The Journal of Community Informatics, Vol 11, No 1 (2015)

Book Review: Favela Digital: The other side of technology

Nemer, D. (2013). Favela Digital: The other side of technology.
Vitoria, Brazil: Editora GSA. ISBN: 978-85-8173-059-2

Reviewed by Ammar Halabi*

*
PhD candidate, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland. E-mail: ammar.halabi@unifr.ch

"Favela Digital" is a visual account of David Nemer's observations of how technology

is imported, used and re-purposed in the everyday lives of people living in the
Brazilian favelas of Vitria. The author is a Brazilian researcher who is currently
pursuing his PhD in Informatics at Indiana University, Bloomington. The material in
the book came from his six-month ethnographic study in the favela where he
collaborated with a team of young local photographers to record snippets of the
everyday experiences of people as they encounter digital technology. The author
aspires to highlight the otherwise unobserved ways in which the people in these
economically and socially marginalized communities appropriate technology in various
aspects in their lives. As well it illustrates the potential of those tools to empower
even as there is the need to resist and respond to the pressure that the technology
carries based on its originally having been designed and produced without having
them in mind.

The book is a collection of photos followed by testimonials given by people living in

the favelas, the author's own observations, as well as quotes from academic texts.
With this format, the author aims to involve both academics and the general public in
reflecting on the politics of technology making and how it unfolds in the lives of
marginalized communities.

By giving us a grounded first-hand account, David Nemer's book is engaging and

compelling. With its relaxed flow and non-structured format, while abstaining from
adopting analytical categories to group the presented material, it enables the reader
to reshuffle and juxtapose ideas and concepts while prioritizing the perspective of
favela residents. With such a "view from the inside" of some of the life values of
people in the favelas and how they make their choices with technology, the book
emphasizes our need as researchers to remain grounded and connected to people
while participating in shaping future interactions with technology.

David Nemer succeeds in illuminating aspects of the complex relations between

technology and everyday life. On the one hand, he shows how technology empowers
as people use it to connect with each other, to play, to work, to express themselves
and to obtain governmental services. On the other hand, he also shows how it
deepens social and economic divides, pushing those marginalized even further beyond
the margin.

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This can be seen in the context of the disinterest of tech providers and decision
makers, and the distance between technology makers and the favelas, which renders
it is difficult for those living in the favelas to get decent Internet connection or access
high-quality training. This juxtaposition of ideas does not restrict us to viewing
technology only as either a demon or a savior, but also as a product and a shaper of
various agencies: makers, governments, users, sellers, the rich, the poor, the elderly,
children, and those who are trying to better their life conditions. These agencies
might be in harmony, while at other times they come into conflict, so with the effects
of technology, which reflects and mediates those human agencies.

To be sure, this does not bring new arguments to disciplines concerned with the social
studies of technology. However, it adds flesh to the bones of these arguments, and
brings a concrete perspective from the rich lives of favela dwellers. With this, the
book does not seek to analyze one aspect (western makers) while mystifying the
other (native locals). Instead, it grounds the view towards technology, showing how it
is not to be looked at as external or as a modern outsider in the favelas, but as
collections of gadgets, toys, tools, connection channels, and frustrations that are
locally appropriated and used for fun, play, safety, paperwork, and communication. In
other words, it tells us in the words of people living in the favelas: "these are the
tools and devices that we have; this is how we get them; this is how and why we use
them; and this is what we wish for". The book therefore pushes us to think about the
making of future tools and policies while considering delivery, break-ability, toxicity,
play-ability, simplicity, cheapness, contextuality, connectivity, sociability, usability,
and harsh weather. It is among works that we can use to communicate and discuss
the activist message behind Social- and Community Informatics to manufacturers,
decision makers, and the wider public.

The book's format is refreshing. The presentation of photos delivers a visual

perspective on the locations of fieldwork of ICT4D, Community Informatics and Social
Informatics that is seldom showcased in conventional scientific publication practice.
Moreover, since the texts are printed in both Portuguese and English, this offers the
book to a wider audience and makes it accessible and critiqueable by those involved
in its production. In a sense, the book therefore calls on academics in ICT4D,
Community Informatics and Social Informatics to "free" their field data and find
innovative forms to make it available to the public. Finally it is an intriguing example
of how academic research in Social- and Community Informatics can be promoted to
become an issue of public critical attention. With the proliferation of the Internet and
with a significant amount of human transactions taking place over communication
media, discussing the rights to digital access and literacy becomes ever more
important.