CODE NL-D is a collaboration between IMPAKT and the Berlin-based School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe. The School of Machines is an independent school which engages in the interplay between art, technology, design and society.  During this project, artists, politicians, activists and academics start a dialogue between one another concerning digital agency, rights of the digital citizens but also visibility of minorities. The project asks how we can create awareness about digitizing society amongst governments and politicians. What are the digital rights that we, the citizens, should require and what role should the government play within it?

The first expert meeting to kickoff the project took place digitally on 12 March 2021. During this online meeting, selected representatives discussed the main issues that CODE NL-D is concerned with. Specifically, the discussion was led around three main questions: what is the problem? What kind of change do we want? And how can designers/artists/ academics contribute to this change?

Over the next months, with a series of workshops, a Hackathon and two symposiums, we invite participants to think with us about the current position of the digital sector in the policy-making processes, to develop concepts and formulate solutions for a stronger connection between the digital and (inter)national politics. The project will result in an online exhibition (IMPAKT web-project) and the release of a digital methodology toolkit about the findings of the project.