Inclusion, exclusion and social media: IT- based initiatives and future opportunities

Transcription

1 Inclusion, exclusion and social media: IT- based initiatives and future opportunities Lore Dupont dr. Karin Slegers prof. dr. Dirk De Grooff Centre for User Experience Research (CUO), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 1 IBBT- K.U.Leuven Future Health Department 2 Abstract: This paper focuses on IT- based and more specifically social media- based initiatives for inclusion. It presents a state- of- the- art overview of existing initiatives that was based on a review of scientific literature, interviews with practitioners in the field and a thorough internet search. The initiatives were sorted in eight main categories: providing access to computer and the internet, increasing skills, cooperation with others, changing attitudes, providing a sense of belonging, increasing visibility, adapting to personal wants and needs and digitalising content. Moreover, a separate category was created for initiatives incorporating social media. Based on this overview, it was concluded that the majority of initiatives still focuses on providing access to computers and the internet and IT- training, whereas only a minority aims at improving empowerment by actively involving users. Secondly, many existing initiatives contend with communication issues. It further appears that social media initiatives mostly use a bottom- up approach, whereas more classic IT- based inclusion initiatives employ top- down approaches. Finally, growing decentralisation makes overlooking the field difficult and finally results or evaluations are rarely available. Recommendations for future initiatives and future research are discussed in this paper. Keywords: social media, inclusion, empowerment 1. Introduction In the first months of 2011, journalists made numerous commentaries on the uprisings in the Middle East and covered the topic of the Facebook or Twitter revolution extensively. Some believe that media like Facebook and YouTube are better than ever capable of channelling the issues people worry about and mobilising them to take action. Furthermore, these technologies would be a real threat to even the most rigid political regimes (Hensen, 2011). Nevertheless, not everyone agrees with this positive view on social media as tools for empowering people in revolutions. The consensus amongst journalists and professionals seems to be that social media like Facebook and Twitter play an important role in reaching large groups of people at once, but that they are not strong enough to push over a regime. The idea is that the real revolutions or uprisings take place at for example the Tahrir Square, where citizens come together to express their dissatisfaction (De. Since its launch in 2004 as a tool for connecting college students in the USA, Facebook has known an enormous growth. By the end of 2010 it had by miles become the largest social networking site with 650 million users worldwide, leaving behind other social networking sites like Friendster, MySpace and Twitter (Libbenga, 2011; Online Schools, 2011). Social networking sites are seen as examples of Web 2.0. The term Web 2.0 is used to refer to the body of new use forms of the internet that 1 Parkstraat 45 bus 3605, B 3000 Leuven, Belgium 2 Kasteelpark Arenberg 10 bus 2446, B 3001 Leuven, Belgium 1

2 emerged after the explosion of the internet bubble about ten years ago. These use forms have in common the production of content by the users (user- generated content) and the mutual interactions between them. They encompass social networking sites like Facebook and Netlog, weblogs, microblogs like Twitter, social bookmarking sites and so on (Brotcorne, Dekelver, Mertens, Nicolay, & Valenduc, 2010). Potential benefits of social media have been described in the literature. For instance, with regard to the potential benefits, it has been argued that social software can be used to support the generation of social capital (INCLUSO, 2010) 3. Also, social software is believed to make possible the interaction between large groups of people. With the use of technology- mediated communication, it is no longer necessary for interaction partners to be at the same location or even to communicate at the same time (Resnick, 2002). Furthermore, the use of social media can supplement the approach of welfare organisations that work with vulnerable groups in society. It has been argued that the physical barrier to approach welfare organisations is significantly lower if social software is used (Engelen, Dekelver, & Van den Bosch, 2010, p. 15). Because of the growing availability of digital information and services, the importance of access to these sources and of digital skills is also growing. Socially disadvantaged people and members of vulnerable groups in society like elderly people, people with mental or physical impairments and unemployed people have a larger risk of becoming excluded from this information and the benefits of the information society (Engelen et al., 2010). People without internet access or the skills to cope with a variety of online information might interact and participate less in a society that is increasingly permeated by IT- applications. Along with the rise of digital technologies, the concept of the digital divide became increasingly important. The term is used to describe mechanisms of social exclusion that have been caused by digital exclusion (Mariën, Van Audenhove, Vleugels, Bannier, & Pierson, 2010, p. 1). Less privileged groups in the population are confronted with social but also with digital exclusion (Mariën & Van Audenhove, 2010, p. 25). It has been argued that the concept of the digital divide is less polarised today and more complex than a decade ago. Moreover, the current digital divide is believed to have two dimensions; a material dimension referring to a lack of means, equipment and access possibilities, and an intellectual and social dimension referring to differences in usage modes and skills. After the access threshold has been overcome, this second dimension surfaces (Brotcorne et al., 2010). According to this two- dimensional view, providing access and equipment alone will not suffice to bridge the digital divide. As a result of the growing attention to the concepts of the digital divide and digital and social exclusion, an increasing amount of IT- based inclusion initiatives are put into action. Such initiatives are of great importance since they aim at stimulating a greater level of inclusion and empowerment. In the Oxford dictionary, the verb to empower is defined as making someone stronger and more confident, especially in controlling his life and claiming his rights. The objective of this paper is to map the currently existing initiatives aiming at digital and social inclusion. Attention is given to specific social media initiatives as well as to more general IT- based initiatives. The aim of this overview is to provide a comprehensive categorisation of initiative types rather than an exhaustive overview of all existing initiatives. The categorisation was based on the objectives of the initiatives. In section 3.1, this subdivision will be explained in more detail. The research described in this paper is part of the Flemish research project called EMSOC 4. EMSOC is short for User Empowerment in a Social Media Culture. The objective of the project is to critically assess to what extent and how people are empowered or disempowered by their everyday use of 3 According to the Oxford Dictionaries, social capital can be defined as the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively 2011). 4 More information can be found on 2

