CNF

ICTs for Social Inclusion: What is the Reality?

Community Informatics is an emergent discipline with a number of focusses including, the conduct of research about the relationship between the design of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for communities, and second, the implementation of ICT projects and projects involving such things as community economic development and social development in conjunction with local stakeholders.

The implementation of ICT in developing economies involves constraints not applicable in developed regions. Constraints cover a wide range from technologies and infrastructures (energy grids, networks) to human aspects such as poverty and illiteracy. We seek to exchange experiences and possible solutions to address such problems.

Since the inception of the Community Informatics Conferences in Prato in 2003, we have explored issues such as theory, action, and community memory. Online communications have the potential to build strong and purposeful on-line and off-line communities, with shared values, goals, and interests. There is constant interplay between all of these aspects around attempts to promote social inclusion and social development through effective use of ICTs.

In fact 'social inclusion' has become a buzzword in a number of western countries, but it is also equally relevant to the development of ICT programs in developing countries. For example, the Scottish Government defines it as 'is about reducing inequalities between the least advantaged groups and communities and the rest of society by closing the opportunity gap and ensuring that support reaches those who need it most.'

Social inclusion is also closely linked to ideas about 'social cohesion', which according to the Canadian academic Judith Maxwell, is 'building shared values and communities of interpretation, reducing disparities in wealth and income, and generally enabling people to have a sense that they are engaged in a common enterprise, facing shared challenges, and that they are members of the same community'.

How then is 'social inclusion' or e-inclusion understood as it applies to communities in their interaction with technology? Are governments, funders and policy makers understanding the link between 21st century technologies and social development, or are they re-branding past policies such as 'digital divide' that was in favour a number of years ago?