Since March 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 "Perspectives and Possible Applications of Digital Participation Methods in Rural Regional Development" (DigiBeL).
Before the research project is completed in spring 2023, the team is working on synthesising the six case studies from all over Germany. The results will be compared and, as far as possible, generalisable conclusions and recommendations for action will be derived.
Insights to the work are provided by the fifth and penultimate episode of the DigitaLand project podcast, which recently has been published online. Here, Sarah Peter and Carla Wember (IfLS) talk with Verena Traubinger (TU Chemnitz) about the selection, processing and evaluation of the case studies and the results found so far. Among other things, the challenges of implementing and sustaining digital participation tools, the effects of the Corona pandemic on the development of digital participation and the role of pioneer projects and multipliers will be discussed. But the researchers also discuss their own ideas, which they have had to question in the course of their work on the project, and new findings that they consider to be crucial.
The DigiBeL website, where reports on the results can be accessed, keeps the researchers up to date on the progress of the project. You can find the project-accompanying podcast DigitaLand via the website as well as via the known podcast providers.
DigiBeL is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the German Federal Rural Development Scheme (BULE).
Contact at IfLS: Simone Sterly (sterly[at]ifls.de) and Sarah Peter (peter[at]ifls.de)
