DigID - Doing Digital Identities
This project examines how digital ID devices transform citizen-state relations and reshape material citizenship through ethnographic studies across various identification practices.
Projectdetails
Introduction
We are witnessing the most significant change in stateless identification practices since the consolidation of the international passport regime in the 19th century. Digital ID devices like electronic ID cards providing access to government services via PINs, biometric databases, and blockchain-secured digital identity wallets are increasingly complementing, or even replacing, paper-based means of identification.
Research Focus
Yet so far, the implications of digital ID devices have mostly been studied in relation to criminal suspects and migrant 'others', not the normalized majority of citizens. This project uses this unique moment of change to assess how material citizenship - i.e. the technologies and infrastructures used to enact citizenship as a political subjectivity and a formal relation to the state - is reshaped in the digital age.
Principal Research Question
Its principal research question is:
- How does the digitization of identification practices reconfigure relations between citizens and state authorities?
Investigation Sites
The project investigates transformations of citizen-state relations through digital ID devices at three sites:
- Birth registration
- Citizen-government transactions
- Border controls
Theoretical Framework
Theoretically, the project draws on science and technology and data studies to propose a conception of material citizenship as performative and sociotechnical. It aims to advance a research agenda that focuses on the practical, epistemic, political, and ethical implications of digital identification.
Methodology
Methodologically, the project combines:
- Multi-sited ethnographies
- Textual analysis
- Mapping
These methods are employed to study the design, implementation, and use of digital ID devices in one international and four national case studies.
Conclusion
In this way, DigID sheds light on the much-neglected material dimension of citizenship and shows how digital ID devices reshape the lived experience of citizenship - understood as a legal status, a form of membership in a political community, and a set of bottom-up practices enacting the 'right to have rights'.
Financiële details & Tijdlijn
Financiële details
Subsidiebedrag | € 1.495.050 |
Totale projectbegroting | € 1.495.050 |
Tijdlijn
Startdatum | 1-2-2023 |
Einddatum | 31-1-2028 |
Subsidiejaar | 2023 |
Partners & Locaties
Projectpartners
- LEUPHANA UNIVERSITAT LUNEBURGpenvoerder
- UNIVERSITAET DUISBURG-ESSEN
Land(en)
Vergelijkbare projecten binnen European Research Council
Project | Regeling | Bedrag | Jaar | Actie |
---|---|---|---|---|
Governance by data infrastructure in the post-pandemic democracyDATAGOV investigates the impact of regulatory data infrastructures on governance, citizenship, and inequality in post-pandemic democracies, using qualitative methods across the EU and non-Western countries. | ERC Advanced... | € 2.500.000 | 2025 | Details |
Informational Citizenship: Toward a Global Ethnography of Practices and Infrastructures of Datafication in the Global SouthInfoCitizen aims to explore how grassroots data initiatives in the Global South can enhance citizen rights, state accountability, and reduce inequality through a comparative ethnographic approach. | ERC Starting... | € 1.499.931 | 2023 | Details |
DIgitalisation for biocultural diVERsity and Environmental justiceDIVERSE aims to theorize an alternative model of digital transformation for environmental justice by analyzing grassroots initiatives and proposing concepts like "life-centred digitalisation." | ERC Consolid... | € 2.133.101 | 2025 | Details |
Three Generations of Digital Human RightsThis research program analyzes the evolution of digital human rights and protection strategies in response to online challenges, employing multiple methodologies to assess their effectiveness and legitimacy. | ERC Advanced... | € 2.500.000 | 2023 | Details |
Advancing Digital Democratic InnovationThe ADDI project aims to enhance civic participation through digital technologies by designing, testing, and theorizing innovative platforms for deliberation and preference elicitation. | ERC Synergy ... | € 9.867.403 | 2025 | Details |
Governance by data infrastructure in the post-pandemic democracy
DATAGOV investigates the impact of regulatory data infrastructures on governance, citizenship, and inequality in post-pandemic democracies, using qualitative methods across the EU and non-Western countries.
Informational Citizenship: Toward a Global Ethnography of Practices and Infrastructures of Datafication in the Global South
InfoCitizen aims to explore how grassroots data initiatives in the Global South can enhance citizen rights, state accountability, and reduce inequality through a comparative ethnographic approach.
DIgitalisation for biocultural diVERsity and Environmental justice
DIVERSE aims to theorize an alternative model of digital transformation for environmental justice by analyzing grassroots initiatives and proposing concepts like "life-centred digitalisation."
Three Generations of Digital Human Rights
This research program analyzes the evolution of digital human rights and protection strategies in response to online challenges, employing multiple methodologies to assess their effectiveness and legitimacy.
Advancing Digital Democratic Innovation
The ADDI project aims to enhance civic participation through digital technologies by designing, testing, and theorizing innovative platforms for deliberation and preference elicitation.
Vergelijkbare projecten uit andere regelingen
Project | Regeling | Bedrag | Jaar | Actie |
---|---|---|---|---|
M-i-PassDit project onderzoekt de haalbaarheid van LightDrop-technologie voor veilige offline dataoverdracht in het digitale-identiteit-ecosysteem. | Mkb-innovati... | € 18.400 | 2023 | Details |
DeCookinizing the internetHet project ontwikkelt een decentrale digitale identiteit en bijbehorende applicaties om gebruikers regie en soevereiniteit over hun persoonlijke data terug te geven. | Mkb-innovati... | € 154.791 | 2021 | Details |
DEFENCEHet project ontwikkelt een geavanceerde oplossing voor identificatie en authenticatie om het bindingsprobleem van digitale identiteiten in de EU aan te pakken en veilige toegang te waarborgen. | Mkb-innovati... | € 299.082 | 2022 | Details |
Burger Identity As A ServiceConduction ontwikkelt een blockchain-platform om burgers controle over hun persoonsgegevens te geven en de haalbaarheid van dit product te onderzoeken. | Mkb-innovati... | € 20.000 | 2020 | Details |
Gekwalificeerd digitaal identificeren en ondertekenen met je ID-bewijsHet project ontwikkelt een oplossing voor veilige online identificatie van consumenten volgens de eIDAS-verordening, waardoor fysieke identificatie overbodig wordt en processen efficiënter verlopen. | Mkb-innovati... | € 186.410 | 2019 | Details |
M-i-Pass
Dit project onderzoekt de haalbaarheid van LightDrop-technologie voor veilige offline dataoverdracht in het digitale-identiteit-ecosysteem.
DeCookinizing the internet
Het project ontwikkelt een decentrale digitale identiteit en bijbehorende applicaties om gebruikers regie en soevereiniteit over hun persoonlijke data terug te geven.
DEFENCE
Het project ontwikkelt een geavanceerde oplossing voor identificatie en authenticatie om het bindingsprobleem van digitale identiteiten in de EU aan te pakken en veilige toegang te waarborgen.
Burger Identity As A Service
Conduction ontwikkelt een blockchain-platform om burgers controle over hun persoonsgegevens te geven en de haalbaarheid van dit product te onderzoeken.
Gekwalificeerd digitaal identificeren en ondertekenen met je ID-bewijs
Het project ontwikkelt een oplossing voor veilige online identificatie van consumenten volgens de eIDAS-verordening, waardoor fysieke identificatie overbodig wordt en processen efficiënter verlopen.