Wolontariusze i seniorzy w programie Polski Cyfrowej Równych Szans. O siłach społecznych w procesie minimalizacji wykluczenia cyfrowego w Polsce

Abstract

It is estimated that about 12 million Polish citizens are affected by the digital exclusion (Batorski, 2015, p. 355). These people are not able to use the possibilities and resources hidden from them in the virtual space. A small part of this group uses some e-solutions in the mediated way, thanks to the help of others. The activities designed to minimize the digital exclusion in Poland have been performed for about 20 years. The first attempts to narrow the digital division were carried out already in the late 1990s . In the recent years, we have witnessed the regular development of different organizational forms of education of the digitally excluded, such as: senior clubs, universities of the third age, libraries, foundations, cultural centers, e-centers, Orange Academy, commercial companies and a whole range of non-governmental organizations involved in raising the level of digital competencies. Digital division has become a real and significant challenge, due to the fact that technological development is unavoidable and its consequences are unstoppable. The example of the Cities on the Internet Association — a nongovernmental institution responsible for digital inclusion of people from the generation 50+, shows the new aspects and opportunities for civic engagement in social policy processes, building human and social capital and, first of all, in supporting active aging and old age. The activities of several hundred volunteers-educators highlight the meaning of human and social forces that positively transform lives of the disfavored persons (the digitally excluded). The program “Digital Poland of Equal Opportunities” is so far the largest Polish initiative in the area of digital education. The role of the Lighthouse Keepers is very complex, as they are primarily volunteers, whereas their activity may be further analyzed from the perspective of animators of environmental education or senior educators (geragogues). Thanks to the regular activities that — in terms of subject matter and methods — belong to the area of social pedagogy, we can observe that several years long project of the Cities on the Internet Association, builds many “bridges” between people from different environments, active and passive, ICT competent and digitally excluded. The objectives of the project were to train 54 thousand digitally excluded individuals, by means of volunteer movement. Through intense involvement of human capital, the assumed number were exceeded by several times, amounting up to 282 thousand seniors introduced to the e-services of the information society. The data dispel some myths about poor involvement of the contemporary society in voluntary activities, the lack of interest in education services among seniors, or systemic solutions of social problems through the joint potentials of government administration, the third sector and bottom-up social activity. This paper presents the research into the group of individual, organizational and environmental conditions related to the digital education, referring to the process of digital inclusion of people aged 50 and more in their local environments. The cognitive goal of the research was the analysis of the set of conditions that create and support social forces engaged in the educational project Digital Poland of Equal Opportunities. The practical objective referred to the postulates that optimize and support the voluntary work of the Digital Poland Lighthouse Keepers. Educational reaction to the phenomenon of digital exclusion, in the form of the PCRS program, became not only the exemplification of the model of civil society sensitive to social needs, but also the activity that paved new ways of social involvement. The PCRS program is also the solution that creates innovative models of environmental and animating work, as well as non-formal adult and senior education in their local environments.