e-Inclusion and e-Social work: new technologies at the service of social intervention

ABSTRACT

This paper defines the concept of e-inclusion in reference to programmes and projects that promote social inclusion through the use of new technologies. This concept is related to e-social work, defined as the use of ICTs in the field of social work and social services. To illustrate the implications of e-inclusion and e-social work, a case study is presented on a community involvement project using new technologies as a means and as an end. The SAREGUNE project for community use of new technologies was set up in Vitoria (Spain) in 2004. Ten years later, it gained recognition as a European e-inclusion scheme within the ‘Leonardo Da Vinci Multilateral Projects, Transfer of Innovation’ lifelong learning programme. This article explores the origins of the idea and its significance in the fight against the digital divide and in the processes of intercultural and social inclusion within the city's historic central district. A process of deconstruction, construction and reconstruction of the scheme is used to identify and describe the movements of rotation and revolution within the process of social inclusion, the levels of integration of e-social work at individual, group and community level, and the impact of the project in terms of e-inclusion.