Infrastructuring computer-supported collaboration to foster the connection between high and low-skilled people

The main goal of my research project is to investigate the social and technological conditions for infrastructuring computer-supported collaboration with the aim to enhancing the life condition of low-income people living on Madeira island. The idea underpinning the project is to foster the connection between high and low-skilled people, trying to find common interests that could lead them to collaborate with mutual advantages. The objective of the resulting ICT tool is to provide those usually considered merely as "low-skilled" with the opportunity to take advantage of their practical skills and informal knowledge. They will benefit from the process of re-Thinking their abilities, from the possibility to interact with people belonging to other social networks and from discovering the possibilities provided by technology in terms of communication and organization.