. (2010). ¿Contribuye el Plan Ceibal a cerrar la brecha digital en Uruguay? PNUD Report. Retrieved from http://www.cepal.org/dds/ noticias/paginas/2/41012/plan-ceibal-uruguaylucia-pittaluga.pdf Pittaluga, L., & Rivoir, A. (2013). Contribución del Plan Ceibal a la reducción de la brecha digital y a la inclusión social. In A. Rivoir, M. Ferrando, A. Kachinosvky, S. Martínez, I. Perazzo, L. Pittaluga, A. Rivoir, A. Vernergo (Eds.), Plan Ceibal e inclusión social: perspectivas interdisciplinarias. Retrieved from http://www.ceibal. edu.uy/art%C3%ADculo/noticias/institucionales/ nuevolibroplanceibaleinclusionsocial Plan Ceibal. (2007) Proyecto Pedagógico Ceibal. Retrieved from http://www.cep.edu.uy/archivos/ tecnologiaceibal/proyecto_pedagogico.pdf Plan Ceibal. (2009). Ceibal en la sociedad del siglo XXI: referencia para padres y educadores. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org.uy/ci/ fileadmin/comunicacion-informacion/Libro_ CEIBAL_en_la_sociedad_del_siglo_XXI.pdf Plan Ceibal (2009). Primer informe nacional de monitoreo y evaluación del impacto del Plan Ceibal, 2009. Coordinators: A. L. Martínez, D. Díaz. S. Alonso. Montevideo: Monitoring and impact assessment of Plan Ceibal.

Plan Ceibal. (2010). Acerca del Plan. Plan Ceibal. Retrieved from http://www.ceibal.edu. uy/art%C3%ADculo/noticias/institucionales/ Centro-Ceibal-para-el-Apoyo-a-la-Educacionde-la-Ninez-y-la-Adolescencia Plan Ceibal. (2014). Retrieved from http://www. ceibal.edu.uy/art%C3%ADculo/noticias/institucionales/Alcanceyetapas Plan Ceibal. (2014). Centro Ceibal para el apoyo a la educación de la niñez y la adolescencia. Retrieved from http://www.ceibal.edu. uy/art%C3%ADculo/noticias/institucionales/ Centro-Ceibal-para-el-Apoyo-a-la-Educacionde-la-Ninez-y-la-Adolescencia Rivoir, A. (2012). Estrategias nacionales para la sociedad de la información y el conocimiento en América Latina, 2000-2010: el caso de Uruguay [PhD Thesis]. University Oberta of Cataluña. Retrieved from http://www.tdx.cat/bitstream/handle/10803/132089/TESIS_Doctoral_Ana_Rivoir. pdf?sequence=1 Rivoir, A., Escuder, S., & Baldizán, S. (2010). Inclusión digital para la inclusión social: percepciones del Plan Ceibal a nivel local. Retrieved from http://www.fcs.edu.uy/archivos/Ana%20 Rivoir%20-%20Santiago%20Escuder%20 -%20Sof%C3%ADa%20Baldiz%C3%A1n%20 Inclusi%C3%B3n%20digital%20para%20 la%20inclusi%C3%B3n%20social.%20Percepciones%20del%20Plan%20Ceibal%20a%20 nivel%20local.pdf Unesco (2008). Ceibal en la sociedad del siglo XXI: referencias para padres y educadores. Retrieved from http://www.ceibal.edu.uy/art%C3%ADculo/ noticias/institucionales/Publicacionesacademicasvinculadas Unesco (2009). En el camino del Plan Ceibal: referencia para padres y educadores. Retrieved from http://www.ceibal.edu.uy/art%C3%ADculo/ noticias/institucionales/Publicacionesacademicasvinculadas

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Uruguay. E-government and information society and knowledge agency (AGESIC) (2007). Uruguay digital. Retrieved from http://www. agesic.gub.uy/innovaportal/v/2614/1/agesic/ uruguay_digital_.html?menuderecho=11 Uruguay. Ministry of Education and Culture. Education Department (2012). Anuario estadístico de Educación. Retrieved from http://educacion.mec. gub.uy/boletin/Anuario2011/ANUARIO%20 2011%20-%201-2-13.pdf Uruguay. National Institute of Statistics (2013). Anuario estadístico 2013.Retrieved from http:// www.ine.gub.uy/biblioteca/anuario2013/anuario2013.html Uruguay. National Institute of Statistics (INE) (2011). Resultados del Censo de Población 2011: población, crecimiento y estructura por sexo y edad. Retrieved from http://www.ine.gub.uy/ censos2011/resultadosfinales/analisispais.pdf Uruguay poder legislativo (2010). Ley No.18460. Retrieved from http://www.parlamento.gub.uy/ leyes/ley18640.htm Uruguay. University of the Republic. Flor de Ceibo (2013). Informe de actividades 2012. Montevideo: Udelar. Retrieved from http://www.flordeceibo.edu.uy/sites/default/files/documentos/ Informe%20Flor%20de%20Ceibo%202012.pdf Vaillant, D. (2013). Las políticas TIC en los sistemas educativos de América Latina: caso Uruguay. In: Programa TIC y Educación Básica, UNICEF. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/argentina/ spanish/Uruguay_ok.pdf

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Winocur, R., & Sánchez Vilela, R. (2013). La experiencia de apropiación de las computadoras XO en las familias y comunidades beneficiarias del Plan Ceibal: Informe Ejecutivo. Retrieved from http://www.ceibal.org.uy/docs/investigacion/Evaluacion-cualitativa-de-las-experienciasde-apropiaci%C3%B3n-de-las-computadorasINFORME-EJECUTIVO.pdf

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Digital Inclusion: The possibility that all people have to access technology. Education and Technology: It implies the use of technology in education and particularly in the classroom. Mercosur: It is an economic and political region formed for Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and recently Venezuela. OLPC: One laptop per child. It was a project whose main goal is to give a low cost laptop to each school child in order to reduce digital gap. Plan Ceibal: It is an OLPC project in Uruguay. It was installed in 2007 and it was given one laptop to each child that is going to public primary and secondary school. Society of Information and Knowledge: A society who main good is information. Information is the product that causes social inclusion. Uruguay: A country located in South America between Argentina and Brazil.

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Chapter 27

Comparative Approaches of the IGI-Global Collection Joseph Straubhaar University of Texas at Austin, USA Gejun Huang University of Texas in Austin, USA

ABSTRACT This volume has surveyed a broad swath of the impacts of what is one of the largest technological transformations in human history, the Internet. The Internet has changed the way people communicate: among their friends and families, at school and work, and how they meet new people, within and across cultures. It has changed how companies conduct their business, and refocused many new companies on the business possibilities of the Internet itself, which despite the temporary bust in a number of dot. com businesses at the end of the 1990s, continues to expand with relatively long standing businesses like Amazon and Apple doing extremely well. Furthermore, new businesses like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are growing fast, becoming dominant in niches that were not imaginable 20 years ago.

INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL VIEWS This volume has surveyed a broad swath of the impacts of what is one of the largest technological transformations in human history, the Internet. The Internet has changed the way people communicate: among their friends and families, at school and work, and how they meet new people, within and across cultures. It has changed how companies conduct their business, and refocused many new companies on the business possibilities of the In-

ternet itself, despite the temporary bust in a number of dot.com businesses at the end of the 1990s, the internet industries continues to expand with relatively long standing businesses like Amazon and Apple doing extremely well. Furthermore, new businesses like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are growing fast, becoming dominant in niches that were not imaginable 20 years ago. The facilitation of international business, both among traditional and new companies, is also a key feature of the Internet. Just to give a historical contrast, in the mid–to-late 1980s, the lead author

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8740-0.ch027

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of this essay, Straubhaar, did both academic work and consulting on how large companies that were users of telecom and computer services could expand their electronic communications before the Internet as we know it. Simply to create corporate email services, update financial results, keep track of inventory, maintain central records on personnel, etc. required companies to have their own computer servers in regional hubs and connect them with leased high-speed telecom lines at high prices from monopoly PTT providers. The Internet now allows them to do all of these things, at much higher speed, at infinitely lower costs. Whereas telecom and computing costs were a huge barrier to entry into international business in the 1980s (Porter, 2008), the low costs of the Internet are now an incentive to new entrants to expand their businesses transnationally, expanding the boundaries for new services, new business leads and different markets (Doyle, 2013). Passarelli notes in her opening essay how the Internet linked to education has been expanding its possibilities and maximizing results, carrying with its virtual endless connections between the knowledge and the ability to solve problems in all parts of the world. It has also transformed the way that we entertain ourselves, initially in music, where it has had perhaps its climax of impact, but also increasingly in television, film, gaming, and the new Internet based services like social networks, which are the main focus of entertainment for many users, with other forms of entertainment embedded in those social networks as links to news stories, television shows and clips, user made videos, music, blogs, etc. This volume has many themes and most of the essays touch on several themes. Probably the most frequent and important, represented as headings in this essay are digital or information literacy, convergence in several senses of the word, user behavior, digital inclusion, and policy.

