@vós.TICo aumento do capital sociocultural nos senioresmediante a alfabetização e uso das TIC

Abstract

The information and communication technologies (ICT) contain properties that easily convert into solutions for people with special needs, contributing to their inclusion in everyday life. The possibility to intervene and participate in acts of communication in interpersonal settings and distance learning, or simply the possibility of using a device that simulates the vocalization of requests, greetings and caresses gain a redoubled sense in the efforts to include citizens with special needs, as it does to the senior citizens, in societies attempting to promote equal opportunities among its members. This work focus on the interaction between the older and information and communication technologies and the impact that that interaction has on their socio-cultural capital and their participation in society. The studied sample consists of 351 seniors who attend computer classes at Senior Universities in Portugal, individuals over 50 years using ICT. Nowadays there are about 120 Senior Universities in Portugal where computer courses are taught. Each class comprises about 40 students, which makes a population of about 4,800 seniors. To evaluate the study variables it was used a questionnaire. This questionnaire will provide the description of the sample regarding the social characteristics and the use of ICT by the older. It was also used the Instrumento de Análise da Rede Social Pessoal (IARSP) which allowed to analyze the social network which could be improved by ICT use. According to what was proposed by several authors throughout this work as well as trough the analysis of obtained results, we can infer that the senior individual have advantages when using the Internet as a communication intermediary. When they use the virtual space to improve the physical space, they improve the communication in distance. Realize also that the social support provided online is likely to be more accessible, visible and supplied to any hour which allows a greater enjoyment of it. Besides, the Internet allows effective participation witch transforms seniors in active citizens with the ability to incrementing their sociocultural capital. The presented analysis allowed inferring that senior citizens in the sampled group are willing to learn and use ICT in the promotion of their personal networks and citizenship. We conclude, therefore, that the use of this tool is a strong improver of senior citizen's quality of living as well as their social inclusion/participation and as a consequence, a powerful tool of sociocultural capital. The relevance of Internet use by the seniors studied and the importance of it to the active citizenship of older advise that we need to paid special attention to the systematic teaching of this tool, namely the generalization of this teaching to the institutions that support these ages, in the sense that we can be introducing a useful tool in combating isolation and loneliness that this age group is often voted.