ABSTRACT. In the recent Australian 2021 census the socio-technical construct of algorithmic driven decision making processes made LGBTQ+ as a category of diversity, inclusion and belonging an absent presence. The implications of LGBTQ+data being missing in action is, we suggest, not new but continues to shape how, and on what terms social justice inclusion and agency are experienced in LGBTQ+ lives. In this paper we query the notion of ‘data justice’ in relation to the entrenchment of inequalities and exclusion of LGBTQ+ lives. In doing so we address the role of digital data and algorithms in the production of meaning making and how ‘systems’ engage with data to advantage heteronormative privilege. As we think through the implications of technical democracy, data justice and post automation we draw on critical encounters with different kinds of data present in of LGBTQ+ lives. We consider the implications in when queer data is habitually missing in action and narrate the effects of systemic digital data exclusion on the wider LGBTQ+ community.

Dr Janine Aldous Arantes is a Teaching Focussed Academic in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Victoria University. Janine has worked in various educational contexts for over 20 years, and currently focusses her teaching on the Masters of Teaching Program at Victoria University, and her research on the implicationsof integrating digital technologies in schools. She is an Early Career Researcher, who completed her PhD titled 'Big Data, Black Boxes and Vias: The Algorithmic Identity and Educational Practice' from the University of Newcastle, and has been awarded a VU Fellowship in 2022. Currently working on research associated with AI technologies, and teachers' rights alongside the shifting nature of teachers' identities in digital classrooms, Janine has a passion for how people understand the implications and impacts of digital technologies through a social justice lens. 

Following 24 years of working in education in several countries, with 15 of those in higher education, Dr Mark Vicars has extensive international, multi-sector experience of teaching and learning, embodied, blended and online, as well as a solid track record of team and curriculum leadership. He is highly experienced in developing international strategy on teaching and learning in Australia, Asia and the UK, generating international opportunities for collaborative partnerships focused on the teaching/research nexus. He has developed research affiliations and education partnerships internationally to deliver educational workplace training and research. Mark’s philosophy of praxis is underpinned by principles of social justice and he has proven success in leadership in tertiary educative contexts and has substantial experience in providing quality and innovation in learning. As a scholar, researcher, teacher Mark is dedicated, innovative, and passionate about creative, research-oriented professional journeys and community engagement. He is intrinsically motivated and enjoys working collaboratively in dynamic, creative environments. Mark’s teaching is highly evaluated, based on a commitment to working with students from diverse countries, cultures, socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Throughout his career, Mark has produced an integrated body of work that has fundamentally been focused upon engaging with teacher-learners through a transformative student experience

ABSTRACT. Particularly since the shock victories and popularity of Brexit and Donald Trump, there has been concern that citizens, en masse, exist in democratically dysfunctional ideological bubbles, where they only hear likeminded perspectives, especially online. Researchers now contest that narrative. Therefore, this study explores ‘embubblement’ and its effects in one marginal but perhaps high-risk group, young people. They are considered more impressionable, and more get their news online, hence the importance of digital policy and digital literacy skills to prevent embubblement. This mixed-methods digital ethnography contains a 10-wave cohort study, diary study hybrid. Fieldwork involved UK school students aged 16-18 (n=21). One day a month for 10 months, participants captured, primarily via phone screen recording, any political communication they encountered or did, across all mediums online and in-person. Embubblement is operationalised not just as whether citizens encounter enough disagreement; avoiding ‘echo chambers’ and, online, ‘filter bubbles’, but whether citizens are actually open-minded to the opposing perspectives encountered – overwise they are still trapped in an ‘epistemic bubble.’ Findings strengthen the literature’s emerging consensus, overturning the embubblement narrative. Throughout, all participants placed only around midway on a scale from minimum to maximum embubblement. No participants’ levels of embubblement or partisanship increased over ten months, as if they were becoming polarised, falling down rabbit holes of hyperpartisan content. Almost all relied on relatively neutral mainstream media sources. Different participants saw different stories, but these did not offer partisan, contradictory representations of reality. Opposing partisans seemed healthily anchored to the one reality. Embubblement seems to have one benefit for democracy: correlating with increased political engagement. Wider implications are discussed regarding how media and others can encourage political engagement but without, especially young people, falling into bubbles. Ethnography's thick description explores participants’ practices in depth qualitatively. This will inform digital literacy/citizenship NGOs, tech companies and policymakers.

Scott Downham is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research interests include political communication & journalism, media representation, the media system and political socialisation.

ABSTRACT. Every move to digitise and automate services and daily interactions increases the potential for digital exclusion, multiplying the problems associated with the inability to access, make use of, and afford the digital technologies and services required to meaningfully engage with contemporary life. COVID-19 restrictions to in-person connections with people and services have emphasised the persistent link between social and digital inequalities. Those unable to navigate platforms for social connection or work, new modes of QR code access to venues and services, or manage their personal vaccination status through linked health and identity documentation are literally locked out. Similarly, there has been a forced acceleration of digital transformation for many institutions, businesses, services, and non-profit organisations. As automated systems increasingly mediate decision-making across many domains of the digital society, we see yet another frontier opening up for forms of digital exclusion and inequality.

This paper reports on a workshop hosted by the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making that was convened in mid-July of this year around these very questions. We aim to illustrate the implications and concerns that ADM presents for digital inclusion and exclusion, and synthesis emerging dialogues around this.