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DIGITAL OR INFORMATION LITERACY Since the late 1990s, Literacy has drawn enormous attention in the broader field of communication, media and technology studies (e.g., Christ & Potter, 1998; Tyner, 1998). This word connotes a robust research approach as it not only “covers the interpretation of all complex, mediated symbolic texts broadcast or published on electronic communication networks”, but also “foregrounds the technological, cultural, and historical specificity of particular media as used in particular time and places” (Livingston, 2004; p.3). Therefore, with various research interests and focus, scholars in this field have proposed a constellation of terms— including media literacy, information literacy, game literacy, etc.—to measure and analyze the use pattern of specific platforms (e.g., Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel & Robison, 2009; Livingston, 2004, 2008a, 2008b; Livingston, Bober & Helsper, 2005). Digital literacy, which usually encompasses (or turns out interchangeable with) the terms like Internet literacy and computer literacy, is introduced in line with the rapid diffusion of computer along with the pervasiveness of Internet-mediated activities. Provided such a context, scholars have engaged in leveraging this term to precisely gauge and generalize to what extent people are skilled in using digital technologies in relation to their real-life situations (e.g., Hargittai, 2005, 2009). More to this point, Buckingham (2006, 2007) contends that the notion of digital literacy should not be preoccupied with a functional matter of harnessing computer & Internet skills; rather, especially for young people, it should cater to the agendas that are “typically ignored or marginalized in thinking about technology in education—and particularly in the school subject of ICT” (2006; p.274). In a similar vein, Sonck, Livingston, Kuiper, and Haan (2011)

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extends this focus by unpacking the relationship between digital literacy and youth’s safety skills across different European countries, thus arguing for the necessity of media education on youth. Passarelli, Palletta, and Yamaga (chapter one) provide a set of various studies on Internet literacy/illiteracy to prompt thoughts regarding the creative usage of Internet. They intend to advance discussions beyond the “toolness” (or strict utility) and “embeddedness” of Internet in either online or offline contexts. The experiences discussed in the chapter, are drawn worldwide, but there is a special in depth focus on the case from the Observatory of the Digital Cultural at the School of the Future—USP (University of São Paulo). foreground “a peculiar landscape of the Internet as part of development of new skills and ways of thinking the world and itself”. In line with digital literacy perspective, Junqueira (chapter fourteen) intends to realize how virtual education participants establish and develop their self-perceptions, and in turn how these perceptions influence participants in their offline situations. To a large extent, the role of digital literacy becomes significant in mediating their on- and offline experience under this circumstance. On the one hand, participants must reach a certain threshold of digital literacy to be capable in constructing their self-perceptions in the virtual education environment. On the other hand, the level of digital literacy conditions to what degree their virtual self-perception could exert influences upon their offline performances Davis, Palmer, and Gomes (chapter twentyone) engage in understanding three programs that aim at promoting different forms of media and technology training in Austin, Texas. Given Jenkins’ definition of digital literacy, the authors examine how these programs provide respective approaches to help the disadvantaged populations harness ICTs. Regarding this case, the promotion of digital literacy is not naturally associated with age-wise scope. Even for a certain society that saturated with high speed Internet access,

cutting-edge computer technologies and progressive mobile inventions, race, gender, race/ ethnicity, class, and other demographic factors still overtly contribute to the dividing gap of digital literacy. Therefore, as we approach to discussing digital literacy in the future, a wider spectrum of research focus—varies from country to country, from society to society—needs to be suggested or incorporated to surface the well-rounded picture of digital literacy issues.

CONVERGENCE OF USERS, INSTITUTIONS, CONTENT One problem with convergence as a key concept is that it means a number of different things depending on time periods and the authors’ school of thought. Initially, in the 1980s-early 2000s, convergence most often meant the digital convergence of previously separated activities and professions through their integration as processes that could be done on the same computer, such as the integration of various previously separate publishing and printing specialties through desktop publishing in the 1980s (J. Straubhaar & LaRose, 2000). Previously separated print, radio and television newsrooms similarly began to converge as all of those kinds of reporting and editing could be conducted on the same computer platforms, leading universities and professional media to bring their previously separate reporting and editing processes together in combined newsrooms. Newspapers are still debating how much to converge offline and online editions. Many of these forms of technological convergence created professional convergences. Newsmen had to learn to type their own stories, then lay them out, then add video or audio clips—something many younger bloggers and writers take for granted. Similar convergences took place in recording and audio production as small recording studios proliferated, enabled by lower digital equipment and production costs. That went even

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further as tech savvy musicians began to record their own music in home studio set-ups. Aspects of film production became cheaper, particularly in documentary production, but sophisticated special effects continued to require large staffs of specialists and significant capital. To date, numerous threads of debate have emerged on the convergence phenomena in media sphere on a global scale. The worldwide progression in media technologies prompts dynamic shifts in media content, format, and industries as the demarcations between different media forms become increasingly blurred. In this vein, studies that centered on the early stage of this trajectory unpack both the connection and disparity between converged media and its conventional precursors (e.g., Manovich, 2001). On the other hand, the convergence of media is by no means confined to technological perspective. Jenkins is one the prominent figures who associate the growing media convergence with a broader array of factors, revealing the dynamics between and among “existing technologies, industries, markets, genres and audiences” (Jenkins, 2004; p.34). Drawn from that, his book Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide (2006) delves into this scope of interlaced changes through the angle of convergence culture. Jenkins underscores the cross-platform flow of media content, the media industries cooperation, and media audiences’ migratory consumption, thus emerging the correlated aspects of media convergence, participatory culture, and collective intelligence that account for the overall profile of convergence culture. Dueze (2007) foregrounds the hierarchical framework that conditions the relationship between media creative industries, media professionals, and consumers. Despite the top-down corporate exploitation that remains robust due to convergence, people in those industries “adapt to enhanced demands on their cross-media creativity on the one hand, while attempting to reconstruct their images of the ‘audience’ as co-creators rather

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than as passive consumers on the other” (Jenkins & Deuze, 2008; p. 7). Likewise, to promote his coined term “produsage”, Bruns (2009) articulates a series of Internet-mediated activities based on audience perspective to identify the audience’s creation agency across various converged online platforms. Schäfer (2011) introduces the term “bastard culture” as it encapsulates the practices of a “heterogeneous constellation of different participants” that associated with a “hybrid constellation of information technology and large use numbers interacting as a socio-technical ecosystem” (p.77). Napoli (2012) casts light on a retooled definition of ratings analysis aiming at the currency employed in the audience market, through which the audience’s agency in media consumption could be better understood. In addition, Dueze (2011) even suggests the pervasive integration of media into our daily lives has made us living in “invisible” media. Thus, apart from relying on “the production-content-reception premise of media and society”, the research in terms of convergence culture should be also oriented towards challenging “taken-for-granted technological inferences with everyday life” (p.143). Antonio Miranda and Elmira Luzia Simeão introduce the idea of “Animaverbivocovisualidade” (AV3) and intend to unpack this emerging type of language, illustrating its structural integration mechanism that centered on text, image, and sound, but also its impacts on reconciling their differences in concrete possibilities of information and direction. Here, given the debates on convergence culture, highlights on the relationship between technology industries’ strategy and users’ involvement could lend another edge in exploring the factors that underpin the emergence, improvement, and diffusion of this technology. We need to pursue this key aspect of convergence, industry convergence, or conglomeration. In line with the above news examples, it made steadily greater economic sense for local newspapers to own local television and radio stations, although the political and social effects

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of ownership of multiple forms of media, either nationally or locally, made this idea controversial in politics and policy. The U.S. FCC has been reluctant to accede to industry demands for this kind of convergence, while media democratization movements in Argentina, Brazil and elsewhere have demanded that such conglomerates, such as the Globo Organization in Brazil, which owns the dominant television network, one of the main national newspapers, major radio stations and national networks, major music recording and distribution groups, and significant participation in film production and distribution, be broken up because they have an almost monopoly position in media (see for example various position statements by the National Forum for Democratization of Communication [Forum Nacional para Democratização de Comunicação] –fndc.org.br). In line with this kind of political economy approach, Kalikoske (chapter two) interrogates the issues of convergence culture, as elaborated by Jenkins and others, in relation to political, economic, and social divergences. He offers a cautionary critique of the optimism about convergence society from the point of view of political economy. The author particularly addresses four processes—the vigilance or surveillance systems, the multiple processes of convergence, the participation culture, and the concurrence among consolidated media—to rethink the potential of ICT. Network effects tend to reinforce the development of monopoly or oligopoly in a number of aspects of the Internet. A program or service like Facebook might start as one among several competing social networks, but when more and more people join it, a network (Lin & Lu, 2011) or critical mass (Sledgianowski & Kulviwat, 2009) effect kicks in and people think they have to be on Facebook because that is where all their friends and One aspect of convergence that Passarelli, et al raised in the opening or introductory essay needs to be noted as something to be much better addressed in Internet research from here on

out. That is the Internet of Things. Passarelli, et al question “the thoughts that usually leads us to ‘online’ and ‘offline’ categories. This classification seems to do not answer today’s problems any longer, specially with the Internet of Things reaching critical mass”

POLICIES ON THE INTERNET AND DIGITAL MEDIA One theme that runs through many of the papers in this volume is that of the critical role of policy-making, primarily by governments, on digital media. One of the most interesting things is that policy is discussed and seen as important and powerful at multiple levels of governance: localities or cities, states or provinces, nations, regions like the European Union (EU) or Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Venezuela), and truly international organizations like United Nations agencies. The importance of local and state policy making is particularly visible in digital inclusion programs, since many of the most important programs have been run by cities, like the City of São Paulo, or states/provinces like the State of São Paulo. Those two programs, for example, were run, frequently in competition with each, by competing political parties that held city vs. state governments, but the benefits to users were notable as the coverage was wider than would have been possible with either one be themselves, at least in the city of São Paulo itself. There is also fairly extensive discussion of city policy in Austin, Texas as well as São Paulo. Nations also weigh in on digital inclusion with national programs as diverse as the Brazilian Ministry of Culture’s Points of Culture program under Gilberto Gil, to the fairly extensive national One Laptop per Child programs run by national governments in Peru, Portugal and Uruguay, among others. National governments tend to dominate certain kinds of policy-making, such as the relatively new broad Internet policy in Brazil

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referred to as the Marco Civil, or the Brazilian decision to create an interactive digital television standard to try to reach those who were unlikely to have Internet access in the near future. There is fairly extensive discussion in this volume of national policies in Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Peru, and the U.S. in a variety of chapters. However, both regions like the EU and less formal coalitions of nations across a region, like those in Latin America that adopted the Brazilian interactive digital standard to create a regional standard, can also have very powerful affects. Beyond policies for digital inclusion and technical development standards like the interactive television standard, Ginga, policy making is also crucial in areas of industrial policy regulating industry growth and structure, as well as digital literacy initiatives, training and education initiatives

DIGITAL INCLUSION AND DIGITAL DIVIDE As concepts, the digital divide and digital inclusion have evolved considerably since the 1990s. By the mid 1990s, scholars in the US and elsewhere, as well as policy officials in the US, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere, began to be aware that along the lines of earlier ideas about information gaps and uneven patterns of diffusion of innovation, the new digital technologies of computing and the Internet seemed to be creating new forms of social and economic stratification, a digital divide. The information gap idea presaged digital divide research by noting that new, useful information coming into a place was usually received and acted on first by those who already had the most advantages, since they had better command of media to hear about new ideas. Critiques of diffusion research similarly noted that the diffusion process was not neutral. The already advantaged not only heard about useful new things first, but usually had the economic means and advantages to act on them quickly, to take early advantage of them.

