Medellín Digital

The Medellín Digital Program was part of this city model. In 2007, the Program was created (^{Concejo de Medellín, 2008}) with emphasis on three fields: education, entrepreneurship, and government, and with two basic strategies: connectivity and appropriation. This program was continued through the strategies Medellín Ciudad Inteligente [Medellín, a Smart City] (2012-2015) and Medellín Digital para vos [Digital Medellín for you] (2016-2019). The main beneficiaries of the Medellín Digital program were teachers and students, entrepreneurs and business people, and the general community (including the population not included in the previous groups, such as housewives, retirees, etc.). The first and second phases of a research we conducted on the impact of the education programs of the Medellín Digital Program showed that the population the least impacted by the strategies was the general community (^{Álvarez Cadavid et al., 2011}; ^{Giraldo-Ramírez & Patiño-Lemos, 2009}). This was more than paradoxical, since at the time, the public connectivity and digital literacy strategies were more oriented to the population in conditions of socioeconomic vulnerability.

This raised several questions regarding digital inclusion strategies that did not necessarily mean social inclusion (^{Buré, 2006}). What happened, then, with the other dimensions of the digital divide: cognitive, affective, and cultural? This is where education has a preponderant role to play in bridging the digital divide (^{Echeverría, 2008}; ^{Mossberger et al., 2007}), not only in terms of connectivity and access, but also in terms of the development of relevant skills for citizenship (^{Nah & Yamamoto, 2018}). Among the three dimensions proposed by the World Bank for poverty reduction and economic growth is building the capacity to access global knowledge and to adapt it to local use (^{World Bank, 2002}, p. 4). To this end, ICT play an important role as a force for change in education.

The digital divide as seen from the capabilities approach

More and more academic works are found on the potential of Amartya Sen’s human capabilities approach applied to ICT discussions (^{Bezuidenhout et al., 2017}; ^{Coeckelbergh, 2011}; ^{Coelho et al., 2015}; ^{Gigler, 2015}; ^{Kleine, 2010}; ^{Oosterlaken & Hoven, 2011}; ^{Thomas & Parayil, 2008}; ^{Tsatsou, 2011}; ^{Zheng, 2009}). The case of Ciudadanía con Sentido presents the human capabilities approach as an alternative to address the problems of the digital divide through education for the appropriation of ICT in vulnerable communities. This requires a broader view of the digital divide and digital inclusion, a multidimensional view, not focused exclusively on infrastructure, applications, and services, but also on the cognitive, affective, and cultural aspects that cross the practices of use or non-use of ICT.

Amartya Sen’s (1993, 1998) capabilities approach considers that development does not mean that all human beings achieve the same levels of (mental) satisfaction, that they have the same level of primary goods or the same basic needs satisfied; but that all individuals have the same possibility of expanding their capabilities to achieve the most valuable type of life for each one. The plurality of capabilities, needs, freedoms, opportunities or functioning denotes the urgency of adjusting to human diversity (^{Sen, 1995}). Hence, the human capabilities approach places the issue of social freedoms and opportunities at the center.

The relation between individual freedom and the achievement of social development goes well beyond the constitutive connection, important as it is. What people can positively achieve is influenced by economic opportunities, political liberties, social powers, and the enabling conditions of good health, basic education, and the encouragement and cultivation of initiatives. The institutional arrangements for these opportunities are also influenced by the exercise of people’s freedoms, through the liberty to participate in social choice and in the making of public decisions that impel the progress of these opportunities. (^{Sen, 2000}, p. 21, own translation).

Now, how do I judge what is valuable to me, what provides me with well-being and quality of life? Amartya Sen refers to functionings, which some authors translate as realizations or, more generically, skills. Functionings refer to the “doings and beings” of the person. Accordingly, the person’s quality of life will depend on his or her capacity to achieve valuable functionings in particular contexts. There are, then, elementary functionings related to food, health, housing, etc.; and there are complex functionings such as achieving self-dignity and social integration. “Capability is thus a kind of freedom: the substantive freedom to achieve alternative functioning combinations (or, in less formally put, the freedom to achieve various lifestyles)” (^{Sen, 2000}, p. 100, own translation).

From this perspective, we ask ourselves how to value the processes of digital inclusion in contexts where living conditions need to focus on elementary functionings? How to move from elementary to complex functionings? This tension is clearly described by Natalia ^{Volkow (2003}, p. 1, own translation), in the key of an integrative reading of the so-called digital divide:

It is precisely this last concept that deserves special attention, due to the efforts that different governments are undertaking to reduce the so-called “digital divide”. These efforts involve the expenditure of resources, which are always scarce and therefore carry a very high opportunity cost, as they compete with the attention to many other social and economic needs of the population. The aim is not to argue that governments should not invest in ICT until they have resolved the basic needs of the population, but to analyze what elements are required for these investments in developing countries to produce significant benefits in the quality of life of the population and not just serve to modify an indicator.

