210114 VO M7: SpezialVO State Activity, Policy and Governance Analyses (2023W)

How is inclusion and exclusion created, reproduced and governed in digital societies and the digital space?

The lecture series asks how power was and is (newly) distributed through digitization; how old dynamics of power and control are (re)produced, but also how moments of shift and change occur; and how digitization can actively be used to foster empowerment and social change.

We will discuss:

- How biases are written into, reenacted and changed through the digital space and the real-life consequences digital bias (may) have;

- How the the distribution of resources and political decisions regarding infrastructures and access hinder or aid mechanisms of inclusion;

- Possibilities of participating in and shaping digital societies for the common good;

- Governance tools and how they are purposefully or unintentionally applied in ways that result in the inclusion or exclusion of (marginalised) groups and individuals; and

- The lived consequences of governance decisions for life in digital societies.

This semester's lecture series gives an overview of key debates on mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion in digitisation at the intersection of political science, legal studies, science studies, and other relevant disciplines.

The lecture series introduces central theories and concepts, as well as real-life cases and current research projects, from various disciplines.

The lecture is organised by the cross-faculty research platform ‘Governance of Digital Practices’ and is targeted at a non-specialist multidisciplinary audience with an interest in the politics of technology and/or practices of inclusion and exclusion in society.

The lecture will take place in-person and will be streamed online given the speaker's permission (Link provided on Moodle).