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Diffusion critics said that campaigns to introduce new ideas and technologies need to get ahead of the process and deliberately introduce them to disadvantaged populations first (Whiting, 1976) . Interestingly enough, one of the best examples of that strategy took place in Latin America in the early 1980s, when the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), non-profit and academic Latin American partners moved early in the process of the diffusion of the Internet in Latin America to introduce it and systems to use it to social movements, non-profits and activist groups in several countries, notably Peru and Brazil (Fuentes-Bautista, Straubhaar, & Spence, 2003). That resulted in a number of social movements and activist groups having email access in several countries before it became widespread in government and business. The term digital divide, at least in the U.S. seems to have been popularized, if not invented, by Larry Irving or other Clinton administration officials in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), who began a serious of national surveys to demonstrate the existence of a digital divide that tended to run along ethnic, educational, income, age and urban/ rural divides, starting with a report called, “Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the ‘Have Nots’ in Rural and Urban America” (NTIA, 1995)). Initially digital divide concerns, both studies and policy responses, tended to focus on the simple issue of access to computers and to the Internet: access and connectivity. Both in the U.S., Latin America, and parts of Europe, the first response what to create telecenters, public places where people could gain access to computers and the Internet. In the U.S. that represented something of a political backslide, since previously telecommunications access to telephones had been considered a basic right, which both government and industry had to make significant progress in providing. The U.S. Telecom Act of 1996 backed away from applying this precedent to the Internet, due to industry pressure, and a general consensus

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on deregulation in the Clinton administration (Aufderheide, 1999). The government response focused on providing connectivity to schools, libraries, and some other public facilities, such as media centers. The deregulated industry was not required to invest resources in this, unlike the responsibilities of ATT prior to deregulation. In Latin America, local and national non-profits, governments at city, state/province, and federal/ national levels, as well as a number of foundations, foreign aid agencies, like the Canadian IDRC, and international organizations, such the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, all invested considerable resources in starting and maintaining telecenters. In Brazil for example, around 2000, the Committee for the Democratization of Informatics (CDI) started non-profit telecenters, with donated equipment and cooperative staff time. Those who learned things at CDI centers were supposed to teach them to others. As proved to be a problem with many telecenters, keeping equipment up-to-date and centers open and staffed on a volunteer basis was difficult to do and many CDI centers lapsed into inactivity. The same was often true with grant-supported centers when the initial grant ran out. Government funded centers were more sustainable, if the government commitment was maintained by subsequent governments. One of the better sustained programs is Accessa São Paulo, maintained for the state government of São Paulo in over 800 locations by the School of the Future at the University of São Paulo (see Chapters One and Fifteen in this volume). Since government policy was so central in starting and funding many of these access centers, government policy is a key topic for a number of the researchers in this volume. Another form of public access turned out to almost more powerful. In the APC sponsored in Brazil, enough movement leaders had telephone lines that they created a non-profit dial-up Internet Service Provider for them. In a way, the APC program in Peru created a more lasting innovation in Peru, where few movement leaders had phones,

so they created a free template for small business telecenters with low prices for basic services. By 2001, almost 80 percent of Peruvian Internet traffic came through those centers (Fuentes-Bautista et al., 2003). A similar, less guided phenomenon eventually surpassed telecenters in Brazil with the proliferation of small businesses for Internet access and video/computer gaming over both local area networks and the Internet, known as LAN houses. Low prices commercial centers tended to be more sustainable than most telecenters, particularly when grant or government support ran out (Angeluci & Galperin, 2014). Most LAN houses also had no content rules, unlike many telecenters, so youth could play games and access whatever content they wanted, which made them worth paying for, for many users, even if a free telecenter with more rules was nearby (Borges, 2009). One of the interesting policy questions for the global system, for nations, even for states/ provinces, or cities, is whether their citizens or residents have a right to access to communications, which in current times, is focused on a right to access to the Internet. Describing one standout telecenter program for the State of São Paulo, Drica Guzzi argues, “Over the course of the past fourteen years of the Digital Inclusion Program AcessaSP, the projects, research and actions are based on the idea that citizens have a right to access to the Internet and the information on the net.” (Chapter 9). At the global level, the ITU (International Telecom Union) sponsored WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) meetings in the 2000s was premised on trying to achieve nearly universal access to the Internet, but concerns over costs, arguments over Internet regulation, and issues of free speech essentially derailed that initial focus, reflecting arguments in a nations themselves. While concerns over access and connectivity continue to be concerns across Latin America and parts of the U.S., by the 2000s, a number of researchers were increasingly concerned about dispositions (Bourdieu, 1984) toward using com-

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puters and the Internet, about people learning how to use connectivity and equipment in empowering ways, and about creativity and participation versus simple consumption in peoples’ use of the Internet. In 2005, Digital Divide Network, a project of the Benton Foundation, stated that digital inclusion refers to the gap between those who can effectively use ICT, such as the Internet, and those who cannot. A study by Straubhaar, et al (2012), which is discussed and followed upon in Chapter 21, which looked at digital inclusion efforts in Austin from 1999 to 2014, found that in 1999, particularly, peoples’ understanding of digital technologies, their impressions of what kinds of people used them, and their subsequent dispositions to use computers and the Internet or not were important as public access became more available, but many people, especially young minority men, did not use it because of their perceptions of Internet users, and of libraries (J. D. Straubhaar, Spence, Tufekci, & Lentz, 2012). A comprehensive city survey of Austin in 2011, along with national surveys by the Pew Internet Project found that younger users had been drawn into the critical mass of youth using the Internet, but that older and less educated users still not use the Internet, even when some who lived in a house with broadband (Joseph Straubhaar, Chen, Spence, Correa, & Machado-Spence, 2011). For new computer and Internet users for who access became less of an issue, learning skills and information literacy became more central, which is discussed in a number of chapters in this volume and is discussed more fully below. Many people learned computer, Internet and information skills at work or in work-oriented training programs by government. For many governments at different levels, work oriented skill education became a primary focus, as was particularly common in the U.S., although many skills programs had employable skills as part of their focus. Some programs, particularly in Latin America and Europe, had a more social focus, aiming at social integration of excluded groups, at more active citizenship and

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participation. A number of the chapters in this volume discuss the differences between these policy orientations and programmatic outcomes. Cuevas-Cerveró (chapter four) expounds different perspectives of digital inclusion, “from the perspective more socially oriented to eliminate the gap of digital access to the current perspective, the integration of the citizenship in a mediated society by the emergent information technologies with needs oriented towards the training in access, use, evaluation and communication of information.” The perspectives of the endeavor to eliminate digital gap at a social level, the integration of citizenship via information technologies, and the imperative to promote trainings on those technologies are unfolded in a logical sequence. Considering the digital divide debates on tensions between access to technology and learning opportunity, McConnell and Straubhaar (chapter five) underscore the importance of institutional access at school or work that enables to acquire dispositions, skills, knowledge, capabilities with better chances. As access becomes more widespread in highly information oriented cities like Austin, the bigger gap seems not to be who has access, even to broadband, but who has the opportunity to learn how to use that access in ways that useful and empowering to them. Work and school seem to be central to those learning opportunities. Theories like cultural capital and techno-capital are incorporated. The author develops the argument based on a survey conducted in a major Southwestern city in the US. The socioculturally marginalized and the economically disadvantaged groups reveal the most dependence on institutional access to grasp learning opportunities. Or, put another way, those who were most marginalized in their use of computers and the Internet tended to be those who had the least access, particularly at an advanced level to learn what is required to make access to digital tools and the Internet empowering in their work, social and personal lives. Tubio and Rosa (chapter six) focus on how crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platforms

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contribute to the virtual entrepreneurship on a global scale. Different strains of research on social entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, information and open culture, digital culture, and social technologies are incorporated to shape a better understanding about the status quo of these platforms in Brazil and worldwide, and therefore lead to new projects and policies that respond to current needs. Lima junior and Vergili (chapter eight) casts light on new challenges that media professionals are faced with, drawn from incipient digital inclusion initiatives in Brazil. The demands on computational thinking and digital literacy keep escalating due to the technological environments of both labor market and academia, and exert tremendous influences on media professionals since the necessity to obtain cutting-edge competitiveness grows more extreme all the time.

