Digital Future Society launches a digital works contest to raise awareness about digital divides

• The national and international contest accepts photographs, posters and infographics, accompanied by a title and a short explanation of the history that the piece represents.
• Digital Future Society will promote a virtual exhibition with the different winning pieces of the contest to challenge citizens at a global level

14 Arpil, 2021

Digital Future Society launches the initiative Digital gap and inequalities: stories for change, a photography and digital works contest to make visible and give voice to the different problems generated by digital divides. The contest, which ends on May 21, is an international call and aims to encourage the participation of people interested in artistic photography and in raising awareness about digital inequality.

Digitization is not being uniform throughout the world and the imbalance that this generates is called the digital divide. The division is between connected and disconnected people, since information, communication and relationships have become the central element to favor, promote and guarantee social and economic development. The health crisis caused by COVID-19 has aggravated these imbalances and has revealed other gaps that more notably affect children, women, the elderly and populations far from the main urban centers.

Digital Future Society, an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of the government of Spain and Mobile World Capital Barcelona, ​​raises the existence of digital gaps, using the concept in plural, to recognize the complexities of digital inequality in all their expressions. This scenario requires the search for alternatives that make the population aware of this problem and prevent its effects from dominating the post-pandemic world.

With that intention, the call to participate in the photographic contest implies making visible, through the digital and artistic level, the presence of digital gaps. The potential of the image, in its multiple formats, is a powerful tool to reflect social reality, raise awareness and inspire actions of change for the common good.

A jury, made up of members from different national and international organizations and coordinated by Digital Future Society, will be in charge of evaluating digital artistic works based on criteria of originality, aesthetics, social sensitivity, critical and communicative capacity, adaptation to the subject and selected category.

As for the winners, a winning work will be selected for each of the four thematic categories and up to a maximum of two works with a special mention per category. Digital Future Society will promote a virtual exhibition, which can also be seen from the MWCapital stand within the framework of MWC Barcelona 2021, with the different digital pieces selected in the contest to challenge and raise awareness among citizens globally.

Requirements for participation

Anyone who is over 18 years of age and who submits a digital piece such as photography, poster and infographic can participate in the contest, free of charge. The works presented must make visible, from the artistic point of view, the problem of the impact of digital gaps in society at a global level.

Each participant may submit a single original and unpublished digital piece that fits into one of the categories detailed below. Each work must be accompanied by a title and a text that explains the story behind or motivates the work.

The contest includes four categories with the aim of reflecting the multiplicity of realities that accompany digital divides. The Generational category aims to make visible the existing distance between ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’ in the use of new technologies. The Gender category reflects how digital divides deepen existing gender inequalities. Territorial category will group those pieces that highlight the differences in internet access between urban and rural areas, between center and periphery or between different countries. Finally, the Economic inequalities category will show how difficulties in accessing computer equipment and / or internet connection represent a barrier to access to ICTs and development under equal conditions.

For more details, consult the contest rules: https://digitalfuturesociety.com/es/brecha-digital-y-desigualdades-concurso-fotografia/