Opting for social technology can represent significant benefits for institutions by reducing their negative environmental and ecological impact. Additionally, it can be advantageous for society as it aligns technological production with social dimensions.
Likewise, social technology in education serves as a prime example of promoting citizenship and inclusion for all. It supports the value of popular knowledge, making it accessible for sustainability in various projects.
Furthermore, it enhances the integration of technological development in society, co-creating social transformation with the population. The idea here is to use technological tools to empower communities with solutions for local problems.
Consequently, social technology inspires creativity and generates new applications for local resources, adapting available assets according to their unique needs.
4 Dimensions of Social Technology
Social technology is composed of four dimensions:
Knowledge, Science, and Technology
This dimension forms the basis for addressing societal issues. Social technology involves the organization and systematization of knowledge, leading to innovation within communities.
Citizenship and Democracy
Social technology emphasizes citizenship and democratic participation. It adopts participatory methodologies in work processes, driving their dissemination and reapplication.
Education
Social technology completes a pedagogical process, evolving through the dialogue between popular and scientific knowledge. Consequently, communities’ appropriate social technology, gaining autonomy.
Social Relevance
Social technology is effective in solving social issues, with a focus on environmental sustainability and triggering social transformation.
3 Examples of Social Technology to Explore
Social technology finds common use in education and healthcare, offering exemplary solutions for inclusion. These are educational apps and resources designed to address various societal issues.
They facilitate educational incentives and support, making learning accessible to diverse audiences while promoting social impact through agents of change. It encourages communities or specific groups to expand projects and collaborate for mutual benefit.
Chatterbox
Chatterbox emerged with the mission of repurposing refugees’ potential by facilitating their access to meaningful employment opportunities. This is achieved through the coordination of language lessons, delivered by native speakers.
Chatterbox was established in 2016 by Mursal Hedayat, a refugee who fled Afghanistan in 1994, when she was just three years old. Upon her arrival in the United Kingdom, she was accompanied by her mother, a highly skilled civil engineer fluent in four languages, but faced significant challenges in securing employment.
The platform offers a means to connect with language instructors and arrange lessons, whether online or in person, leveraging technology to streamline the process, which includes features such as online booking and virtual classrooms.
Aflateen
Aflateen is a program aimed at teenagers aged 15 to 18. It plays a significant transformative role through social technology, addressing the challenges faced by today’s youth.
It focuses on financial education by introducing participants with critical understanding of money and markets. Finances affect the rights and responsibilities of individuals as consumers.
Therefore, it’s vital for these young individuals to learn to manage their financial resources, preparing them for their future roles as workers or entrepreneurs. Aflateen offers tools for learning how to save, budgeting models, and involvement in entrepreneurial activities.
In this way, it prepares today’s teenagers to enter the complex and ever-changing job market as well-prepared adults.
Be My Eyes
The Be My Eyes app aims to assist blind or visually impaired individuals. It is a social technology created to help users with these limitations seek assistance through the app.
Be My Eyes sends notifications to various volunteers when a member of the global blind or visually impaired community requests help. The app connects these users with volunteers who can see, effectively bridging the gap caused by visual impairment.
Volunteer selection is based on their language skills and time zone. This technology harnesses the power of human connection to provide vision to those with visual impairments.
It operates through video calls, with volunteers offering their eyes to help with tasks ranging from colour matching to checking if the lights are on, covering both simple and complex activities such as preparing dinner.
If you wish to develop a solution using social technology, Madiff can be your partner in this inspiring journey. We can offer human and technological resources to your digital projects. Talk to us today!