Digital othering

Hannu Larsson

All that we believe         really
of those who seem to stop
innovation (a word I loathe
        when assumed to be inherently positive)
are socio-economic variables and
demographic factors
turned into numbers of predicted use
of (our) very innovative solutions
pushing forward towards a
faster-more-digitally-automated-efficient-rational-future

All we can say about
groups (lacking a better term)
are empty signifiers
demographic labeling of imagined belongings

All our attempts
designing-focusing-developing-coding
for including
Who?

The old disabled women disillusioned homeless poor

        non-citizens       the general public

All the (non) digital others
incrementally outlined in converging othering processes
an otherness of our making

Groups of imagined belonging conceptualized
all with the best intentions

But lacking a language
to understand to include to escape othering
and capture without simplification

What would a shift in language mean?
if we were all others
belonging nowhere or everywhere

Fluent identities of
digital offline         post-digital
without a path       other futures are made possible

But I can’t speak alone
we need more voices more words
to tell more and other stories

The Science

A persistent issue in digitalization research and practice is how to design and implement information systems that fit all persons and not just the normate - an idealized view of who the intended user is and what their capabilities and needs may be. The ever-increasing use of digital technologies has become ingrained in the stories we tell about the future. The future we desire, the future we fear, and the future we can imagine. To imagine differently research on digitalization needs to be inclusive, and not assume that more advanced technology is unequivocally better. 

The Poet

Hannu Larsson (he/him) is a Swedish researcher in the area of information systems, with an interest in public sector digitalization, digital inclusion and sustainability. His research has been published for instance in Government Information Quarterly and presented at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). He is interested in how poetry can be used as a means of creating access to different perspectives as well as in research specifically.

Next poem: Diversity of perception in the world’s languages by Jane Flint Bridgewater