3 social media. Core concepts of this project are user empowerment and social media. Regarding social media, providing user empowerment is described in the EMSOC project as providing people with the opportunity to use social media as leverage for change, action and protest. It was argued that social media tools like Facebook and Twitter were developed by a very small group of people without the influence or vision of large organisations affecting the development process (INCLUSO, 2010). The fact that very successful social media tools have known a bottom- up growth might make them extra effective in combination with bottom- up inclusion strategies to make user empowerment possible. 2. Methods In order to prevent the exclusion of useful and interesting insights and approaches in the state- of- the- art overview, a broad definition of the term IT- based inclusion initiative was used. Every initiative that aims at improving the inclusion of one or more vulnerable groups and uses IT at least partly for its activities was considered suitable to be included in the overview. The search for IT- based inclusion initiatives took place between January and April The approach taken was initially very broad to obtain a general picture of concepts such as inclusion and empowerment. The search was subsequently refined in order to find more specific initiatives. The information presented in this paper is to a large extent the result of these specific searches for IT- based initiatives. In this search process, an extensive body of initiatives was collected and afterwards classified in different categories based on their main objectives. In section 3, the efforts made at a policy level will be elaborated first. Furthermore, the concrete initiatives, whether resulting from policy targets or not, will be discussed and finally, the section will be concluded with remarks and insights on the use of social media in inclusion initiatives. The complete list of the policy plans included in this research can be found in Annex Results Actions to improve inclusion are being taken at various levels, ranging from the European Commission to local non- profit organisations. A distinction was made here between policies, policy goals and policy targets on the one hand and concrete initiatives on the other hand. Although the concrete initiatives are emphasised and discussed in this section, the policy level remains a factor of significance because it is at this level that policy decisions are made. Policy targets, like the increase of digital inclusion, are set forth by decision makers. A more concrete policy goal accompanies such a policy target. A policy goal might for example be that a certain percentage of the population must have access to the internet by To achieve such targets, concrete initiatives are drawn up. These are the initiatives discussed in sections 3.2 and The policy efforts are elaborated below. When comparing the different policy plans that were found, it appeared that IT policies managed to secure an increasingly prominent place on the political agenda during the previous years. The available evaluations and results showed that progress has been made with regard to the concrete policy targets, but that challenges still remained. For instance, there still are individuals and groups with limited or no access to IT. Possible reasons for not using a computer or the internet were found to be high costs, a perceived lack of the need to use IT and a lack of skills (i Annual Information Society Report Benchmarking i2010: Trends and main achievements, 2009). With regard to the objectives put forward in the policy plans, providing access and digital skills were named often. Moreover, making the digital environment more secure and changing negative 5 Initiatives that were set up to achieve a specific policy target are discussed as well as initiatives that were created independently or not explicitly as a result of policy targets. 3

