|
11-12 Jun 2026 Poitiers (France)
|
Customizable pageCall for papers Social stakes of digital inclusion/exclusion: from observation to intervention
Maison des Sciences Humaines et Sociales, University of Poitiers The increasing digitalisation of public services highlights inequalities in access to and use of digital technologies that have concrete consequences for access to rights and civic participation (DDD, 2025). Recent national policies (Strategy for an inclusive digital policy; France Numérique Ensemble 2023–2027) encourage territorially grounded responses and the strengthening of local engineering capacities. In Poitiers, the Observatoire Permanent de l’Exclusion Numérique (OPEN), founded through a partnership between social sciences research teams at the University of Poitiers and the City of Poitiers, aims to produce detailed descriptions and rigorous analyses of local realities. The initiative responds to the need to better understand concrete situations of digital marginalisation and to inform the design of appropriate interventions. “Defining and measuring digital marginalisation” requires a careful reflection on the tools and criteria used to describe a multifaceted social phenomenon (Bléhaut et al., 2023). After an initial focus on equipment and then on skills, the literature increasingly advocates a capabilities-based approach: the notion of capabilities refers to individuals’ capacity to transform digital opportunities into effective benefits, relative to their expectations and needs. By “individuals” we mean all social actors concerned by issues of digital inclusion/exclusion: seniors, students, migrants, people in situations of social vulnerability, etc. It is also important to move beyond a binary view that opposes “included” and “excluded.” Research on non-use shows that some forms of disconnection are voluntary and do not necessarily stem from a lack of access (Jauréguiberry, 2019). Recognising this diversity of situations and practices allows for more nuanced diagnoses and better-targeted responses. Thus, understanding forms of digital exclusion responds to the urgency posed by the growing digitalisation of public services. Digital incapacity, together with difficulties arising from complex online forms or limited language proficiency, contributes to non-take-up of rights. The systematic recourse to a third party — whether digital advisors or France Services — can in turn create new forms of dependency and vulnerability, including among young people facing digital precarity. Migrants, among those affected by the digitalisation of public services, often face multiple difficulties: access to rights (residence permits, social benefits, housing) now depends on often complex digital practices, impeded by language barriers and limited digital literacy. These situations illustrate how the digital divide compounds other forms of social vulnerability and raise questions about the policies and mediation measures implemented to address it. The emphasis on a lack of digital skills among populations labelled as vulnerable (seniors, young people, migrants, precarious families and individuals, etc.) tends to favour an approach framed in terms of deprivation and to make digital training a priority in the fight against socio-digital inequalities (Granjon, 2022). Yet the issue of cumulative social difficulties raised by the notion of digital exclusion also questions the socially constructed — and therefore differentiated — nature of relationships to digital technologies and the practices associated with them. In this context, social distance from digital uses may lead to suspicion or resistance toward digital mediation devices (Demory, 2024). It may also reveal broader forms of distance from the State and public administrations that digitalisation and the increasing use of digital tools can exacerbate (Deville, 2023; Granjon & Craheix-Gadhgadhi, 2025). A finer-grained understanding of socially differentiated relationships to digital technologies is therefore required. How are these relationships shaped differently according to individuals’ social characteristics (age, gender, social position, educational trajectory, migration history, language proficiency, etc.)? Does the digitalisation of public services contribute to these inequalities? How is the work of digital mediators evolving? To address these questions, OPEN is organising an international conference. The event aims to bring together academic research and practitioner feedback in order to link diagnoses with operational responses. It seeks to document, at different territorial scales, the forms and drivers of digital exclusion. It will also interrogate the methods and indicators used to measure digital marginalisation, evaluate mediation and training schemes, and identify practical recommendations to improve access to rights and civic participation. Conference themes and tracks Submissions may relate to one or more of the following perspectives; they may be methodological, empirical, theoretical or experiential. Contributions are multidisciplinary and not limited to the topics listed below. Track 1 — Access to rights and digitalisation of public services: institutional equity issues Track 2 — Populations, inequalities and practices: who is concerned? Track 3 — Mediations, schemes and local engineering: design, implementation and evaluation Submission procedure Deadlines and format Practical details (submission link, contact address, registration modalities) will be communicated progressively by the organising committee by email and on the Sciencesconf platform, which will be regularly updated at: Open.sciencesconf.org Publication Scientific committee Organising committee References Défenseur des droits. (2025). Relations des usagers avec les services publics : Quelles difficultés d’accès aux droits ? Enquête sur l’accès aux droits (2nd ed., vol. 2). Défenseur des droits. Demory, M. (2024). Rapports différenciés à la culture numérique : Des inégalités sociaux-numériques aux expériences ordinaires en situation de médiation numérique. SociologieS. https://doi.org/10.4000/12ric Deville, C. (2023). L’État social à distance : Dématérialisation et accès aux droits des classes populaires rurales. Le Croquant. Granjon, F. (2022). Inégalités sociales, dispositions et usages du numérique. Éducation et Sociétés, 47(1), 81–97. https://doi.org/10.3917/es.047.0081 Granjon, F., & Craheix-Gadhgadhi, I. (2025). Insertion sociale et inclusion numérique des jeunes migrants. Agora débats/jeunesses, 100(2), 117–132. https://doi.org/10.3917/agora.100.0117 Jauréguiberry, F. (2019). Désir et pratiques de déconnexion. Hermès, 84(2), 98–103. https://doi.org/10.3917/herm.084.0098 |
