The 'Internet Solidaire' Symposium - Inclusions and Exclusions in the Digital Society of the 21st century

In spite of the well engaged completion of the access of all to digital infrastructures (telecom, TV, the Internet), the conditions of access to these tools and their spread are still uneven, depending on geographical areas, income and age. Beyond the infrastructure availability rates, there is a need to assess to which extent individuals possess the competences and skills allowing an optimised use of these new channels. For instance, the access of people with disabilities has improved. 

Do digital channels constitute an integration factor? Are they a way to restore equal opportunities at school thanks to an easier and free access to knowledge, information and training; or on the contrary, do they increase inequalities within the educational system?  

One may wonder if teleworking and teleconferences, by creating an almost permanent link with employers and colleagues, will reinforce cohesion at work or will make it weaker. Do discriminations and exclusions from the labour market step back with digital technology (can workmen and managers alike apply anonymously for a job over the Internet)? On the contrary, the headhunters using social networks or the information collected in the frame of eRecruitements do not necessarily change previous procedures drastically.  

Does the development of social networks allow the creation of more social bonds, and are these more diversified and stronger? To which extent sociability and the marriage market are boosted, enabling the prevention of isolation phenomena whose consequences are sometimes dramatic (single people in rural areas, e.g. elderly people)?  

New forms of actions arise in the associative, political and trade union organisations. But do these obvious evolutions trigger a broader participation of the citizens in collective action? 

The event programme will address all these issues. It will be structured around three roundtables: 

• Roundtable 1: 'How does Information and Communication Technology (ICT) reshape society?' - What are the stakes and prospects of emerging digital societies; What are their effects on social bonds?  
• Roundtable 2: 'Do the new ways of communication modify existing exclusions?' - The emergence of the digital divide has been bringing to light that the development of the Internet can be a threat to social cohesion. Rapid mutations have generated inequalities between those who can access the web anywhere, anytime and those who are excluded from it. These new forms of exclusion appear at all levels, in particular towards those who have already been affected by inequalities and who find themselves marginalised at the periphery of the system; 
• Roundtable 3: 'Digital inclusion: a social reintegration and cohesion factor' - Many initiatives allow fighting the digital divide. These 'einclusion techniques' aim to put in place an Information Society which is inclusive, generous and solidarity-based towards those publics who are the most subject to a digital divide which has become a social divide. The actors of digital solidarity are coming to life. What are their missions and commitments as to the development of 'citizen- and solidarity-based' ICTs? What are the digital inclusion tools at the disposal of the various levels of government? How do telecom and Internet services providers address the social and solidarity-based offer?  

Registration to this open event is to be performed online; it requires the payment of a €50 fee, except for students, job seekers and the press, whose attendance is free of charge. 

Event email: pilicer@pppagency.com