DIGITAL SOCIAL INNOVATION AND LABOR MARKET TRANSFORMATIONS

Social innovation can be considered as a process generated by the application of innovation to social needs. Consequently, digital social innovation (DSI) addresses emerging social issues and challenges by taking advantage of digital technology.Currently, most DSI projects make use of more established - and less ‘high-tech’ - solutions, such as social networks, crowdsourcing, and web or mobile apps.Indeed, there is a large pool of people with great ideas, but without the digital skills to bring their ideas to life. A great effort is needed to enable people to access digital skills.This paper highlights how DSI education can contribute, in a period of transformation of the labor market, to enhancing solutions in several strategic sectors, such as healthcare, education, public participation, and the environment.It presents the results of the EU funded project DSI: new educational competences for social inclusion (2018-2020) whose aim is the definition of a basic portfolio of competences for social educators and social volunteers in DSI at a European level.

Aplikacije utemeljene na mnoštvu i društveni izazovi

The spread of mobile technology and ubiquitous connectivity have opened great possibilities for the implementation of applications that leverage data generated by normal users’ interactions on the web. As a consequence, there is a growing interest in crowd-based applications, namely those programs that involve people in a participatory or opportunistic way. In many cases, data can be gathered automatically without user intervention and, in some cases, even without their explicit knowledge. The possibility to elude a users’ awareness fosters concerns regarding the potential risks hidden inside crowd-based applications. These applications might compromise the privacy of citizens, whilst data collected by them might be used to manipulate people’s opinions. The governance of technology is a controversial area, and there is a wide array of different positions on the matter. There are those who dogmatically argue the positive value of technology, while others interpret the ongoing digital advancements as a dystopian menace. This article focuses on crowd-based applications, highlighting some societal challenges and risks that they may present. Technology runs so fast that it is challenging to keep pace with the changes brought by the digital revolution. However, an effort is required to extend the depth of digital knowledge of citizens and involve them in the use of the new technologies, and in this endeavor, greater knowledge is an essential step in any critical process.Širenje mobilne tehnologije i sveprisutna povezanost otvorili su velike mogućnosti za upotrebu aplikacija koje iskorištavaju podatke generirane normalnim interakcijama korisnika na webu. Kao posljedica toga, sve je veći interes za aplikacije utemeljene na mnoštvu (engl. crowd-based applications), za one programe koji uključuju ljude na participativni ili oportunistički način. U mnogim se slučajevima podaci mogu prikupljati automatski, bez djelovanja korisnika, a u nekim slučajevima čak i bez njihova izričitog znanja. Mogućnost izbjegavanja svjesnosti korisnika potiče zabrinutosti u vezi s potencijalnim rizicima koji su skriveni u aplikacijama utemeljenim na mnoštvu. Te aplikacije mogu ugroziti privatnost građana, dok bi se prikupljeni podaci mogli koristiti za manipuliranje stavovima ljudi. Upravljanje tehnologijom kontroverzno je područje i o tom pitanju postoji mnoštvo različitih stajališta. Neki dogmatski zastupaju pozitivne vrijednosti tehnologije, dok drugi digitalni napredak tumače kao distopijsku prijetnju. Rad se usredotočuje na aplikacije utemeljene na mnoštvu, ističući neke društvene izazove i rizike koje mogu predstavljati. Tehnologija napreduje tako brzo da je izazovno biti u tijeku s promjenama koje je donijela digitalna revolucija. No, potrebno je pokušati produbiti digitalno znanje građana i uključiti ih u upotrebu novih tehnologija, a u tom je poduhvatu veće znanje temeljni korak u svakom kritičnom procesu

PARENT-TRAINING TO SUPPORT PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Social inclusion necessitates educational efforts to be made to address everyday problems and difficulties. Researchers and practitioners widely emphasize the importance of training parents of children with special needs. Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder have been successfully taught to improve their parent-child relationship, increase communication skills, and decrease inappropriate behaviors, as well as to reduce their psychological distress. This paper presents the results of a survey carried out within the two-year project EXEC (Extending Social Educators Competences) supported by the European Union

CYBERBULLING AND REAL REALITY

There are various risks tied to cyberspace. Some of them are social risks because they are cultural risks, being related to new forms of relationships and interactions among people. In the last decade, toxic evils like cyberbullying and other malicious cyber violence are growing, and the search of antidotes is becoming a common concern for governments, educational authorities, teachers, parents and children alike. The available data shows clear evidence that the number of persons affected by cyber violence is increasing (Shariff e Churchill, 2009; U.S. Department of Education, 2011; Dilmac, 2012; Catalano, 2012): a Google search of the word “cyberbullying” finds more the 11 million of items. Despite the popularity of the word, there is a limited knowledge of this issue and many of the first conceptual formulations about it continue to be spread in literature, such as that the characteristics of bullies who act face-to-face and those who do so in cyberspace are very different. The paper analyzes the classic model of cyberbullying behavior, as described in literature, introducing a new element to be considered. It is that, especially for young people, Web and physical world are more and more becoming a whole: virtual-web and real reality are a continuum that we could define as an e-real-reality. Analyzing two of the most known cases of cyberbullying and considering some other evidences emerged by recent researches, we are theoretically convinced that a better understanding of this element could lead to the development of more effective strategies for combating cyberbullying

