MUVEs : a new opportunity to bridge (global) digital divide?

Social inclusion is a complex topic that tries to address multiple different types of social exclusion, among which digital divide. The digital divide problem should be looked at from different perspectives, reflecting the mosaic of its different components (e.g., global digital divide, skills and education poverty, hardware and connection lack, etc.), that suggest different viable solutions. In this paper we envision a perspective use of Multi User Virtual Environments – a specific type of Web2.0 applications – as a possible mean helpful to bridge global digital divide in disadvantaged countries, with specific respect to African nations. In this paper we first approach the MUVEs paradigm trying to understand which of their characteristics could be effectively coupled to the cultural background of African population, then we sketch possible benefits and existing technical constraints linked to the diffusion of MUVEs in African contexts.