The BBC article,
“Bridging Brazil’s digital divide” (2008) reports a shocking statistic that
approximately 3 out of 5 Brazilians have never used the Internet or a computer
even though Brazil is the 5th market in the world for computers. In
the article, Mr Assumpco the head of country’s committee to close the divide
contends that the digital divide is a social divide resulted from the
exceptional “class divide” in Brazil. There is a prominent contrast where rich
children were exposed to technology since young and poor children might only be
taught how to use a computer in their teenage years. This led to a serious
consequence observed by Mr Assumpco when poor teenagers are being taught to
conform to technology. He argues that this perspective will result in those
having command over technology to be leaders as compared to the poor being
commanded by technology. Therefore, perpetuating the inequality in Brazil.
It
is pertinent to study the digital divide in Brazil as the digital divide and
social inequality are mutually constitutive where social inequality causes
digital divide and digital divide reproduces inequality. Therefore, there is an
opportunity for information technology to be a “tool towards a more just and
beneficial distribution of the country’s wealth” (Albernaz, 2002)
This
essay will examine how the lack of information communications technologies
(ICTs) further socially excludes the youths from the favelas. Also, current
measures to resolve the digital divide will be evaluated. It is propose that
they require refinements to resolve the “second level digital divide”
concerning not only access but also “digital literacy” characterize by the
amount of usage, familiarity of internet usage and effectiveness of usage
(Pedrozo, 2013).
Problem:
Favelas
are substandard housing normally located at the margins of cities in Brazil and
a sign of urban poverty where people are unable to afford formal housing. Today,
there are more than 600 favelas in Brazil, an evidence of the huge
socio-economic divide in the country. A study by the Favela, Opinion,
and Marketplace research group found out that only 1 out of 4 youths aged between 15-25 years completed
basic education and only 1 in 100 completed university. Such circumstances
result in the difficulty in employment that encourages youths to be involved in
the rampant drug trafficking business in the favelas (Sorj, 2003).
With
the rise of the information society, youths are further socially and digitally
excluded due to illiteracy. This is
evident from the video “Center for digital inclusion” (2009) where slum
dwellers do not have idea of their future, as survival was more important.
Furthermore, since young they have been under the influence of drugs hence they
do not have a vision out of the slums. The lack of technology deny youths from
seeing opportunities in life as they are not expose to the information on the
Internet and as a result they are isolated from the rest of the world.
Solution:
One laptop per children- National effort
One
of the current measures by the government to close the digital divide is by the
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
project, which provides a basic mobile computer for children in developing
countries. Under the project, school children are able to have access to
technology at a subsidized rate. This enable students to be active learners as
they can reply less on the teacher’s help.
However, as
mentioned before, many youths from slums do not complete basic education hence
they may not benefit from this project.
Moreover, Molinari (2011) argue that this is an unsustainable method due
to the high cost to provide each child with a computer and the high carbon
footprint of this project. He also observe that this project also pass cost to the
poor families as the laptop would need to be maintained and regularly updated
to prevent the technology from becoming obsolete ("Bridging the
digital," 2011). Furthermore, such state-led projects are unable to
resolve the localized problems resulting from the lack of ICTs. However, the
community led project discussed following on will remedy this limitation.
Solution
2: CDI- Community involvement
The
CDI is one of the oldest and well-known computer schools in Brazil. The schools
are called “Citizenship schools” (Albernaz, 2002) and their mission is to
change lives and build resilient low-income communities by empowering people
with ICTs. This empowerment comes through education of the marginalized
population in the favelas to fight poverty using technology. ("Bridging the digital," 2011). The centers are successful as they do not conform to the
rigid computer school model where people do not just learn by sitting in front
the computer, instead most importantly youths are encourage to use what they learnt
(Albernaz, 2002). As observed by Hunt (2012), the CDI community centers’s
lessons not only impart digital knowledge but also teach “civic education, community building, empowerment
and entrepreneurial skills”. They provide a platform for the practical usage of
technology through a “social advocacy project” where students can change a
negative aspect of their community by creation of “awareness campaigns” or work
together to resolve the various problems like “sexual abuse, pollution,
violence, crime, and drugs, to the lack of healthcare or schools.” Therefore,
CDI provides a good avenue for people at the margins to be heard and through
technology use “create social action, social change and social inclusion.
”
(Hunt, 2012).
The
success of the CDI is also due to local ownership as locals run the schools. Hence,
they are in the best position to bring about important necessary social changes
unlike the government and non-governmental organization who may not identify
pressing issues correctly.
However,
there are criticisms like the poorest people do not have the time to attend the
course and many do not find jobs that are technology related. Furthermore many
computers in the CDI do not have Internet connection and very often the
computers are outdated (Albernaz, 2002).
Even though the CDI have the potential to bring out social change, there is a
need for greater government support in building Internet infrastructure. This
is to ensure that the marginalized communities are able to use ICTs effectively
hence solving the “second digital divide” effectively.
(A)
Conclusion
There
is a need for close partnership between the state and non-governmental
organization as power is not just top-down but bottom up. Such proactive
communities with the support of government subsidies will lead to successful
digital inclusion. Even though there are limitations to the solution of CDI
community centers, at least it provides opportunities for youths to build
self-esteem and have sense of possibilities, which could have never been
available (Albernaz, 2002).
References
Albernaz, A. (2002). The
internet in brazil: From digital divide to democracy?. New York University,
1-34. Retrieved from http://www.aaplac.org/library/AlbernazAmi03.pdf
Bridging brazil's digital
divide. (2008, Oct 2). BBC World . Retrieved from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7647114.stm
Bridging the digital divide [Web]. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaxCRnZ_CLg
Center for digital
inclusion [Web]. (2009).
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nfKTTi6KqA
Hunt, M. (2012, Sept 28). The
center for digital inclusion: Transforming lives and uplifting communities by
bridging the digital divide. Huffpost. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-hunt/the-center-for-digital-in_b_1922015.html
Pedrozo, S. (2013). New media
use in brazil: Digital inclusion or digital divide?. Online Journal of
Communication and Media Technologies, 3(1), 144-162.
Sorj, B. (2003). Brazil@digitaldivide.com
confronting inequality in the information society. United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from http://www.centroedelstein.org.br/pdf/brazildigitaldividecom.pdf
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