ABSTRACT. Electoral processes are being increasingly defined in the digital realm and shaped by digital communications. While this transformation once symbolized the possibility of better, stronger democracies, reality has shown that it also amplifies the inequalities that prevent those already excluded from participating in decision-making processes. This keynote looks at the effects of digital inequalities in recent Latin American electoral processes through the experience of Ciudadanía Inteligente, an NGO that has spent the last 10 years creating technological tools to increase political participation in the region. Analyzing recent project developments in Chile, Guatemala, Ecuador and Brazil, we will explore how web platforms can be built keeping digital inequalities in mind, and what do they tell us about those who are being left behind.

ABSTRACT. In our societies, where more and more services, products and activities are migrating online, those who are digitally excluded are also socially excluded. Therefore, in the attempt to tackle digital exclusion, digital inclusive initiatives are proliferating almost everywhere in the world. Digital inclusion projects, regardless of whether they are financed by the public or private sector or by an agreement between the two, aim to create an inclusive society in which no-one is left behind. Improving digital inclusivity means, in fact, helping citizens to use ICTs to find the resources and services they need when they need them the most, eventually enhancing social inclusion through digital technologies. Furthermore, since digital inequalities are entangled with already existing social inequalities (Ragnedda 2018) and they tend to reinforce each other, by contrasting digital inequalities, it also reduces social inequalities. However, guarantying the access to ICTs, by promoting affordable technologies and reasonably priced broadband, while vital, is not enough. To create a digitally inclusive society it is necessary to challenge the three levels of digital divide, namely the inequalities in accessing to ICTs (Attawell 2001), the inequalities in using ICTs (Hargittai 2002), and finally the inequalities in rewards and benefits deriving from different accesses and uses of ICTs (Ragnedda 2017). Digital inclusion initiatives, therefore, must reduce the three levels of digital divide and promote the use of ICTs as a means to foster social inclusion and tackle social inequalities, by promoting three digital rights: Digital Access, Digital Competences and Digital Empowerment. In the end, the ultimate goal of digital inclusion process is to promote Digital Equity, namely the condition in which all citizens have the skills and information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, in terms of economic, social, personal, political and cultural well-being.

ABSTRACT. This paper reports on the initial findings from the recently awarded “Me and my big data project” funded by the United Kingdom’s Nuffield Foundation. The project seeks to understand the levels of and variations in UK citizens “data literacy”, and to develop policy and educational materials to support improving this. As Jaeger et al. (2012) argue, what digital literacy means changes alongside the development of technologies. Therefore, it is crucial to keep examining what types of literacies are needed in order to properly address them.

In an age of misinformation, a key component of citizens’ data literacy is an understanding of the uses of their personal data. Unfortunately, evidence indicates that many citizens have limited understanding of the data they share, its use by organisations, nor basic data protection behaviours. Citizens are also not aware of how they can utilise publicly available data to undertake both personal and civic action. This lack of data literacy opens citizens up to risks and limits their ability to operate as active citizens in a digital society. Furthermore, evidence is growing of inequalities in data literacy that mirror broader social inequality.

The policy implications for the regulation of digital data use are substantial, as are the implications for the everyday lives of citizens. Lack of awareness can make citizens economically, politically and socially vulnerable and exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. It can impact their civic engagement, political life and economic contribution, reinforcing other forms of inequity and exclusion. This project will be of direct relevance to the work of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) under the UK government’s Digital Strategy, organisations supporting digital inclusion and citizens.

ABSTRACT. New redaction of Ukrainian Media Education Implementation Concept is improved by Presidium of National Academy of Educational Sciences in 2016 (the former redaction was in 2010) and includes new war context and emphasize on the need psychological resources and educational instruments for an aggressive propaganda resistance and a war trauma resilience. The Ukrainian Doctrine of information safety (2017) includes the strategy of citizen media literacy development. All Ukrainian experiment of mass media education implementation was started from 2017 on the base of 200 schools in 26 regions of Ukraine. The results of the first media literacy assessment of teenagers from 8 and 10 grades (N=1439) in 2018 was compare with data from 2007. Indicators of teenager digital cyber practices are from Kids Online methodology. Different risks of internet using and well-being indicators are compared for teenagers with war trauma experience in real situation and by media expose. Teenagers’ reflexivity in communication with adults and peers and teens critical thinking are considered as moderators between their digital cyber practices and wellbeing. Some conclusions about economical cyber socialization under the aggressive propaganda impacts are suggested.