4 attitudes towards IT were stated as objectives as well as stimulating the production of digital content. Issues like the fact that national policies should be based on national and international achievements to continue achieving results in the future were raised in the policy evaluations. Other issues were the currently used project- based funding and the communication and dissemination problems. The recruitment of an e- inclusion spokesperson was proposed or implemented in several inclusion plans like the UK Digital Inclusion Champion and the evaluation of the Belgian National Action Plan Combating the Digital Divide. Such a spokesperson could ensure a greater level of visibility of existing initiatives. The spokesperson could also oversee the continuity and stability of the inclusion initiatives (Race Online 2012, 2011; Brotcorne et al., 2010). Concerning the ways that the different policy plans came into existence, differences were found. For some of these plans, like the French and British plans, a public consultation was held. In contrast to the procedures used in France and the UK, the Belgian and Dutch plans were elaborated in a more classic manner using internal deliberation in the specific government services (Brotcorne et al., 2010). The bottom- up approach used in the French and British plans where citizens were consulted apparently contrasts with the top- down approach employed in the Dutch and Belgian plans. It thus appears that both approaches are possible and currently used. A negative consequence of this evolution towards more bottom- up approaches is the growing decentralisation, which makes it difficult to overlook the field. This decentralisation also makes it difficult to gather clear insights into what has already been done and what the remaining bottlenecks are (Brotcorne et al., 2010). Furthermore, initiatives are being set up at European, national, regional and organisational levels. This renders it even more difficult to get a clear insight into the already existing initiatives and their results. If initiatives were to a larger extent based on results and good practices from earlier efforts, this would presumably increase their relevance and success Categorisation model With regard to the categorisation of e- inclusion initiatives, the first step was to map existing categorisations. This yielded five different subdivisions of e- inclusion initiatives. Below, these categorisations will be briefly discussed and compared after which the categorisation used in this paper will be presented. The first categorisation that was found is the subdivision of contributions to the European 2008 e- Inclusion Awards, organised as part of the i2010 plan. These contributions were divided into seven categories and each contribution was judged on the basis of seven criteria. Figure 1 shows a visual representation of these categories and criteria. The seven criteria encompassed the positive impact the project had made on the community and how this impact was measured, the innovative use of technology in the project, the way the project had stimulated increased accessibility and user friendliness, the way in which partnerships with other organisations were created, the way best practices and lessons learned were shared with other organisations for the benefit of the community, the length of the project and the way the funding model corresponded to this duration and finally the wow- factor of the project (Citizens Online, 2010). 4

5 Figure 1: e- Inclusion Awards categories and judging criteria Adapted from: (Citizens Online, 2010) The second categorisation of initiatives that was found was used for the project call of the European e- Inclusion: be part of it. Similar to the e- Inclusion Awards, the contributions for the project call were divided into seven categories, but were assessed on four criteria instead of seven. The seven categories in which the contributions were grouped according to their main topic are presented in Figure 2 6. Each contribution was furthermore assessed on the basis of the following criteria: impact, originality and replication of the methods used, quality of implementation and dissemination efforts and level of commitment (European Commission - ICT for inclusion, 2007). Figure 2: Categories and judging criteria for e- Inclusion: be part of it! Adapted from: (European Commission - ICT for inclusion, 2007) The third categorisation was found in the Belgian IST (Instituut Samenleving en Technologie Institute Society and Technology) report on the second digital divide in Flanders. This report contains a questionnaire that was completed by 367 Flemish organisations aiming at providing access to 6 The two categories surrounded by the dotted lines in Figure 2 were found to be the largest categories in the framework of e- Inclusion: be part of it! 5

