We are witness to unprecedented opportunities for information discovery thanks to hypertextual linking and Web technologies. Advantages for citizens are numerous, opening opportunities with a single click. We can not only re-find or discover information but it has become the default media for a rich social networking experience, making possible links among information objects and its producers and consumers. It is becoming our main tool to satisfy basic information needs related to health, housing, job seeking, education, research, entertainment, shopping. Equally or even more important are the possibilities of connectedness offered by social media systems and technologies in terms of peer and or emotional support. Unfortunately these technologies can also increase the inequity for those populations who don't have access to them. Factors that influence “access” include having network connectivity, equipment (computer, cell phones) and different kinds of literacy (informational, technology & digital literacy). Our paper discusses the research problem, related studies, methodology and preliminary findings of an ongoing project to better understand the use of computers, mobile phones, and social network sites for social connectedness and support among the homeless. Our goal is to present information that may be used to orient Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) agendas of researchers, government, non -profit, educators, etc.
Homelessness is best understood as a complex and perilous life
situation. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development estimated that 649,917 individuals were homeless
on one winter night. 1,593,150 individuals stayed at least one
night in an emergency shelter or other transitional housing
arrangement in 2010. Federal definitions of homelessness have
expanded beyond simply losing one’s residence to also describe
individuals and families living in survival situations such as
fleeing violence. In this regard, homelessness can be "described
as a poverty issue, housing issue, job-skills issue, and health care
issue"
For the homeless, life on the margin of society should severely limit the opportunities to access and use information communication technologies (ICTs). Le Dantec (2008) argues that the homeless are on the verge of further marginalization by being on the wrong side of technology-mediated urban social interactions. “As the mainstream becomes more engrossed in new social interactions across a variety of technologies, the effective gap between the mainstreams and the margins increases, and the visibility of those at the margins becomes obscured by the creative ways in which we reconstitute our world through these rich technologies”(p. 27).
However, a growing body of research especially in the fields of
human-computer interaction and social work suggests that the
homeless do perceive the importance of technology and utilize it
to address everyday needs
According to Hargittai (2011), technical resources and social
circumstances comprise the context for how an individual engages
with ICTs. Access to more advanced technologies enable a wider
range of uses than outdated equipment and slow connections. In
addition, tablets and mobile phones encourage a passive
consumption-driven Internet experience in comparison with
laptop or desktop computers
Besides context, we need to also consider the factors related to the
individual. This includes the social position of the user as well as
the skills they possess. Much of the research on the digital divide
has demonstrated the importance of demographics for bridging the
access issue of the digital divide along with the more recent skills
and usage divides. Many users lack skills that limit how they can
use the Internet to better their social condition
The Second Chilean Homeless Census (En Chile todos contamos.
Segundo catastro nacional de personas en situación de calle)
The homeless situation was found as a gradual and deep process of social detachment. In spite of their difficulties, many homeless individuals hope for opportunities to rehabilitate, contradicting the stereotype of idleness and laziness. Affective dimensions, such as social connectedness and companionship, sharing memories and experiences, and a need for feeling part of the community (listening and discussing news, music), were mentioned as more important than money. Maintaining social networks was a fundamental surviving strategy. The typology of networks the homeless constructed was characterized according to size (number of connections), density (localized, diffuse), practices, and activities (passive, active). Although the census report focused on person to person communication, some of the stories mentioned the role of ICTs to provide social network support, such as one testimony stating that “the only one friend out of the shelter, is one that I maintain using Internet”.
In the study presented in this paper, the focus is on the use of social media ICTs as mechanisms for providing homeless with networking support and empowerment.
As noted by Eyrich-Garg (2011), one of the primary purposes for
using computers by homeless individuals is to maintain and
increase social connectedness. In her study, she determined that
participants used social network sites, dating sites, chat rooms,
and email to fulfill social connections. These connections provide
important benefits for homeless individuals by bolstering physical
and mental health
Work by Rice and colleagues have begun to address the impact of
social network sites on homeless individuals specifically among
emerging adults. One of the most important findings is that social
networking technologies (Internet, mobile phones, texting) help
homeless young adults connect to their home-based peers and
positive social networks
To determine the contextual factors that examine social connectedness with various ICTs used among homeless individuals, we developed a relationship with two homeless shelters in Honolulu, HI. Based on previous research conducted on the homeless and ICTs, we constructed a survey that examines the following measures: demographics, computer use, mobile phone acquisition and use, social network site (Facebook) use, Internet skills, and online / offline social support. Table 1 summarizes our variables of interest and the measure chosen. Whenever possible, we have selected measures that have been referenced in the literature. For data collection, we followed Stennett et al. (2012) recommendation to make a verbal announcement at meal time rather than posting a notice at the shelter. This is the best way to reach the largest amount of homeless people since many shelter participants attend facilities during dinner time. In addition, Stennett et al observed that at least 60% of the homeless participants in their study sometimes or never checked the bulletin boards for new information. As a result, we recruited participants for our survey and interviewed them during the free meal times at the two Honolulu shelter locations.
