ACTIVITIES :: e-Inclusion :: Social Inclusion
Supporting social inclusion
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been designed to make it easier to access public and commercial goods and services. Marginalised and vulnerable people struggle to reap these benefits because of their social and cultural situation. The European Commission is committed to developing an Information Society in which everyone can share. It is therefore keen to help certain groups bridge the growing ‘digital divide’, including immigrants, disabled people, older generations, the unemployed and those who live in remote or economically disadvantaged areas.
The Information Society has the potential to make a massive difference to the lives of people who often feel marginalised or isolated from society because of their social and cultural situation.
For example, ICTs can help immigrants to share in Europe’s cultural life. However, immigrant users are as confronted by barriers in accessing services as other disadvantaged groups, due to lack of technical and language skills or due to digital technologies which are difficult to use.
Unemployed people are at a distinct disadvantage in the jobs market if they do not have basic digital skills or cannot access the internet to find jobs or support. Older people find it difficult to access public and commercial services on-line if they are not provided through the type of means they are used to. Those living in disadvantaged or remote areas are likely to feel even more excluded in the future if they cannot fully participate in the Information Society because they lack access to infrastructure like broadband.
The Commission is determined to tackle problems such as these. In its European i2010 initiative on e-Inclusion, which was adopted in November 2007, the Commission calls on policy-makers at all levels to ensure ICT issues are addressed in social and economic policies as a means of tackling social exclusion issues.
In 2008, as part of the package of activities to support the Renewed Social Agenda to empower and help people in 21st century Europe, the Commission has issued a staff working paper on Citizens Wellbeing in the Information Society.
Tailored support
For its part, the Commission is undertaking a number of actions to promote ICT for Inclusion, which are tailored to benefit different vulnerable groups, for example:
- Support is provided through the ICT Policy Support Programme for a thematic network on inclusion that examines the best use of ICT for social integration and diversity, the BRIDGE-IT project.
- Special attention is being paid to the needs of socially excluded and marginalised young people under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research via its objective to promote Accessible and Inclusive ICT (for the references of those projects, please see column on the right hand ). As as a follow-up to those research projects, a workshop was organised in January 2010 to discuss the technology potential of affective / persuasive / and social computing, with a view to contributing to new developments.
Last update: 13/09/2011