Workshop: Digital Literacies and Digital Inclusion in Contemporary Brazil

This talk will focus on how digital media technologies have been used by citizens and civil society groups in Rio de Janeiro to produce and circulate critical content relating to the topic of public security, particularly as this issue affects the lives of residents of the city’s favelas. It will approach both digital culture (including digital inclusion) and public security in historical perspective, looking back to early digital engagements with public security by favela residents in the late 2000s, via the publication of local content on blogs and Twitter, before exploring the current context, in which civil society data activists employ methodologies and sources associated with digital culture (including content produced by favela residents and favela-based groups and mobile phone applications) when compiling, collating, and disseminating data on urban violence and public security. By focusing on a specific thematic area of Brazilian life, and  approaching digital culture through an awareness of its intersections with the wider media and political context in Brazil, the talk aims to highlight the centrality of digital culture in the contemporary context, the opportunities and challenges this brings for circulating content about public security, as well as the different literacies which come into play as this situation evolves. It will also showcase an interdisciplinary approach to studying this nexus, drawing on Brazilian cultural studies, internet studies, and research in literacy and writing studies.