6 computer and the internet and/or IT- related training and education. In this questionnaire, questions were asked concerning three main themes, namely the modus operandi of the organisations, the pedagogical aspects of the services offered and the extent to which the initiatives were embedded in other initiatives and in the policy field (Mariën et al., 2010). The fourth and fifth subdivisions were found in the evaluation of the first phase of the National Action Plan Combating the Digital Divide (Brotcorne et al., 2010) and in the work of Mariën and Van Audenhove (2010). Both made a comparable distinction between government actions and actions of practitioners from the field. The latter argued that governments should provide coordination and collaboration between different policy fields (for example: education, media and social security) whereas practitioners should support the government and the private sector (for example financially, with infrastructure and software) (Mariën & Van Audenhove, 2010). When comparing the previously discussed categorisations, it became apparent that there are more similarities than dissimilarities between the categorisations. For instance, the inclusion categories presented for the e- Inclusion Awards and the project call for e- Inclusion: be part of it, bear great resemblance. This great level of similarity is not very surprising as both projects originated from the framework of the e- inclusion policy of the European Commission. The criteria for judging the contributions for instance, are to a great extent interchangeable. An example is the impact criterion that is mentioned in both categorisations. Not only the presented judging criteria bear resemblance, but also the inclusion categories are quite comparable. The categories inclusive public services, ageing, e- accessibility and digital literacy appear in both categorisations. Similar categories were included in the categorisation presented in this paper. As was the case for the first and second categorisation, the fourth and fifth categorisations resemble each other as well. Both the Belgian National Action Plan Combating the Digital Divide and Mariën and Van Audenhove (2010) mad actions. This distinction is also present in the current report since the status section first focused on the policy level and will focus on the concrete initiatives below. Although the third categorisation that was presented in the IST report seems to differ from the other ones, similarities were also found. The modus operandi and pedagogical approach that were asked for in the IST questionnaire resemble the other judging criteria presented in the European categorisations such as quality of implementation and dissemination. The focus on embedding the initiatives in other initiatives and the policy field is also present in the judging criterion of working together with others. The three focal points of the IST categorisation will not be elaborated on in the categorisation presented here, but will be referred to when appropriate or useful. The categorisations discussed above were particularly used as a source of inspiration and verification of the categories that surfaced from the initiatives presented in this paper. The five categorisations found were all created specifically for the projects at hand. In a similar way, the currently presented categorisation was partly based on the existing categorisations, however, it was mostly based on the nature of the specific initiatives found. Moreover, a bottom- up way of working was employed to create a categorisation model. Figure 3 shows the main objectives that surfaced from the overview of initiatives reported in this paper. The categories will be discussed clockwise in section 3.2. In section 3.3, initiatives with social media as a focal point will be introduced. A list of the initiatives discussed in sections 3.2 and 3.3 is presented in Annex 2. Furthermore, success and risk factors of more traditional IT- based inclusion initiatives and specific social media initiatives will be compared. One major difference between more classic IT- based inclusion initiatives and specific social media initiatives is that the former aim at an increase of computer and internet use and possibly incorporate social media to achieve this goal. The latter initiatives specifically aim at using social media to realise other goals such as social cohesion and social or digital inclusion. 6

7 Figure 3: Categorisation of initiatives based on objectives 3.2. IT- based initiatives for inclusion Providing access to computer/internet Providing access to the computer or the internet appears to be an often chosen objective for IT- based inclusion initiatives. Three subtypes of initiatives can be distinguished: providing access at home, providing access to computers or the internet without coaching and providing access with coaching. The largest part of the presented initiatives focused on providing access to computers and the internet with training. Furthermore, efforts were being made to lower the threshold for enrolling in an IT course. Secondly, information about evaluations or the results of access- based initiatives were often not available. For a small number of initiatives, this was due to the fact that the initiative was still in the starting phase. For the other initiatives evaluations were not conducted or the results were not made public. A third insight gathered for this category is that there appears to be little information on the approaches taken by initiatives that provide computer rooms and IT training sessions. Nevertheless, these initiatives make up for an important part of the initiatives that aim at providing access. Fourthly, based on the initiatives found, it seems that especially the initiatives providing home access were prone to experiencing problems. One of the issues for the target groups was the relatively high cost of the products and packages offered. Fifthly, initiatives with the objective of providing access with training mostly focused on increasing basic IT knowledge and equipping target groups with courses and training sessions for the most well- known computer applications like Word and Excel. Lastly, the issue of project- based funding was raised in the evaluation of at least one of the initiatives in this category, the Easy- (e)- space project (Brotcorne et al., 2010). It appears that this type of funding may endanger the continuation of projects in the long run Increasing skills It seems that providing access to computers and the internet does not automatically ensure bridging the digital divide. When inequalities regarding access have been solved, inequalities regarding use and skills surface (Raeymaekers, 2009, p. 8). Different types of skills are distinguished in the literature. One example of such a categorisation is the division between three types of digital skills by 7

