This session is divided into two parts. While registering to the session you are welcome to follow entire session or join only for the part two.

Part 1 (10.00-10.30 CET)

The Keynote will provide a brief overview on the aims and expected outcomes of the MEDICI project and on its position in the context of Digital Inclusion in Europe.

The session will be structured as follows:

- Brief intro of the project by technical and scientific coordinators: Daniel Burgos and Joseph Cullen

- Opening by June Lowery- Kingston, Head of Unit, Accessibility, Multilingualism and "Safer Internet" (CNECT.G.3), European Commission

- Keynote speech by Ellen Helsper, Professor in Socio-Digital Inequalities at the Media and Communications Department London School of Economics (LSE).

Part 2: ( 10.30-11.15 CET)

Roundtable: discussion on the role of digital inclusion in building inclusive society.

This session explores how ’dual exclusion’ works. We will discuss the key factors that link digital exclusion to social exclusion. It will question whether COVID-19 has added an additional element to ‘dual exclusion’ and whether we are now in a situation of ‘triple exclusion’, looking at recent evidence to suggest that people with poor digital access and skills were affected more severely by the pandemic.

The session begins with a brief ‘issues statement’ by the moderator, which will present state of the art research on the connection between digital and social inclusion as well as recent evidence on digital exclusion in the pandemic. Each invited speaker will be then asked to present their view on the following questions:

• How do digital technologies make social inequalities worse?
• With COVID-19, are we now entering a new phase of ‘triple exclusion’?
• What do governments need to do to reduce the digital divide?

Speakers:

Carmen Cárdenas, Coordinator of the Changing Mentalities Programme of the Spanish Red Cross Employment Plan.

Context of the conference:

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have become part of people’s daily life and nowadays affect (directly or indirectly) nearly all spheres of people’s life, therefore in the research papers show (S.Molnar 2003) that a digital exclusion closely mirrors the structures and dynamics of social exclusion.

Significant inequalities in internet access and broadband internet connection in the EU27 and the UK have huge impact on digital literacy in society. A 2008 report by Oxford Internet Institute observed the phenomenon of ‘dual exclusion’ – the ways in which structural inequalities like social class combined with ICT-based inequalities reinforce the process of deprivation, such as; low income, unemployment, poor education, ill health and social isolation.

A study on digital participation and social exclusion in Scotland highlighted a significant correlation between digital exclusion and a wide range of factors associated with social exclusion, including low levels of social participation; poverty and mental health issues (White, 2016).