ABSTRACT. Factors that promoted and retarded the spread of the internet has been studying by researchers globally. Digital divide is one of the core concepts that has been subject to much debate in this scope. In a broader sense digital divide is defined as “Inequalities in access to the internet; extent of use; knowledge of search strategies; quality of technical connections and social support; ability to evaluate the quality of information; and, diversity of uses”. Although, the reasons of digital divide are argued to be caused by social, economic and infrastructural conditions in the literature, some studies also suggest that a country’s regime type matters greatly in terms of diffusion of technology and lack of democracy may cause digital divide. Turkey, as a country which has been criticized to become authoritarian by the international community will be considered as a case. Turkey has been concerned about digital exclusion and prioritized policy making to diminish digital divide. However, its restriction practices on the Internet widen the gap. The policies targeting to overcome digital exclusion issue in Turkey mostly include the attempts for the betterment of infrastructural conditions and developing computer literacy skills. However, the restrictions to access several websites such as Wikipedia, -and in the past YouTube, Twitter- that enable fast and instant dissemination of information widen the gap, not closing it. Therefore, in Turkey, one of the reasons of digital gap could be governmental restrictions. In this scope, the purpose of the study is to examine the restriction practices of Turkish government as a case and discuss their impact on digital exclusion. The result of the study suggests that Turkey needs to revise the current policies and implement more comprehensive policies to reach out excluded groups and eliminate digital exclusion.

ABSTRACT. The rapid growth of communication technologies has created a multitude of new risks and opportunities, particularly for young people today. For many, digital interactions have become an integrated part of their daily social lives. New platforms and ‘affordances’ have in turn led to new social norms for younger generations. Yet concern remains among adults about how to best manage digital risks to children, whether through legislation, regulation or education.

Schools in particular have been targeted as a site for education in this area, with particular focus on issues like ‘cyberbullying’ and ‘sexting’. Yet a challenge for both educators and legislators is ignorance about the shifting perceptions of risk among younger generations. As under-18s constitute both prolific consumers and producers of digital content, it is vital that their perspectives are examined, acknowledged and addressed by policy makers.

Based on focus groups with 184 11-18 year old participants at two state secondary schools, this research explores how young people assess digital risk and responsibility. Inviting pupils to articulate how ‘risky’ they feel certain content or conduct is reveals the importance of situational micro factors (e.g. age, proximity, and relationship, etc.) as well as macro social issues (e.g. freedom of expression, humour, or lack of sanctions). Most striking are the efforts to downplay the seriousness of hate speech, threats, revenge pornography, and child abuse allegations among peer groups, and the extent to which little consensus on risk emerged.

Primarily, this paper calls for a critical criminal, legal and human rights education to become an integral part of all e-safety, digital citizenship and media literacy initiatives within schools (Shariff, 2009/2015; Livens, 2011; Ringrose, Gill, Livingstone and Harvey, 2012), with broader recommendations relevant to policymakers within law, policing, media, technology and education.

ABSTRACT. Since Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced in 2014 that Hungary would become an illiberal democracy, the independent press has been a target for the government. Oligarchs close to Fidesz – the country’s ruling party – exploit the precarious financial state of independent mediums by buying them up and turning them into government propaganda. It has been a broadly covered story all across Western Europe, but there is another question with much less attention: what happens to the people lacking in economic and cultural capital, the primary victims of this propaganda? By now, the remainder of independent mediums critical of the government are mostly known only by the educated upper class. Besides, even when independent media covers affairs in connection with the poor, they rarely go beyond tokenism. Moreover, as the current issues regarding social media shows, the online giants such as Facebook or Google also tend to be harmful with their profit-oriented algorithms and disrespect of free will in browsing. My study provides a theoretic frame to explain the oppression of political and economic power in Hungarian media while highlighting the presence of political economy within media studies. My empirical research and analysis is based on interviews conducted with the Hungarian working class regarding their online media consumption and political views between 2017 and 2019. In light of the rising number of poor people in the country and the spread of non-emancipatory political views across Europe, I believe this is an urgent and important topic to discuss.

ABSTRACT. Greece maintains one of the lowest levels of broadband internet penetration in the European Union. At the same time, the traditional media landscape in Greece is overdeveloped, with a plethora of outlets that is disanalogous to the country's size. Despite this, public opinion surveys have consistently found that significant majorities of Greeks do not consider "mainstream" media institutions to be credible news sources. Conversely, online media are considered as comparatively more credible sources of news, despite the significant digital divide in Greece. Furthermore, the usage of online media, including social media tools such as Facebook, as sources of news in Greece, is amongst the highest in the world. What factors account for the credibility crisis faced by traditional news outlets in Greece? Why are online media, including social media, such popular sources of news and why are they considered more trustworthy than mainstream media outlets by significant portions of Greek society? How have online media managed to overcome the digital divide to become popular sources of news and information for many Greeks? And to what extent do online media and social media act as true alternatives to the news and information being delivered by the "mainstream" media? This study is based on research performed in Greece between 2012 and 2017, encompassing interviews with journalists, bloggers, and media professionals, as well as case studies of traditional and online-based media organizations. Findings indicate that the low levels of credibility enjoyed by traditional media outlets are related to the intertwined relationships those outlets are believed to have maintained with successive governments and with the political system. Despite the popularity of online media and a widespread perception that they act as an "alternative" to traditional media institutions, however, online-based news outlets largely replicate the information delivered by mainstream outlets and are often operated by the same ownership.