We are still analyzing the data from the survey interviews; in total we conducted 150 interviews with homeless individuals; each interview took place near or inside a shelter, with an average duration of 45 minutes. We include now only those results that were very evident during the interviewing process.
Demographics: The sample was equally distributed by gender with 54% male, 46% female, and one transgender respondent. Ages ranged from 18 to 70 years old but reflect mainly an older population. Almost two out of every three respondents (68%) were over 40 years old. Race and ethnicity mirror the diversity of the islands with a variety of Native Hawaiians (32%), Whites (18%), Other Asians (Japanese, Chinese, Koreans) (11%), Filipinos (9%), Hispanics (8%), and other Pacific Islanders (7%). Most are Hawaii residents (92%) but many came to Hawaii from the mainland and a few from European countries.
Education: 43% of the respondents had a high school education. 32% had two years of college or less. 7% had a college degree with 2 respondents completing post-graduate education. Social support: Subjects were somewhat divided about their perceptions of the support that they could receive from family and friends. For example, when asked if they knew someone who could provide an emergency loan of $100, 39% disagreed with this statement but 56% agreed. For finding a ride to a doctor’s appointment, 54% disagreed with this statement yet 39% agreed that they did know someone. During the survey, some subjects did not perceive having someone to turn to; however, their reasons for these perceptions revealed that in fact they would not request assistance from others because they prefer to maintain their personal privacy of their current life situation.
Mobile devices: As expected most of the subjects had access to cell phones (70%), which were considered the main instrument for maintaining social relationships. Respondents used it every day to maintain contact with family, friends, social workers, and health care providers.
Internet: Some subjects used social service agencies to go online (13%). For example, the shelter provided computer labs where they received instruction for required and useful tasks, specifically writing resumes and job applications. Some shelter guests found access online at the public library (17%) yet many were not aware of additional services that public libraries provide such as information and technology literacy.
Social network sites: 47% of respondents used social network sites. Their active use, reading and posting, was more common in younger people; some others had a more reactive attitude by reading only postings of their close family. A little more than half of the shelter guests do not use social network sites for reasons that include not having access but also because of privacy concerns.
Connectedness needs: Our next step will be to examine the relationship between social network site use and social connectedness and social networks. We believe our results will be consistent with other research determining that homeless individuals need and make use of social networks offline & online. It is part of their daily activity and strategy for finding resources to satisfy their needs of health, education, work, housing, and emotional support.
Information in context: Our work agrees with related research suggesting the possibilities of ICTs resources to support connectedness as a way to empower homeless populations. We are conducting a deeper qualitative analysis of the data collected, which so far is pointing to a rich variety of dimensions not only in demographics but also in situations and contexts. Solutions need to move from existing beliefs and stereotype of homeless. For example, solutions should take in consideration not only acquisition of technology literacy skills but technologies and applications appropriated to people with disabilities / special needs regarding, for example, to health, vision, hearing, learning style, age.
Information stakeholder collaboration: We are also identifying
opportunities for short and long term research to facilitate
collaboration among the different stakeholders involved in the
homelessness problem, starting by the homeless themselves, their
social connection, the government and community based agencies
and service providers as well as the research community, creating
task forces, joining efforts and avoiding work duplication. As
example is the current work and efforts in different academic units
where students, faculty and researchers are working on the
homelessness problem, in topics related to health, urban
development, education, family center, social work, library
science, information science, communication departments.
Ontological modeling: A main goal will be to identify and
develop mechanisms to allow information sharing among those
stakeholders similar to what a web portal architecture could offer
providing a hybrid model that allows entering data not only by
agencies but by users (social web) as well as delivering filtered
personalized information in context based on individual profiles
(the personalized semantically linked web). Technologies being
developed by the semantic web project
(http://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/) offer possibilities
for ontological, semantically linked data modeling and mapping at
three different levels: data resources, users and uses. Each one of
these levels of the information architecture will be aligned with
homeless services, homeless needs, and homeless social network
support. In this way information can be linked to allow federated
services. This ontological model can be used, for example, to
identify solutions that have a local or regional scope. Special care
should be given to user modeling, semantic technologies and
personalized information services based on individual profiling,
personal ontologies
Specific homeless populations: Next step in our research will try to collect data from the youth population given their potential role due to frequent use of ICTs. We have postponed this work due to concerns about collecting data from a double vulnerable population, i.e. youth and homeless. This brings research issues on privacy, security and confidentiality Literacy programs: Another needed research relates to the role of information agencies such as public libraries and community centers designing information digital literacy programs which make homeless aware of benefits and precautions when using social media technologies.
Participatory photography: This is research area where there is
the need to link ontological model of photos, testimonies (social
networking element), and user profiles to maintain a knowledge
base / semantically annotated digital library. The aim is to study
homelessness directly from the praxis i.e. while living in the
street, which is a challenge, as it requires a change in both the
methodological approach and methods. Participatory photograph
This research was supported by a grant from the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. We are sincerely grateful to SSRI for providing research support for this study.