Social support plays a fundamental role in digital inclusion (Mariën & Van Audenhove, 2010). The strategy to bridge the digital gap should be a multi-stakeholder approach that includes government's efforts in collaboration with civil society and private sector (Wong et al., 2009). This study analyzes this issue by looking at the presence and activism on the territory of organizations that, in parallel with pursuing their institutional goal, can promote outreach activities to achieve better social outcomes. For these organizations, we coined the term outreach-oriented organizations (OOOs). In particular, we considered the following entities: schools, universities, libraries, and third-sector organizations. Furthermore, the interaction between schools and third sector has been analyzed by mapping the events of Code Week initiatives, a European-wide initiative that promotes activities related to programming and other technologies for students and adults. We assess their impact on citizens’ digital competences by means of a fixed effect pseudo-panel regression analysis. Among others, we reached two relevant conclusions. First, when evaluating the impact of OOOs on digital competences it is essential to consider the degree of simultaneous activism and collaboration among organizations. In particular, special attention has to be given to the interaction between civil society and schools. Second, digital competences are strongly linked to social inclusions: the strength of social networks is fundamental to lower digital inequalities and vice versa. Such results are robust to multiple model specifications, but they sensitive to the way digital competences are measured and to the variables chosen to measure school activism.
Il supporto sociale svolge un ruolo fondamentale per l'inclusione digitale (Mariën & Van Audenhove, 2010). La strategia per colmare il divario digitale dovrebbe essere un approccio multi-stakeholder che includa sforzi del governo in collaborazione con società civile e settore privato (Wong et al., 2009). Questo studio analizza questo tema esaminando la presenza e l'attivismo sul territorio di organizzazioni che, parallelamente al perseguimento del proprio obiettivo istituzionale, possono promuovere attività di sensibilizzazione per ottenere migliori risultati sociali. Per queste organizzazioni abbiamo coniato il termine outreach-oriented organizations (OOOs). In particolare, abbiamo considerato le seguenti entità: scuole, università, biblioteche e organizzazioni del terzo settore. Inoltre, è stata analizzata l'interazione tra scuole e terzo settore mappando gli eventi della Code Week, un'iniziativa a livello europeo che promuove attività legate alla programmazione e ad altre tecnologie per studenti e adulti. Abbiamo valutato il loro impatto sulle competenze digitali dei cittadini attraverso una regressione pseudo-panel a effetti fissi. Tra le altre, abbiamo raggiunto due conclusioni particolarmente rilevanti. In primo luogo, nel valutare l'impatto delle OOO sulle competenze digitali è essenziale considerare il grado di attivismo e collaborazione simultanea tra le organizzazioni. In particolare, occorre prestare attenzione all'interazione tra la società civile e le scuole. In secondo luogo, le competenze digitali sono fortemente legate all'inclusione sociale: la forza delle reti sociali è fondamentale per ridurre le disuguaglianze digitali e viceversa. Questi risultati sono robusti a diverse specificazioni del modello, ma sono sensibili al modo in cui vengono misurate le competenze digitali e alle variabili scelte per misurare l'attivismo scolastico.
No digital equality without network ties : a pseudo-panel study on the impact of outreach-oriented organizations on citizens' competences
Sneider, Lorenzo;SAMPAOLO, GIORGIO
2021/2022
Abstract
Social support plays a fundamental role in digital inclusion (Mariën & Van Audenhove, 2010). The strategy to bridge the digital gap should be a multi-stakeholder approach that includes government's efforts in collaboration with civil society and private sector (Wong et al., 2009). This study analyzes this issue by looking at the presence and activism on the territory of organizations that, in parallel with pursuing their institutional goal, can promote outreach activities to achieve better social outcomes. For these organizations, we coined the term outreach-oriented organizations (OOOs). In particular, we considered the following entities: schools, universities, libraries, and third-sector organizations. Furthermore, the interaction between schools and third sector has been analyzed by mapping the events of Code Week initiatives, a European-wide initiative that promotes activities related to programming and other technologies for students and adults. We assess their impact on citizens’ digital competences by means of a fixed effect pseudo-panel regression analysis. Among others, we reached two relevant conclusions. First, when evaluating the impact of OOOs on digital competences it is essential to consider the degree of simultaneous activism and collaboration among organizations. In particular, special attention has to be given to the interaction between civil society and schools. Second, digital competences are strongly linked to social inclusions: the strength of social networks is fundamental to lower digital inequalities and vice versa. Such results are robust to multiple model specifications, but they sensitive to the way digital competences are measured and to the variables chosen to measure school activism.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2022_07_Sampaolo_Sneider.pdf
accessibile in internet solo dagli utenti autorizzati
Dimensione
3.52 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
3.52 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in POLITesi sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/10589/190212