ABSTRACT. Citizen disengagement from politics is one of the main issues in modern democracy. Technologies can be used to tap into new internal motivations for people to take part and make sense of political debate. We present a case study of citizens engaging with the replay of political election debates with a novel hypervideo technology called Democratic Replay. Results of the study show that Democratic Replay increases people’s appetite for a new type of engagement with televised elections debates which is based on the realisation of key dimensions of deliberative democracy, such as: reflecting and focusing on different aspects of the political debate, reconstructing the arguments that politicians are making, and assessing facts and evidence. The study also shows that visual analytics narratives and hypervideo navigation improve sensemaking in that they trigger questioning and changing of personal assumptions that people hold before watching the debate. This is a very encouraging result, which addresses the ongoing concern about the real value of new media in the context of political debate and democratic deliberation: specifically, the scepticism toward their capability to support people’s critical thinking rather than promote polarisation of pre-existing groups and opinions. Our research into new sensemaking technologies and hypervideo shows that new media can crucially provide new ways for citizens to detect and make sense of political manipulations, check facts versus speculations, gain new insights, and confidently inform their political choices. Results of the demographic analysis also show that Democratic Replay appealed to different demographic sub-groups with different sensemaking behaviours. This means that democratic spaces and rights cannot be interpreted uniquely and should respond to people’s personal needs, interpretation and understanding of society. Therefore, technologies for democratic public deliberation need to be designed with a variety of users in mind, and they need to be customised to the needs of different demographic groups if they aim to reach all citizens.

ABSTRACT. Is ageing the two faces of Janus in digital inclusion, influencing older people’s digital inclusion in some cases but not in others? This paper presents qualitative research on the complexities of the role of ageing in digital inclusion. Qualitative findings suggest that older people are highly selective in the digital domain as within-age group diversity marks their attitudes to, uses of and critiques of digital technologies. The paper argues that the interplay between structural/external and individual/internal factors can explain older people’s selective attitude to digital technology as well as the very fact that intra-generational and not just cross-generational diversity is in place in the digital domain. Thus, the paper concludes that ageing and its role in digital inclusion as traditionally understood by social theories of ageing (e.g., the disengagement theory by Cumming and Henry and the activity theory by Havighurst and Albrecht), on one hand, and by digital inclusion research (e.g., Friemel, 2016; Matthews, Nazroo and Marshall, 2018; Mitzner et al., 2010; Schreurs, Quan-Haase and Martin, 2017; Wei, 2012), on the other hand, are increasingly less applicable, with ageing being re-negotiated alongside socio-cultural and psychological parameters. Hence, the paper argues for the need of systematic and extensive research of that complex psychosocial dynamics and the interplay of structural/external and individual/internal factors in the digital domain so as to better unpack intra-generational and not just cross-generational diversity. Theoretically, the paper suggests that Baltes and Baltes’ (1990) Selective Optimization with Compensation Theory of ageing holds some potential as a theoretical model for the conduct of conceptually rich and informed research of older people’s digital inclusion but it needs to place the concept of intra-generational diversity at its core for its effective operationalisation in the study of digital inclusion among older people.

References (cited in Abstract) Baltes, P.B. and Baltes, M.M. 1990. Psychological perspectives on successful aging: the model of selective optimization with compensation. In P.B. Baltes and M.M. Baltes (eds), Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioral Sciences. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1–34. Friemel, T. 2016. The digital divide has grown old: determinants of a digital divide among seniors. New Media and Society, 18, 2, 313–31. Matthews, K., Nazroo, J., and Marshall, A. 2018. Digital inclusion in later life: Cohort changes in internet use over a ten-year period in England. Ageing and Society, 1-19. Online First. Mitzner, T. L., Boron, J.B., Fausset, C.B., Adams, A.E., Charness, N., Czaja, S.J., ... and Sharit, J. 2010. Older adults talk technology: Technology usage and attitudes. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 6, 1710–21. Schreurs, K., Quan-Haase, A., and Martin, K. 2017. Problematizing the digital literacy paradox in the context of older adults’ ICT use: Aging, media discourse, and self-determination. Canadian Journal of Communication, 42, 2, 359–77. Wei, L. 2012. Number matters: the multimodality of internet use as an indicator of the digital inequalities. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 17, 3, 303–18.