In this sense, digital inclusion policies that have focused on what is known as the first-level digital divide (^{Deursen & Dijk, 2019}; ^{Deursen & Helsper, 2015}), that is, guaranteeing public connectivity and access in communities in vulnerable conditions, could be considered policies of unequal inclusion, as they neglect elements of various kinds that constitute natural or artificial barriers to well-being (^{Gigler, 2015}; ^{Sen, 1993}), most of them associated with social development, which hinder effective access to technology.

For example, topography in a city like Medellín is a determining factor, a natural barrier with which the inhabitants of the poorest sectors in particular have to deal. Territorial segregation and Medellín’s occupational model deepen the economic and political inequality that already exists between social classes.

The dynamics of urbanization [of Medellín], as it grows in intensity, begins to create a profound physical, social, and economic segregation in the city. Towards the north and the upper parts of the eastern and western slopes, the informal city is located, where the poor of the unconsolidated city find shelter. (^{Echeverri & Orsini, 2011}, p. 15, own translation).

Despite the efforts of the local government to expand digital coverage, most public connectivity strategies have not had the expected impact in the most peripheral neighborhoods of the city, either because of the cost of travel (you have to take the bus to go to Parque Biblioteca, one of the strategies to expand public connectivity in the city) or because travel is impossible because of the so-called “fronteras invisibles” [invisible borders] (^{López-López et al., 2014}; ^{Ruiz & Vélez, 2004}). These borders are lines demarcated by violent actors in the also called “comunas populares” [popular communes], mostly integrated by peripheral neighborhoods located in the mountains surrounding the city valley, with higher poverty rates (^{Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica, 2017}), where the struggle for territorial control and the illegal trafficking business restrict the free passage of its inhabitants.

In the first case, that of mountainous topography, added to territorial segregation, there is an unequal inclusion. Although there is a general solution of connectivity and access for an entire commune, this does not address the reality of the inhabitants of peripheral neighborhoods. Many of them live in informal settlements and in conditions of forced displacement, therefore, they may not have the economic resources to move to the free internet rooms; this, of course, when there is access to transportation service. In the second case, that of invisible borders, the problem is exclusion, clearly. The inhabitants of the communities are deprived of fundamental freedoms: free movement in the territory and, in many cases, life itself. To solve both problems, profound social measures are needed, focused on guaranteeing security, job opportunities, basic public services, etc.

This is also associated with other factors that deepen the gap: these same people are generally affected by poverty and illiteracy. Hence, the need for a comprehensive and multidimensional vision of the digital divide and digital inclusion processes that recognizes, in addition to exclusion due to the deprivation of fundamental freedoms, inclusion under unfavorable or unequal conditions. This perspective requires placing human capacity at the center and invites us to rethink the prevailing models of development: without social development there can be no sustained economic development. The indicator can help in a management report, but it does not save from meaninglessness.

Ciudadanía con Sentido: Education proposal for the appropriation of ICT

Based on this frame of reference, we worked on a education proposal for the appropriation of ICT from the human capabilities approach (^{Sen, 1993}, ¹⁹⁹⁸) that would make it possible to go beyond the literacy processes focused on productive and labor competencies derived from public policy, to focus on the interests, expectations, and particular needs of individuals; that is, on the type of life that they value and have reason to value. Thus, we identified the participatory budget strategy as the ideal one to work from this approach, since it constitutes a mechanism of citizen participation, of direct and voluntary intervention to influence the use of economic resources designated to local governments with the idea of promoting equity and democracy.

In our view, the participatory budget model contemplates, in its essence, at least three key elements of the human capabilities approach: 1) as a tool for democratic deliberation, it considers the agent nature of human beings; 2) as citizens contribute to local development decision-making, it considers their ability to live the kind of life they value for themselves; and 3) as a process open to any citizen who wants to participate, it considers the role of the state in expanding opportunities to expand, in turn, the human capabilities for participation. Hence, participatory budget proposals that made a specific requirement in citizen education and ICT literacy were chosen as important elements for the development of their communities. (^{Giraldo-Ramírez et al., 2017}, p. 7012, own translation).

The participatory budget strategy in Medellín generates modalities of participatory and emergent citizenship, based on the social capital existing in the communities. Beyond the controversies raised in recent years about the concept of social capital, many authors (^{Durston, 2000}; ^{Lechner, 2000}; ^{Lévy, 2007}) recognize its importance in promoting an effectively participatory and deliberative citizenship, which contributes to social inclusion and favors democratic participation processes (^{Arboleda Álvarez et al., 2008}).

