Resources on migrants and digital technologies

As part of our research, and in the interests of disseminating this as widely as possible, we are compiling a database of publications on the use of digital technologies by migrants, focusing particularly on South-South migration.  This page provides a short introduction to this body of literature, by featuring some of the most interesting work in the field.  Inclusion in this listing does not, though, indicate that we or other members of the Hub agree with the arguments contained therein.

For materials directly relating to the corridors in which we are working, please follow the links below:

• Ethiopia-South Africa
• China-Ghana
• Nepal-Malaysia
• Haiti-Brazil

For more general references on the interface between technologies, inequalities and migration, see:

• Adepojum A. (ed. in Chief) (2020) Africa Migration Report: Challenging the Narrative,  Addis Ababa: AUC, IOM, Swiss FDFA US DOS.
• Baron, L.F. and Gomez, R. (2017) Living in the limits: Migration and information practices of undocumented Latino migrants in Choudrie, J. et al (ed.) ICT4D 2017, IFIP AICT 504, 147-158.
• Benitez, J.L. (2012) Salvadoran transnational families: ICT and communication practices in the network society, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(9): 1439–1449.
• Boas, I. (2020) Social networking in a digital and mobile world: the case of environmentally-related migration in Bangladesh, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(7): 1330-1347.
• Codagnone, C. and Kluzer, S. (2011) ICT for social and economic integration of migrants into Europe, Seville: European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies.
• Collin, S., Karsenti, T. and Calonne, O. (2015) Migrants’ Use of Technologies: An Overview of Research Objects in the Field, Journal of Technologies and Human Usability, 10(3-4), 15-29.
• Colucci, E.,  Smidt, H.,  Devaux, A.,  Vrasidas, C.,  Safarjalani, M. and Castaño Muñoz, J.  (2017) Free digital learning opportunities for migrants and refugees: an analysis of current initiatives and recommendations for their further use, European Commission.
• Diaz Andrade, A. and Doolin, B. (2018) Temporal enactment of resettled refugees’ ICT-mediated information practices, Information Systems Journal, 29: 145-174.
• Diaz Andrade, A. and Doolin, B. (2016) Information and Communication Technology and the Social Inclusion of Refugees, MIS Quarterly, 40(2): 405-416.
• Dimisecu, D. (2008) The connected migrant: an epistemological manifesto, Social Science Information, 47(4): 565-579.
• Dutta, M.J. and Kaur-Gill, S. (2018) Precarities of Migrant Work in Singapore: Migration, (Im)mobility, and Neoliberal Governmentality, International Journal of Communication, 12(2018), 4066–4084.
• Farbenblum, B., Berg, L. and Kintominas, A. (2018) Transformative Technology for Migrant Workers: Opportunities, Challenges, and Risks, New York: Open Society Foundations.
• Gelb, S. and Krishnan, A. (2018) Technology, migration and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, London: ODI and Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft.
• Gillespie, M., Ampofo, L., Cheesman, M., Faith, B., Iliadou, E., Issa, A., Osseiran, S. and Skleparis, D. (2016) Mapping refugee media journeys smartphones and social media networks, Milton Keynes: Open University and France Médias Monde
• GSMA (2017) The importance of mobile for refugees: a landscape of new services and approaches, London: GSMA.
• Guberek, T., McDonald, A., Simioni, S., Mhaidli, A.H., Toyama, K. and Schaub, F. (2018) Keeping a low profile? Technology, risk and privacy among undocumented immigrants, CHI2018 paper.
• Hamel, J-Y. (2009) Information and Communication Technologies and Migration, MPRA Human Development Research Paper (HDRP) Series , Vol. 39, No. 2009
• ILO (2021) Use of digital technology in the recruitment of migrant workers, Geneva: ILO.
  
• Iqbal, K., Peng, H., Hafeez, M. and Khurshaid (2020) Analyzing the effect of ICT on migration and economic growth in Belt and Road (BRI) countries, Journal of International migration and Integration, 21, 307-318.
• Jumbert, M., Bellanova, R. and Gellert, R. (2018) Smart phones for refugees: tools for survival, or surveillance?, PRIO Policy Brief No. 4. Oslo: PRIO.
• Katz, A. (2018) How technology is affecting migration in Asia, TechnologySalon Bangkok.
• Kluzer, S. and Hache, A. (2009) The state of the art of research in the EU on the take up and use of ICT by immigrants and ethnic minorities, European Commission JRC Report EUR23991 EN-2009.
• Kozachenko, I. (2003) Horizon scanning report: ICT and migration, Communities and Culture Network+ Working Paper, University of Leeds.
• Leurs, K. and Ponzanesi, S. (2018) Connected migrants: encapsulation and cosmopolitanization, Popular Communication, 16:1, 4-20.
• Leurs, K. and Smedt, K. (2018) Five questions for digital migration studies: learning from digital connectivity and forced migration in(to) Europe, Social Media + Society,
• Lupiañez, F., Codagnone, C. and Dalet, R. (2015) ICT for the employability and integration of immingrants in the European Union, Seville: European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies.
• McAuliffe, M. (2018) The link between migration and technology is not what you think, World Economic Forum (blog post).
• McAuliffe, M. (ed.) (2021) Research Handbook on International Migration and Digital Technology, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• McAuliffe, M., Kitimbo, A., Goossens, A. M., & Ullah, A. A. (2018) Chapter 7 – Understanding migration journeys from migrants’ perspectives, World Migration Report, 2018(1), e00007. https://doi.org/10.1002/wom3.7.
• Mezzadra, S. (2017) Digital mobility, logistics, and the politics of migration, Spheres.
• Mo Ibrahim Foundation (2019) Africa’s Youth: Jobs or Migration?  Demography, Economic Prospects and Mobility, 2019 Ibrahim Forum Report.
• Nyamnjoh, F. and Brudvig, I. (eds) (2016) Mobilities, ICTs and Marginality in Africa: Comparative Perspectives, Cape Town: HSRC Press.
• Oiarzabal, P.J. and Reips, U-D (2012) Migration and diaspora in the age of information and communications technologies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(9): 1333-1338.
• Onitsuka, K., Hidayat, A.R.R.T (2019) Does ICT facilitate or impede rural yhouth migration in Indonesia, The 9th International Conferfence Rural Research & Planning Group,
• Siapera, E., Boudourides, M. and Lenis, S. (2018), Refugees and network publics on Twitter: Networked framing, affect and capture, Social Media + Society, Jan-March, 1-21.
• UNDP (author Evan Easton-Calabria) (2019) The Migrant Union: Digital Livelihoods for People on the Move, UNDP
• UNESCO (2019) Global Education Monitoring Report 2019. Migration, displacement and education: building bridges not walls, Paris: UNESCO.
• UNU-CS (2017) Migrant technology: empowering migrant workers with technology, Macau: UNU-CS (briefing note).

Please help us by recommending key material that should be included here via our contact page.  Thanks!

Latest update 2nd February 2022 TU