The Digital Companion. Accessibility, communication and information hub for migrants, local population and public administrations
Jiménez Andrés, María (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Transmedia Catalonia Research Group)

Date:	2019
Abstract:	Over 138,000 refugees had arrived in Europe by the end of 2018 (UNHCR, 2019). Communication is often an obstacle both when gathering background information (i. e. legal status) and in the process of integration in their host countries. This article proposes an Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) tool as a complementary solution to speed administrative steps. This ICT tool, so called the Digital Companion (DC), will support on the one hand local authorities to ease migrant bureaucratic hurdles in their region, and on the other, migrants to build a new life integrating in the local communities. The DC will enable personalized two-way multimodal communication using chatbots. The arriving communities don't share a common language and literacy levels among individuals of these communities vary. To overcome this shortcoming, images and other signs will also be used. This "visual language" will facilitate communication at a certain level and ensure basic understanding for those who don't speak the languages supported by the tool or spoken in the community. The DC will provide migrants with comprehensible information on the available welfare services in their area (i. e. social security schemes, employment and health services and social housing) and will allow them to interact with the local contexts in general. In addition, the information gathered using the Digital Companion will be used to collect fact-based information on migration which will be fed to both public administrations and local population, following at all times DRGP. The former will be for service provision purposes, and the latter to enhance the perception of refugees among the local communities. Bridging the communication gap between the parties will be key in achieving these goals.
Grants:	Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR113 European Commission 822215
Note:	The Digital Companion is part of REBUILD, an EC funded project from various European and international organizations that aims at improving management procedures of the local authorities and the life quality of the migrants.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Contribució a congrés
Subject:	REBUILD
Published in:	Digital Diasporas Conference. Londres, : 2019

10 p, 6.5 MB

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