This knowledge hub aims to provide educational tools and resources that bridge knowledge gaps surrounding Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) use and ecological and social inequality. At the core of this approach is the innovative concept of digital positionality, which serves as a powerful lens for critical reflection. By engaging with digital positionality, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of their situatedness within the digital landscape and its broader societal and ecological implications.

We strive to promote this critical reflection through tools that empower individuals to navigate their digital lives with increased self-determination. By utilizing the concept of digital positionality, users can uncover hidden biases, recognize power structures, and identify both challenges and opportunities in their digital experiences.

The ultimate goal is to inspire and enable people to contribute to responsible, sustainable technological development and to actively shape more equitable digital futures. Through the lens of digital positionality, we believe individuals can become more conscious netizens, capable of envisioning and working towards alternative, more just digital realities.

The concept of Digital Positionality was developed by Anna L. Menne and further explored through an X-Tutorial project she led from November 2022 to November 2023. This innovative research initiative brought together students to collaboratively investigate and expand upon the concept.

During the X-Tutorial, Anna worked with participating students, most notably Makēda Gershenson and Alissa T. Steer, to develop practical tools that apply the concept of Digital Positionality. These tools were created through a collaborative process, combining Anna’s foundational ideas with the diverse perspectives and insights of the student participants.

This student-engaged research initiative was funded under the Excellence Strategy of the Federal Government and the Länder by the Berlin University Alliance, providing a unique opportunity for hands-on and transdisciplinary exploration of this new concept.

The X-Tutorial served as a crucible for refining the concept of Digital Positionality and translating it into practical, educational resources. The collaborative nature of this project enriched the development of the tools, ensuring they resonate with a wide range of experiences and perspectives.

The X-Tutorial was inspired by Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR), emphasizing collaboration and the integration of lived experiences in the knowledge creation process.

Our research journey began in autumn 2022, with a focus on exploring the theoretical foundations of digital positionality and reflecting on our personal experiences with ICT. In January 2023, we shifted our focus to understanding the digital positionalities of individuals from diverse and often underrepresented backgrounds in Berlin.

We conducted various activities, from using an electronic can phone developed by the Design Research Lab in Berlin to gather insights and questions about the digital sphere from about sixty individuals in different social milieus, a comprehensive focus group discussion with very diverse people in Berlin, to organizing creative workshops for digital natives at a community school in Berlin.

Through these experiences, we gained invaluable insights into how people perceive and interact with ICT. We discovered the influence of dominant discourses on technology, the tensions between convenience and critique, avoidance of critical reflection and the often unexamined digital dependence that shapes our lives.

These insights shaped the development of qualitative design principles which guided the collaborative development of the currently available resources.

Building on these insights and guided by principles derived from our first semester’s fieldwork, we have developed reflexivity tools throughout the year of 2023:

1. A comprehensive Workshop Guide, enables profound reflection on your digital positionality.
2. A captivating Comic, enriched with reflective questions, that serves as a playful mirror to the intricate dimensions of digital life, empowering individuals to live with intention and awareness and to shape sustainable futures collectively.
3. Complementing these resources are our Rules of Thumb—a set of ten guiding principles crafted to inspire and empower you as you navigate the complexities of the digital age.

These tools are a collaborative output of the X-Tutorial by Anna L. Menne, Makēda Gershenson and Alissa T. Steer. They are designed to foster self-awareness, critical thinking, and empower individuals to shape sustainable futures collectively.