Enhancing Human Development Standards in Favelas of Rio de Janeiro Through the Convergence of Media, Entertainment, Education, and Technology.

Research question: “Can the convergence of media, education, entertainment, and the current available technology, be effectively used to improve the overall human development of low income communities in

Rio de Janeiro?”

Hypothesis 1(H1): the convergence of media, entertainment, and technology can improve the reach and attractiveness of educational content in low income communities.

Hypothesis 2 (H2): the better deliver of engaging educational content in low income communities is an effective way to enhance the overall human development of those communities.

A recent released survey “TIC Domicilios 2008” showed an updated picture of the information and communication technologies’ reality in Brazil. A special controversy was raised by telecenters’ performance. In 2007, telecenters were responsible for 6% of the whole internet access in Brazil, representing a 100% growth compared with the previous year. However, in 2008 this number plummeted to the half. The 6.000 telecenters exitent in the country were responsible for only 3% of the total internet access.

In the opposite way, Lan Houses, which have been seen as a necessary evil by authorities, showed their increasing power among Brazilian citizens. They are by far the principal point of access in both, urban and rural areas. In 2008, Lan Houses were responsible for 48% of the overall internet access in Brazil – 47% in urban and 58% in rural areas.

This is a specific case where the “free is better than cheaper” maxim is contradicted. Although the access in Lan Houses is paid, this kind of establishment became the cheapest and most accessible way for low income users to be connected. The representativeness of Lan House grows in the opposite direction of income, representing over than 82% of the access for those who earn only a minimum wage.

Is it possible to develop a new model which combines the strengths of telecenters and lan houses without the weaknesses of both? Could this “tele-houses” embrace a pontos de cultura-like philosophy where children from Favelas in Rio de Janeiro would have a complimentary learning focused on media, entertainment, and computer literacy?

This project aims to analyze the effectiveness of a media, entertainment, and technology-based solution to deliver educational content and connectivity to Favelas in Rio de Janeiro and to try ambitiously forecast some of its impact on the overall human development in those communities.