Projects / Programmes
Razmerje med e-vključenostjo in socialno vključenostjo: teoretske in empirične zaznave (Slovene)
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.03.00 |
Social sciences |
Sociology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
23424 |
PhD Vesna Dolničar |
Sociology |
Head |
2009 - 2013 |
333 |
Organisations (1)
Significance for science
The postdoctoral project presents an original contribution to the development of social sciences in two crucial aspects, in terms of content and methodology. It facilitates new scientific findings in the conceptual domain by: - Studying the (until now surprisingly under-researched) relationship between e-inclusion and social inclusion and by testing the influence exerted by various factors upon these two multidimensional concepts, with the focus placed on older people; - Presentation of trends and dynamics of change in e-inclusion (in Slovenia and EU) that provides the basis to answer the question of whether the so-called digital and social divides grow, shrink or stagnate, holistically. The project significantly contributes to scientific development also by further development of holistic methodological framework, which facilitates a complex insight into the dynamics of processes in studying social differences. Methodological framework, based on the use and inclusion of S-time-distance, an innovative statistical measure that (beside conventional statistical measures), contributes a new, additional insight into the study of social inequality dynamics. Using the S-time-distance as a complement to the conventional absolute and relative differences, the project contributes to significant, yet overlooked, aspect of studying e-inclusion and social inclusion. With designing and applying the holistic methodological framework we thus contribute to elimination of imprecise and possibly deceiving interpretations of e-inclusion and social inclusion dynamics. In-depth analysis in this field of study therefore contributes to the guidelines for qualitative, internationally comparable, indicators and to a better understanding of these two concepts. Within this context, the proposed project focuses on the study of significance and social implication of ICTs in contemporary society, which is in accordance with one of the priority topics of the Directorate for Information Society (Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology) that refers to stimulation of activities for digital inclusion, particularly among older people. The priorities of the Directorate follow the EU policy agenda for ICTs and ageing. The results of the project enable holistic understanding and additional, alternative insight into existing analyses and sophistication of knowledge and scientific propulsivity in this priority field. The project contributed also to the actualization of undergraduate and graduate programs at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Finally, the project activities and its results represent a continuation of a successful scientific work of the research centre on the Faculty of Social Sciences and advancement and strengthening of its competitiveness in the scientific community. The corresponding dissemination of the project’s research results substantially contribute to the international reputation and impact of the Slovenian research activities and allow strengthening of the position of Slovenian science in the international scientific community.
Significance for the country
Contribution to understanding and monitoring e-inclusion and social inclusion is useful in research organisations in the public, non-profit and business sector (namely, results can generate new quality of business information that are significant for companies focused on the development of information and communication technologies). The proposed methodological instrument is of generic nature, so it can be usefully applied to numerous other (in certain views conceptually related) areas. The findings can affect the understanding of information society: besides studying the relationship between different modes of (digital) inequalities, the results improved the quality of indicators and measures of information society. In this way, the project directly contributes to indicators and methodology for monitoring targets set that need to be internationally comparable and subject to scientific goal in order to increase the contribution of the scientific community in Slovenia. Results have served and will serve also as an urgently needed basis for governmental measures and initiatives in the area of digital divide, e-inclusion and digital literacy. Thus, accurate understanding of the problematic has been enabled. In particular, the comprehension of result description of alternative decision making scenarios has increased. As in this respect, Slovenia represents a typical EU country, the empirical results will be relevant also for the global research area and other national studies. It is also against this background that a major effort in the project was devoted to the development of innovative indicator and data interpretation, visualisation and presentation formats intuitively and easy to grasp for politicians and the public. Due to identified extreme e-exclusion and social exclusion of older people in Slovenia and as a response to troubles of contemporary societies that are challenged with ageing population the project’s research activities were focused on factors and processes of e-inclusion and social inclusion of older people. The project contributes to the promotion of current and forthcoming policy agendas and instruments aimed at (digital) inclusion of older people. The EU, for example, declared 2012 as the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity Between Generations and the EC i2010 initiative saw leveraging of ICT for independent living in an ageing society as both social necessity and economic opportunity. In these initiatives policy monitoring and benchmarking has played and will play a central role in monitoring progress in achieving the set priorities. The results of this study have contributed and will contribute to the policy discussions in this field. The proposed research activities have and will contribute to an improved personal life of older people in terms of an increased personal independence, enhanced and prolonged digital inclusion and active participation in society for the ageing population through the investigation of conditions and factors of effective use of useful, affordable and usable e-services.By addressing needs of older people in key service areas of high impact such as activities of daily living, safety and participation in their local neighborhood, a path is opened for active ageing, delivering positive impacts on older peoples’ wellbeing and quality of life. The proposed e-services can have a direct impact in terms of lowering the burden of informal carers, as well as in terms of financial effect on the health and social security system by complementing their functions. The highly probable success of proposed e-services in the context of the current absence of such services in Slovenia will hopefully give a boost to new policy developments for initiatives that have been already strongly advocated on the EU level, but scarcely implemented in Slovenia.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2010,
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2010,
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