8 Steyaert (2000). According to Steyaert, a division can be made between operational, information and strategic skills (Steyaert, 2000). Van Dijk added formal skills to this division. Operational skills refer to the knowledge that is needed to effectively and efficiently use new media like computers. Formal skills are needed to be able to cope with the specific structure of the medium. The ability to search, find, select, evaluate and utilise media content is called information skills. Finally, strategic skills (van Dijk, 2005; Mariën & Vleugels, 2011). It has thus been argued that differences in skills are an important part of the current problem of the digital divide. Therefore, numerous initiatives make increasing these digital skills a priority in order to contribute to bridging the digital divide. When the initiatives in this category were compared, it was found that the motivation of the target group to acquire skills is often a problem. This problem was encountered in, amongst others, the initiatives VDAB Web learning and Playing for Success (PfS) (Bellens, 2011; Sharp, Chamberlain, Morrison, & Filmer- Sankey, 2007). Furthermore, the project initiators tried to bring the initiative as close to its target group as possible for example by making use of a mobile classroom (Curieus vzw, 2010) or by giving people the chance to put their own neighbourhood in the picture with the use of digital recording equipment (Wijkmedia Ateliers, 2008). Sharing best practices between initiatives, governments and coaches was considered important to ensure the continuous quality and, as was also concluded in the 2007 evaluation of PfS UK (Sharp et al., 2007). Moreover, the fact that PfS UK currently has more than a decade- long experience is food for thought. Within this category, PfS was the only initiative that worked with regular evaluations and also reckoned with these evaluations. It cannot be conclusively said that the evaluations in the project directly lead to its long duration and success, but it seems plausible to assume that the evaluations at least added to this since bottlenecks can be dealt with more quickly. A final insight is that in two of the eight cases a bottom- up approach was followed. In the C- stick project, first steps towards a bottom- up approach were taken by focusing strongly on participation (JES vzw, n.d.). In the case of Wijkmedia Ateliers, the goal was for the local residents to take the first step and initiate the creation of a digital production (Wijkmedia Ateliers, 2008) Cooperation with others A third category of IT- based initiatives for inclusion comprises initiatives that set cooperation with others as their main goal. These others might be for example other organisations, target groups or government services. Remarkably, only a small number of initiatives were found. Nevertheless, it was decided to include the category since cooperation with others can be beneficial for the success of IT- based inclusion initiatives, as was also stressed in the evaluation of the first phase of the Belgian National Action Plan as well as in the Digidak evaluation of 2010 (Brotcorne et al., 2010; Digidak, 2010). Furthermore, interaction between large groups of people is seen as an important opportunity of social media (Resnick, 2002). Unfortunately, cooperation between initiatives is reported to be hampered by the current funding system. For funding, initiatives are dependent on a small number of organisations. This results in competition between initiatives. This in turn may prevent the sharing of best practices and experiences between initiatives (Mariën, 2011) Changing atttitudes It was found that initiatives aiming at changing attitudes often originated from collaborations between different partners or as a consequence of political efforts. More concrete, these initiatives set as their goal to transform negative attitudes towards computers and the internet into neutral or positive ones. This could for example be done by creating multimedia campaigns or providing information packages and websites. 8

9 Games for children appeared to be a significant approach when trying to improve attitudes towards computers and the internet. Whether this approach was successful could not be concluded based on the limited amount of information available on the Safer Internet games (OIVO & Child Focus, 2005). The main focus of the initiatives in this category were online safety and risks. A problematic aspect of these initiatives was that the available information remained rather vague. Furthermore, evaluation results were not or to a limited degree available. In those case that results were available, it was not clear how these results were obtained or how the evaluation was conducted Providing a sense of belonging The initiatives classified in the fifth category all aimed at providing a sense of belonging, for example to a local community, a group of friends, a school or an organisation. The approach taken was generally the creation of an activity or a process during which the participants work together and consequently get the feeling that they belong to a larger group or community. Concerning these initiatives, it appeared that a two- way educational process could be followed. In such a process, students can learn from teachers and consequently pass on the acquired knowledge or skills to their parents and acquaintances. A digital platform was found to be an interesting way to maintain contact and collaboration with the other parties involved since it was used by two out of the four initiatives. It thus appears to be a significant approach to stimulate and simplify inclusion and collaboration. Furthermore, as shown by the initiative Patrimonio@Viseu, geographically isolated schools and students seemed to participate more enthusiastically in local projects (Silva, Ferreira, & Gomes, 2009). This finding seems plausible because geographically isolated people have fewer opportunities to come into contact with others. Therefore, when the opportunity presents itself in the form of an initiative, the enthusiasm and participation might be higher Increasing visibility The initiatives classified under this category all aimed at increasing the visibility of one or more initiatives to a specific target group or to the general public. Although the ways in which this can be done are various, examples include a yearly recurring event or a project call with funding as a prize. Since increasing visibility is a broad objective, it was decided to limit the scope of this section to more high- level initiatives that set as their goal to stimulate the visibility of lower- level and more small- scale initiatives and making sure that these initiatives become well- known. Although only a small number of initiatives were included in this category, these three initiatives provided visibility and publicity to a much larger number of initiatives. For example, the Digitale week digital week anno 2011 gave a platform to more than 950 activities (LINC vzw, 2011). Results concerning the number of initiatives that was sponsored or placed central were available at the moment of writing. Nevertheless, evaluations of the effectiveness of the specific projects for which more visibility was intended, were not Adapting to personal wants and needs Initiatives that were classified in the category share the principal objective to create a product or interface that can be adapted to the wants and needs of each specific user to the largest possible extent. It is argued in this paper that a product or service that is adjustable to the largest possible group of users can be seen as a product or service fostering 9

