My Documents, Check Them Out: A game-based method to engage border-crossers in the re-design of migration infrastructures

Information infrastructures for migration management significantly affect border-crossers’ life, yet they are not considered users of those infrastructures. Drawing on material publics and design justice, we hypothesize that border-crossers should be engaged in the (re)design of the classificatory infrastructures usually deployed in migration control. To further this hypothesis we developed a collaborative, role playing, serious game which was conceived as a “design site” to explore alternative classifications and co-produce knowledge. Players are invited to design an application form containing the personal information of fictional characters. The game was tested with different actors (asylum seekers, activists, lawyers, students). Tests provided unexpected results: Participants struggled to “think with” categories and they tended to reproduce the categories commonly deployed in migration infrastructures. Still, the game succeeded in working as “knowledge exposure”, as it revealed and increased players’ familiarity with the dynamics of migration control. Border-crossers perceived the game as a meaning-making and learning activity, whereas other actors mobilized their own professional skills. We argue that games might be sites where marginalized communities could develop knowledge, skills and resources for reflecting about and changing the technologies affecting their lives.