Thematics, GTAIM & TRACKS > TRACK 2023: Inclusion & Digital

Inclusion and digital

Digital technology is caught up in contrasting imaginations. While it is sometimes presented as a space for renewed inclusion, sociability and social participation, it is also denounced as a vector of exclusion, isolation and even addiction and violence. These representations crystallize in different figures linked to the use of digital tools where the representations of no life, troll, digital migrant rub shoulders with esport stars, successful youtubers and other digital natives.

These varied imaginations echo heterogeneous relationships to these tools within the population. This was particularly evident during the periods of confinement linked to the covid 19 pandemic, which led to massive recourse to digital technology. Inequalities were apparent in terms of equipment, of course, but also in terms of users' skills and abilities. More broadly, these episodes reminded us of the need to situate uses by taking into account the socio-technical environment in which they are embedded, both at the micro-social level (e.g. domestic space) and the macro-social level (e.g. infrastructure).

The issue of inclusion and digital technology is all the more crucial as these tools occupy an increasing place in many types of activities (work, study, leisure, sociability, household tasks, administrative procedures, etc.). This special session will therefore aim to shed light on the relationship between digital technology and inclusion in these different fields. We will be delighted to welcome contributions with varied methodologies from all the disciplines working on these issues (management sciences, information-communication, sociology, STAPS, etc.).

Some themes that could be addressed, this list being of course non-exhaustive and non-limitative:

• Digital inclusion and social relationships. The uses of digital technology are caught up in numerous social relationships (age, class, gender, territory, etc.) that structure practices and their perception. Indeed, for the same tool, different styles of practice that may be perceived as more or less legitimate can develop, and the dynamics of inclusion/exclusion carried by these social relations can be replayed online despite the possibilities of concealment/invention of the self offered. 

• Digital as a tool for inclusion. Digital technology is often presented as a means of promoting the social participation of populations that are a priori excluded from certain spaces. For example, digital can be mobilised in museums to attract new audiences. In another area, systems can be set up to facilitate access to video games for people with disabilities. A return on experiences or proposals for more inclusive tools could allow us to discuss the capacities for action opened up by digital technology. 

• Experiences of inclusion/exclusion and digital. The state of flow has regularly been put forward as an experience sought in connection with digital uses. However, digital tools also appear to provide less favourable experiences such as vulnerability, exhaustion or even forms of friction with other users during online interactions. Papers are expected on the form, role and effects of these positive and/or negative experiences, for example in service relationships or in leisure activities such as video games. 

• Socialisation, digital and inclusion. The relationship with digital tools is notably linked to the socialisation trajectories of users. School, work and play are all spaces in which people will build skills, aptitudes and dispositions that will facilitate or not their appropriation of digital tools. Children can also play key roles in initiating reverse socialisation processes that will facilitate the appropriation of digital devices by their elders. It is a question here of discussing the effects of socialisation on the uses of digital technology as much as of digital technology as a specific instance of socialisation. 

• Design and digital inclusion. The dynamics of inclusion/exclusion can originate in the very design of digital devices. Indeed, the usage scripts will often be associated with the representations - more or less well-founded - that the designers have of users. This can lead, for example, to the exclusion of forgotten users or to the stigmatisation of users through stereotypical representations. In this sense, how do design processes contribute to the dynamics of inclusion and/or exclusion?

• Digital inclusion and DIY. In order to respond to situations of exclusion, users of digital tools can implement techniques to achieve forms of inclusion. This can be based on tinkering leading to the transformation of the device concerned but also, for example, based on misappropriation. The modalities of recourse to the help of social networks or communities of practice, and the dynamics of exchange within them, can then be enlightening on the form that digital practices experienced as inclusive ultimately take.

   

  Responsible for the track :

  Jean-Philippe Nau (Jean-Philippe.Nau@univ-lorraine.fr)

  Renaud Garcia-Bardidia (Renaud.Garcia-Bardidia@u-bourgogne.fr)