A Inclusão Digital nos telecentros de informação e educação de João Pessoa- PB

Abstract

This research analyzes the Digital Inclusion from the perspective of informational and social inclusion. The object of the analysis is a Digital Inclusion project from a public organization, the municipal government of João Pessoa-PB, named Telecentres of Information and Education, known as Digital Stations, located in the city of João Pessoa - PB. The theoretical framework used for this research relates the concepts of digital inclusion with the informational and social inclusion, highlighting the relations with citizenship and social participation. In this sense, the Digital Inclusion should be understood as a strong ally to social inclusion, because we comprehend that Digital Inclusion provides the individuals abilities to process information in the context of specific needs, and from this, individuals can recognize themselves as capable to understand and solve social problems they experience. The overall objective is to "Analyze the Telecentres of Information and Education project - Digital Stations under the theoretical Information Science assumptions about Digital Inclusion". The specific objectives include the analysis of the concepts that guide the project, its functioning conditions and the proposal of guidelines to provide improvements and solve existing problems in the Digital Stations. The methodological approach includes content analysis, documentary research, interviews and questionnaires with project participants. It was created a framework of analysis that enabled the investigation and subsequent classification of the research object in three levels of digital inclusion, and serve as the basis for the development of analytical categories based on content analysis of Bardin (2010).The results indicate the need for better planning, able to rearrange the current project, in order to carry out effective connections among informational inclusion, citizenship and social inclusion in the Digital Stations. It was also identified that the project is in the technical-operational level, but it has potential indicatives for the informational and social levels. Finally, guidelines were proposed for improving the operation of the investigated object, which ones were created based on the identification of the most urgent needs of Digital Stations and on the theoretical framework discussed in the context of Information Science