DIGITAL INCLUSION PROJECTS IN BRAZIL Guzzi (chapter nine) is the director of the well known telecenter access and training program, AccessaSP, run by the School of the Future at the University of São Paulo for the state government of São Paulo. It operates over 800 centers in the whole state, the largest program in Latin America. Unlike some programs that started with telecenters and found themselves unable to keep up with shifting social demands, AccessaSP has moved with the needs of its users, providing more advice and training, more opportunities for socialibility online and in presence at their centers, and free public WiFi to meet the demands of those with smart phones, laptops or other Internet devices, but limited connectivity. In her essay, she notes the continuing relevance of connectivity and access itself in a country where just over half of the nation is online, which becomes a much lower figure in many of the rural areas and small towns that they service in the state of São Paulo. When

distance education is offered to rural teachers, for example, they need facilities with decent equipment and speeds to take advantage of the courses. Her essay also reviews a number of national programs and those in other states. One notable problem in Brazil has been the vast differences between programs offered in richer and poorer states, which is gradually being redressed as more states offer programs. The essay also reviews a number of key policy initiatives in Brazil about privacy, transparency, e-government services, but particularly the sweeping legislation called the Marco Civil of the Internet, which guarantees privacy, access to information via e-government, net neutrality, etc. Loureiro and Zukovsky-Tavares (chapter ten) investigate the significance of virtual learning environments in university education. The authors give a rise to e-portfolio, arguing how this can be leveraged to monitor students’ performance with respect of individual or collective knowledge constructions across different digital platforms. Passarelli and Vetritti (chapter eleven) engage in mapping out how the emergence of social networks in contemporary digital age contribute to Brazilian youth behaviors in education, activism, entrepreneurship and behavior. The authors take a mixed method approach (including Internet monitoring, interviews, content analysis, and in-depth focus group) to realize “a new type of social agent” among Brazilian youth. By utilizing the annual surveys drawn from the largest digital inclusion programs (AcessaSP) in Brazil (and Latin America), Botelho-Francisco (chapter fifteen) focuses on the actors in network of tele-centers and info-center goers. The author then unpacks both the network interactivity and the autonomous process of developing digital literacies, and ascribes them to a wide array of social and media factors (including social networking, games, mobile, interpersonal communication, multimedia production, and entrepreneurship). Magalhães, Eliasquevici, and Ferreira (chapter sixteen) embark on a case study of the digital

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inclusion program (Navegapará) implemented by the Government of the State of Pará. The authors look into quantitative data generated from visiting certain school, and urge the necessary digital equipments for schools along with trainings for teachers.

DIGITAL INCLUSION PROJECTS IN EUROPE The European Union and most European nations have created both regional and national policies and programs for digital inclusion and other aspects of digital media over the years. Like the US and Latin America, some of the earliest projects focused on telecenters and public access. Other focuses have been on skills training, social inclusion, citizenship and participation, and various approaches to digital and information literacy. For example, Portugal created a national version of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, the Magellan Initiative, which achieved some successes, but was not coordinated well with the delivery of access and connectivity to homes, so that many less well off children had a laptop but no access at home. Like other OLPC programs, it was also not always well connected to teacher training and pedagogical strategies. Fernández-Bajón (chapter seventeen) unfolds an extensive discussion of the Digital Agenda for Europe. It was released in 2010, and lays out the European ICT policies and establishes the priority agenda for this field in Europe. Colmenero-Ruiz and Pérez- Lorenzo (chapter eighteen) focus on the historical trajectory of Spanish Policies of digital inclusion since 2000 under the framework of the EU Lisbon Strategy. The authors intend to map out the differences and interconnectedness between those digital inclusion policies, and investigate developmental variances among certain Spanish areas (Catalonia, Andalusia and Extremadura).

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José-Antonio, Gómez-Hernández, and Saorín (chapter nineteen) aim at knowing how information literacy programs in Europe could empower individual and communities. Given the current European economic crisis, certain departures of these programs are particularly underscored (citizenship skills and government transparencies). Therefore, the authors interrogate the issues of those programs’ syllabi, highlighting the incorporation of library systems and other public networks, as well as “learning for social innovation”. Morato, Ruiz-RoblesSonia, Sanchez-Cuadrado, and Marzal (chapter twenty) are concerned with proposing appropriate digital inclusion initiatives for various excluded groups with diverse characteristics. The authors review the relevant strategies since 1999 in Spain to lay out “the dimensions of the group profiles, the factors affecting them, and the infrastructure and software solutions that can change the situation”.

DIGITAL INCLUSION PROJECTS IN THE AMERICAS Besides the digital inclusion projects in Brazil, mentioned above, there has been a great deal of work on digital inclusion in other parts of the Americas. Davis, Palmer, and Gomes (chapter twentyone) engage in understanding three programs that aim at promoting different forms of media and technology training in Austin, Texas. Given Jenkins’ definition of digital literacy, the authors examine how these programs provide respective approaches to help the disadvantaged populations harness ICTs. Tarango and Mireles-Cárdenas (chapter twenty-two) analyze the current issues of use and access to information through ICTs in Mexico. The authors particularly addresses the low Internet penetration of the total population and low generation

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of knowledge and reliance on consuming foreign information. Besides, the National Development Plan is analyzed to question the role of government and the public. One particularly interesting digital inclusion initiatives in the Americas has been the Brazilian effort to develop a low cost interactive television-based system via public development of interactive television with the Japanese digital television platform, modified Ginga middleware that permits greater interactivity. The project is almost more interesting as a policy initiative, since the Brazilian government developed it, working with universities, some companies and other actors. It has been embraced within Brazil by public television and one or two private systems, but has been rejected by the powerful TV Globo system, which initially intended to develop its own system, although that project has apparently stalled out. Many of those involved hope that the system, combined with public housing initiatives, can still develop a level of basic information retrieval and interactivity that reaches poor households before the Internet, per se, does. Looking specifically at the Brazil interactive television project, Freitas and Castro (chapter thirteen) discuss the Brazil 4D project, which aims to provide information and interactive public services to low-income groups through digital TV. This innovative project particularly implements the provisions of the Brazilian System of Digital Terrestrial TV: “free, open, enabling mobility, portability, interoperability, and multiprogramming interactivity”. By astute diplomacy, the Brazilian government persuaded almost all other South American governments to also adopt the Ginga/Japanese standard over U.S. and European alternatives. That is a fascinating transnational or regional policy study in itself. Looking at the results of that regional policy initiative, Gobbi and Filho (chapter twenty-three) examine the implementation of interactive digital television systems (iDTV) in Latin America. Not only the multi-media consumption environment

which challenge the mechanism of iDTV, but also external factors (digital signal development and application, or cultural diversity, law, etc.) are considered to propose a better approach to digitally include large population who have no Internet access. Gobbi and Filho observe, “The challenge of interactive digital television (iDTV) in Latin America is to give opportunity of technological access and participation to a significant parcel of the population whose main information source is (still analog) television. The increase in connected devices possession and system digitalization has been modifying consumption habits of audiovisual content. Television is still the home center, but now it divides the attention with mobile phones, smartphones, tablets and laptops, delineating a consumption that is multitasking, portable, mobile etc., but not always linked (independent devices use), there are multi-platform services and products that allow this interaction, though.” Overall, they are optimistic about the promise of the technology. But with so many countries with different economies, legal systems, levels of technology, levels of education, those factors will change how the actual national system within the policy agreement and the technological standard. They note, “Several externalities must be considered, either the different stages of digital signal development and application, or the cultural diversity, laws, technological unfolding, education, and even the economic aspects of each country.” One of the most ambitious and widespread programs for digital inclusion of children worldwide was the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program developed at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). It had specific pedagogical ideas about how children who learn from computer and network access. It supposed that children could learn directly from the technology and each other, not putting a great deal of emphasis on teaching training and involvement. It also developed new hardware designs to create extremely low cost and durable laptops for use by children in difficult positions. It also developed new software that was

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very easy to use, more intuitive than the standard desktop metaphor used by most operating systems. Two chapters in this volume examined specific instances of OLPC programs in Latin America. Villanueva-Mansilla (chapter twenty four) focuses on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative that adopted by Peru in 2007. The author unfolds the political and argumentative process that brought OLPC into the public sphere. Especially the author tries to understand how OLPC was framed as a hacker product and the perils of such reasoning, which result into the need for a counter-narrative about the role of computer in Peru’s society. Ceretta and Canzani (chapter twenty five) intend to provide an overview of digital inclusion in Mercosur countries. The Plan Ceibal in Uruguay is particularly addressed since it promotes the diffusion and democratization of digital technologies and information. In line with OLPC, the authors try to analyze its performances on different stages based on current data.

USER BEHAVIOR AND INNOVATION Contemporary ICT scholars are increasingly interested in understanding how the emerging media technologies, especially the mobile platforms, are disseminated, adopted, and renovated in the developing social contexts. Coupled with that, an abundant set of social, cultural, political and economic perspectives is addressed as the pathway to resolve those concerns. For instance, Rheingold’s Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution (2002) sheds light on the significance of mobile communication to social activism in Asia. Rouvinen (2006) expounds the diffusion model of digital mobile telephony in developing countries, and its similarities and differences compared to that in developed countries. Donner (2008) conducts an extensive review of studies regarding mobile phone use in the developing world. He lays out the relationships between mobile technology, mobile

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adoption, mobile user, and economic development that are contextualized within developing societies in Asian, Africa, and Latin America. Neto (chapter seven) is concerned with the ICT-based citizenship that stem from the diffusion of ICT in the “information society” context. The author pinpoints the striking tensions in practice that ICT allows for pitching righteous demands toward social minorities, nevertheless the social welfare achievements lapse into superficial meanings, provoking depression and anxiety over deprived citizenship. Based on surveying the impact of ICTs during last decade of years, the author highlights the notion of e-citizenship and describes how it raises approaches in terms of “community service” to performing civic engagements through media at different levels. Angeluci (chapter twelve) intends to unravel the increasing conflicts between mobile media use and interpersonal communication/relationship in Brazil. Based on Sherry Turkle’s identity and relational artifacts approach, the author focuses on the “phubbing” phenomena that occurs among Brazilian young people. Not only the content on phone, but also the social protocol and F2F interaction are associated with this certain type of behavior.

REFERENCES Angeluci, A. C. B., & Galperin, H. (2014). O consumo de conteúdo digital em lan houses por adolescentes de classes emergentes no Brasil. Revista Latinamericana de Ciencias de la Comunicación, 9(17), 9. Aufderheide, P. (1999). Communications Policy and the Public Interest. New York: The Guilford Press. Borges, F. M. (2009). Sociabilidade nas lan houses das periferias. pPonto-e-Vírgula. Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 6, 218–234.