10 inclusion. Because of the adjustability of the product, a wider range of people will be able to use it. The adjustability of these products or services is generally achieved through their design. The initiatives classified in this section bear great resemblance. For instance, they had an intensive start- up phase, after which the user should be able to use the product independently to conduct activities like sending e- mails and chatting. Furthermore, the user was placed central in these initiatives. This approach is in accordance with the user- centred design (UCD) principle, also called human- centred design (HCD) Digitalising content The final category includes initiatives that focused on the digitalisation of content, that is to say the creation of a digital version of content that was not digital. This digital content can function as a supplement to the original content for example books or museum collections or rather replace the original content. By providing an alternative option to original content, the digital content could contribute to more social and digital inclusion since the potential audience increases. For example, a person using a screen reader could get access to information in the digital form that was not accessible to him in the original version. Using a combination of different media could work to the advantage of a specific initiative or organisation. In the Fundels project for instance, the Fundels bundles of fun provided content could be for example games, an animated version of the story and more information on the author (PLAYLANE, 2009) Social media initiatives for inclusion Next to the categorisation of IT- based initiatives presented in the previous sections, a comparison was made between more classic IT- based inclusion initiatives and initiatives based on social media. This comparison showed more similarities than differences between the two types of initiatives. It appears that both types of initiatives face similar issues and best practices. For example, the issue of project- based funding was raised in several reports in both initiative types. This type of funding is given for a specific period of time. When this period has passed, the organisation has to find other forms of funding or become self- supporting. The project- based funding forced many initiatives to a standstill because of lack of monetary means to further carry out the project (Brotcorne et al., 2010). To combat this issue, striving for embedding initiatives in policy and industry was suggested since this could result in the initiatives being seen as a necessity rather than a temporary experiment (Media4Me, n.d.; Van Hoecke, 2011). Comparable to the issue of project- based funding is the issue of continuous information. Apparently, target groups tend to lose interest in the initiative when information is not regularly presented or web content is not regularly updated. Furthermore, both types of initiatives mentioned the problem of lack of skills and facilities in organisations, schools and public services. Moreover, results and evaluations were seldomly available and knowhow and best practices were rarely shared or exchanged. As a result, it might happen that initiatives replicate initiatives that have already been carried out without knowing it. Regarding the differences between classic IT- based inclusion initiatives and social media- based initiatives, classic initiatives were found to be mostly organised in a top- down manner. Conversely, for social media initiatives a bottom- up approach seemed to work better. Organising social media initiatives in a top- down manner is also possible, but it would require great efforts to persuade the - up approach. 10

