EuroMed Social Observatory
Department of Technology
Foresight
Research
Project | Master Degree | LLP
Social
Technology and Digital Citizenship
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General
considerations:
This
department, created in 2008, aims to analyze the initiatives to develop
the concept of digital citizenship for the construction of a common
Euro-Mediterranean space. This concept becomes a key element in
bringing together a community in which the digital divide coextenses
with other historical cultural, racial, economic and territorial gaps
that undermine the attempts to carry out a profound modernization of
the concept of Europe and of Cultural and political harmonization
between the margins of the Mediterranean. This Euro-Mediterranean
citizenship is based on the social appropriation of technology, the
impact of technology on democracy, the fourth generation of human
rights, digital inclusion policies and the development of e-government.
Like any
university institution, the Euro-Mediterranean University Institute
EMUI has, to the extent of its possibilities, a Department of Social
Technology. In this sense it is committed to research in social
innovation, rather than in developments of specific technologies
dedicated to industry. It is a department that focuses on the
evaluation of social technology policies and the formulation of
recommendations for lines of action, rather than producing applications
or patents. It is, therefore, an affordable department that does not
require particularly complex or expensive facilities, and which allows
the teamwork of members of this "invisible college" that are in their
base institutions. This is why it is strongly committed to information
and communication technologies, as it allows us a groupware
environment of high performance and low cost. Also think of a not too
large group of people where two elements are combined:
- Researchers
in staff (reduced)
- Visiting
researchers (with stays of a few months)
A nucleus
(more or less permanent) has been created and is progressively updated
with the influx of experts from the Mediterranean area, although there
are also other Community and / or non-EU countries. Universities and
research institutions belonging to the EMUI (Academic Council)
Consortium are the main source of researchers.
This
is, therefore, a department or
permanent observatory of social foresight that is responsible for
analyzing trends and suggesting recommendations in the areas of social
appropriation of technology, electronic democracy, regional development
of human rights, digital inclusion policies, software and Free
knowledge and e-government development. It is equipped with a
laboratory with good computer equipment and Internet connection2
through RedIris, prepared to analyze specific software and web
applications aimed at social innovation. The production of
publications, reports, evaluations and consultancy is one of the
priority operating practices of this department.
Of
the structure, contents and operation of the R & D department
By
social innovation is meant the development of computer tools that serve
to reinforce the Web 2.0 or social web. The intensive use of
information and communication technologies is basic and will be even
more so in the near future for the creation of social networks in the
Euro-Mediterranean regional area. These networks can have a
transnational scope, they can serve to have a knowledge of movements
and tendencies within certain areas. This is why its background is
geared to sociological, organizational and political explorations
rather than technological production applied to industry.
Given
the specificity of studies developed by the EMUI all this research is
focused, as noted above, in the Mediterranean area. For this we have
designed the following sections / activities that we are covering:
1) A Media Lab research
on social networks and production of free knowledge with specific use
in the area of study of the EMUI. Offer the possibility of coordinating
projects in common with the countries of the regional scope involved in
the Institute. This has allowed us to create our own network that
serves to monitor projects in this area as a source of knowledge of the
evolution of the various Euro-Mediterranean societies.
2) A
specific area of study on the digital divide, capable of generating
evolutionary indicators and comparisons with other countries and areas
of the world. Given the heterogeneity of the study area, it is
especially important to understand how technologies are being
implemented, their acceptance, difficulties, use, etc.
3) An
area of study dedicated to the digital diaspora. The meaning of
"digital diaspora" implies the use of new technologies such as mobiles,
computers and various communication systems as elements of social
cohesion among members of migrant communities, both among its members
and between them and the local communities of their countries of origin
. Given that this area is one of the most active in immigration today,
it is especially important to try to understand the structure of these
movements in order to make descriptive reports, assessments,
recommendations, etc.
4) An
observatory on free software and knowledge centered in the
Mediterranean area. This observatory carries out foresight work on the
use of technologies, reports on the development and implementation of
these technologies, as well as recommendations and advice, especially
in the public sector, in their integration into public administrations
and in the implementation of government policies electronic.
5) An
advisory department on digital citizenship as a means of combating the
digital divide, increasing the cohesion of the different communities
living in the area and providing technology of its own to the countries
most in need. This is a section especially relevant for regional
security and for the national security of the members of this Community.
As you can
see, the themes are shared in the different areas of work. The
underlying intention is that there be feedback between the various
teams and that, in this way, multidisciplinarity is guaranteed. It is
about that sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists and
philosophers work in a coordinated way with technologists and software
analysts.
OBSERVATIONS
Given that
the creation of methodologies for the evaluation of social technologies
and the raising of high-level advice and consultancy proposals has
become a basic requirement of an elite higher education institution
such as ours, we are careful to implement a New department. There are
several issues that need to be addressed with attention, including:
1) Scale:
we look for a scale appropriate to means and ends. That is why we are
doing a progressive and modular development of the department.
2) Use of
resources: it is important to identify the possible sources of
knowledge, already recognizable within the EMUI itself, the
institutions that support it at the political-administrative and
academic-researcher level.
3) Foreign
advice. It is very important to have the advice of experienced
institutions, which have already developed extensive work in the
European research area. Therefore the use of resources is not only a
fund-raising but also the management experience or know-how in R
& D. For this purpose, it is suggested to set up an Advisory
Council for the creation of this Department.
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