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Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Bruns, A. (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and beyond: From production to produsage (Vol. 45). Peter Lang. Buckingham, D. (2006). Defining digital literacy. Digital Kompetanse: Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 1(4), 263–276. doi:10.1007/978-3-53192133-4_4 Buckingham, D. (2007). Digital Media Literacies: Rethinking media education in the age of the Internet. Research in Comparative and International Education, 2(1), 43–55. doi:10.2304/ rcie.2007.2.1.43 Christ, W. G., & Potter, W. J. (1998). Media literacy, media education, and the academy. Journal of Communication, 48(1), 5–15. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1998.tb02733.x Deuze, M. (2007). Convergence culture in the creative industries. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 243–263. doi:10.1177/1367877907076793

Hargittai, E. (2005). Survey measures of web-oriented digital literacy. Social Science Computer Review, 23(3), 371–379. doi:10.1177/0894439305275911 Hargittai, E. (2009). An update on survey measures of web-oriented digital literacy. Social Science Computer Review, 27(1), 130–137. doi:10.1177/0894439308318213 Jenkins, H. (2004). The cultural logic of media convergence. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 7(1), 33–43. doi:10.1177/1367877904040603 Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. NYU press. Jenkins, H., & Deuze, M. (2008). Editorial: Convergence culture. Convergence (London), 14(1), 5–12. doi:10.1177/1354856507084415 Jenkins, H., Puroshotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., & Robison, A. J. (2009). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

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Donner, J. (2008). Research approaches to mobile use in the developing world: A review of the literature. The Information Society, 24(3), 140–159. doi:10.1080/01972240802019970

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Livingstone, S. (2008a). Engaging with media– A matter of literacy? Communication, Culture & Critique, 1(1), 51–62. doi:10.1111/j.17539137.2007.00006.x

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Livingstone, S., Bober, M., & Helsper, E. (2005). Internet literacy among children and young people: Findings from the UK Children Go Online Project. London: LSE Research Online. Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. MIT press. Napoli, P. M. (2012). Audience evolution and the future of audience research. International Journal on Media Management, 14(2), 79–97. doi:10.10 80/14241277.2012.675753 NTIA. (1995). Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the ‘Have Nots’ in Rural and Urban America. Washington, D.C.: National Telecommunications & Information Administration, U.S.Department of Commerce. Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 25–40. PMID:18271320 Rheingold, H. (2002). Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus. Rouvinen, P. (2006). Diffusion of digital mobile telephony: Are developing countries different? Telecommunications Policy, 30(1), 46–63. doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2005.06.014 Schäfer, M. T. (2011). Bastard culture!: how user participation transforms cultural production. Amsterdam University Press. doi:10.5117/9789089642561 Sledgianowski, D., & Kulviwat, S. (2009). Using social network sites: the effects of playfulness, critical mass and trust in a hedonic context. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 49(4). Sonck, N., Livingstone, S., Kuiper, E., & de Haan, J. (2011). Digital literacy and safety skills. London: EU Kids Online, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Straubhaar, J., Chen, W., Spence, J., Correa, T., & Machado-Spence, N. (2011). The Austin Internet and Global Citizens Project: Preliminary Report to the City of Austin Office of Telecommunications & Regulatory Affairs. Austin: Department of Radio, TV & Film, University of Texas-Austin. Straubhaar, J., & LaRose, R. (2000). Media Now: Communications Media in the Information AGe. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Straubhaar, J. D., Spence, J., Tufekci, Z., & Lentz, R. (Eds.). (2012). Inequity in the Technopolis: Race, Class, Gender and the Digital Divide in Austin, TX. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Tyner, K. (1998). Literacy in a digital world teaching and learning in the age of information. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates. Whiting, G. C. (1976). How does communication interface with change? Communication Research, April 2(3), 191-212.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Digital Divide: About information gaps and uneven patterns of diffusion of innovation, unequal access to and use of the new digital technologies of computing and the Internet, creating new forms of social and economic stratification. Digital Literacy: Covers the interpretation of all complex, mediated symbolic texts broadcast or published on electronic communication networks and foregrounds the technological, cultural, and historical specificity of particular media as used in particular time and places. Digital Media Policy-Making: Deliberation and rule-making by governments at multiple levels of governance: localities or cities, states or provinces, nations, regions like the European

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Union (EU) or Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Venezuela), and truly international organizations like United Nations agencies. Media Convergence: Based on the combination of communications processes on digital technologies and creates new dynamics between and among existing technologies, industries, markets, genres and audiences. Network Effects: Tend to reinforce the development of monopoly or oligopoly in a number of aspects of the Internet. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC): A program developed at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). It had specific pedagogical ideas about how children who learn from computer and network access. It supposed that children could learn directly from the technology and each other, not putting a great deal of emphasis on teaching training and involvement. It also developed new

hardware designs to create extremely low cost and durable laptops for use by children in difficult positions. Political Economy of Convergence Society: Addresses four processes—the vigilance or surveillance systems, the multiple processes of convergence, the participation culture, and the concurrence among consolidated media—to rethink the potential of ICT. Techno-Capital: Like Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, it is the accumulation of digital access, skills and opportunities, particularly at an advanced level to learn what is required to make access to digital tools and the Internet empowering in their work, social and personal lives. Unequal Digital Inclusion: Refers to the gap between those who can effectively use ICT, such as the Internet, and those who cannot.

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About the Contributors

Brasilina Passarelli, Scientific Coordinator of the School of the Future Research Laboratory - USP. Full Professor at School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo - ECA/USP and Vice-Director of the Information and Culture Department at ECA/USP. Developed her Post-Doctoral studies at University Carlos III, Madrid - Spain. Her Master and Doctoral degree in Communications Science were obtained at ECA-USP, with an internship of 6 months at Michigan State University - East Lansing - MI. Undergraduate studies at Library and Information Science Department at ECA/USP. Joseph Straubhaar, Among Carter Centennial Professor of Communications and Media Studies Director in the Radio-TV-Film Department of the University of Texas at Austin. He was the Director of the Center for Brazilian Studies within the Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies. He is also Associate Director for International Programs of the TeleCommunications and Information Policy Institute at the University of Texas. Aurora Cuevas-Cerveró, PhD with honors in information science, professor and researcher, full time Librarianship and Documentation Department at the Complutense University of Madrid. *** Alan César Belo Angeluci, Professor at the Communications & Innovation M.A. Program at Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul, Brazil. Performed his post-doctoral research at the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He has a PhD in Science from the University of São Paulo (USP), with a PhD sandwich fellowship at the University of Brighton, England. Cristiana Freitas G. de Araujo, Journalist, Interface Designer, PhD student in Information Science at Brasilia University, Master in Digital Television: Information and Knowledge by FAAC-UNESP; content coordinator and producer in the Brazil 4D project at the Brazil Communications Company (EBC); group member in the Digital Content Research and Technological Convergence of INTERCOM and the Latin American Laboratory of Digital Content Industry. Beatrice Bonami, Master Student of Communications Science at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo. Graduated in Visual Arts and Media at the Federal University of Uberlândia and associated researcher at the Digital Culture Observatory at the School of the Future



About the Contributors

Research Laboratory – USP. As licensed, has experience in Art Education with an emphasis in special education mediation and public, particularly the deaf. Has experience in research Communications and education with a focus on digital inclusion and democratization of the means of production. Rodrigo Eduardo-Francisco Botelho, PhD and Masters in Communication Sciences; Specialist in Public Administration and in Computer Science; and Journalist. Is a Professor at Department of Science and Information Management of Federal University of Paraná and researcher at School of the Future Research Laboratory at the University São Paulo -USP and at Applied Research Network Journalism and Digital Technologies. Javier Alfredo Canzani, teacher and junior research in the Information Institute the Faculty of Information and Communications at Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Specialized in Information Literacy and Information Sources. Student of Master in Information and Communication. Cosette Spindola de Castro, Post-Doctoral studies on the Chair of Unesco of the Communications / Methodist. PhD in Communications and Journalism from the Autonomous University of Barcelona/ Spain. A master’s degree in Communications and Culture from PUC / RS (1997); Specialization in Popular Education by Unisinos / RS (1996) and a degree in Journalism from the Catholic University of Pelotas / RS (1984). Graduate program Professor in Digital TV at the Catholic University of Brasilia. María Gladys Ceretta, PhD in Documentation and a Master in Investigation Research at University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain. She also has a degree in Library Science at Universidad de la República (Uruguay) and Escribana Pública... She is a full-time teacher (Grade 5) and a researcher in the Information Institute of the Information and Communications and part of the faculty of the Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Researcher specialized in Information Literacy, Reading and Reading Competencies; evaluation of information resources; scientific production and open access policies. Active Researcher, Level 1, National Researcher System, Uruguay. She belongs to researcher teams in Brazil, Spain and Portugal. Maria-Jesús Colmenero-Ruiz, Degree in Biological Sciences (University of Alcalá de Henares) and PhD in Information Science (Carlos III University of Madrid). Assistant Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science, Carlos III University of Madrid, where she teaches various areas of knowledge, mainly information skills an information literacy for librarians. Member of “Agustín Millares” and ‘Julio Caro Baroja’ Research Institutes of the Carlos III University of Madrid. Her research focuses on thesauri and controlled vocabularies and Semantic Web and Topic Maps, educational documentation, information literacy and digital skills, and more recently in digital humanities, crowdsourcing and open data reuse. Stuart Davis, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Communications Coordinator, Border and Latin American Media Studies Concentration, MA in Communications Program. Marianne Kogut Eliasquevici graduated in Bachelor of Mathematics Mode Computer Science from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (1987), master’s degree in Systems Engineering and Computer Science from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1991) and a PhD in Sustainable Development in 520