ABSTRACT. Discrimination is about unfairness. Stereotypes, contribute to such discrimination by denying real habits, interests, and values of diverse populations. Ageism constitutes a particular form of discrimination which is more pervasive, and more invisible than sexism and racism (World Health Organization, 2017). Ageism includes practices that respond to age prejudices and deprioritise, disregard or even exclude people based on their age. Nowadays, most digital services are provided by corporate platforms; digital platforms (Dijck et al., 2018). There is evidence of gender, racial or socioeconomic discrimination in digital platforms. However, in line with the limited awareness of ageism in society (Palmore, 1999), ageism in digital platforms has received even less attention. This paper will analyse tools frequently embedded in digital platforms, from an old age perspective, to increase awareness on the different forms in which ageism operates in this context. Including first, how innovation teams, following homophilic patterns, tend to ignore the habits and interests of older people. Secondly, how the discrimination of digital minorities, tends to be amplified by big data approaches often used in digital platforms, and in third place, how corporate values are in contradiction with usability issues that affect mainly people with low (digital) skills, which is more common among older people. All of these issues have a greater effect on digital older people, as these people are a minority, diverse or invisibilised collective. To tackle such discrimination, we refer to the need to control the abusive practices of corporations behind digital platforms, and the need to compensate the under-representation of collectives in less favourable conditions in big data approaches.

World Health Organization (2017) 10 facts on ageing and health. Dijck J van, Poell T and Waal M de (2018) The platform society : public values in a connective world. Oxford University Press. Palmore EB (1999) Ageism. Springer.

ABSTRACT. The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) has led a policy agenda towards driving the cost of connecting to the internet to 1GB for no more than 2% of the monthly national average income – the so-called '1 for 2' affordability target. This target, while confronting a problem commonly cited as the most frequent barrier preventing someone from a low- or middle-income country to connect to the internet, falls short of aiding policymakers, researchers, and advocates in civil society to understand what kind of access is required to facilitate meaningful use of the internet.

As an organisation, we are now turning towards this question in two parts: (1) when does internet use become meaningful and (2) what metrics are available to measure and help quantify the kind of connection that supports that meaningful use in an inclusive way?

By meaningful access, we understand such a threshold to not just be about affordability but also of a sufficient quality for enabling social development and human flourishing. This brings us to additional questions and explorations within philosophy and the social sciences on human rights and dignity in the digital age.

In previous research, A4AI has relied on market indicators and national economic data to track affordability. Complicating this question, we now hope to look towards quality of service, network continuity, and human rights issues that would undergird any effective definition of meaningful access.

This session would focus in part on presenting research to date in exploring this topic area through quantitative indicators, such as data collected by A4AI or others in the mobile internet sector, and also the philosophical approaches in connecting meaningful use with meaningful access in an effort to build an effective and measurable definition that helps us identify this problem and track progress in policy and in human experiences.

ABSTRACT. In recent years inclusion has been used as an umbrella term to describe many ideas, strategies or policy decisions. Accessibility is one factor to consider when thinking about inclusion in any format. When access needs and usability are integrated in the planning process from the beginning ideas, products or services coming from it can be used by a wider range of people, giving more agency to those often marginalised by their (built) environments and society at large.

In our talk, we rethink practical matters of accessibility. Our background in academia, activism and business has led to an understanding that accessibility is a context-dependent process rather than a set of standardized measures. We offer an easy-to-understand breakdown of our experiences, targeted towards an audience with limited knowledge in this area, who are curious to learn more.

We approach access in the form of everyday, mundane communication. No matter if you are an academic writer, webservice host, institution, civil authority or service provider, you want to reach people with your work. Reconceptualising inclusion as communication allows us to consider a wider range of ideas and will enable you to reach a broader audience.

Specifically, our objective is to present a framework for approaching everyday communication and interactions that deals with the complex issues surrounding accessibility and inclusion. We will highlight different accessibility problems using cases ranging from corporate communication to academic event management. Using practical examples and theoretical thought, we will show that small changes in everyday communication processes can have a great impact on inclusion. This approach can be applied in private, corporate and academic contexts regardless of scale.

Our goal is to start a conversation with participants about the continuous process of co-creating inclusive spaces.

ABSTRACT. Contrary to much media and political rhetoric, young people are not universally digitally included. Those who are vulnerable, particularly those at points of transition, are most at risk of slipping through the net and falling outside the digital mainstream (Helsper, 2016).

The #NotWithoutMe programme was established by the Carnegie UK Trust to challenge digital exclusion for vulnerable young people and champion ‘adequate’ digital access for all young people across the UK and Ireland. Since its inception in 2015, #NotWithoutMe has been involved with multiple policy, practice and research interventions. This work has included supporting 11 organisations to develop or deliver practical digital inclusion initiatives with young people, hosting two digital inclusion conferences and the publication of a number of qualitative research reports.

Reflecting on this body of work, the programme has produced a number considerations in supporting more effective digital inclusion solutions focusing on young people, including the role of adult support networks, socio-technical digital skills, the internalisation of technology-related assumptions and the unintended consequence of a lack of digital access.

The programme has also further examined the dimensions of digital inclusion, which has produced four key pillars:

• Availability of Technology, • Affordability of Technology, • Individual Ability, • Equality and Fairness.

