ICT for Integration, Social Inclusion and Economic Participation of Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities - Case Studies from Spain

Citation:

Work data:

Type of work: Report

Categories:

Digital Inclusion

Abstract:

Following the Riga Ministerial Declaration on eInclusion (June 2006), the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) carried out on the request of DG Information Society and Media, Unit H3 (eInclusion) of the European Commission a study on ’The potential of ICT for the promotion of cultural diversity in the EU: the case of economic and social participation and integration of immigrants and ethnic minoritie’. A broad overview of policies and ICT-related initiatives was initially conducted in all the EU27 Member States, followed by a deeper research of ICT usage in four selected countries: France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

This report is one of the outcomes of the study and provides the in-depth analysis of three ICT usage experiences in Spain. The first two cases explore the role of ICT for the digital and social inclusion and/or the socio-cultural integration of immigrants and ethnic minorities, while the last case addresses aspects related to their economic participation.

The first case concerns the role of the telephone-Internet shops (called locutorios in Spain) in the small town of Vera (Province of Almería) catering for the significant Ecuadorian community living there.

The second case compares three different online resources - Romania din Spania, Roman in Lume and IberBG - developed for and by Romanians and Bulgarians living in Spain, which are the two immigrant groups with the highest growth in 2004-2007.

The third case explores four life stories of immigrants who are entrepreneurs or self-employed living in the small town of Tarifa in Andalusia, illustrating their experience in business innovation and the personal differences in their appropriation of ICT.