About the Contributors

the Humid Tropics, Federal University of Pará (2004). Currently an Associate Professor I of the Federal University of Pará. Has experience in computer science. Acting on the following themes: Uncertainty, Distance Education. Julian Etienne, BA in Linguistics at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Mexico City) and MA in Information and Library Science at the University of Arizona. His research interests include media preservation and access, particularly of non-theatrical cinema, media consumption in daily life, and documentation and knowledge production practices with new media. Maria Teresa Fernández-Bajón, PhD in Information Science, Director of the Department of Library and Documentation of the Complutense University of Madrid. Benedito de Jesus Pinheiro Ferreira, Undergraduate studies as a Technologist in Proc. Data UFPA (1990), Master’s in Computer UFRGS (1993), PhD in Computer Engineering from COPPE / UFRJ (2003) and post-doctorate in Educational Psychology Program of Araraquara, São Paulo State University. Currently Associate Professor of the Federal University of Pará, and director of the Computer School. Conducts research in Educational Computing area and Programming Education. Francisco Machado Filho, Doctor of Social Communications, Digital TV line of research, the Methodist University of São Paulo - UMESP. Graduated in Social Communications Enable Radio and TV - FAESA - Colleges Santense Spirit (1999) and MA in Media and Culture from UNIMAR - University of Marilia (2006). Teacher Graduate Program Digital Television UNESP Bauru. Maria Cristina Gobbi, Senior Professor, researcher. Post-PhD at PROLAM-USP (University of São Paulo - Brazil), PhD in Communications from the Methodist University of São Paulo (Umesp). Vice Chair and Professor of Digital Television Graduate Program of UNESP Bauru. Professor of the Graduate Program in Communications from the same institution. Coordinator of the Research Group Thought Comunicacional Latin American CNPq. Administrative Director of Socicom. Partner of Intercom and Folkcom Network. Member of GP Media, Culture and Technology. José-Antonio Gómez-Hernández, Professor at University of Murcia. He has been Dean of Faculty of the Information and Communication Studies at the University of Murcia, were he also has directed its Editorial Services. His research topics are Information Literacy, Academic Libraries Services, Marketing and Management of Library Services. Drica Guzzi, PhD in Communications and Semiotics from PUC-SP in 2014. Master in Communications and Semiotics from PUC-SP. Degree in Food Engineering from Unicamp. Since 2001, Project Coordinator of content, researches and training at the Center for Research on New Communications Technologies Applied to Education - School of the Future - University of Sao Paulo (USP), in the area of Public Policy for Digital Inclusion - Acessa SP (Awarded by Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates), Acessinha, JuventudeSP, in addition to the School Access Programs (2009) - Government of the State of São Paulo, Network Telecentros.BR Training - Federal Gov. (2011); Rede HumanizaSus (2009), among others.

521

About the Contributors

Gejun Huang, PhD student by the University of Texas at Austin. Has experience in Academic Writing, Communications Theory, Qualitative Analysis, Interviewing, Media Studies, New Media Technology, Quantitative Analysis, Data Collection, Survey Methodology and Quantitative Data Analysis, Data Analysis, Social Networking, Communications Technology, Survey Analysis, Research Papers, Research Paper Writing, Social Statistics Internet Surveys & Documentation. Hélio Antônio Junqueira, PhD in Communications Sciences from the School of Communications and Arts (ECA) of the University of São Paulo, Master in Communications and Consumer Practices by the Superior School of Advertising and Marketing (ESPM). Graduated in Agricultural Engineering from the School of Agriculture Luiz de Queiroz at the University of São Paulo - USP (1978) and specialization in Rural Development and Food Supply Urban FAO / UNDP / IPARDES (1982) and technical development in the country in Food Supply urban with CNPq scholarship (1983). Scientific researcher of CNPq Groups Communications and consumption: education and citizenship (ESPM) and Centre for Digital Culture (School of the Future / USP). Professor at ESPM. Andres Kalikoske, PhD in Communications Sciences from the University of Rio dos Sinos Valley (Unisinos). Has a master’s degree and a degree in Communications from the same institution. Media professor at the Faculty Unisinos and St. Francis of Assisi (Unifin). Coordinator of specialization in TV and Digital Convergence in Unisinos. Conducts research on Theories of Culture, Audiovisual Epistemology, Digital Communications, Convergence Culture and Media Convergence. Member of the research group of Communications processes (Processocom). Referee of scientific journals Intexto (UFRGS), Sessions of the Imaginary (PUCRS) and Eptic Online (UFS). Published in 2010 the book Political Economy of Cultural Industries (Portugal, Media XXI). Professionally he worked in Grupo Clarin (Argentina), Futura Television Channel and Bandeirantes Group. Walter Teixeira Lima, Full Professor in Communications and Technology of the Postgraduate Program at the Methodist University of São Paulo (UMESP); Head of the research group, Technology, Communications and Cognitive Science (Tecccog); Post-doctorate “Man-computer Symbiosis” in the Mechatronics Engineering Department at Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo (Poli-USP); Collaborator researcher for the Mathematical, Computation and Cognition department through the Post Graduate Program Neuroscience and Cognition at Federal University of ABC (UFABC); and Referee of the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation, National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development, and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. Ana Claudia Loureiro, PhD student in education at the University of São Paulo, Master in Communications Sciences from the University of São Paulo. Waléria Magalhães, Social Worker Bachelor in Computer Science Master of Computer Science Educational Computing. Miguel Angel Marzal has been a teacher since 1983 in high school education and vocational training. He has been working as a professor at the Carlos III University for the last 20 years. Courses taught during this time: indexing languages, secondary information, digital literacy and educational digital libraries. His research interests are in learning objects, digital literacy, digital libraries and digital inclusion. 522

About the Contributors

Antonio Miranda, Full Professor of the University of Brasília and Director of Brasília National Library. Celia Mireles-Cárdenas, PhD in Information Science (Universidad Complutense de Madrid); Master of Library and Information Studies (UNAM); Bachelor of Library Science (UASLP). Candidate for National Investigator. He is a research-professor of the School of Information Science at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi; Professor in Master and Doctoral Programs of Library and Information Studies at UNAM. Research Area: Information services. Research lines: Library and information services; information literacy; Library Image. Jorge Morato, currently professor of Information Science in the Department of Informatics at the Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain). In 1999, he received his PhD in Library Science from Carlos III University. He teaches students to use web tools and techniques to publish information in a digital media. His research interests lie in the area of Interface design, Credibility and Trust in the Web, Positioning algorithms, and Data Literacy. Benedito Medeiros Neto, Professor at the University of Brasilia (UnB), Brazil / Institute of Exact Science /Department of Computer Science. Associate Researcher of the Future School of the University of São Paulo (USP). Postdoc Student of the School of Communications and Art - ECA / USP. PhD in Information Science from the Faculty of Information Science at UnB. MSc in Operational Research (Statistics and Quantitative Methods)/UnB (1981). Specialist in Electrical Engineering/UnB (1986). Electrical Engineer by UnB (1975). Consultant for Digital Inclusion and Knowledge Management Coordinator and Evaluation of GESAC Program/Ministry of Communications. Manager of Directory, Advisor to the Vice President, Advisor / Technical Support Advisor in Technology and Infrastructure (2007) and System Analyst/Brazilian Main Post Office (ECT). Chief of the Telebras System TeleCommunications Section. Professor of The Superior School of Postal Administration Education/ECT, Teacher of Catholic University of Brasilia and Professor of University Center of Brasilia (CEUB). Francisco Paletta, Professor in the Information and Culture Department of the School of Communications and Arts – ECA at University of Sao Paulo – USP. Lucia Palmer, Doctoral student in the Radio-Television-Film department at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her MA in Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2013. Her research is informed by critical theory and cultural studies, in particular by the work of feminist and postcolonial scholars. Currently her research interests include the intersection between media discourses and constructions of nationality, gender, race and sexuality. Additionally, she is interested in how cultural and political movements utilize the media, in particular alternative and independent media formats, to struggle over social processes of meaning production. Belén Pérez-Lorenzo, information science and documentation professional, with over 25 years of experience managing information. I work in formal and non-formal education in several public and private institutions. Participate in projects and research contracts as part of multidisciplinary teams, and have published some coauthored journal articles and book chapters. I also speak as a speaker at profes-

523

About the Contributors

sional scientific meetings. My main scientific interest is directed to the development of career skills and career paths of expert information, and other related issues such as investigating gender studies, digital inclusion, re-use, library marketing, and content management in libraries and documentation services. Alejandro Ruiz-Robles is a full professor of the Information Systems Department at the University of Piura. He has a master’s degree in Computer Science and Technology at the Carlos III University. His professional career outside the academia includes a number of implementations of IT solutions in companies and non-profit organizations. Sonia Sánchez-Cuadrado currently works in NLP techniques applied to dissemination of information in JOT Internet Media. Previously she worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Informatics at Carlos III University of Madrid since 2003. In 2007, she received her PhD in Library Science and Digital Environments, designing a methodology for the automatic construction of knowledge organization systems and NLP. His research interests include Information Extraction, Knowledge Organization Systems, Semantic Web, and Digital Inclusion by improving academic curricula. Tomás Saorín, PhD in Information Studies, is an associate professor at University of Murcia. His research topics are Digital Libraries, Web Content Management technologies and Open knowledge. Elmira Luzia Simeão, Full Professor of the University of Brasília and Director of the Information Science Institute. Javier Tarango, Member of the Mexican National System of Researchers (Level I). Doctor of Education (Autonomous University of Chihuahua, 2010), Master of Information Science (University of Guanajuato, 2002), Master in Organizational Development (University of Monterrey, 2003) and Bachelor of Education (Autonomous University of Chihuahua, 1984). He is full-time teacher-researcher at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua. He has been president of the organizing committee of five international conferences: Transborder Library Forum (2005), Mexican Congress of Library Science (2008), Trejo Foster Foundation Institute (2012), International Congress of High School Education (2013) and VII International Conference on Digital Divide and Social Inclusion (2014). Within its production include: three books, over 20 book chapters, 32 refereed and indexed articles as first author, 24 proceedings papers, 72 lectures, 27 bachelor, master’s and doctoral thesis directed, taught over 100 courses, 15 specialized advisory, nine research projects and is an arbitrator six scientific journals abroad. Maria Lujan Túbio, B.A. in Comparative Literature from the American University of Paris (France, 2002). M.A. in Interpreting and Translating from the University of Bradford (England, 2004) and Ph.D in Comparative Literature from the Pennsylvania State University (USA, 2009). Postdoctorate in Communications at the Universidade de São Paulo (2014). More than 10 years of experience in higher education. Managing experience as Director of a Research Group (23 researchers) and Head of the English Department (13 professors). Director and Founder of ONG Hollaback-Bogota.

