By: Zahra Hosseini
Behind shiny digital portals are some assumptions regarding users, their familiarity, and trust. What if migrants won’t fit this mold?
It is not easy to design truly inclusive digital services. It is not simple to design inclusive information systems. It requires more than translation; it requires redesigning assumptions regarding the user, putting unfamiliarity as a key design factor, and engaging migrant communities in actively co-designing solutions. Otherwise, digital infrastructures will continue to reproduce exclusion in the name of neutrality.
Familiarity with information about common administrative systems, such as the municipal system, taxation, education system, etc., may seem very basic to ordinary citizens. These systems presume a level of cultural and institutional literacy that most migrants, and in particular non-EU migrants, do not possess. Many immigrants feel a sense of shame and fear asking and searching about basic information.
Designing digital services – natives only?
One of the main issues lies in how digital public services are constructed. Designed primarily with the native-born in mind, these websites assume that users understand bureaucratic language, service logics, and navigations that come intuitively to natives. For immigrants, especially new arrivals, this assumption, combined with limited access to information, can lead to confusion, distrust, and exclusion. Some immigrants have even sensed that these information gaps may be intentional. This conflict may further undermine their trust in public institutions.
Our study found that access to information is not a linguistic or technical issue, but rather a social and cultural one. In fact, strong language skills, digital literacy, and social networks enable system knowledge, but are not always enough. One immigrant entrepreneur, for instance, reported that it took her years to discover Finnish business support organizations like Yrittäjät, not due to a lack of language skills, but simply because she did not know they existed (Hosseini & Hytönen, 2022). Similarly, another migrant who was in a marriage with a Finnish national assumed she had informal support from her husband but remained unaware of free Finnish classes and migrant services for years. This suggests that even proximity to the Finnish population does not guarantee effective access to information.
The challenge of unfamiliarity is particularly pronounced for non-EU migrants, who have neither prior experience of European administrative systems nor the networks through which the gap could be plugged. Asylum seekers tend to receive orientation upon arrival, but other migrants must navigate a complex system without a guide. Even when migrants are still unfamiliar with the local administrative organizations, general access to public services and rights can be obstructed, not by intention, but by standard and non-adaptive design.
Discrimination in the digital age
Finland has a strong legal framework to ensure against discrimination, particularly against migrants. Just 11% of migrants in Finland feel discriminated against, according to the OECD. However, as the same report highlights, discrimination still persists in more subtle and institutionalized ways, i.e., stringent language policies, discriminatory career advice, and institutional gatekeeping (OECD, 2017; Mannila, 2021).
Asma (2023) extends the definition of unintentional discrimination, which can be induced by reproducing social systems and norms unconsciously. With the internet age, one form of unintentional discrimination can be induced by insufficient information about public services and poor access to necessary information for people who are not well-acquainted with the system, e.g., migrants. Familiarity with the system is essential for migrants. Without it, they are left vulnerable to disinformation, harassment, and bureaucratic breakdown.
References
Asma, L. J. F. (2023). Implicit bias as unintentional discrimination. Synthese, 202(5), 129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-023-04364-3
Hosseini, Z. & Hytonen, K. (2022). A pedagogical approach for socio-cultural inclusion: A study on immigrant entrepreneurs in Finland. Education and New Developments 2022. InScience Press. 426-430. https://doi.org/10.36315/2022v2end094
Mannila, S. (2021). Discrimination in Finland 2017-2019: Data report. https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/162843
OECD (2017). Finding the Way: A Discussion of the Finnish Migrant Integration System. https://doi.org/10.1787/acf7ef05-en