LENTIC's contribution to EMTEL

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LENTIC's contributionto EMTEL
London 15-16th June 2000
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ICT and the less abled in everyday life aims of
the project

• To develop a model of the social impact of ICTs
  in the everyday life of the less abled (capacity
  of such technologies to aid integration into
  society and improve the quality of life of
  vulnerable groups).
• To construct a predictive model based on the
  analysis of comparative quantitative and
  qualitative data, to propose alternative
  scenarios and to generate policy recommendations.

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ICTs and the less-abledthe end of exclusion?
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ICTs and the less abledthe end of exclusion?
Social life
Citizenship
Leisure
Less abled
Education
Working life
ICTs
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ICTs and the less abledincreasing accessibility
Social life
Citizenship
Leisure
Less abled
Education
Working life
ICTs
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ICTs and the less abledadapting to individual
contexts
Social life
Citizenship
Leisure
Less abled
Education
Working life
ICTs
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ICTs and the less abledlinking different
universes together
Social life
Citizenship
Leisure
Less abled
Education
Working life
ICTs
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Diffusion model (1) postulates

• Technological potentialities vs social inertia
• Endogeneous innovation (independence of technical
  and social spheres)
• Rationality of actors (adoption standard usage)
• Normal distribution of users

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Diffusion model (2) concepts

• Collective diffusion process
• Innovators, early adopters, early majority, late
  majority, laggards
• Critical mass and propagation speed
• Individual adoption process
• Taking into account, experiencing and adopting
  phases

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Diffusion model (3)methods and research
questions

• Surveys (statistics, questionnaires interviews)
• Descriptive variables equipment rates,
  frequency/length of connections, kind of uses,
  etc.
• Explicative variables level of education, age,
  sex, localisation, institutional environment,
  professional status, level of handicap, etc.

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Diffusion model (4)methods and research
questions

• Social characteristics of the innovators and
  early adopters ?
• Factors of social resistance ?
• Stimuli of the adoption phase ?

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Diffusion model (5)evaluation and
recommendations

• Evaluation in terms of achieving predetermined
  rates of ICTs penetration within the less abled
  sphere

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Diffusion model (5)evaluation and
recommendations

• Evaluation in terms of achieving predetermined
  rates of ICTs penetration within the less abled
  sphere
• Recommendations in terms of information,
  training, institutional assistance to equipment
  and use, helpdesk, etc.

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Appropriation model (1) postulates

• Key role of users in technological evolutions
• Influence of deviations vis-à-vis standard uses
• Influence of context in the symbolic building of
  social uses
• Importance of the duration in the social uses
  formation

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Appropriation model (2) concepts

• Social construction of technologies
• Tactics, negotiation, ruse
• Counter-system and feedback
• Uses strategies, the meaning of which must be
  decoded

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Appropriation model (3)methods and research
questions

• Observation, fieldwork, case studies
  (ethno-methodological tools)
• Categories of emerging uses ?
• Social meaning of non uses?
• Social contexts in which both uses and non uses
  are appearing ?

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Appropriation model (4)evaluation and
recommendations

• Evaluation in terms of "fit" between ICTs
  developments and the social context of less abled

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Appropriation model (4)evaluation and
recommendations

• Evaluation in terms of "fit" between ICTs
  developments and the social context of less abled
• Recommendations in terms of partnership actions,
  support to appropriate service provision, etc.

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Traduction model (1) postulates

• Innovation traduction process between different
  symbolic universes
• Necessity of analyzing interactions among the
  diverse components of a network
• Primacy of the innovation process on the content

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Traduction model (2) concepts

• Network, stakeholders and spokesmen
• Controversies and agreements
• Enrolment and mobilisation
• Enactment activities
• Forced crossing-points and irreversibility

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Traduction model (3)methods and research
questions

• Document analysis, content analysis of discourses
  et interviews of key-actors
• Longitudinal and retrospective approach (critical
  steps?, key stakeholders?, main agreements?,
  etc.)
• Comparative analysis of the network management
  modalities (relevance?, value added/cost
  balance?, transferability?, etc.)

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Traduction model (4)evaluation and
recommendations

• Evaluation in terms of achieving satisfying
  agreements among diverging interests

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Traduction model (4)evaluation and
recommendations

• Evaluation in terms of achieving satisfying
  agreements among diverging interests
• Recommendations in terms of monitoring the
  process of innovation (management, users
  involvement), transferring relevant experience,
  etc.

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Estimated work progress (1)

• Y1/M1-6 document analysis, insertion in the
  research team, focused seminars on social uses of
  ICTs evaluation methodology, production of an
  interim research report
• Y1/M6-12 fieldwork in Belgium, Luxembourg and
  other countries, with reference to the different
  models

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Estimated work progress (2)

• Y2/M1-M4 synthesis and production of a 2nd
  interim report (towards an integrated model)
• Y2/M5-M12
• organisation of a conference on
  "exclusion/inclusion processes within the
  information society"
• production of the final report

London 15-16th June 2000