Papers by Maria Jimenez-Andres
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2022
Over 138,000 refugees had arrived in Europe by the end of 2018 (UNHCR, 2019). Communication is of... more Over 138,000 refugees had arrived in Europe by the end of 2018 (UNHCR, 2019). Communication is often an obstacle both when gathering background information (i.e. legal status) and in the process of integration in their host countries. This article proposes an Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) tool as a complementary solution to speed administrative steps. This ICT tool, so called the Digital Companion (DC), will support on the one hand local authorities to ease migrant bureaucratic hurdles in their region, and on the other, migrants to build a new life integrating in the local communities. The DC will enable personalized two-way multimodal communication using chatbots. The arriving communities don't share a common language and literacy levels among individuals of these communities vary. To overcome this shortcoming, images and other signs will also be used. This "visual language" will facilitate communication at a certain level and ensure basic understa...
Review of the literature ICT and displaced communities ICT plays a fundamental role in the proces... more Review of the literature ICT and displaced communities ICT plays a fundamental role in the process of migration and has been identified as a useful tool for the integration of refugees in host countries (Frouws et al., 2016; UNHCR, 2016a; WPP, 2017). Research shows the reliance of refugees on ICT Proliferation of apps for refugees such as Ankommen, App4Refs, RefAid, I Sea, Refoodgee and Refugee.info. Few studies focus on the impact of ICT on these communities
Lengua y migración, 2021
La formación en lenguas es uno de los servicios en los que ONG y organismos públicos de todos los... more La formación en lenguas es uno de los servicios en los que ONG y organismos públicos de todos los países de Europa se vuelcan en el contexto de la acogida de refugiados y solicitantes de asilo. Este artículo examina el aula de enseñanza de idiomas a estos estudiantes a partir de los resultados de dos actividades de investigación: un análisis de cuatro materiales de enseñanza de español para personas migrantes y un grupo focal con docentes que trabajan con el grupo destinatario. La heterogeneidad del alumnado, en especial en cuanto a los niveles de alfabetización, motiva el interés de desarrollar materiales didácticos con un importante componente visual. El énfasis del estudio recae en analizar el papel que desempeñan las imágenes en la comunicación en el aula. Nos proponemos describir en qué se traduce el componente visual en el aula y cómo lo abordan las editoriales y organizaciones que desarrollan materiales.
La accesibilidad lingüística es un requisito básico para las entidades que asisten a personas des... more La accesibilidad lingüística es un requisito básico para las entidades que asisten a personas desplazadas. Este artículo analiza las prácticas de accesibilidad lingüística de cinco entidades del tercer sector en cuatro países: Grecia, Italia, España y Reino Unido. Después de repasar brevemente las normativas de los cuatro países, se presentan los resultados de entrevistas en profundidad con el personal de las ONG que atienden a refugiados y solicitantes de asilo. Los resultados muestran la pluralidad de las prácticas multilingües, multimodales y digitales en estas entidades y los retos de comunicación a los que se enfrentan las entidades en la gestión del sistema estatales de acogida.
Journal of Audiovisual Translation, 2021
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has created additional barriers to human interactions. For th... more Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has created additional barriers to human interactions. For those conducting research with displaced persons, the barriers posed by COVID-19 add up to the existing linguistic, cultural, geographical and ethical obstacles that this type of research involves. In most cases, researchers have resorted to technological solutions to bridge the communication gap caused by the pandemic. However, the heterogeneous profiles and disadvantaged circumstances of displaced persons require further considerations and planning. This paper examines the experiences of researchers conducting research with displaced persons during COVID. It outlines the special considerations taken and provides recommendations for those conducting research in similar contexts. The communities that engaged in this research were based in Greece, Poland, Italy, Lebanon and Spain. While the focus of the study is displaced persons, the insights presented can be of benefit to those conducting...
In today’s migration processes, Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly imp... more In today’s migration processes, Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly important for refugee experiences and mobilities (Gillespie, Osseiran and Cheesman, 2016). In this light, there is a call by institutions such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2016a; 2020a) and researchers in the field of refugee integration (AbuJarour et al, 2019) for initiatives employing ICT to cater for refugees’ need for information and communication. This article discusses some information seeking practices of asylum seekers and refugees, in online and offline environments. The data was gathered by means of nine focus group discussions with refugee communities in Greece, Italy, and Spain, involving a total of 41 participants of 13 different nationalities. Issues relating to the languages and the accessibility of the information that is available to them are discussed. The results of this research will inform the subsequent phases of REBUILD, a project funded by Eu...
FITISPos International Journal
In today migration processes, Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly impor... more In today migration processes, Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly important for refugee experiences and mobilities (Gillespie, Osseiran and Cheesman, 2016). In this light, there is a call by institutions such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2016a; 2020a) and researchers in the field of refugee integration (Abujarour et al, 2019) for initiatives employing ICT to cater for refugees need for information and communication. This article discusses some information seeking practices of asylum seekers and refugees, in online and offline environments. The data was gathered by means of nine focus group discussions with refugee communities in Greece, Italy, and Spain, involving a total of 41 participants of 13 different nationalities. Issues relating to the languages and the accessibility of the information that is available to them are discussed. The results of this research will inform the subsequent phases of REBUILD, a project funded by the E...
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Papers by Maria Jimenez-Andres