Literature Review on Employability, Inclusion and ICT, Report 2: ICT and Employability

IPTS has launched a research project on how ICT can support employability, in the context of its policy support activities for the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, and the Digital Agenda for Europe. As a first step, JRC-IPTS contracted the Institute of Employment Research, University of Warwick, UK to prepare: a) a review of the literature on employability, its dimensions and the factors which affect it in general and for groups at risk of exclusion, namely migrants, youth and older workers; and b) a report on how ICT contribute to employability, support the reduction of barriers and create pathways to employment for all and also for the three specific groups at risk of exclusion. This report presents the findings of the second part of the research.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

Long-Term Care Challenges in an Ageing Society: The Role of ICT and Migrants Results from a Study on England, Germany, Italy and Spain

This report synthesizes and discusses the findings of a series of studies on the use of ICT to support caregivers providing Long-Term Care at home, with particular attention to migrant caregivers. The use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) for health and social care is playing an increasingly important role in the context of the demographic changes. As, on the one hand, people are getting older and the need for care is increasing, and, on the other hand, the number of formal and informal caregivers is decreasing, technical devices are seen as a possible solution to this dilemma. At the same time, people in need of care and their relatives have a tendency to informally employ private care assistants, often from migrant backgrounds, to assist those in need of care in their homes with daily tasks, so as to avoid and postpone their transferral into institutional care. To better understand the current and prospective use of ICT to assist informal caregivers, and in particular those of migrant origin, JRC-IPTS conducted a series of exploratory studies, assessing the situation in Italy, Spain, Germany and the UK. This report gives an overview on the situation of domiciliary care in each of these countries; investigates the opportunities for ICT in home care and identifies drivers and barriers for the deployment of ICT by caregivers with a particular focus on migrant care assistants.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy

This report provides a systematic empirical assessment of the creation, use and adoption of specific social computing applications and its impact on ICT/media industries, personal identity, social inclusion, education and training, healthcare and public health, and government services and public governance.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

Strata Managers and Educational Mishaps

In Australia, educational qualifications are a prescribed requirement for licensing within various occupations and professions, and each state and territory has varying degrees of educational aims and objectives. This research paper examines the minimum standards of education and knowledge, which are imposed as a pre-requisite for the licensing of a Strata Manager. The paper traces the historical progression which occurred during the last century to the current decade, and includes an assessment of societies changing needs of the role within the profession. In this regard, it is argued that the educational requirements during the mid 1990s to the early 2000s best served the needs of the consumer in comparison to these last 10 years. The discussion is complemented with data from New South Wales, mapping the educational knowledge fields and comparing this information to the duties and responsibilities of a Strata Manager

Production of Innovations within Farmer–Researcher Associations Applying Transdisciplinary Research Principles

Small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan West Africa depend heavily on local resources and local knowledge. Science-based knowledge is likely to aid decision-making in complex situations. In this presentation, we highlight a FiBL-coordinated research partnership between three national producer organisations and national agriculture research bodies in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Benin. The partnership seeks to compare conventional, GMObased, and organic cotton systems as regards food security and climate change

Community digital story project: George community needs

This document has undergone full peer review, and reflects all final changes made, but not the formatting done by the publisher.This study details a Digital Story Community Project undertaken by the Centre for Innovative Education and Communication Technologies of the University of the Western Cape, which took place in George (South Africa) in November 2014. The aim was to explore, via digital stories, the authentic needs of vulnerable community sectors by engaging with representatives, leaders and activists from those sectors, while equipping them in turn with transferable skills in the production of digital stories. Digital stories proved to be an excellent tool for community need identification, while simultaneously building digital skills among community members in a range of areas such as storyboarding, script writing, image preparation, and voice recording. A Sociocultural Constructionist and Asset-Based Community Development theoretical approach underpinned this research and proved an excellent fit for the creation of community narratives. A mixed methodology was adopted in this empirical study, relying primarily on qualitative data with quantitative support. Qualitative measures include pre- and post-survey questionnaires, facilitators’ observations during the workshop, participant feedback within an online discussion forum, as well as the perceived impact and application of digital stories. The skills attained, community needs and solutions produced, and the potential contribution of ICTs in these are also discussed. Supporting quantitative measures are drawn from an analysis of responses to the pre-and post-survey questionnaires and attendance numbers during the workshop. Identified needs clustered around four interrelated themes: youth, economic challenges, substance abuse, and healthcare. The use of digital stories in identifying community needs, in a theoretically sound manner, is recommended in future research focusing on community development. It is no longer possible or desirable to speak on behalf of communities in relation to their development needs, and the digital story eTool is appropriate for obtaining authentic community data, while building skills.Web of Scienc

D1.3 List of available solutions

This report has been submitted by Tempesta Media SL as deliverable D1.3 within the framework of H2020 project "SO-CLOSE: Enhancing Social Cohesion through Sharing the Cultural Heritage of Forced Migrations" Grant No. 870939.This report aims to conduct research on the specific topics and needs of the SO-CLOSE project, addressing the available solutions through a state-of-the-art digital tools analysis, applied in the cultural heritage and migration fields. More specifically the report's scope is:To define proper tools and proceedings for the interview needs -performing, recording, transcription, translation. To analyse potential content gathering tools for the co-creation workshops. To conduct a state-of-the-art sharing tools analysis, applied in the cultural heritage and migration fields, and propose a critically adjusted and innovative digital approach