DiSTO Chile

Context

Chile is a well-connected country in South America: over 99% of Chileans are covered by a mobile-cellular network (ITU, 2022) and over 96% of Chileans use the internet (World Bank, 2024)
A socio-economic digital divide is evident in Chile, but lessoning. Regarding children's smartphone access, in 2022, the average across Chile was 92%, compared with lower (88%) and middle (83%) income children (Global Kids Online, 2022)

Projects in Chile

The DiSTO Chile study adapts, validates and implements the DiSTO project ("from Digital Skills to Tangible Outcomes") in the metropolitan region of Chile.

DiSTO Chile remedies the shortage of information and research on digital inclusion in Chile. The project gathers data on residents of Chile's Metropolitan Region aged 16 and above, aiming to identify the population's digital skills, the use of digital resources and the benefits gained from this use - as well as the relationships between them. The evidence will allow us to understand who benefits from internet use, who does not, and the role of digital skills in this outcome.

This is achieved via:

Expert validation of the questionnaire
15 cognitive interviews to adapt the questionnaire to the Chilean context
A pilot questionnaire of 40 individuals and a pilot-scale study of 200 people
Representative survey of 1100 individuals in the Metropolitan region
20 interviews to aid survey data interpretation

This project is funded by the Fondecyt of Initiation on Research program of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT).

This project develops comparable and extensible metrics for studying social interactions at a global scale, enabling analysis of cohesion within and across communities. It pays particular attention to how different forms of social connectivity relate to economic growth, mobility, and political attitudes, including the territorial inequalities across Chile's 16 regions.

Develop global indicators for measuring interactions within homogeneous communities (bonding social capital)
Develop global indicators for evaluating connections across heterogeneous communities (bridging social capital)
Develop global indicators for assessing both weak and strong ties between communities
Examine how different social interactions relate to economic growth, mobility, and political predispositions

This project investigates the role of digital inequalities in community resilience during catastrophic events. It expands on existing frameworks by incorporating social and cultural dimensions alongside economic ones, and combines individual-level with neighborhood-level analysis through a mixed-methods approach.

Theoretically model the relationships between digital and non-digital inequalities and community resilience during catastrophic events
Estimate the impact of digital inequalities on the experiences of communities confronting such events
Develop visualization tools for an accessible understanding of how digital inequalities, analog inequalities, and resilience interact in crisis contexts

This project is funded by the Fondecyt Iniciación, Fondecyt Regular and Postdoctoral Funding (Beca Chile) of the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID).

Principal Investigator (Projects 2 and 3)
Pedro Fierro is Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Leadership at the School of Government and the Business School (joint appointment) at Adolfo Ibáñez University, where he also serves as Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Leadership. He holds an adjunct researcher position at the Millennium Nucleus for the Study of Politics, Public Opinion, and Media in Chile.
Principal Investigator (Project 1)
Dr. Magdalena Claro is an Assistant Professor and Academic Director of the Observatory on Digital Education Practices, at the School of Education of the Catholic University of Chile. She is also Research Associate at CEPPE-UC. She is a sociologist; with a PhD from the Catholic University of Chile and a MA from Stanford University.
Research Assistant (Project 1)
Tania Cabello Hutt is a sociologist from the Catholic University of Chile. She is currently a PhD student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Research Assistant (Project 1)
Daniela Navarro is a sociologist from the Central University of Chile, holding a Master's degree in research methodology in social science. She is a Research Assistant of Kids Online Chile and a Researcher at ITAÚ's Cultural Observatory.
Associate Researcher (Project 1)
Dr. Patricio Cabello is Associate Professor at the Journalism School at the Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile. He is also the Coordinator of Kids Online Chile and the Kids Online Latin American network. He is a psychologist with a PhD in social psychology, a Master's degree in anthropology and a Master's degree in social research methods.
Associate Researcher (Project 1)
Dr. Christian Labbé is a researcher at the Institute of ICT in Education, Universidad de La Frontera (Chile). His research focuses on digital context and formal and informal education. He is a psychologist with a PhD in education from the University of Bristol (UK).