In accordance with the above, the initiatives that included a specific requirement in citizen education and ICT literacy were chosen as important elements for the development of their communities. Thus, the starting point is the recognition of the individuals and their contexts of action to develop experiences that allow participants to appropriate technological tools according to their specific capabilities, needs, and interests, to enhance the construction of citizenship initiatives. But what kind of citizenship are we talking about?

Based on Norbert ^{Lechner (2000)}, we distinguish three ways of understanding citizenship: an instrumental citizenship, detached from politics and focused on efficient management for problem-solving, that is, a citizenship that disbelieves in politics but trusts in administration; an institutional citizenship, characterized by the centrality of the traditional political system as the only regulator and conductor of social life; and finally, the concept of citizenship as a social bond, where social capital becomes relevant as a driver of collective action by the citizens themselves.

It is in the third category that we frame the concept of emerging citizenships and where we find, like ^{Durston (2000)}, a key to the construction of democracy. From this point of view, the social bond is seen as a potential resource for increasing social capital; thus, social capital can effectively be learned in formal associations with a clearly established social bond: “That is, social capital would be a capacity that, once learned, can be activated in various areas” (^{Lechner, 2000}, p. 19, own translation).

The above allows us to think of the notion of social capital from the perspective of the capabilities approach, as a complex functioning that allows the individual to integrate socially, to create social bonds. As stated by Norbert ^{Lechner (2000)}, the lack of social networks is also an indicator of poverty, so that building social capital is a great challenge in places subjected to adverse circumstances such as those described above. Hence, the participatory budget strategy is an opportunity to create bonds and generate opportunities for collective action.

Therefore, in the words of ^{Lechner (2000}, p. 30, own translation) “social capital - as a specific constellation of the social bond in order to promote collective action” cannot be seen as a stock, something that has existed formally for centuries, almost immutable, but as a flow subject to change: “The transformation of social capital would be driven by the dynamics of individualization and the definition of collective identities that can be observed everywhere” (2000, p. 31, own translation).

Research strategy

The research workshop was consolidated as a permanent meeting space for researchers who are part of the studies associated with the different projects that have strengthened the proposal (see Figure 1). It is also characterized by the interdisciplinary dialogue to reflect and problematize the relationship between the use of technology by the different actors (individuals and groups) in social practices that are significant for them. During the years in which the proposal is worked, the meetings allow the researchers to address the topics of each project linked to the processes of appropriation of ICT, to build and consolidate a theoretical reflection on which the proposal of Ciudadanía con Sentido is based.

Education strategy

Based on the human capabilities approach, a education strategy was developed to address the diversity of actors (individuals and groups), with common interests oriented to the construction of city and citizenship. Thus, communities of practice emerged as spaces for learning and co-creation. The education strategy combines both physical and digital spaces and identifies the needs and knowledge of the actors so that there is a minimum of limitations in the education processes. The proposal is characterized by: a) generating recursive relationships between actors; b) addressing asymmetries in terms of human competencies and capabilities, c) moving from vertical and hierarchical relationships to relationships between peers with differentiated strengths, and d) permanently exchanging roles from experts to novices and from novices to experts.

Technological strategy

The development of the digital platform Ciudadanía con Sentido was a consequence of the creation of collaborative networks, originated in the communities of practice, for the construction of citizen initiatives. For this purpose, agile methodologies were favored, which allow to continuously and gradually build a functional product that is constantly fed back with the intervention of the participants, in this case in the communities of practice and in the research workshop. The purpose of the technological strategy was: a) to prioritize the interaction of people over documentation and processes; b) to consolidate the retrospective and feedback that allows team members, through reflection, to adapt to change, evaluate errors, and preserve successful practices; c) to promote values such as effective communication, teamwork, trust generation, which are fundamental to build citizen initiatives.

Education dimensions for the appropriation of ICT

Taking into account the dynamics of the communities of practice, individual and collective participation processes were carried out, in which common interests were shared and discussed, in order to build horizontal relationships among the participants. Therefore, the experiences and practices of the actors are the input to generate shared knowledge through interactions and pedagogical and technological mediations that address their concerns, needs, roles, and initiatives.

The above is the basis for the education dimensions of the cross-cutting strategies of ICT appropriation that addresses two principles: the first, to recognize the particularities of the different individuals and groups with which we relate, identifying their own knowledge and subjectivities, to develop a education strategy that allows participants to appropriate the technological tools according to their specific capabilities and needs. Second, there are not, strictly speaking, right or wrong uses of technology; there are socially situated uses, which arise from the needs, interests, and expectations of individuals and groups; therefore, they are socially negotiated uses (^{Giraldo-Ramírez, 2015}). This implies that the education proposal has some minimum requirements, both from a technological and pedagogical and didactic point of view.

