Last Thursday, June 29, the Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 was organized. In total, a hundred people participated in person in the successful annual meeting of the Xarxa Punt TIC Network and about thirty people did so electronically. The event, which took place at the facilities of the Administrative District, which are located at Carrer Foc number 57 in the city of Barcelona, began at 9:30 a.m. with the accreditation of the participants. Then, at 10.00 am, the official greeting was given by the head of the Digital Inclusion and Training Service, Ricard Faura. "I hope that the day will be very profitable always with this view of sharing and creating synergies with other people", said Faura.
Then, at 10.05 am, two initiatives promoted by the Generalitat in the digital field were shared. Firstly, Carolina Cuadrado and Esther Hidalgo from the Professional Training Service for Labor Insertion of the Employment Service of Catalonia (SOC) spoke about the ADA Digital Training Program for unemployed women, primarily from municipalities of less than 30,000 inhabitants. "The pandemic highlighted that there was a digital divide that was more severe in the case of women. To date, more than 6,000 women have been trained under the ADA program. Currently, we offer 118 specialties and 17 itineraries such as networks and systems, 3D printing, big data, image and sound or cyber security. In order to access these grants, to which entities affiliated to the TIC Point Network can apply, the centers will have to apply for registration in the SOC Training Entities Register", explained Cuadrado and Hidalgo.
In the second place, Ester Manzano, general director of Digital Services and Citizen Experience, and Marta Sabaté, head of the Analytics and Improvement of Citizen Experience Area, spoke about the analysis of citizens' experience in its relationship with the public administration. "We want to generate a wow effect when citizens relate to the public administration. The units that want to do the tests are brave units, willing to listen to the public and make the necessary changes to improve their services. At present, we have 1,861 volunteers who regularly help us test public services before they are put into operation or improve existing public services. We are very grateful that the citizens give us their time, but we need more volunteers for the tests", explained Manzano and Sabaté.
Later, at 10.45 a.m., a networking space began with dynamic conversations so that the participants could take advantage of it to establish synergies and possible collaborations. In this sense, the public chose to discuss five topics: digital gap in use, digital gap in knowledge, digital gap in accessibility, intervention with the elderly and the ADA Program. Also, a family photograph was taken.
Then, at 11.45 a.m., the workshops and conversation spaces began, which were carried out simultaneously. Firstly, from 11.45am to 12.45pm, a discussion space was organized on initiatives aimed at the digital training of young people with Pau Tarrés, head of Emancipation Programs and XNEJ at the Catalan Youth Agency, and a workshop around awareness and introduction to code training by Andrea Espeso from CodeWomen. On the one hand, Espeso stated: "Our mission is to provide the tools so that migrant groups can access to build a future. In this sense, from the Open Cultural Center, we held the first code course for migrants in 2019 and quickly identified that women did not interact equally in class. The CodeWomen project is extra support for migrant women." On the other hand, Tarrés explained: "We want to promote the promotion of young people's participation, make them part of the decisions and at the same time co-responsible. There are many youth profiles with various needs. The goal is to cater to all diversity. Also, we must work on the young people's confidence, listen to them and take advantage of all the opportunities to interact with them. We don't have to give a uniform answer. It must be adapted to the needs of each young person and each territory. For this reason, we need to create alliances between entities and administrations».
Secondly, from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m., a discussion space was organized on initiatives aimed at the digital training of the elderly with Laia Sánchez, head of the SeniorLab at CitiLab, and a workshop on learning computational skills through offline games by Lady Pazmiño from Punt Òmnia Colectic. On the one hand, Sánchez stated: "Citilab in Cornellà became one of the first citizen laboratories in all of Europe. In these spaces, citizens can be part of innovation processes. Not only do they listen, but they are also part of the design and creation of the projects first hand. The Seniorlab is a space where you can learn about new information and communication technologies, where you can participate in European projects and much more. The important thing is to offer a space where they feel comfortable, protected and supported. We give them our time and they decide to participate and share their desires with us." On the other hand, Pazmiño confessed: "The best method for users to learn is trial and error. In the workshop, we enjoyed three dynamics for learning through disconnected games that can be applied with diverse groups such as young people or the elderly».
Then, at 1:45 p.m., the director general of Societat Digital de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Liliana Arroyo, introduced the study on the digital divide in Catalonia. "This study must help us to do better public administration and adjust public policies", declared Arroyo. Then, at 1:50 p.m., the study on the digital divide in Catalonia was presented by Marta Bricall, senior manager KPMG ASESORES SL "A part of the population of Catalonia remains excluded from access, from the use and knowledge of new information and communication technologies. Currently, the factors that determine the digital divide are economic resources and age. Digital gaps particularly affect the most vulnerable groups and are reasons why they lose employment, training and economic opportunities", pointed out Bricall.
Then, at 2:15 p.m., the general director of Societat Digital de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Liliana Arroyo, explained the coordinated action of different departments of the Generalitat of Catalonia with the aim of combating the digital divide in Catalonia: the shock plan against the digital gap and the network of digital training centers and held the official farewell to the successful annual meeting of the ICT Point Network. "From the Generalitat de Catalunya, we promote programs, projects and initiatives to deal with the three identified digital gaps: access gap, use gap and knowledge gap, which are also crossed by a gender gap. Hopefully one day we can leave behind these digital obstacles and move towards full digital inclusion. We count on your involvement and your work to achieve this", shared Arroyo. The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 ended with a toast.
The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 on Flickr
The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 on Twitter
The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 on YouTube. Summary
The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 on YouTube. Part 01
JDIS 2023: Welcome and initiatives of the Generalitat in the digital field
The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 on YouTube. Part 02
JDIS 2023: Initiatives aimed at the digital training of young people
The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 on YouTube. Part 03
JDIS 2023: Initiatives aimed at the digital training of the elderly
The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 on YouTube. Part 04
JDIS 2023: Presentation of the study on the digital divide in Catalonia
The Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023 in the media:
- Xarxanet: JDIS 2023: 60% of the Catalan population has advanced skills in technology