Siegen Pop-Up University: Music Production for Everybody? Exploring the Gender Digital Divide in Sound Cultures

While digitalization concerns most people in the world today, many observations show unequal social participation in the use of digital tools and practices – inequalities that are often called a digital divide. Some social inequalities that already existed prior to digitalization are perpetuated throughout processes of digitalization, as is clearly exemplified by the steadily low quota of women* among music producers (< 5% with regional variations). While that topic involves complex scientific debates, the workshop offers an explorative approach. As an introductory impulse, illustrative research and teaching material from exemplary cases of negotiating the digital gap in sound cultures will be presented. After that, the main part of the workshop will be dedicated to discussing questions like the following in diverse communicative formats: How do people learn producing music with digital tools? What relevance does their gender have in processes of learning, participating in communities and professionalization? What are the challenges in particular regional areas, e.g., for inhabitants of rural areas who are interested in urban cultures?

Host: Florian Heesch

This Siegen Pop-Up University event will take place in Hardesty Hall, room 3155, and is free and open to the TU community.