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Introduction
The use of information and communication technology (ICT) is becoming increasingly central to the way in which music festivals are conceived and delivered. UNESCO (2019, p. 1) define ICT as the “diverse set of technological tools and resources use to transmit, store, create, share or exchange information” which specifically includes the Internet and live and recorded broadcasting technologies. Whilst describing festivals as events based on extraordinary experiences, Cudny (2016, p. 19) noted that they “occupy a specified place for a specified period of time”; however, this may be subtly changing in the United Kingdom, where the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Culture White Paper (2016, p. 38) stated that “technology is expanding the ways in which we make and experience culture”. For music festivals, Bossey (2018, p. 415) noted that “the digital arena opens up new opportunities across a range of artistic and operational process”.
Inclusivity is “the fact or policy of not excluding members or participants on the grounds of gender, race, class, sexuality, disability, etc” (Collins English Dictionary, 2019). Social inclusion “might be an outcome of festival involvement and attendance”, (Laing and Mair, 2015, p. 8), but little research evidences how music festival promoters might help facilitate this. Indeed, festivals may have “potential for emphasising exclusivity and superiority” (Wilks, 2011, p. 7) and inclusivity at music festivals is contentious. Platt and Finkel (2018, p. 2) argued that “it is imperative that policy-makers and organisations in the planned events sector consider how gender, equality, and diversity are managed as a legal and moral imperative.”
The Chartered Institute for Personal Development (2018, p. 1) describes diversity as recognising that people have things in common with each other, whilst also being different in many ways and that “inclusion is where those differences are seen as a benefit”. This paper considers inclusivity in the context of people who are Deaf or disabled, rather than from a broader diversity perspective.
Defining accessibility as “measures put in place to address participation by those with impairments”, Finkel et al. (2019, p. 2) noted that impairments may be permanent or temporary and physical and/or mental. Lazar, Goldstein and Taylor (2015, p. 18) defined accessible technology as “technology that can be utilised effectively by people with disabilities” in...