Oliver Hinkelbein
University of Bremen
Germany

Cultural Producers and Policy in a Black Box

Since the Lisbon agenda of 2000 policies and practices of digital inclusion are on vogue in Europe. They all have a strong focus on the so called digital illiterates like seniors, migrants and deprived people. The variety of approaches is diverse. Ministries, NGO's, local authorities, education organisations and citizens are part of it. 2003 I started an ethnographic research in that wide-area field with an emphasis on digital inclusion of migrants in Germany. My study is focusing on the role of social, cultural and political networks for involved actors. It is very striking that the concept of the “cultural producer” – I use the term “new mediator” – plays an essential role in actor-networks that shape this field. Based on ethnographic examples my poster examines how new mediators come to stage, what their role in new media and technology practices is and why they are so important. I show how they are participating in processes of the creation of strategies for digital inclusion as well as I demonstrate how they become part of the strategies for themselves. My examples have one thing in common: new mediators are involved as cultural producers. By using ANT, as well as approaches from the “French school” in general, my poster gives a broader understanding of projects of digital inclusion in the 21st century. By opening up black boxes I demonstrate the smooth transitions between empowerment of migrants and self-fulfilling prophecy of leaders of digital inclusion projects.