News details

Since April 2020, the Institute for Rural Structural Research (IfLS) and the Institute for Communication and Media Studies (IfKMW) at the University of Leipzig have been jointly investigating how digital formats can be used in participation processes and combined with analogue approaches in a meaningful and efficient way.
Building on the first empirical part of the project, a nationwide online survey of representatives of rural regional development, the case study work was started in 2021 in regions throughout Germany that cover a range of structural spatial conditions:

• Bavaria: Fichtelgebirge (Wunsiedel district)
• Brandenburg: Fläming-Havel (Potsdam-Mittelmark district)
• North Rhine-Westphalia: Lippe district
• Rhineland-Palatinate: Erbeskopf (Bernkastel-Wittlich, Trier-Saarburg, Birkenfeld districts)
• Schleswig-Holstein: Amt Hüttener Berge (inter-municipal cooperation in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde)

Here the questions of the project are examined in depth, whereby - in accordance with the transdisciplinary orientation of the project - focal points are set together with the regional actors. The regional development processes considered include LEADER in the majority of the case studies, but the focus is also on other processes such as ILE and Smarte.Land.Regionen. One of the questions that has so far emerged as relevant across the case studies is that of the preconditions for successful participation, especially of older and younger target groups.

IfKMW and IfLS are each working on three of the case studies and will continue to collect data in the regions until the beginning of 2022. The method mix includes content analysis, guideline-based interviews and participant observation of participation events and focus groups. Due to the Corona situation, data collection will largely take place online or by telephone.
The DigiBeL website, where reports on the results can be accessed, keeps us informed about the progress of the project work. The website (as well as the usual audio portals) also provides access to the podcast "DigitaLand", which accompanies the project. In its recently released third episode, the DigiBeL team reports in more detail on the case study work.

DigiBeL is funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the Federal Programme for Rural Development (BULE).

Contact person at IfLS: Simone Sterly (sterly[at]ifls.de) und Sarah Peter (peter[at]ifls.de)