THE DIGITAL GENDER DIVIDE: AN OVERVIEW

It has been observed that women, especially in developing countries, have significantly lower technology participation rates than men. This is generally considered to be the result of socio-cultural attitudes related to the expected role of women in society. The consequence is the low percentage of women working in the high-tech industry. However, nowadays, women make ample use of internet technology and access social media just as much as men.This article will explore the issue of the digital gender divide, focusing on which factors can impede and/or facilitate access to and use of digital technologies.  It represents the preliminary results of an ongoing research conducted within a bilateral project entitled “Gender aspects of digital readiness and development of human capital” that involves the Latgalian region in Latvia and the Ternopil region in Ukraine, two regions that share similar socio-economic problems.The aim of the research is to increase the level of women’s inclusion in the labor market of the future, which itappears will be increasingly dominated by digital technologies. From this perspective, reducing the digital divide is crucial, but alternative forms of digital education will need to be introducedin order to facilitate the acquisition of digital competences. 

Machines that Dream: A New Challenge in Behavioral-Basic Robotics

The digital revolution is transforming contemporary society. Connective intelligence is an emerging property deriving from the embedding of intelligence into the connected data, concepts, applications, and people. Furthermore, the progress in behavioral-basic robotics opens new fields of innovative investigation.In this challenging context, might it make sense to provide machines with dreaming-like functions? Indeed, machine inactivity can be assimilated to the sleep state of living beings. Furthermore, when dreaming, we can interact with what we take to be other individuals and things and, in certain respects, the same happens in the virtual world.This paper highlights some new directions that have emerged in the field of Artificial Intelligence, focusing on the total Turing test and dreaming machines

COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR MENTORS IN SOCIAL BUSINESS

The word mentor comes from “Mentor”, the old man to whom Odysseus entrusted his house and son Telemachus. Accordingly, mentoring can be assumed as the guidance whereby one person shares their experience and expertise to support other people to progress in their own lives and careers.Mentoring encompasses supportive relationships finalized to job performance, leadership practices, a career as well as teaching learning-processes. This paper analyzes the function of mentors in social business and the communication skills they need in using digital media. This paper aims to give an overview of the various aspects and issues related to social mentoring, focusing on the use of digital communication technologies to assist mentors in providing guidance, knowledge, and support. It reports and discusses the preliminary results of the desk research carried out by the authors within the EU project DICCMEM.

TEACHING INDUSTRY 4.0

Industry 4.0 is a term that was introduced by the German government at the time of the Hannover Fair in 2011 in relation to an initiative brought forward to support German industry in addressing future challenges. It refers to the 4th industrial revolution, in which disruptive digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI), are exercising a notable impact on industrial production.Industry 4.0 takes the emphasis on digital technology of recent decades to a whole new level with the help of interconnectivity through the Internet of Things (IoT), real-time data access, and the introduction of cyber-physical systems.This paper focuses on the design of an educational module for higher education mechatronics students. Introducing Industry 4.0 into a mechatronics curriculum will reinforce the integration of student competences in flexible and rapid manufacturing. The module includes notions of machine learning and deep machine learning, which are essential in robotics and behavioral robotics and closely interact with control theory. The results of a pilot training activity in the field are also illustrated and discussed.

AUTISM AND CREATIVITY: A SOCIAL ROBOTICS APPLICATION

This paper focuses on the relationship of genius with certain forms of autism. It synthesizes some results of two ongoing research activities. The first one concerns the investigation of creativity and the arts in the digital age, while the second an educational experience to support the socialization of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.The educational experience was based on storytelling, drama, and programmable toy robots.Our research emerged that low functioning autistic people may exhibit creative attitudes, but the creativity of educators has a crucial role in stimulating their creativity.

MANAGING EDUCATION DURING THE CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCY: THE CASE OF A POLISH HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION

Due to the threat posed by COVID-19, most higher education institutions in Europe have opted to switch to online remote courses and smart working with a view to keeping their students and university staff safe during the current pandemic emergency.Face-to-face classes, including labs and workshops, have been canceled and substituted with online activities wherever possible, and new administrative procedures have even been established to support these radical changes.This article will analyze these changes in the light of a case study research conducted at the University of Social Sciences in Poland.The primary objective was to conduct an exploratory examination of the learning management issues that have emerged from the forced distance learning activities adopted to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.The secondary objective was to gather testimonies regarding the impact that the imposition of smart working has had on the university staff.From the research activity, some significant elements emerged that have stimulated a deeper reflection on the use of digital technology in higher education