Project title: Migrant generations in the digital society: a multi-level study of socio-cultural factors influencing digital inclusion
Project acronym: DigiMig
Funding: NWO Talent Programme - Vidi Grants
Duration: 01. January 2024 - 31.12.2028
Project description: The ability to effectively use digital technologies has become a prerequisite for participation across many spheres of social life. While digital inclusion implies that all citizens have equal chances to participate in the digital society, such inclusion is shaped not only by individual factors such as motivation and digital literacy but by social and cultural factors such as gender, age, socio-economic background, ethnicity, disability and migration background. Existing research points to the relative disadvantage of some migrant groups in participating in the digital society. In studying the use of digital media by migrant generations in the Netherlands, the DigiMig project advances a comprehensive, multi-level approach to studying digital inclusion that encompasses users’ perspectives, public policies and initiatives, educational practices, and their inter-relations. Integrating the fields of media, migration and youth studies by focusing on the debate on digital inequalities, the proposed project aims to:
Provide an in-depth analysis of patterns of digital inclusion of different migrant generations through a qualitative, multi-methods study focusing on families and comparing the urban context of Rotterdam and rural areas of Groningen (sub-project 1).
Critically analyse approaches to digital inclusion in national (Dutch) and local (Rotterdam and Groningen) policies and public initiatives and propose a more inclusive framework with recommendations based on expert interviews and policy analyses (sub-project 2) and the results of user analyses in sub-project 1.
Develop more inclusive practices of digital literacy education in culturally diverse primary schools through participatory action research with teachers, students and parents (sub-project 3).
4. Develop a novel multi-level conceptual framework for studying and practising digital inclusion that sufficiently considers socio-cultural factors (sub-project 4).