Information and Communications Technology in Support of Migration


Book Description

The book provides a holistic review, presenting a multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary, international, and evidence-based approach to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in migration. The book brings together different views and multifaceted responses to ICT-based migration management, examining their overlap, conflict, and synergies. The book is a major addition to the field, tackling important debates concerning humanitarianism and securitization in the reception of migrants, as well as exploring the role of digital technology in aiding migrant integration. The authors explore contentious areas such as the use of new technologies deployed on borders for migration management and border security under the umbrella of smart border solutions including drones, AI algorithms, and face recognition, which are widely criticized for ignoring the fundamental human rights of migrants. The research presented will depart from the euphoric appraisals that technology has made things easier for migrants and those who assist them, to critically examine the bane and boon, benefits and afflictions, highlighting the barriers, as well as the solutions, including several under-researched aspects of digital surveillance and the digital divide. This edited volume has been developed by the MIICT project, funded under the EU Horizon 2020 Action and Innovation programme, under grant agreement No 822380. Provides a positive approach to the integration of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions Offers a strategic approach to providing digital services for migrants at an EU, national and local level Bridges the gap between academia and front-line practitioners’ work by providing theoretical, policy, ethical, and methodological recommendations







Technology’s Refuge


Book Description

An investigation into the use of information communication technologies by refugees during flight, displacement and in settlement, this book examines the impact of Australia’s official policy of mandatory detention on how asylum seekers and refugees maintain links to diasporas and networks of support. Given the restricted contact with the world outside of the immigration detention centre, the book juxtaposes forms and processes of technology-mediated communication between institutionalised detention, with those of displacement and settlement. It finds that while there are obstacles to communication in situations of conflict and dislocation, asylum seekers and refugees are able to ‘make do’ with the technology options available to them in ways which were less constrained than in detention settings. The book also outlines how communication practices during the settlement process focus on learning new technologies, and repairing the disconnections with family members resulting from separation and detention.




Digital Lifeline?


Book Description

Interdisciplinary perspectives on the role of new information technologies, including mobile phones, wireless networks, and biometric identification, in the global refugee crisis. Today's global refugee crisis has mobilized humanitarian efforts to help those fleeing persecution and armed conflict at all stages of their journey. Aid organizations are increasingly employing new information technologies in their mission, taking advantage of proliferating mobile phones, remote sensors, wireless networks, and biometric identification systems. Digital Lifeline? examines the use of these technological innovations by the humanitarian community, exploring operations and systems that range from forecasting refugee flows to providing cellular and Internet connectivity to displaced persons. The contributors, from disciplines as diverse as international law and computer science, offer a variety of perspectives on forced migration, technical development, and user behavior, drawing on field work in countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Rwanda, Germany, Greece, the United States, and Canada. The chapters consider such topics as the use of information technology in refugee status determination; ethical and legal issues surrounding biometric technologies; information technology within organizational hierarchies; the use of technology by refugees; access issues in refugee camps; the scalability and sustainability of information technology innovations in humanitarian work; geographic information systems and spatial thinking; and the use of “big data” analytic techniques. Finally, the book identifies policy research directions, develops a unified research agenda, and offers practical suggestions for conducting displacement research. Contributors Elizabeth Belding, Karen E. Fisher, Daniel Iland, Lindsey N. Kingston, Carleen F. Maitland, Susan F. Martin, Galya Ben-Arieh Ruffer, Paul Schmitt, Lisa Singh, Brian Tomaszewski, Mariya Zheleva







Technologies of Refuge and Displacement


Book Description

Technologies of Refuge and Displacement: Rethinking Digital Divides aims to theoretically and practically understand technology access and use from the perspective of those on the “wrong” side of the digital divide. Specifically, it examines refugees as a group that has received scant attention as technology users, despite their urgent need for technological access to sustain tenuous links to family and loved ones during displacement. It draws from over 100 interviews and surveys with refugees conducted from 2007 to 2011, utilizing this empirical data to interrogate well-known theories about technology and its users. In doing so, it seeks to rethink the popular model of “digital divide” and offer alternative ways of conceptualizing technology literacy and access. It examines how principles from design and IT industries can be applied to contexts with constrained availability, access, and affordability to provide technology services that accommodate users with limited technical and language literacies.




Technology's Refuge


Book Description

When asylum seekers and refugees are displaced, how do they use communication technologies to maintain links with friends and family during flight and forced migration? When they are detained, what role does technology play in the ways asylum seekers communicate with the 'outside'? How do asylum seekers and refugees appropriate and use new communication technologies whilst establishing themselves in a new country? This monograph presents the findings of a qualitative pilot research study that sought to answer these questions. It provides an insight into how asylum seekers use communication technologies during conflict, flight, detention and resettlement, to maintain links with their families and friends back home, with diaspora from their country of origin and with communities in the country where they are seeking asylum. It is also one of the first studies to examine how communication with the outside world occurs in immigration detention centres and to document asylum seeker perspectives on the communication restrictions encountered there.




The Digital Empowerment-Control Nexus


Book Description

This book analyses the diverse and complex interactions between the emancipatory practices of precarious (i.e. forced, vulnerable, undocumented or deported) migrants enabled by information and communication technologies, and the constraints imposed by technological tools used for surveillance and migration control. It explores the digital empowerment-control nexus by articulating the use of digital technologies - whether by migrants themselves, civil society actors or institutions - with their mediating role in the processes of empowerment, surveillance and migration control. Based on original empirical studies, the chapters bring contrasting and complementary insights into the use of digital technologies as agentic and/or surveillance tools in different national and supranational contexts (Turkey, Mexico, the United States, Switzerland, France, Romania, Greece and the European Union) and from different disciplinary perspectives (anthropology, sociology, geography, media studies, law and deportation studies). Using different theoretical lenses, they demonstrate the varying degrees of (dis)entanglement between individual and institutional practices, at micro and macro levels. Helping readers to understand the ambivalent role of digital technologies in (forced) migration processes, The Digital Empowerment-Control Nexus can be used as a resource by students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers interested in digitally mediated migration practices and migration regimes. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.




The Handbook of Diasporas, Media, and Culture


Book Description

A multidisciplinary, authoritative outline of the current intellectual landscape of the field. Over the past three decades, the term ‘diaspora’ has been featured in many research studies and in wider theoretical debates in areas such as communications, the humanities, social sciences, politics, and international relations. The Handbook of Diasporas, Media, and Culture explores new dimensions of human mobility and connectivity—presenting state-of-the-art research and key debates on the intersection of media, cultural, and diasporic studies This innovative and timely book helps readers to understand diasporic cultures and their impact on the globalized world. The Handbook presents contributions from internationally-recognized scholars and researchers to strengthen understanding of diasporas and diasporic cultures, diasporic media and cultural resources, and the various forms of diasporic organization, expression, production, distribution, and consumption. Divided into seven sections, this wide-ranging volume covers topics such as methodological challenges and innovations in diasporic research, the construction of diasporic identity, the politics of diasporic integration, the intersection of gender and generation with the diasporic condition, new technologies in media, and many others. A much-needed resource for anyone with interest diasporic studies, this book: Presents new and original theory, research, and essays Employs unique methodological and conceptual debates Offers contributions from a multidisciplinary team of scholars and researchers Explores new and emerging trends in the study of diasporas and media Applies a wide-ranging, international perspective to the subject Due to its international perspective, interdisciplinary approach, and wide range of authors from around the world, The Handbook of Diasporas, Media, and Culture is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, lecturers, and researchers in areas that focus on the relationship of media and society, ethnic identity, race, class and gender, globalization and immigration, and other relevant fields.