Foundations for a Science of Social Inclusion Systems

The lack of precise models to support the design and analysis of social inclusion systems, and the growing informatization of the society which connects digital to social inclusion in multiple ways, lead to the need of exploring in full the potential of information technology to support social inclusion. However, this potential can only be achieved if we can rely on precise models that can be used to inform the design and support the analysis of social inclusion systems. Taking into consideration world views that address issues that are relevant for social inclusion systems we are working on the definition of an ontology and models that can be used to make precise the design of social inclusion systems and support their analyses. The aim of this paper is to discuss some foundations for the development of a science of social inclusion systems and present an ontology and models that are based on the definition of social situations, social interactions, social processes and social affordances. The approach is being used to drive the observations and analyses that will be carried out in a project of digital and social inclusion that we are currently developing, which involves rural communities learning an internet language and using it to model their social context and address the problem of social inclusion.