The following is a description of each of the dimensions that consolidate the dynamics of the education process for the construction and dissemination of citizen initiatives in the physical-digital territory. These are oriented towards the construction of a culture of peace and the recognition of collaboration, union, and solidarity networks that strengthen such initiatives (Figure 3).

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 3 Structure of Ciudadanía con Sentido 

Pedagogical dimension

This dimension is based on a series of activities whose purpose is for the actors who are part of the communities of practice to reflexively initiate the process for the construction and subsequent dissemination of citizen initiatives. The purpose of the activities is the construction of several products that account for a trajectory that starts from intrasubjectivity (one’s own world) to intersubjectivity (shared world and universe of relationships).

To this end, the first activity involves the construction of an individual story through the dynamic “Words and things” in which participants, through their affinity for one of these linguistic or symbolic forms, tell the story of their condition as a person linked to social, educational, and community work. The following activities are linked through the dynamic “The ball of yarn”. Starting from the first story, a series of activities are connected with analysis matrices accompanied by a socialization that allows the construction of emerging collective stories and networks of relationships with the other participants. These links will support the citizen initiative, which will then be shared in the community social network Ciudadanía con Sentido.

Communicative dimension

The communicative dimension establishes four milestones that are formed with each of the activities of the pedagogical dimension. The milestones are: 1) Own world, in which each of the actors share a life experience referring to their personal world in an individual story; 2) Shared world, in which the actors identify themes that allow them to group together to build a collective story that materializes in this milestone; 3) Universe of relationships, in which a common social and community problem emerges; and, finally, 4) Shared universe of relationships, in which participants analyze what type of actors and scenarios are related to the emerging problem, identifying links through the weaving of a symbolic network of relationships (personal, institutional, community, etc.), which allows them to build their citizen initiative. The communicative dimension continues the intrasubjective-intersubjective trajectories, as a strategy for the construction and dissemination of citizen initiatives in the physical-digital territory.

Technological dimension

This last dimension determines the functionalities and designs the interactions in the digital platform Ciudadanía con Sentido. In this process, as in the other two dimensions, the intrasubjective and intersubjective trajectories are made viable.

Based on the exercise of reflexivity and construction of the Mundo Propio [Own World] milestone, the user registration module is developed on the platform, whose purpose is to participate and share interests related to the culture of peace that allow the platform to recommend initiatives that are in line with these interests (Figure 4).

The profile module is developed from the Mundo Compartido [Shared World] milestone, composed of three interfaces with different purposes: 1) to disclose who each user is; 2) to create and share the group in which the user participates or leads, if applicable; and 3) to group in a one place the initiatives of interest (Figure 5).

Based on the Universe of relationships and Shared Universe of relationships milestones, three modules are developed: Fórmate [Get educated], Colabora [Collaborate] and Conéctate [Connect], which are interrelated to contribute to a better user experience. The Fórmate module connects the user with a series of online courses for education topics related to the culture of peace. The Colabora module focuses on citizen initiatives, allowing you to create, manage, search, and follow other initiatives. And the Conéctate module uses the metaphor of network and territory to develop a series of filters that allow users to identify initiatives in different parts of the world (Figure 6).

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 4 Graphical interfaces of the register 

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 5 Graphical interfaces of the profile creation 

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 6 Graphical interfaces of Fórmate and Conéctate 

The work dynamics proposed in the proposal for education in the appropriation of ICT for Ciudadanía con Sentido has a systemic character, and is oriented to the amplification, in the digital territory, of the collective intelligence of the community social network from the communities in the physical territory (Figure 7).

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 7 Proposal for education in the appropriation of ICT 

Communities of practice

The following are the results of the communities of practice based on some of the testimonies collected during the pilots. Among them we find the voice of the various actors, most of them women, who also represent groups.

These testimonies highlight the relationship between experts and novices, which addresses their asymmetries in terms of knowledge and overcomes verticality in relationships with the permanent exchange of roles (testimonies 1, 2, 4 and 6). In these, the expertise and knowledge of the other is valued regardless of age, occupation, or role in society.

The exchange of ideas and experiences allows the recognition of actors, both individually and collectively, which leads to the formation of networks that strengthen alliances and build social fabric (testimonies 10, 3, 5, 8 and 1). Participants find in others, allies that feed, support, and mobilize their initiatives through, among others, technological mediation, which is one of the ways to maintain and expand networks, connection, and interaction with others.

Among the purposes of the project is the development of capacities and competencies in the use and appropriation of technology, but not exclusively from the technical point of view, which is learned during the process, but as a possibility to build a network of relationships that mainly contributes to the construction of a conscious and active citizenship (testimonies 7, 1, 2, and 9). In this way, the initiatives that are produced seek the transformation of social and community contexts and dynamics.