Digital ecosystem
Digital ecosystem
The gradual adoption of information and communication technologies has designed a new way of producing goods and services, but also, of course, of consuming them. The digital ecosystem is defined as the set of infrastructures and services (platforms, access devices) associated with the provision of content and services through the Internet (Katz 2015). In this framework, three relevant dimensions emerge in order to understand the impacts on the economy and society: on the one hand, new modes of information and content production emerge, new social behaviours related to the use and consumption of goods are modified and emerge, and finally, a greater economic and social impact is generated than that of information and communication technologies considered in isolation.
The sustained growth of the internet and the development of multifunctional devices have brought about a fundamental change in industrial organisation and value chains. These now operate in a model of convergence with the end consumer, where the user is an active participant in the development of products based on the information he or she produces voluntarily or involuntarily. Consumers are transformed into "prosumers", who generate content that feeds back into value chains, either with new uses for known goods or simply feedback.
This new way of creating value has allowed individuals to benefit from cheaper products, greater variety, less asymmetry of information and greater accessibility, as well as acquiring an active (though not necessarily conscious) role in the construction of value. This reduction in prices and growth in the functionality of the goods on offer meant an exceptional benefit for consumers, but also for companies: it is now possible to design specific products for the organisation's target public and to have direct communication channels with customers.
From the perspective of vocational training (VET) in Latin America and the Caribbean, we must pause to analyse some of these assumptions. On the one hand, it is clear from the COVID19 pandemic that connectivity, an articulating element of these changes, is far from ideal and, in particular, far from providing good coverage to the target audiences of VET. Moreover, also since the pandemic, vocational training systems have invested heavily in learning management systems and synchronous online classroom tools. These investments have made it possible to maintain training provision, but their greatest benefit has yet to be realised. These systems have the potential to generate large amounts of data that can be used as feedback to the learning process, allowing learners to enter the learning value chain. This data is (in most cases) not yet being accumulated and analysed. This is an important challenge and of potentially high added value to the training process.
Sources for this note:
- Katz, R. 2015. El ecosistema y la economía digital en América Latina. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel; Fundación Telefónica; Editorial Planeta. http://scioteca.caf.com/handle/123456789/768