Only when these components are each addressed effectively in tandem, not in isolation, can we say that there is “adequate digital access” for all young people. This session will explore these dimensions and key considerations produced through the #NotWithoutMe programme.

References Helsper, E (2016) Slipping Through The Net https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/about-the-trust/research-policies-reports/slipping-through-the-net [accessed July 2017]

ABSTRACT. Youth being exuberant, coruscating, inventive and spirited in nature is the most critical element of the population. Youth are the powerful agents of social change. The study adopts UN stated citizenry between the age of 15-34 years as youth. Youth presently comprises of a significant part of the Indian population. India is anticipated to have 34.33% share of youth in total population by 2020. Social media is capturing plenty of popularity, study divulges that average person spends additional time each day on their smart phone and PC’s than they do sleeping. The youth expends more than 27 hours in a week on social media platforms. Social media enables them to communicate and stay in touch with their social peers 24 x 7. Youth is plugged with internet and aware of the constant updates. Media literacy becomes imperative for the youth as they are the social agents, if social agents are not media literate then the development of the country will hamper. Mis informed youth can create confusion and will be mislead. Media literacy is to educate and make aware to the youth about the different media sources, content and how to read the content. The focus of the study is to promote media literacy among Indian Youth.The intent of this study is to make Indian youth a expository thinker of the media content so that they are able to develop critical thinking, become analytical choosers, and inculcate critical reading skills. The study tries to probe the sagacity of Medial literacy amid Indian Youth through online survey. The study is done on the social media users who devour internet more than two hours per day. The sample consumes information mainly political followed by entrainment and then International and sports. The survey reveals that the Indian youth face disinformation on social media routinely and sometimes they are able to unearth fake news and sometimes take it as truth. They find it hard in identifying reliable and unreliable sources. The findings reveal that the Indian youth are some what aware of the media literacy but feel that media literacy should be enforced powerfully among the Indian citizens. The youth believes that thinking critically should be the main motive of media literacy followed by understanding author’s goal, creating media responsibly and become a smart consumer. The study concludes that social media platforms along with government bear responsibility to make Indian youth acquainted to the media literacy campaigns. Media literacy among youth can be imposed by organising training programmes, workshops by colleges and other educational institutions, incorporate in school and college curriculum.

ABSTRACT. Child Friendly City Principles (CFCP) aim to increase children’s life chances, health and well-being (UNESCO https://childfriendlycities.org/guiding-principals/ ). Seventy-five children, 7-12 years from schools in a disadvantaged area of Sydney, Australia created a digital map to define what CFCP means for them in their community context. Both natural and built environments were a source of interaction and connection. The children were provided with art materials to create whatever they wanted to express their positive experiences in their local community. They were then supported to upload images of their creative work onto a digital map of their local area, pinpointing each location of their choice. The children used the digital map to explain what is important for them in their municipality and to advocate for social justice. Spaces and places selected were explained by the children when situating them on the digital map in terms of their significance for their respect, autonomy, identifications, safety, social and cultural meanings as well as community engagement. Using their digital map, the children shared power and responsibility with local authority decision makers to co-design a safe, healthy environment aligned with how children chose to localise CFCP. The digital map provides a sustainable platform on which more social and political links can be built by children. The implications of using digital mapping as a tool for hard-to-reach children, in partnership with local authority, to engage directly in place-based change, affords an opportunity for critical place-making, that is, grounded in children’s understandings of the often invisible socio-spatial processes underpinning and reproducing social differences.

ABSTRACT. In this paper we look at how ICTs might start to become integrated into the workings of rural communities; how they might find their place – both metaphorically in terms of the sense of community, and literally as a particular space. We use the context of a rural village in South West Cornwall, UK which has recently been part of a programme bringing superfast broadband to the region. We look at the role of ICTs within rural, isolated and low-income communities and discuss the results of participatory research in village halls that have become a ‘digital hub’. In particular we focus on the role of the village hall to provide a resource for supporting digital inclusion, and to be a ‘place’ for the integration of digital skills and resources into the community. We used methods such as series of interviews, workshops and surveys undertaken within the village setting. As an outcome of this work we have developed a guide for communities: Digital venue Toolkit (Willis, 2017 ) that is being used by regional and national level organisations in UK. This brings into the foreground the need to community stakeholders to make a ‘place’ for ICTs in isolated, low-income villages that addresses the particular characteristics of rural communities.