11 Therefore, it was argued to be more cost- effective and less time- consuming to organise social media initiatives with a bottom- up approach (Mariën, 2011). 4. Conclusions and recommendations As mentioned in the introduction of this paper, the rise of social media during the previous decade raised the issue of the contribution of social media to the empowerment or conversely the disempowerment of their users. On the one hand, the uprisings in the Middle East may have shown a facilitating effect of social media. On the other hand, processes of digital exclusion can still result in social exclusion. Moreover, it was argued that the rise of social media made possible more flexible and large- scale forms of communication and interaction. This increased interactivity would be, at least partly, caused by the growing amount of user- generated content and the rise of social networking sites (Resnick, 2002). In the following, five general conclusions and recommendations will be discussed based on literature and the IT- based inclusion initiatives found. First of all, the search for initiatives made it clear that a large part of the existing initiatives still focus primarily on providing access and training to increase the level of digital skills. Another topic that was often addressed is the objective of changing attitudes towards IT. Conversely, objectives such as cooperation with others, digitalising content, providing a sense of belonging and adapting to personal wants and needs were chosen less as main objective for an IT- based inclusion initiative. An important success factor of inclusion initiatives appeared to be the added value the initiatives presents to the user. This added value is needed to persuade them to participate in the initiative. To achieve this kind of added value, interaction with users is an advantage when drawing up a project. To facilitate this interaction, existing intermediaries should be assigned a prominent position between target groups and project initiators or new intermediaries should be created. The intermediaries could also facilitate cooperation between involved parties in the initiatives like governments and practitioners. This first recommendation is based on findings from concrete initiatives such as Everyone Digital, Media4me and INCLUSO as well as on the evaluation of Pierson et al. (Pierson, Mante- Meijer, Loos, & Sapio, 2008; Media4Me, n.d.; INCLUSO, 2010). Secondly, many initiatives contend with a communication problem. Often, little was known about the existence of initiatives and their results. Therefore, initiatives should be evaluated on a regular basis and the achieved results should be communicated. To achieve more visibility of the existing initiatives, it is important that there is clear communication about the objectives, the targeted audience and the (preliminary) results. A proposed solution was the recruitment of an e- inclusion spokesperson (Race Online 2012, 2011; Brotcorne et al., 2010). The fact that this solution was proposed for two initiatives on a national scale in different countries suggests that the understanding of the need for clear communication about and visibility of initiatives is seen as crucial for their success. The fact that initiatives that actively make use of social media were less frequent than the more classic IT- based inclusion initiatives is a third concluding remark. These social media initiatives can make bottom- up user empowerment possible. Concerning the contrast between the more classic IT- based inclusion initiatives and social media initiatives mentioned earlier, it was found that the former mostly use a top- down approach whereas the latter opt for a bottom- up way of working. As stated earlier, the organisation of social media initiatives in a top- down manner is possible, but it work as well as a bottom- up approach for social media initiatives (Mariën, 2011). Fourthly, not only practitioners, but also governments see the opportunities of a bottom- up approach. The Dutch policy for instance has evolved from a top- down approach towards a bottom- up approach, comparable to the policies of the UK and the Walloon provinces. The decentralisation as a consequence of this evolution towards a bottom- up approach renders it more difficult to overlook 11

12 the field. A clear understanding of existing initiatives and their results is further impeded by the various levels at which initiatives are being undertaken. A logical recommendation following this conclusion is the advice to increase the sharing of best practices and results so that initiators of other initiatives can take the existing knowhow into account. Finally, although many inclusion initiatives were set up, results or evaluations were rarely communicated or measured. In the framework of the current research, few results and thorough evaluations were found. This could be due to the fact that those evaluations were not conducted or made public. An important factor to take into account is that conducting evaluations of projects and presenting results is not straightforward. It is difficult to assess the causality of possible relationships between the initiative and the outcome measures. For instance, measuring whether a person finds a job more easily as a result of the fact that he or she participated in an e- inclusion project is challenging. Nevertheless, several studies, such as the evaluations of Media4me and the Belgian National Action Plan, concluded that the understanding of the importance of sharing best practices with other actors in the field is growing (Van Hoecke, 2011; Brotcorne et al., 2010). Evaluation studies were conducted occasionally, such as the evaluation of the UK online centres mentioned earlier. Such evaluation reports stressed amongst others the issue of the current project- based funding. This way of funding is problematic because the funding inherently stops after a certain period of time. At that moment, most projects are discontinued if another way of funding is not found (Brotcorne et al., 2010). A proposed solution to the funding problem was an increased cooperation and a structural form of funding on a policy level (Mariën, 2011). In other words, it was suggested that governments at different levels should focus on creating a coherent policy. Moreover, increasing efforts should be made towards more cooperation between different initiatives and between initiatives and different government levels. A component of such coherent policy could be the development of alternative ways of funding rather than the currently problematic project- based funding. To conclude with, it was found in the currently presented research that an increasing amount of IT- based inclusion initiatives are being set up by governments as well as non- profit organisations. Although progress is being made, key issues still are funding, communication and dissemination. The current project- based funding has a harmful influence on the continuity of inclusion efforts and increases competition between different initiatives. Concerning the communication and dissemination issue, results and evaluations are not sufficiently conducted and made public. Therefore, it is recommended that evaluations would be held at a regular basis and that results would be made public so that other players in the field can learn from the built up knowhow. Acknowledgements This paper is based on interim results achieved in the context of a four- year Flemish (Belgium) research project called EMSOC (User Empowerment in a Social Media Culture). Between 2010 and 2014 the interdisciplinary research consortium of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (SMIT & LSTS), K.U.Leuven (CUO & ICRI) and Universiteit Gent (MICT & C&E) investigates the empowering and disempowering role of social media on the levels of inclusion, literacy and privacy. EMSOC is a Strategic Basic Research (SBO) project of IWT, the government agency for Innovation by Science and Technology. 12

