(Feb. 9, 2018) - David Nemer, Assistant Professor of Information Communication Technology in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky will speak at Harvard's Kennedy Business School and Georgia Institute of Technology in February 2018 about the uses and implications of technology in favelas. 

Nemer's research and teaching interests cover the intersection of science and technology studies (STS), postcolonial STS, ICT for Development (ICT4D), community informatics, and human-computer interaction (HCI). In 2013, he authored Favela Digital: The Other Side of Technology, a book that captures everday life in the favelas, or Brazilian slums, and how residents use digital technologies. His aim is to increase awareness of alternative uses of technologies, in areas of social abandonment. 

Nemer will discuss challenges experienced by favela residents as new policies impact their community technology centers (CTCs) in a talk titled, Policies on the Margins: The Case of Technology in Favelas (Brazil), which is presented by Harvard University's Kennedy Business School on Monday, Feb. 12 at 12:30 p.m. in the Wexner Building (434A). Community technology centers are facilities that provide computer and internet access to people lacking the resources to have them in their home. CTCs have become not only favelas' main gateway to the online world, but also places where locals socialize and find safety from the constant conflicts involving the drug cartel. However, given the prevalence of mobile pones and cheaper PC's, some policymakers, practioners, and schoalrs argue the possible irrelevance of CTCs in low-income communities. More information about Professor Nemer's talk at the Kennedy Business School can be found here: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/digitalhks/event/policies-margins-case-technology-favelas-brazil. 

In a separate lecture, Rethinking Digital Inequalities: The Mundane Uses of Technology in Favelas, organized by Georgia Institute of Technology at 12pm on Thursday, Feb. 22 in the Technology Square Research Building, Nemer will speak about information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their emergence as symbols of modernity in both the developed and developing world. This talk emphasizes the socio-cultural aspects of ICT practices among marginalized people and attempts to understand such aspects from their perspective. Encompassing such practices contributes to a broader comprehension of the engagements and ingenious strategies that help shape the daily use of technology by marginalized people. 

For more information about Professor Nemer's research interests and teaching, please visit his faculty profile in the School directory.