ABSTRACT. As our daily lives are increasingly mediated through online platforms, digital devices, and artificial intelligence, we are starting to see that these digital technologies are having a profound impact on how we interact with social, political, economic, and cultural structures and trends. From diagnosing diseases, to predicting and forecasting weather, to delivering everyday government services, these emerging technologies and AI algorithms are changing how we offer advise and make decisions. In our data-driven world, digital technologies are shaping the global information space, impacting how populations consume information of public interest, and these technologies can be instrumental in how populations receive information – which in turn, impacts social and political trends. Governments and policy makers are now grappling with the transformative changes being induced by these emerging digital technologies and complex systems across all areas of public interests. At the same time, we need to contend with finding solutions to ensure digital technologies support democratic processes and protect human rights. We are now only beginning to see the human rights implications of how digital technologies, in combination with the structure of current data governance models, are reshaping contemporary politics. The broader impact of digital technology is playing out not only in local and national contexts, but is also driving shifts in economic and political trends globally. These changes stand to impact global peace and security, and pose particularly worrisome challenges to international human rights frameworks, especially as global digital divides increase along national, gender, and socio-economic lines. In this context, the Government of Canada’s Digital Inclusion Lab, at Global Affairs Canada, is examining how digital technologies are impacting important foreign policy considerations as they related to human rights, freedom and inclusion. The Digital Inclusion Lab’s presentation will aim to introduce contemporary considerations from a foreign policy perspective to issues of digital inclusion, and will encourage feedback from participants on what other trends in this field might impact global dynamics.

ABSTRACT. The opposition between local and global as well as the relative de-emphasizing of space and region in the face of the ubiquity, mobility, portability and interconnection provided by numerous digital networks have become major aspects of globalization and the virtualization of life. Yet there is a well-known saying concerning universality: describe your backyard and you will reach humanity. So, on the other hand, these same features of our increasingly digital and connected world also support decentralization, telecommuting and the intangible re-valuation of each local space, of actually "being there" or at least making a connection to a specific spot (a "hot spot") for the sake of material and immaterial interaction. Thus a new space-time dimension, on a "glocal" level (global in reach but ultimately local in its value-producing competencies), creates new human development challenges. This new space-time requires new skills and generates its own styles of employment and ownership, control and freedom. Digital inclusion in Brazil has swinged again and again from local to global while public policies have lagged behind the challenges of social inequality and the adversity of labor markets. As a new pro-fascist government comes to power, Brazil as the "country of the future" (Stefan Zweig) seems to recede into a savage capitalism form of modernization. This paper reviews the history of digital inclusion in Brazil as well as the academic and outreach record of the "City of Knowledge" platform, created in 1999 at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo. New challenges after the demise of the "Pink Tide" (Lee Artz) in Latin America are reviewed and a positive agenda for digital emancipation leveraged by creative currencies is proposed.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines efforts to incorporate a youth perspective in the latest New Zealand research that seeks to inform policy and education outcomes on porn usage and porn literacy. Reviewing how youth voices are invited and embedded into the recent flurry of research on the topic—including the Office of Film and Literature Classification’s (OFLC) NZ Youth and Porn quantitative and qualitative studies; The Light Project’s Porn and Young People youth stakeholder survey; and two current studies by Massey University PhD researchers on young people and internet pornography—this paper reflects on what can be learnt from these projects and their methodologies to inform international best practice in researching youth and porn, particularly for research directed at regulatory and educational change. This case study offers a model for how broader digital literacies and digital inclusion policy and programmes may benefit from more consultative research and policymaking processes with young people. This is being recognized further in New Zealand through new initiatives ranging from the OFLC’s Youth Advisory Panel and the Government’s Ministerial Advisory Group on the Digital Economy and Digital Inclusion (both set up in 2018), to the consultation with diverse groups of young people for Out of the Maze: Building digitally inclusive communities (Elliott 2018). Moving forward, those most affected by digital exclusion and the changing digital environment must not only be consulted by government and researchers to identify their needs and understand their perspectives, but worked with through truly collaborative (and often creative) methods to co-design ways to build digital inclusion and digital literacies.

ABSTRACT. Currently available research on digital exclusion - including the Lloyds Consumer Digital Index, national surveys carried out by ONS and Ofcom, and previous work by BT and Good Things Foundation - identifies a lack of motivation/interest and a lack of trust as overwhelmingly the most significant reasons given by large numbers of people for not engaging with the internet. However, none of these reports break ‘motivation’, ‘interest’ and ‘trust’ down at a more granular level, exploring the specific personal/contextual reasons people have for being offline.

Within community-based digital inclusion, including that carried out by the Online Centres Network, case studies of individuals highlight the depth and richness of their lives and the similar complexity in their reasons for being offline. However, there is no large scale collection or analysis of data that allows these specific and complex reasons to be assessed, grouped and linked to demographic characteristics.

Since August 2018, Good Things Foundation, Professor Simeon Yates (University of Liverpool) and BT have been working in partnership to explore these reasons further. From our analysis of Ofcom’s “Adults’ media use and attitudes” data plus interviews with non-users across the UK, our research has revealed there are four key motivational barriers to going online; It’s not for me, It’s too complicated, I don’t have the right support and It’s too expensive. As a result of establishing these four motivational groups, we have also been able to identify 24 non-user personas that break the motivational barriers down at a more granular level. We hope that this research will inform future digital inclusion initiatives and enhance the support community-based organisations provide to individuals who are offline.

