Reflecting: Gender, race, ethnicity… in ICT4D?

I am now waiting for my next flight, and inspiration just hit.. why let this opportunity go away. For those few who have read my blog, you may have noticed that I do not write much.. it is not often that inspiration comes and I feel like blogging.. But today I am here waiting and thinking back at a great session I chaired days ago at the ICTD 2016 International Conference in Ann Arbor. Together with my colleague and friend Tony Roberts, we organised a session about Intersectionality in ICT4D, and surprisingly we had a very good turn out.. more than 30 people came to the session. 1/3 already knowing they disagreed with the session proposal, another 1/3 not knowing what intersectionality meant, and the rest interested in the conversation. We had enthusiastic and passionate conversations, overall touching on a subject hardly heard in this context… changing social structures!

Intersectionality was a new concept to me too a few months ago, and I came to see it as a tool to try to understand complexity. Namely, when we try to understand reality, we are

What do we mean with ICT & Gender?

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a discussion about ICT & Gender in the monthly London ICT4D MeetUp. It was hosted by the ICT4D Centre at Royal Holloway, University of London, and counted with almost 40 participants.

Discussions started by a brief «conceptual» introduction by Dorothea Kleine (@dorotheakleine), Director of the Centre, who intended to spike the conversation by pointed out some Gender concepts. As was clearly stated by Dorothea, talking about gender is not a new topic. It started decades ago with a focus on how to include Women in development practices. Back then, the feminist movement pointed out the need to incorporate women and the first attempts were more in the counting side.

Critical Consciousness & Structural Social Change – Open Session at ICTD 2013

Can ICTs contribute to transforming the fundamental relationships of power and privilege that constrain development? What changes to development practice are required to enable the effective use of ICT by marginalised people in authoring and actualising their own development? Can people use ICTs to build critical consciousness and political agency?

These are difficult questions, that need to be asked and discussed. They are hard, and not so easy to, let say, find a «proper response», but they still need to be asked, and we do need to try to get some response!

Together with my colleague and friend, Tony Roberts, we are organising an Open Session at ICTD 2013 Cape Town. It is called Appropriating ICTs for Developing Critical Consciousness and Structural Social Change.

If you oppose to our ideas or support them, or simply if you are curious, please join us this Tuesday 10th, at 9.00am, at Kramer Building, room 4A.

To know a little bit more about this session, please continue reading. The text below is the full description of the session.

Introducing my research – operationalisation

Words have different meanings, with different intonations and in different contexts they may even have more meanings from the officials you can find in a dictionary. Paulo Freire knew about this power and complexity of the word, how can communication may facilitate or discourage a process, how it could both oppress or liberate you. He said that by knowing how to read and write words, people can better understand the world in which they are living in, and by doing so, they may “awaken” from the state of oppression they are submitted to (Freire, 1970). In essence, understanding what is being said by others, not just the “official” meaning, but all the emotions and messages that are carried through words and intonation, is what allows us to fully comprehend a situation.

But, how can we communicate complex messages to a wider mixed backgrounds public?

Protestar ou não protestar … é realmente este o dilema?

* Peso desculpas se as minhas informações não estão completamente certas, este texto é somente uma opinião pessoal

A maioria de vocês devem ter lido, visto ou ouvido falar sobre os protestos no Brasil. Estar em Campinas,  cidade localizada a 1 hora (aprox.) de São Paulo, enquanto tudo isso está acontecendo, tem sido uma experiência muito interessante, que, de certa forma, reforça alguns dos meus sentimentos anteriores sobre o movimento Occupy, que agora não é tão popular como era há um ano.

Tudo começou com uma reivindicação simples. O Movimento organizado chamado «Passe Livre» – MPL, começou a se queixar dos altos preços do transporte público, que estava prestes a sofrer mais um aumento. Um pequeno grupo começou a protestar e as reações agressivas da polícia e os artigos negativos publicados pela mídia, foram, na minha opinião, algumas das causas do grande incêndio que veio depois.

To protest or not to protest… is really that the dilemma??

Most of you must have read, seen or heard about Brazilian protests. Being in Campinas, a city located 1 hour (aprox.) from São Paulo, while all of this is happening, has been a very interesting experience, which in a way, reinforces some of my previous feelings about the Occupy movement, which now is not as popular as it was a year ago.

Everything started with one simple reclamation. The organised Movement called «Passe Livre» – MPL (Free pass in English), started to complain about the high prices of public transportation, which was about to suffer one more raise. A small group started to protest and the aggressive reactions of the police and the negative articles published by the

El NRI: Que opino sobre este índice desde una perspectiva social?