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18 Annex 2: IT- based inclusion initiatives 7 Initiative Category Reference Wijkmedia Ateliers Increasing skills Wijkmedia Ateliers. (2008). Wijkmedia Ateliers. Retrieved April 22, 2011, from Playing for Success Belgium Increasing skills Playing for Success België. (2011). Het concept Playing for Success. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from Concept/Concept.html Sharp, C., Chamberlain, T., Morrison, J., & Filmer- Sankey, C. (2007). Playing for Success: An Evaluation of its Long Term Impact ( No. RR844) (p. 116). National Foundation for Educational Research. KLIK: aan de slag met het nieuwe internet Increasing skills Curieus vzw. (2010). Klik - aan de slag met het internet. Retrieved April 22, 2011, from E- dinges. (2010). Laureaten - E- dinges Awards. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from E- Lab School Increasing skills E- Lab Vlaanderen vzw. (2010). E- Lab School. Retrieved April 22, 2011, from E- dinges. (2010). Laureaten - E- dinges Awards. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from C- stick Increasing skills JES vzw. (n.d.). De C- stick. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from sticks.be/ E- dinges. (2010). Laureaten - E- dinges Awards. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from Het vliegende computerlokaal Increasing skills Telenet Foundation. (2009b). Klik mee. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from doel Notschool.net Increasing skills Notschool.net: Progress Report. (2005). (p. 42). Essex, U.K.: TheCademy VDAB web learning Increasing skills VDAB. (2011). VDAB Webleren: vind een opleiding. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from action=zoekopleidingen&entrypoint=uitgebreidzoeken&dist_ channel=www Internet voor iedereen Providing access Brotcorne, P., Dekelver, J., Mertens, L., Nicolay, K., & Valenduc, G. (2010). MIIS/2010/02: Mariën, I., & Van Audenhove, L. (2010). Van digitale kloof naar digitale geletterdheid: sociale uitsluiting in het internettijdperk. Maak mij wat wijs: media kennen, begrijpen en zelf crëeren (pp ). Leuven, Belgium: LannooCampus. Start2surf Providing access Brotcorne, P., Dekelver, J., Mertens, L., Nicolay, K., & Valenduc, G. (2010). MIIS/2010/02: 7 Information based on e- 18

19 Mariën, I., & Van Audenhove, L. (2010). Van digitale kloof naar digitale geletterdheid: sociale uitsluiting in het internettijdperk. Maak mij wat wijs: media kennen, begrijpen en zelf crëeren (pp ). Leuven, Belgium: LannooCampus. One Laptop Per Child Providing access One Laptop per Child. (2011). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from Kraemer, K. L., Dedrick, J., & Sharma, P. (2009). One Laptop Per Child: Vision vs. Reality. Communications of the ACM, 52(6), Nugroho, D., & Lonsdale, M. (2009). Evaluation of OLPC programs globally: a literature review ( No. 2) (p. 16). Australia: Australian Council for Educational Research. e- escola & e- escolinha Providing access Silva, M. J., Ferreira, E., & Gomes, C. A. (2009). Fostering inclusion in Portuguese schools: key lessons from ICT projects. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (pp Italy: ACM. Wifi- delen Providing access Van Brempt, K. (2011). Meer internettoegang in Antwerpen via wifi- delen. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from in_de_kijker/meer_internettoegang_in_antwerpen_via_wifidelen Gratis internet voor iedereen dankzij wifi- delen. (2010, December 8). De Standaard, 14. Fon. (2010). What is Fon? Retrieved March 23, 2011, from is- fon/ Link in de Kabel Providing access E- dinges. (2010). Laureaten - E- dinges Awards. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from Link in de Kabel. (n.d.). Link in de Kabel. Visie en missie. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from ons/visie- en- missie Link in de Kabel vzw. (2011). Link in de Kabel - Partnersite. Retrieved April 24, 2011, from Easy- (e)- space Providing access Brotcorne, P., Dekelver, J., Mertens, L., Nicolay, K., & Valenduc, G. (2010). MIIS/2010/02: Open Leercentrum De Breda Providing access NOORDlink. (2011). Nieuw in het CDO Noord: het open leercentrum. Retrieved April 24, 2011, from search?q=cache:h4au2pthsywj:noordlink.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/nieuw- in- het- cdo- noord- het- open- leercentrum/+leercentrum+de+breda &cd=6&hl=nl&ct=clnk&gl=be&client=firefox- a&source= Telenet Foundation. (2009b). Klik mee. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from 19

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