EU: Social Software as a Tool for the Social Inclusion of Marginalised Youngsters

Can ICT, and more specifically social software, support the social inclusion of marginalised youngsters? What is the role of welfare organisations working with such youngsters in this story and what are the main challenges that need to be overcome when using social software as a tool to alleviate social exclusion?

This paper presents the preliminary findings of the INCLUSO project, bringing together the results from a literature study, focus group interviews with welfare organisations and youngsters and 4 pilot projects throughout Europe. INCLUSO is a research project funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework programme. The project aims to define and explore the challenges and opportunities met when social software is used by welfare organisations working with marginalised youngsters as a tool to support their approach on alleviating social exclusion.

Positioning paper presented at the IDC2009 workshop: Digital Technologies and Marginalized Youth- Reducing the Gap, on 3 June 2009, in Como, Italy.

EU: Commission consults the public on the modernisation of ICT standardisation

In the White Paper entitled 'Modernising ICT Standardisation in the EU - The Way Forward', the European Commission describes some of the dramatic changes which have taken place in the ICT standardisation landscape over the last decade and invites comments from all interested parties on the possible actions which could be taken to adapt to these changes.



The online questionnaire may be found online under the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=ICTstandardisation.

The consultation closes on 15 September 2009.

The questions are split into two sections, namely: "Identification" and "Specific questions". The specific questions are optional and respondents may therefore reply to all, none or a selection of them. Respondents are however strongly encouraged to respond to as many questions as possible, so as to help ensure the best possible results from the public consultation.

There are additional questions for respondents who represent an organisation. Only one questionnaire should be submitted per organisation.