In those societies with access to new media, concern continues to grow about the digital divide, between generations and between majority and minority social groups. In Portuguese society, this challenge presents some specific characteristics, marked by major cultural and educational differences and by the very different levels of digital literacy that distinguish the access and use of these media by adults and children. Children and youths younger than 18 year are ahead of adults in access and use, to the contrary of what happens in the majority of other European countries (Hasebrink et al, 2008).
The majority of Portuguese adults who are of the age to be parents of children (30-55 years old) present the lowest level of schooling among the European countries, less than 9 years of education on average. In the structure of the professions in Portugal, this is reflected in the fact that the primary sector occupies less than 4% of the population today; non-skilled labor still occupies 30%, just like 40 years ago, while intellectual and scientific professions represent less than 10% of the population.
In 2006, 36% of Portuguese more than 15 years old used the Internet, with the youngest group (15-24 years old) leading by far, with 83%. Portugal also presents regional asymmetries in digital penetration and access to broadband Internet, with the Alentejo, a heavily elderly region having the lowest Internet use rates, 35 e 16% respectively, while Lisboa leads with 53 and 24% (OBERCOM, 2007).
Portugal has passed from being a country of emigrants to becoming a country of immigrants, from its old colonies in Africa and Brazil in the last few decades, and more recently of immigrants from the countries of Eastern Europe. In the Lisboa area, 8% of children that attend school were not born in Portugal, which raises the question of how to combine the initiatives of digital inclusion and cultural integration. Access and use of the digital media also vary between children that have these media at home and in their room, and those who only get to use them at school and in public access where their use is limited and conditioned by circumstances. Among the families, television continues to be the dominant medium but it loses some importance among the young. The differences between the digital practices of children and youth, and those of their parents, underlined the differences between their levels of inclusion and digital integration.
These contexts should be taken into account not only in the definition of official policies about digital inclusion, but also by the media industries. It is in this sense of understanding these issues that the research which has been conducted in Texas among less favored social groups (immigrants, poor youth, ethnic and linguistic minorities, rural, and elderly) and which is beginning to be done in Portugal is important. The work between the researchers in Portuguese universities and the University of Texas in Austin and the formation and education of young social scientists in digital cultures presents a valuable stimulus to the production of knowledge about practices for digital inclusion and integration. It will also create recommendations for production and content, digital programs and policies.
This project thus intends to contribute to knowledge of the critical factors that facilitate or make more difficult the access and use of digital media by social groups that are considered socially disadvantaged. With this research it will be possible to bring together indicators that will contribute to helping digital content industries reach and include segments of the market that are not yet reached by their productions; that may help design public policies for digital inclusion that will be more effective and sustainable; that may strengthen local networks and agencies, including the production of contents by the groups that have been digitally excluded until now.