Growing the evidence base for digital inclusion

The research, policy, and practice around digital inclusion is more engaging than ever before. These aren’t your typical summer holiday suggestions, but the below publications and events are interesting, informing and wholly worthwhile.

So, here are my recommendations…

My top three academic must-reads address theory, practice and experiences of digital exclusion, inclusion and inequalities – all written by academics who are passionate about building evidence to bring about change:

• Dr Kira Allmann’s recent UK Digital Poverty Evidence Review 2022 – written on behalf of the Digital Poverty Alliance community of which Good Things Foundation is proud to be part, and launched last month.
• Prof. Ellen Helsper’s The Digital Disconnect: The social causes and consequences of digital inequalities – this is likely to serve as the go-to textbook on socio-digital inequalities in a global context, and launched last year.
• Prof. Simeon Yates, Dr Elinor Carmi and colleagues: Me and My Big Data: Understanding citizens’ data literacies – a 2021 research report supported by the Nuffield Foundation using primary and secondary data to shine a light on digital lives.

And the all-important trailers…

• On Wednesday this week, we publish our executive briefing – ‘The Economic Case for Digital Inclusion in the UK’. Supported by Capita, we commissioned the Centre for Economics and Business Research to update analysis they did in 2015 and 2018. With all that’s happened in the pandemic, and the indisputable importance of digital in our lives, we felt like now is the time to update this analysis. Our report provides a solid base for strategic leaders and policy makers to develop their business case for digital inclusion. There are still tickets to attend our roundtable discussion on the research – please sign up here.
• And, if you missed our excellent stakeholder event in June on research underway to develop a national benchmark, a Minimum Digital Living Standard for households in the UK, and in Wales – you can catch up with our briefing paper and play back the presentations.
• Last but by no means least, we’re super excited about reports due this autumn from our Data Poverty Lab Fellows. Their work is pushing thinking forward on fair, sustainable ways to end data poverty. We’re also now starting to get ideas together for new avenues to pursue in our Data Poverty Lab Challenge Fund 2022 with Nominet. So look out for our survey on our socials, we want to hear from you! 

The evidence is building. The case for change is strong. And we’ll keep on working to improve the knowledge base as we drive forward our new Strategy 2022-25 to Fix the Digital Divide – for Good.