El mes pasado el Forum Económico Mundial lanzó su reporte «»The Global Information Technology Report 2013: Growth and Jobs in a Hyperconnected World«[1], el cuál presenta el resultado de un estudio anual que mide el Índice de Potencial para la Conectividad en el mundo (NRI por sus siglas en inglés). Este índice, según lo declarado por los editores, mide el grado en que las economías de todo el mundo tienen para aprovechar las TIC para mejorar la competitividad, ayudando a los responsables políticos y las partes interesadas pertinentes para acompañar las fortalezas y debilidades de sus economías, así como su evolución en el tiempo. Además, para acompañar la continua evolución de las TIC, tanto en 2012 y 2013 NRI, son el resultado de un proceso de revisión que no sólo adaptó algunas de las variables consideradas, sino que también incluyó dos Subíndices de impacto, de esta manera, tratando de convertirse en una herramienta más apropiada para la próxima década. [2]

Es interesante hacer un seguimiento de las reacciones de este tipo de informes. El informe del año pasado, fue el primero en mostrar los resultados del nuevo marco utilizado para

The NRI: What do I think about this index from a social perspective?

Last month the World Economic Forum launched «The Global Information Technology Report 2013: Growth and Jobs in a Hyperconnected World«[1], which presents the result of an annual study that measures the World’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI). This Index, as stated by the editors, measures the degree to which economies across the world leverage ICT for enhanced competitiveness, helping policymakers and relevant stakeholders to track their economies’ strengths and weaknesses as well as their progress over time. Moreover, to accompany the continuous evolution ICTs have, both 2012 and 2013 NRI, are the result of a review process which not only adapted some of the variables considered but also included two Impact Subindexes, in this way, trying to become a more appropriate tool for the next decade. [2]

It is interesting to follow up the reactions of these kind of reports. Last year’s report, was the first to show the results of the new framework used for the ranking. Searching online, it

Frustración como motivación: Conversando sobre Cultura Digital en Brasil

Salir de nuestra zona de confort, da miedo. Estamos tan acostumbrados a nuestras rutinas y hábitos, o pensamos que estamos en un momento tan bueno en nuestras vidas, que cualquier cosa que amenace o nos desafíe a cambiar cualquiera de nuestras actividades nos exponen a lo desconocido, lo que podría ser para bien o para mal . Esto es aún más difícil, si el cambio implica no solo un cambio de actividad, sino un cambio de paradigma, es decir, una transformación en la forma de pensar y entender las cosas.

Me parece que este fue el sentimiento que se destacó durante los debates que tuvieron lugar en la Segunda Semana de la Cultura Digital* en Campinas. El tema de la semana de este año fue: «Puede el Internet subvertir el orden?», lo que llevó a cada uno de los participantes a reflexionar sobre nuestro orden actual y qué cambios, si los hay, el Internet está causando. La mayoría de los participantes coincidieron en que SÍ, Internet está cambiando las reglas de juego, pero ¿qué tipo de cambio es que este?. Si es bueno o malo, se discutió mucho. Esta divergencia es la que ha causado la mayor parte del malestar. Cosmovisión, objetivos, creencias y realidades, hizo que todos entendieran la pregunta de maneras diferentes. Por ejemplo, se podía ver cómo algunos fueron muy

Frustração como motivação: Conversando sobre Cultura Digital no Brasil

Sair fora da nossa zona de conforto é assustador. Estamos tão acostumados com nossas rotinas e hábitos, ou pensamos que estamos tendo um momento tão bom do jeito que somos, que qualquer coisa que nos desafia ou ameaça de alterar qualquer de nossas atividades, nos expor ao desconhecido, que poderia ser para melhor ou pior. Isto é ainda mais difícil de enfrentar quando a mudança não implica apenas uma mudança de atividades, mas uma mudança de paradigma, uma transformação na nossa maneira de pensar e entender as coisas.

Parece-me que este era o sentimento sublinhado durante os debates que ocorreram na Segunda Semana de Cultura Digital* em Campinas. O tema da semana deste ano foi: «A Internet pode subverter a ordem?», o que provocou em cada um dos participantes, a reflexão sobre a nossa ordem atual e que mudanças, se for o caso, a Internet está causando. A maioria dos participantes concordou que SIM, Internet está mudando o campo de jogo, mas, que tipo de mudança é esta, é bom ou ruim, foi muito disputada. Esta divergência foi o que causou a maior parte do desconforto. Visão de mundo, objetivos, crenças pessoais e realidades, fez todo mundo entender a questão de forma diferente. Por exemplo, era possível ver como alguns estavam muito focados em software,