524

About the Contributors

Rafael Vergili, Doctoral student at the University of São Paulo School of Communications and Arts (ECA-USP) and Master in Communications in Contemporary Society at Casper Libero School. He has experience in the Public Relations sector and now devotes himself to study the importance of digital literacy in the performance of professional PR (in which he holds a Bachelor’s Degree). He is also a researcher in “Digital Culture Observatory at School of the Future Research Laboratory” – EF/ USP (University of São Paulo), in “Technology, Communications and Cognitive Science” – Tecccog (Methodist University of São Paulo) and in “Communications, Technology and Market” – Comertec (Federal University of Amapá). Fabiana Grieco Cabral de Mello Vetritti, Doctoral Student at School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo - ECA/USP. Master in Communications and Semiotics at Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC/SP). Graduated in Journalism from Mackenzie Presbyterian University. Associated Researcher of the Digital Culture Observatory at School of the Future Research Laboratory – USP and affiliated researcher at ABPEducom - Brazilian Association of Researchers and Professionals in EduCommunications. Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla, Associate professor at the Department of Communications of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. M.A. in Communications, ABD, Ph.D. Political Science. Currently, Coordinator of the Working Group on Communications, Technology and Development of the Latin American Association of Communications Researchers (ALAIC). Cristina Zukovsky-Tavares has a Post-Doctoral in Education from the University of São Paulo, PhD in the Education Curriculum from the Pontifícia Universidade de São Paulo.

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526

Index

A Absent presence 192-193, 196, 200 Access to Information 10, 28, 43, 88, 102, 107-108, 113-115, 120, 139, 143, 154, 157, 185, 202, 220-221, 240, 248-249, 252-254, 257, 264, 273, 276-277, 280, 356, 361, 364, 379, 384385, 400, 402, 438, 467-468 Access to Information Law 139, 143, 154 AcessaSP 80, 88, 91, 126, 129-130, 134, 140-142, 154, 236-237, 243, 245-257, 259-260, 263, 465, 467 AcessaSP Program 80, 91, 126, 141, 154, 246 Actor–Network Theory (ANT) 173, 190 Andalucía 287-288, 303-305, 307-308, 310, 313314, 325, 468 Appalachia 120 Assessment 104, 117, 133, 157, 161-165, 168-170, 222-223, 247, 259, 282, 308, 364, 376, 428, 436-438, 448, 454 audiovisual 20-21, 23-24, 47, 77, 115, 202-204, 206-209, 211-212, 214, 227-228, 248, 278, 374, 409-410, 412, 415, 423-424, 469 Autonomous Communities 279, 287-288, 292, 294, 303-305, 310, 314 Avanza plan 292, 296

B best practices 349, 359, 365 Big Data 1, 3, 9-11, 14, 144, 260 Bolsa Família Program 214 Brazil 2, 5, 18, 26, 77-78, 80, 83-84, 87-92, 96, 104-106, 108, 110, 116, 124-126, 128-129, 131-133, 138-147, 149, 151, 154, 158, 160, 166, 168, 173-178, 184-185, 188-189, 192-193, 196-198, 202-203, 206-212, 214, 217-218, 236, 253, 260, 264-267, 273, 333, 386, 411-413, 415-416, 419-425, 445-446, 448, 458, 463-465,

467-470, 473 BRAZIL 4D Project 202, 207-209, 211-212, 214, 469 Brazil’s Challenges for Digital Inclusion 149, 154 Broadband 23, 56-58, 60-66, 75, 108, 140-141, 149, 152, 207, 275, 277-280, 282, 292, 294, 301, 306-307, 339, 363, 365, 400, 403-404, 413, 415, 417-420, 423, 466

C Catalonia 279, 287-288, 303-305, 308-310, 314, 468 Citizen 21, 24, 43, 45-47, 50, 54, 102-103, 106, 108109, 111-113, 117, 144, 152, 217, 220, 237, 245-246, 284, 305-306, 315-319, 326, 331-332, 392, 404-405 Citizen Empowerment 326, 331 Citizenship 2, 40-41, 43-46, 50, 54-55, 79, 94, 101102, 106-117, 120, 141-142, 174, 176, 211, 218-219, 225, 260, 273, 284, 299, 305, 308309, 315-316, 318, 335, 361, 402, 410, 425, 466, 468, 470 Collaborative Consumption 320-321, 331 Collaborative Learning 156-160, 162, 166, 169-170 Collective Intelligence 4-5, 11, 36, 78, 81-82, 84, 96, 110, 115-117, 120, 138, 152, 159, 187, 234, 462 Collective Practices 325, 327, 331 Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil (CGI.br) 154 Community Driven Information Literacy 331 Community Informatics 373, 384 Community Service 101-102, 115, 120, 379, 470 Comparative Approaches 459 Computational Thinking 124-128, 131-133, 135, 137, 467 #ConnectedYouthBrazil Research 171, 176, 178186, 189-190 Connectivity 1-3, 5-6, 9-10, 14, 40, 58, 80, 130, 134, 139, 141-142, 152, 180, 192, 194, 200, 255,

Index

307-308, 321, 333, 335, 337, 344, 363, 379, 402-405, 409, 413, 417-418, 420, 433, 436, 449-450, 452, 464-468 convergence 4, 7, 16-17, 19-20, 22, 26-30, 37, 78, 82, 110, 115, 162, 178, 186, 189, 194, 202-204, 206, 212, 238, 292, 304-306, 310, 412-413, 417-418, 420, 423, 425, 460-463, 473 Creative Industries 372, 384, 462 Crowdfunding 77-78, 85-97, 99, 324, 466 Crowdsourcing 77-78, 81, 85-87, 90-92, 96-97, 99, 321, 466 Cultural Capital 61, 63, 75, 466, 473 Culture 1-5, 9, 16-17, 20-22, 36-37, 40-41, 43-45, 47-48, 50, 54-55, 58, 75, 77-78, 82-83, 92, 108, 110, 113-115, 120, 127, 133, 140-141, 144145, 152, 168, 171, 174-176, 187, 192-193, 202, 204-206, 212, 218, 221-222, 227-229, 234, 236-239, 243, 252, 259-260, 263, 307308, 325, 327, 336, 352-356, 363-364, 373, 390, 392, 402, 404-405, 410, 417, 430, 432, 439, 447, 450-451, 462-463, 467, 473 cyberculture 20, 81-82, 108, 175, 217, 222, 245 Cyberdemocracy 102, 112, 115-117, 120 Cybersociety 108, 116-117

D Developing Nation 443 Digital Agenda for Spain 283, 296-301, 307, 310 Digital Communication 133, 214, 248, 412 Digital Culture 2-3, 50, 77, 108, 110, 113, 133, 140141, 144, 168, 174, 212, 218, 229, 236-238, 243, 260, 263, 308, 410, 439, 467 Digital Divide 56-57, 60, 65-66, 79-80, 139, 142, 151, 218, 277-279, 325-326, 335, 351, 353, 362-363, 371-372, 379, 381, 384, 411, 417418, 464, 466, 472 Digital Exclusion 2, 58, 66, 188, 214, 298, 304, 336, 344, 347, 351, 354, 357, 388, 410, 417 Digital Exclusion Factors 351 Digital Immigrants 88, 223-224, 234 digital inclusion initiatives 467-469 digital inclusion policies 247, 275, 277-279, 287288, 305, 310, 354, 385, 446, 468 Digital Inclusion Programs 12, 79-80, 107, 110, 126, 128-129, 134, 139, 142, 152, 175, 218, 238-239, 261, 278, 385, 444, 463, 467 Digital Inclusive Communities 319, 331 Digital Literacy 2, 46-47, 55, 78, 80, 88, 107, 109110, 120, 124-125, 127-128, 131-133, 135, 137, 141, 175-176, 216-217, 219-220, 224-226, 228-229, 259-260, 275, 277, 279, 282, 290, 292, 297-298, 300, 318-319, 322, 331, 333-

334, 353, 358, 362, 371-375, 377-381, 384, 387, 452, 454, 460-461, 464, 467-468, 472 Digital Media Policy-Making 472 Digital Skills 58, 175, 216-217, 223-224, 296-297, 299-300, 310, 358, 365, 368, 380, 449 digital television 202-203, 207, 211, 214, 409-414, 416-417, 421-422, 427, 464, 469 Disposition 42, 56, 58, 75, 340, 433 Distance learning 81, 157-158, 217, 355 Domestication 4, 14, 196, 201 Domestication Theory 4, 14

E e-Citizenship 46, 101, 110-117, 120, 470 Economic Capital 61, 75 Educational Computing 271-272, 435 Educational development 388 Education and Technology 107, 133, 458 e-Government 112-113, 115, 120, 139, 145, 297, 305, 335-337, 339-340, 342, 351, 364-365, 373, 392, 467 E-Inclusion 278, 294, 332-337, 341, 347, 351, 354, 357-359, 361-364, 366 Empowerment 1, 19-20, 42, 104, 184-185, 195, 316, 318-319, 326, 331, 371, 374, 377-378, 380381, 431 E-Portfolio 156, 163-168, 170, 467 España.es 291 Ethnocentric 120 European Commission 3, 7, 42, 277, 279, 284, 296297, 300, 318, 335, 337, 353-363, 368 European Union 41, 275, 278-280, 288-289, 296297, 305, 308, 315, 326, 333, 344, 353, 359, 368-369, 463, 468, 472 Extensive Communication 26, 31-32 Extremadura 287-288, 303-304, 306, 310, 314, 468

