LIST OF PANELS

In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, the pace of digitalization and reliance on ubiquitous technologies within the public sector, education and industrial sectors have exponentially increased. Rapid digital transformation is often heralded as providing opportunities for universal internet access, availability of electronic public services and innovations in the digital financial sector, such as mobile money, e-wallets or branchless banking. Nevertheless, despite the promises of ubiquity, the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has frequently been unequal. Instead, they have often reproduced a pattern of inequality, particularly for the countries in the global south. ICTs, as such, do not evolve and operate in isolation. Their access and use are intertwined in the societal structures, indigenous cultures and technical capacities.

From the perspective of vulnerable groups such as economically disadvantaged, low-income children, the elderly, refugees, women, and people with disabilities,  ICTs present a more significant challenge. Even for supranational organizations such as European Commission, digital inclusion remains its top priority in its digital agenda and digital disability strategy for 2021-2030. A few primary concerns within the digital inclusion debate involve fostering affordable, accessible and assistive ICTs that empower citizens by enabling them with digital skills to fight marginalization and societal exclusion. On the other hand, there are also growing fears of new-age developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence that may lead to bias and exclusion of specific groups in society.
 
This panel, therefore, seeks to address the policy challenges associated with digital inclusion to prevent exclusion and digital discrimination. For example, how does digital inclusion benefit the lives of vulnerable groups such as seniors, rural women and people with disabilities? How do the current knowledge and digital gaps reproduce the existing patterns of inequality? What policy instruments do the global institutions and supranational organizations currently promote for fair digitalization. This panel aims to address a wide range of issues ranging from the current trends in digital inclusion and inequalities to the impact of assistive technologies supporting people with disabilities and social inclusion of disadvantaged groups within regional, national, international and comparative contexts. Overall, this panel contributes to both the academic literature and the public policy debate on the nondiscriminatory growth of digital technologies and future policy responses to digital exclusion.

Contributions are welcome that address the different ways in which digital inclusion impacts social, political and cultural norms. These may include empirical, theoretical, and best-practice contributions.

Submissions are welcome from academics and professionals worldwide working on topics of the digital divide, particularly those exploring the intersection between public policy and digital inclusion. The possible topics include but are not limited to:
- Digital inclusion strategies
- Policy responses to the digital divide

- Digital technologies as a tool of social inclusion
- Impact of digital exclusion
- Digital inclusion and the vulnerable groups
- Bias and discrimination in the age of digitalization
- Impact of COVID-19 on digital inclusion

Contributions that focus on regional and national contexts are highly encouraged.