Not another app! Digital tech, inequality and migration
Speaker: G. Hari Harindranath, School of Business and Management at Royal Holloway, University of London
Date: Wednesday, 14th February, 13:00-14:00
Location: LT16 West Pavilion, LUMS
Location: Online
Organiser: Lancaster University
Seminar Details
Digital technologies play an important role in South-South migration, from migrant decision making, orientation and route planning, to integration into host communities and connecting with those left behind. Digital technologies can be used to increase access to opportunities and rights for migrants, thereby boosting migration's developmental benefits at the interface between migrants and host communities. Yet structural inequalities in migration contexts mean that access and use are almost always socially contingent, often leading to further inequalities. This talk focuses on the UKRI GCRF MIDEQ Hub's research and impact initiatives on digital technologies and migration which focuses on leveraging these technologies to address the inequalities associated with migration in three ways: first, learning from migrants in a range of research contexts about the ways in which they use digital technologies; second, exploring with them how they understand notions of inequality within the migration process, and how they think technologies might be able to reduce them; and finally, working with migrants and digital developers in selected research and practice contexts to develop digital interventions that can help reduce such inequalities.
About the speaker
G. Hari Harindranath is Professor of Information Systems in the School of Business and Management at Royal Holloway, University of London. His work focuses on the social and organisational implications of digital technologies including ICT4D. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Information Technology, Senior Editor of Information Technology and People, and Associate Editor of Information and Management. Hari is a Co-Investigator on the 5-year (2019-2024), UKRI GCRF Migration for Development and Equality Hub (MIDEQ) where he co-leads the intervention work package on digital technologies and migration which focuses on leveraging digital technologies to address the inequalities associated with migration.