Migranti digitali tra dimensione locale e globale. Percorsi d’inclusione e strategie di comunicazione istituzionale.

The emergency situation related to the migration phenomenon, made even more critical by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, has highlighted the need to ensure new cultural integration strategies to facilitate the reception of foreigners, ensure access to public services and prevent all forms of discrimination. Among the most complex challenges facing institutions today is to promote service communication, in synergy with local-digital media, to foster the social inclusion of migrants and refugees in community life and limit social and cultural inequalities. These aspects have been addressed within the research with the aim of analysing more effective tools for dialogue between social and information workers, between migrant service centres and local communities. The original aspect of the work presented here lies in the evaluation of possible new socio-communicative strategies that local authorities could implement to foster cultural integration, in the analysis of risks and consequences deriving from the improper use of digital technology, in order to identify corrective and educational actions to be promoted through social media. The research has first of all included an in-depth study of the national and international literature mainly referring to the field of cultural and digital sociology, public communication, as well as sociological studies on migration processes. The study was conducted using a multi-method methodology (i.e. through the adoption of mixed quantitative and qualitative methodologies) and organised in two main phases: exploratory and applicative phases. The exploratory phase initially started with a reading of the scenario data through a careful study of national and international literature in an interdisciplinary perspective; in a second phase a quanti-qualitative analysis was carried out within the digital platforms Facebook and Twitter. Through the search for key words, particularly significant, we wanted to outline in general the level of discussion, negative or positive, of the phenomenon of online immigration; the results that emerged were then used as the basis for the construction of an online questionnaire administered to university students. Through this background analysis, therefore, we tried to understand first of all whether the public discourse on immigration on the Net is composed exclusively of contents that aim at building a distorted image of the Other, focused on fear, or on the contrary, whether there have been signs of "detoxification" in terms of communication and information in recent years. In the application phase, through the analysis of a specific case study, the role of local-digital media and their relationship with institutions has been particularly reflected on, exploring tools and ways in which they can get in touch with migrants to promote personal growth, social inclusion and participation in public life and, at the same time, identifying those communication strategies adopted by local authorities. Precisely, the research examined the specific case of the Marche Region to understand how, in a disputed local context, service communication, through local media, could be a useful tool to create paths of integration and to support initiatives of an intercultural nature. The analysis included, first of all, 15 in-depth interviews with the heads of the main Social Policy Offices and Immigration Service Centres in the Marche Region with expertise in information and communication activities; these institutions were chosen as leaders of the inclusion projects in progress or promoters of particular initiatives promoted in their territory. On the basis of what emerged from the interviews, the attention finally shifted to foreign subjects and their relationship with the new media in the various phases of the migration path. In this way, 10 focus groups were conducted, aimed at groups of immigrants who were placed in reception facilities in the Marche region. The aim was to reflect on a new form of "digital social capital" applied to the issue of immigration and a more participatory use of digital devices, without neglecting those risks deriving from an improper and superficial use of new social and digital technologies and the recent strategies adopted by many institutional bodies for a greater "digital" management of the migration phenomenon.