There is a special kind of magic bursting out, when people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, gather round to discuss on equality. Such a difficult subject to touch, but of great beauty at the same time. And that was the kind of magic digitally wandering among us, during our very first online meeting on the fresh Erasmus+ project. It fights the fight for digital equality and the name it goes by is DigEqual!
A first meeting was launched on the 14th of April this year, with some old acquaintances catching up for a few minutes, but mostly excited faces of people meeting each other for the very first time. After the, not so much needed, introductions, the discussion was ready to take off. A rather interesting discussion to be exact, on e-government services, digital skills or the lack of them, and of course the big battle to be given; the digital divide and its effects on adults’ lives.
The Gist Of It All
After organizing the basic elements of the project, it was time to get serious. More serious. Diving in the essence of DigEqual, the participants from the 6 partner organizations, analyzed the project’s aims and objectives, the Project Results, and of course, the timeline and initial deadlines of the activities that are to follow. It took a few hours, but at the end of it, we had hatched a plan on how to promote e-government services to adult users in Europe, how to set it as a subject in adult educational centers, and of course, how to effectively tackle the results of the different levels of digital divide in adults’ lives.
The term ¨digital divide¨ refers to the access, skills and benefits related to digital services usage. Separating them into different levels, we call 1st level of digital divide the lack of access to electronic devices, 2nd level of digital divide the lack of skills and trust towards those services, and the 3rd level of digital divide completes the circle, describing the benefits that users who use digital services enjoy in real life, compared to those who don’t. By tackling the mentioned phenomena and the effects that follow, the project aims at creating a bridge between e-services and users. And what is a more direct path to happiness and fulfillment of oneself, if not the feeling of being equal among equals, enjoying the same opportunities in life.
The Partnership
Amazing people are working on the project and its activities. The participant organizations form the following list:
- Polygonal – Italy
- EUROSUCCESS – Cyprus
- DOMSPAIN – Spain
- p-consulting.gr – Greece
- Wisamar – Germany
- University of Aveiro – Portugal
Target Groups
A rather interesting project, that has a wide audience. The most involved target groups are:
Primary
- adult educators with little knowledge on e-government services
- adults who are involved in our activities or who suffer from digital exclusion
- adults with difficult social-economic background (loneliness, women, low wage)
- Partner organizations’ educational staff working on adult training/inclusion
Secondary
- educational centers and other organizations working in the field of adult support & adult involvement
- associated partners’ target groups & staff
Relevant Stakeholders
- policy makers in the field of long-life learning and permanent learning (e.g., social welfare departments of municipalities, regional bodies working in social inclusion)
- other second-level organizations representing adults (unions, representative bodies of social clubs etc.)
Project Results
Through the project and its various activities, the following are going to be developed:
- Digital Training Program for adult educators & adults.
A guidance framework and methodology for adult educational centers, and their educators, to support their work with low-skilled and low qualified adults, by extending their digital classes on topics and problems related to the usage of online services and e-government by adults in Europe. Such a framework will be the training foundation of educational sessions to embed e-government in concrete everyday scenarios experienced by adults.
- Digital Educational courses for adult users and adult educators.
- A preparatory course on a context-based approach and e-government for adult educators, which aims at introducing them to a more proficient use of online services, anti-discriminatory practices, and training procedures.
- A context-based course on e-government and digital skills targeting at low-skilled and low-qualified adults, which focuses on different contexts of e-government on adults’ lives, in order to raise awareness on their digital rights and how to exert them.
- e-government services simulation interactive web-app.
With the support of involved adults, we design an interactive and immersive environment (a web-app) for users, which will allow them to navigate and experience everyday situations. In this way, they can reflect in practical terms on how life with and without e-government and online service access is and embrace the positive aspects of the respective services. We want to build trust and confidence and drop feelings of low-confidence and mistrust.
Walking the Road
A somewhat sacred path unravels before us; that of respect, co-existence, and ultimately equality among us, among differences, among vulnerable groups. And even-though the choice is sometimes made to look hard, we have made ours long ago. We shall walk this road.
News is on the way! Stay with us!
