RE-ACTSocial REpresentations of Community Multimedia Centres andACTions for Improvement

Swiss team: Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni, Dr. Isabella Rega, Sara VanniniMozambican team: Dr. Gertrudes Macueve, Dr. Alexandre Baia, Salomão David

RE-ACT will investigate conceptualizations ofCommunity Multimedia Centres

using the Social Representation construct.

Social Representations

Social Representations

(Moscovici 1973)

Social Representations

(Moscovici 1973)

• Ancestor: Durkheim’s concept of “Collective Representation” (1898)

Social Representations

(Moscovici 1973)

• Ancestor: Durkheim’s concept of “Collective Representation” (1898)

Collective Representations = symbols with a shared meaning for the members of a given social group.

The function of collective representations in society is that of expressing the collective sentiments or ideas that give the society its social cohesion.

Social Representations

(Moscovici 1973)

Collective Social

Social Representations

(Moscovici 1973)

A Social Representation is a system of values, ideas and practices

Object

Subject 1Subject 2

Social Representations

(Moscovici 1973)

A Social Representation has 2 functions:

Social Representations

(Moscovici 1973)

A Social Representation has 2 functions:

1 to establish how peopleinterpret their world

Social Representations

(Moscovici 1973)

A Social Representation has 2 functions:

1 to establish how peopleinterpret their world

2 to enable people tocommunicate with the other

members of the community

Why Social Representations?

Why Social Representations?

Dott. Isabella Rega’s PhD Thesis: What do local people think about telecentres (2010)

Why Social Representations?

Dott. Isabella Rega’s PhD Thesis: What do local people think about telecentres (2010)

Two possible misalignements of conceptualization of the Telecentre: 1. between the founding organization and the community2. between the founding organization and the local staff

Why Social Representations?

Dott. Isabella Rega’s PhD Thesis: What do local people think about telecentres (2010)

Two possible misalignements of conceptualization of the Telecentre: 1. between the founding organization and the community2. between the founding organization and the local staff

Sustainability factor:Creating awareness of how ICT can improve the living conditions of the local community .

How Social Representations?

- Map of the CMCs (and other official PAVs) in the country [Ministerio de Ciencias e Tecnologias, Ministero de Edicação, INCM –Instituto Nacional de Comunicação de Moçambique...]

- Selection of the sample to work with(criteria: one per province, urban/rural, year of foundation, stand alone/built-in another building, kind of association managing the CMC, number and status of services offered)

- Interview Protocol

Who Social Representations?

• Representatives of initiating agencies

• Representatives of associations owning the CMC

• Local staff

• Users

• Non-users

Interview Protocol

What Social Representations?

• Identity: structure, history, goals, benchmark, models...

• People (Staff – Visitors)

• Experience

• Services

• Community

• Personal Perception

1. Iha de Moçambique/Nampula2. Cuamba/Niassa3. Chiúre/Cabo Delgado4. Quelimane/Zambézia5. Chitima/Tete6. Dondo/Sofala7. Sussundenga/Manica8. Morrumbene/Inhambane9. Chókwe/Gaza10. Xinavane/Maputo

Where Social Representations?

• People of the CMC highly collaborative• Misalignments? (information needs no ; naming sometimes)• Radio & Computers: honour for the communities that think they are not left

behind (they are a development factor «per se»)• Radio: very strong and very well known (non-users, training, participation),

sometimes suffers because of a turn-over within the staff• TC: less strong in terms of access, good in sense of basic training. Very

basic services are the most commonly used• Internet: still a challenge• Digital Literacy: very basic, but people seem to be interested• The economical sustainability is an issue (staff & CMC)

My First Impressions

• Improvement? What is it? Who set the goals?

• Community participation: stay local!

• Learning in context and in USE

• Production of local content (tourism?)

My PhD: Actions for Improvement?

Thank You!sara.vannini@usi.ch