ABSTRACT. Tens of thousands of adults in Leeds lack basic digital skills. A lack of digital skills can have a huge negative impact on a person’s life, and it’s those who are already at a disadvantage – through age, income, disability, unemployment, or education – that are most likely to be digitally excluded.

Leeds Libraries and Good Things Foundation are working together to create 100% Digital Leeds, a cross sector collaboration ensuring that everyone in the city has the essential skills to prosper in an increasingly digital world.

Our 100% Digital Leeds programme will bring organisations together to build a digital inclusion movement across the city. Together, we will tackle the barriers to digital inclusion and ensure that everyone in the city has the digital skills they need. We want to improve the lives of the poorest the fastest and we are working with our communities to build capacity and sustainability.

We know that helping people to become digitally included will bring wider social benefits. Improved digital skills help people be better informed, pay less for things, be more employable, feel more independent, be less isolated, and live better, easier, longer lives.

We want everyone to understand how digital would benefit them, be able to gain the skills they need to make the most of digital, and get connected.

This presentation will explore our multi-agency approach to accelerating, maximising and sustaining digital inclusion through programmes of activity and raised visibility in Leeds. It is a case study of how one city is bridging the digital divide at a local level through building capacity and confidence in its communities and how this translates more broadly in terms of social and economic change.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we present preliminary findings from an interdisciplinary study on digital assistance provided by Oxfordshire County Council libraries. Libraries are increasingly the first port-of-call for people with low levels of digital literacy and limited internet connectivity to access their basic rights, such as welfare provisions and employment opportunities. Through semi-structured interviews of volunteer digital helpers, in-person surveys of digital assistance seekers in Oxfordshire, and analysis of Oxford Internet Surveys and Ofcom data, this paper explores the complex forms of digital marginalisation experienced by the un- or under-connected in Britain. It also offers insights into the challenges, successes, and policy implications of libraries stepping up to fill the widening gap left by the digital divide. The Oxfordshire County Council began to recruit volunteers in 2017 to provide "digital help" at county libraries in an attempt to mitigate against the exclusionary effects of the UK Government’s ‘digital-by-default’ agenda. When the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights visited the UK in November 2018, he noted that digitisation of government services was creating “a digital barrier” preventing the most vulnerable people from accessing benefits, such as Universal Credit, and “public libraries are on the frontline of helping the digitally excluded and digitally illiterate.” This paper bolsters anecdotal evidence that libraries have become essential providers of digital training and internet connectivity by presenting both qualitative and quantitative data on how, why and to whom digital assistance is provided in Oxfordshire libraries. It reveals the multiple and compounding factors that lead to digital exclusion, far beyond the simple provision of internet access.

ABSTRACT. Digital inclusion policies affect the new interactivity options for the end consumer, Television, which resists the push of the Internet and maintains the leadership in quantity of audience, is no stranger to the debate on how to measure, in a technically adequate and efficient way, the audiences it achieves. The progressive penetration of the standard HbbTV (Hybrid broadcast broadband Television) in homes breaks the traditional patterns of audience measurement as much as it supposes the union between the Internet and audio-visual, so that, in interactive contents, the viewer can derive towards online contents. This raises some situations: the control of the duration of the visit to an advertisement, and new decisions on the control of audiences, since it can be considered a single visit, or segment the audio-visual metrics of the Internet. In this quantitative research (n = 350) the data of a survey on HbbTV in Spain is analyzed in which professionals of the sector are questioned about the way forward to some of these debates. It is concluded that the data obtained by visit must be integrated, but that the minutes of follow-up through the Internet must be determined according to the rules of minutes per hour of television advertising. It facilitates the inclusion with equalty.

ABSTRACT. Too often digital engagement is considered simply as a matter that relates to planning for ICT skills and literacies development and capabilities building. Situated against the backdrop of an obsessive governmental drive to deliver public services through data-driven platforms, for the primary purpose of achieving efficiency and economies of scale, the widespread belief of policy-makers is usually concerned with getting people to move to services on-line simply by pushing them the direction of accessibility and multimedia operability. This model of engagement fails, however, to take account of the need to make digital media practices meaningful and comprehensible to people from a wide range of cultural and intercultural backgrounds. This paper will argue that people who appear to be the least willing to engage with digital media services, require a different approach. An approach that is founded on identification with social role-models as recognisable archetypal figures. Drawing on the experiences of community media groups in Leicester, this paper will assimilate the experiences of community media practitioners as they seek to establish a social presence in both legacy forms of media and using emergent forms of social and digital media services. The objective of this alternative modelling practice is to identify how an evaluative framework that draws on Symbolic Interactionism can be effective in cultivating and nurturing an environment of identification and empowerment. This is a potential model that is able to addresses issues of voice poverty and social exclusion without having to resort to instrumental or governmental practices of development, but which are instead spontaneously and sustainably driven by communities for themselves.

