Digital Games for Empowerment & Inclusion

I have been inited to the expert workshop on Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion” taking place in Seville, 23-24 January 2012. This workshop is part of the “Digital Games for Empowerment & Inclusion” (DGEI) programme, which is initiated and run by the European Commission’s Information Society Unit of the JRC-IPTS and DG INFSO ICT for Inclusion Unit. The programme started with the analysis of the State of Play of Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion, which aim is to:

“(…) to define key (technological, research, policy, industry/market, social, economic) opportunities and challenges of putting Digital Games at the service of empowerment and social inclusion purposes, and to gather evidence of impact in this domain.”

The aim of the forthcoming DGEI Expert Workshop in Seville is to:

“(…) discuss lessons learned, key drivers, opportunities and limitations of different approaches, practice and policy initiatives already in place, as well as to define the main issues to be addressed taking stock of existing knowledge and results from the field.”

I am really honored to be part of the DGEI programme and to be able to present some good/best practice “Made in Germany” and worldwide.

My goal is to collect good practice examples on how digital games can support empowerment and inclusion of groups at risk of social inclusion in three major areas, i.e.:

Adult literacy with focus on improving mastery of reading and writing
Participation with focus on social participaton of young people
Employability with focus on changing unemployment/precarious work situation

I will be very greatful to all of you for hints of good practice related to digital games in these three domains. What I am looking for are especially evaluation outcomes or any other evidence that digital game projects can support social inclusion.

Thank you for your comments on that!