F Family-Centricity 120 Free-to-Air-Television 214

G Ginga 202-203, 207, 212, 214, 415, 421, 423-424, 427, 464, 469 Good Practice 305, 335, 352, 357-361, 368

H Habitus 56-59, 61, 65, 75 Hackerism 428-429, 433, 435, 438, 441, 443 HTML 209, 217, 423, 427 527

Index

Hyperconnectivity 187, 190 Hypermediality 427

I ICT Kids Online 138, 150, 154 Identity 5, 36, 64-65, 81, 127, 144, 178, 192-194, 201, 229, 259, 296, 322, 325, 336, 410, 470 iDTV 207-208, 211, 409, 415, 469 image 17, 21, 26-28, 126, 132, 161, 195-196, 214, 226, 378, 393, 410, 413, 415-416, 421, 423, 437, 462 Inclusão Digital 273 Infocentro 273 Infocommunication 173, 190 Informational Infrastructure 387, 389, 408 Information Competencies 408 Information Culture 40, 44-45, 55 Information Literacy 2-3, 7-8, 14-15, 40, 44-45, 47, 49-50, 55, 107-108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 121, 132, 174-176, 185, 191, 217, 220, 240, 254, 259-260, 263, 315, 321, 325, 331, 335, 352, 385, 408, 454, 460, 466, 468 Information Policies 80-81, 275, 277, 288, 385, 399 Information Services 280, 325, 405 Information Usage 389, 408 Info XXI 288-290, 293 Innovation 9-11, 14, 33, 42, 85-86, 92, 95, 101, 103104, 117, 129, 137, 145, 159, 190, 202-206, 214, 226, 229, 239, 259, 265, 275-285, 294, 306-308, 315, 325-327, 331, 353, 364-365, 372, 390, 392-393, 395-396, 402-403, 420, 439, 451, 464-465, 468, 470, 472 Interactive Audiovisual Content 212, 214 Interactivity 17, 19-20, 31-32, 78, 103-104, 107, 111, 160, 173, 202-204, 207, 214, 234, 236, 238, 240-242, 252-253, 257, 259, 261, 263, 374, 392, 409-410, 412-413, 415-416, 421, 423-425, 467, 469 Internet Public Access Points 314

K Knowledge Generation 388, 394, 397, 408

L Leapfrogging 125, 128-129, 137 Learning Methodologies 156, 170 Legal Amazon 273 Libertarian(ism) 443 library services 355, 357, 361

528

Lifelong Learning 55, 77, 318, 353-354, 356, 359, 365 Linux 141, 416, 427

M Marco Civil Internet 139, 144, 154 Marginalized Communities 351 marginalized youth 334 Material Access 56-58, 65-66, 75 Means of Production 83-86, 99-100 media 2-5, 7-9, 11, 14-24, 27-29, 33-35, 37, 4750, 55, 78, 80-84, 86, 88, 93, 101, 115, 120, 124-128, 131-135, 137, 139, 158-159, 172, 174-176, 182, 184-189, 191-194, 196, 199204, 212, 217, 221, 227-228, 234, 237-238, 240-243, 247-248, 254-255, 259-260, 263, 272, 278, 282, 316, 318, 322-323, 326-327, 371-375, 378, 380-381, 384, 387, 394, 401, 409-412, 415-417, 422, 424-425, 428-430, 432, 439, 460-465, 467-468, 470, 472-473 Media and Information Literacy 2-3, 7-8, 14, 49-50, 55, 174, 176, 185, 191, 240, 254, 259-260, 263 Media Convergence 4, 78, 185-186, 189, 202-204, 212, 412, 417, 462, 473 Media Education 373-374, 384, 461 Media Professionals 124-126, 128, 131-134, 137, 462, 467 Media Training 372-373 Mercosur 444-445, 448, 455, 458, 463, 470, 473 Middleware Ginga 202, 207, 214 MIL - Media and Information Literacy 2-3, 7, 14, 174-176, 185, 191 Mobility 31, 34-35, 83, 90, 107, 130, 134, 142, 150, 192-196, 201-202, 207, 279, 337, 409-410, 415, 420, 423, 469 Model 1 to 1 449-450, 455 Multiprogramming 202, 207, 209, 410, 413, 427, 469

N Navegapará 264-265, 267-269, 271-273, 468 Netnography 3, 175, 191, 216, 218, 222, 229, 237, 243, 245, 263 Network Collaborative Learning or Collaborative Learning Community 170 Network Effects 322, 463, 473 New Media 2-3, 15, 20, 23-24, 48, 81, 133-134, 175, 187, 238, 242, 255, 410, 462 Non-Believers 340, 351

Index

O One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) 336, 339, 428-430, 432-441, 443-444, 448-450, 452, 454, 458, 468-470, 473 One Seg (or 1SEG) 427 Onlife 5-7, 15, 185, 187-190 “Onlife” 5-6, 185, 187-188, 190 Open Data 143-144, 154 Open Data and Transparency 143, 154 Open Source 78, 86, 202-203, 207, 214, 336, 339

P Participation Mechanisms 138, 143 Peru 203, 207, 428, 430, 435-436, 439, 441, 463465, 470 Phubbing 192-194, 196-197, 199, 201, 470 Plan Ceibal 444, 446-447, 449-455, 458, 470 Political Economy of Convergence Society 473 portability 186, 193-194, 202, 204, 207, 214, 410, 413, 469 Protocol 125, 137, 164, 192, 217, 417, 470 Public Access 64, 146, 248, 273, 290, 309, 314, 319, 331, 359, 372, 378-379, 384, 402, 465-466, 468 Public Libraries 64, 114, 129, 246, 253, 282, 290, 325, 352-353, 355-359, 362-365, 368, 375, 378-381, 417 Public Policy 43, 104, 138-139, 141-142, 151, 272, 326, 408, 416, 429, 444, 449

R Red.es 291, 300-301, 303, 314 RedIRIS 314 Relational Artifacts 192-194, 199, 201, 470 Riga Ministerial Declaration 278, 357-358, 368

S school of the future – USP 80, 173-174 Sherry Turkle 470 Silicon Valley 416, 427 Simputer 416, 427 Smart Cities 3, 9-10, 15, 303 Smartphone 83, 109, 192, 420 Social Activism 317, 470 Social Agent of Digital Inclusion 365, 369 Social Capital 20, 60-61, 63, 75, 95-96 Social Entrepreneurship 77-78, 81, 85, 87, 91-92, 94-97, 100, 467 Social Exclusion 42, 106-107, 280, 296, 307, 363, 365, 386-387, 393, 408

Social Imaginary 429-430, 432, 435, 438, 440-441, 443 Social Inclusion 1, 42, 46, 78-80, 96-97, 100, 106107, 109, 112-113, 117, 203, 212, 265, 268, 307, 331, 333-334, 345, 352-353, 357, 359, 386, 388-389, 392, 394, 397, 405, 415, 422, 425, 447-448, 451-452, 454, 458, 468 Social Innovation 85, 307, 315, 325-326, 331, 392, 468 Social Interaction 5, 22, 34, 193, 195, 337, 374 Social IoT 11, 15 Social Networking 144, 150, 201, 234, 236, 238, 261, 336, 379, 467 Social Technologies 77, 117, 315, 317, 319-320, 323-325, 327, 331, 467 Social Technology 94, 100 Society of Information and Knowledge 44, 444-445, 447, 450, 454-455, 458 Sociotechnical System 437, 443 software 11, 14, 22, 46-47, 79-80, 83, 86, 100, 112, 116, 126-129, 137, 139, 160, 172, 207, 212, 214, 227, 245, 256-257, 260, 263, 268, 270271, 273, 279, 305-306, 327, 332, 334-336, 339-340, 344, 347, 363, 380, 411-412, 415, 421, 427, 430-431, 433-437, 452, 468-469 sound 15, 26-28, 32, 81, 203, 410, 413, 415-416, 421, 423, 462 Spain 9, 43, 194, 275, 277, 279-280, 283-285, 287288, 290-291, 293, 296-301, 303-305, 307, 310, 313-314, 316, 319, 321, 325, 358, 362, 464, 468

T Techno-Capital 57, 60-66, 75, 466, 473 technological convergence 26-28, 30, 37, 110, 178, 461 Technologies in Education 225 Technopolis 371-374, 384 text 20, 26-28, 32, 34, 37, 109, 125-127, 134, 142143, 145, 154, 159, 203, 217, 236, 245, 248, 259, 282, 289, 308, 337, 372, 417, 462 Transmedia Storytelling 4, 185-186, 189, 191 Transparency 115, 143-145, 154, 163, 285, 315-316, 323, 417, 467

U Unequal Digital Inclusion 473 United Nations 49, 79, 139, 333, 364, 463, 473 University Education 156-158, 164, 166, 170, 298, 467

529

Index

Uruguay 108, 141, 203, 207, 418-420, 436, 444-448, 450-452, 454, 458, 463, 470 Use and access to information 221, 385, 468

V Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) 170

W Web 1, 4, 10, 15, 18-20, 22-23, 29, 32, 37, 60, 8083, 87, 97, 104, 108-110, 115-116, 125, 130-

530

131, 134, 144, 146, 149, 152, 157-159, 161, 170, 172-175, 183-184, 186-188, 217-218, 224, 234-235, 243, 249, 252, 254-257, 259, 267, 275, 277, 289, 291-293, 303, 305, 307-308, 322, 335-336, 339-340, 354-355, 357-361, 374, 380, 385, 410, 415, 427, 438, 448 Web 2.0 4, 10, 15, 22, 80, 82-83, 104, 109, 174-175, 183-184, 187, 218, 234-235, 307 Web Squared 10, 15