ABSTRACT. Digital youth work is an emerging field of research and practice which seeks to investigate and support youth-centred digital literacy initiatives. Whilst digital youth work projects have become prominent in Europe in recent years, it has also become increasingly difficult to examine, capture, and understand their social impact. Currently, there is limited understanding of and research on how to measure the social impact of collaborative digital literacy youth projects. This article presents empirical research which explores the ways digital youth workers perceive and evaluate the social impact of their work. Twenty semi-structured interviews were carried out in Scotland, United Kingdom, in 2017. All data were coded in NVivo 10 and analysed using thematic data analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Two problems were identified in this study: (1) limited critical engagement with the social impact evaluation process of digital youth work projects and its outcomes, and (2) lack of consistent definition of the evaluation process to measure the social impact/value of digital youth work. Results of the study are examined within a wider scholarly discourse on the evaluation of youth digital participation, digital literacy, and social impact. It is argued that to progressively work towards a deeper understanding of the social value (positive and negative) of digital youth engagement and their digital literacy needs, further research and youth worker evaluation training are required. Recommendations towards these future changes in practice are also addressed.

ABSTRACT. There is an ongoing momentum in the UK to aid the delivery of digital transformation across sectors. Whilst this brings more opportunities to a thriving digital economy, it also poses ever-growing threats to the population who are digitally excluded. Older people are reported to be more likely to be offline (Ofcom, 2018), and to discontinue with the Internet (ONS, 2018), compared to their younger counterparts. It is therefore imperative to understand the levels of digital exclusion amongst older people. This study collaborates with a leading digital inclusion organisation in the UK and analysed how the so-called ‘digital divides’ manifest themselves among older digital skills learners from two different sets of survey data.

Statistical analysis was conducted on survey data 1 (n=1217, older people n=124) and survey data 2 (n=1153; older people n=275) collected by the organisation between 2015 and 2017. Current findings suggest that gaps in ‘access’ from lower level of digital divide among seniors co-exist with ‘divides’ in motivation, skill, use and outcome. All learners have gained beneficial outcomes ranging from general feeling such as self-confidence to management of daily life (e.g. health, housing and finance), although there are significant differences between active and discontinued users. Logistic regression analysis showed that ‘access’ to devices was associated with a respondent continuing to be active on the Internet; this was also influenced by ‘learning status’. Non-users and discontinued users are found to have different types of adverse feelings towards learning and using the Internet. In addition, Chi2 test results indicated gender difference in health-related Internet use, and a significant relationship between continuous use and age, gender, indicators of length-of-learning and ownership of devices. A limitation of this research was that data on exact age was not recorded: we recommend age to be recorded to differentiate between different groups of older people.

ABSTRACT. Good Things Foundation has been operating in Australia for the nearly two years following a successful bid to the Australian Government to build and manage the Be Connected network.

Jess Wilson, as the National Director of Good Things Foundation Australia has been leading this work, building a digital inclusion network of community organisations to deliver digital literacy programs in over 2000 locations across the country.

This presentation will outline the policy context of digital inclusion in Australia, outline the work of the Be Connected program, identify some early signs of positive impact and discuss the challenges, opportunities and learning that Good Things Foundation has experienced in building a new digital inclusion program across the a very geographically large and diverse country.

ABSTRACT. With the newest American Community Survey data, we have detailed information on Internet access, computer ownership, cell phone use, as well as income and poverty data for every school district, county, town, and nearly every neighborhood (census tract) in America. This data complements two other major broadband datasets: the NTIA computer and Internet survey, a survey of 52,000 households with a 20 year history and the Federal Communications Commission's Form 477 broadband deployment data for over 11 million census blocks in US. We'll explore the three major datasets that describe broadband availability and use; demonstrate a visualization tool that localizes the data; and describe how practitioners are using this data to answer local questions such as closing the homework gap, seeding rural broadband deserts, and targeting investments to spur economic development.

ABSTRACT. The mobile phone has been a global game-changer. There are more cellphones than people in China. India is the biggest market for WhatsApp, and Brazil ranks second after the United States as the top Twitter user group worldwide. By 2020, majority of data will come from the Global South. With cheap phones and a vast array of affordable data plans, the next billion users will emerge from outside the West. They are, for the most part, young, low-income but upwardly mobile and extremely enthusiastic users of social media. While this is good news for digital divide policy-makers and practitioners, this talk grapples with how this digital inclusion confronts current concerns on user commodification and tracking in this data-driven society. Is inclusion intrinsically empowering? How do we negotiate the optimism of these new users towards these life changing digital interventions with the growing pessimism of ‘surveillance capitalism’ that signals a dystopic future? Can media literacy, digital activism, and free will serve as a counter force to the bleak visions of ‘algorithmic oppression’? By unpacking some of these questions through the perspective of these next billion users, we may be able to move forward in our joint aspirations for the common good.