Digital participation in hybrid realities and communities

Abstract

from the introduction: „The pandemic has given a huge boost to digitisation in business, science, education, private networks and public institutions, highlighting innovative ideas as well as vulnerabilities in equal measure. Since 2020, our lives and work have been transformed into a hybrid socio-technical reality based on digital communication and collaboration. Participation is increasingly mediated, encompassing education, business, science, private life and society in general. Sometimes it is still about infrastructures (in education), often we discuss ways of working and just as often the (digital) skills required for this, especially with an ageing population. Debates increasingly revolve around the possibility of returning to a ‚normal‘ life and we increasingly ask ourselves what a normal life is and whether this is actually to be expected or desired.”