Dr Indigo Holcombe-James is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, based at RMIT in Melbourne Australia, where she works on a range of projects focussed on digital inequalities and transformation.

Dr Jenny Kennedy is a senior research fellow in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University in Australia. She is currently working on a range of projects that explore technofeminist approaches to AI and smart home technologies, ethical data governance, and improving the digital inclusion of those living in low-income households.

ABSTRACT. Broadband connectivity should be considered a fourth utility, similar to water, gas and electricity. It is a key component of digital inclusion but it is not the only one - access to devices, motivation and trust, skills and education are also inextricably linked to creating a digitally inclusive society.

Southwark Council are working on 6 digital inclusion pillars and several projects to make sure every resident has access to broadband, devices and the skills they need to take part in the digital society by 2025. In order to bring this vision to fruition, a cross-sector partnership and leveraging our existing relationships with the private sector, third sector and academia is critical.

This presentation looks at the pandemic digital inclusion response from Southwark Council and other countries and what the future of a digitally inclusive society looks like. This submission draws on Southwark's Technology & Digital Inclusion Strategy 22 - 25 and also research done as part of a Data Poverty Lab Fellowship, supported by Good Things Foundation in partnership with Nominet. The full research report will be published this autumn. More information about the Data Poverty Lab is available on Good Things Foundation's website: https://www.goodthingsfoundation.org/data-poverty-lab/

Shade Nathaniel-Ayodele is the Digital Inclusion, Skills & Connectivity Lead at Southwark Council and a Data Poverty Lab Fellow with the Good Things Foundation and Nominet, working on the research topic of "Internet access as a human right or an essential utility".

ABSTRACT. Connectivity is often held up as the third prong of digital inclusion, alongside devices and skills. But in the UK, charities report data poverty as the hardest to overcome in bridging the digital divide. This paper compares different community-led models which address data poverty in the UK and recommends ways to scale them regionally or nationally.

Using case studies and qualitative data, this paper analyses the benefits and drawbacks of different connectivity interventions for the most digitally disadvantaged. By comparing models via the perspective of participants with lived experience, alongside frontline community workers, this paper offers a lived experience perspective on the qualities of a successful connectivity intervention.

The result is that charities, community organisations, academics, policymakers, regulators and telecoms companies can see the current solutions, and their scaling possibilities, through the eyes of the most digitally excluded.

Example models include: - Broadband in a box: asylum seeker accommodation in Belfast; psychological therapies in Islington; domestic abuse survivor interventions in Hartlepool - Community-led fibre: showcasing the advantages and drawbacks of an approach pioneered by B4RN in Yorkshire - 5G Test bed: localised areas in Liverpool using council-owned lampposts to distribute 5G signal for social care interventions

Using the Three Horizon framework, the paper also suggests future-focused ideas to stretch beyond current interventions, building on existing policy, regulatory and technological trends. The paper draws on a current literature review and interviews with policy makers, telecoms companies and stakeholders, to make recommendations within the wider ecosystem.

The paper also suggests different interventions for different groups and the need to stratify the needs of vulnerable groups, as the UK develops connectivity interventions which address data poverty.

This paper is the result of a three-month research fellowship in association with the Data Poverty Lab, a collaboration between Good Things Foundation and Nominet.

Kat Dixon is a research fellow with the Data Poverty Lab - a collaboration between Good Things Foundation and Nominet - and Director of Partnerships with national charity Catch22.

ABSTRACT. The persistence and repetition of the COVID-19 pose greater challenges to the aging society in the digital age. Under the dual trend of ‘digitalization’ of social operation and ‘aging’ of population structure, the quality of daily life of the elderly group may be more influenced for they are facing the dual dilemma of 'social exclusion' and 'digital exclusion'.

In China, during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially at the beginning of the outbreak, the inability to display 'health QR codes' on smartphones has become an obstacle for the elderly to go out or travel around. Their difficulties were widely concerned.

In November 2020, the General Office of the State Council of China issued the Implementation Plan on Effectively Solving the Difficulties of Using Intelligent Technology for the Elderly, proposing to establish a long-term mechanism to solve the problem of digital divide for the elderly and build a digitally inclusive aging society.

Based on this, this article will analyze the progression of digital inclusion of the elderly in China in the past two years since the initiative launched, from the aspects of government policies and measures, improvements of products and services by digital technology enterprises, and academic research progress.

ABSTRACT. Recent negotiations of ‘data’ in schools place focus on student assessment and NAPLAN. However, with the rise in artificial intelligence (AI) underpinning educational technology, there is a need to shift focus towards the value of teachers’ digital data. By doing so, the broader debate surrounding the implications of these technologies and rights within the classroom as a workplace becomes more apparent to practitioners and educational researchers. Drawing on the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Human Rights and Technology final report, this conceptual paper focusses on teachers’ rights alongside emerging technologies that use or provide predictive analytics or artificial intelligence, also called ‘personalisation’. The lens of Postdigital positionality guides the discussion. Three potential consequences are presented as provocations: (1) What might happen if emerging technology uses teachers’ digital data that represent current societal inequality? (2) What might happen if insights provided by such technology are inaccurate, insufficient, or unrepresentative of our teachers? (3) What might happen if the design of the AI system itself is discriminatory? This conceptual paper argues for increased discourse about technologies that use or provide predictive analytics complemented by considering potential consequences associated with algorithmic bias.

Dr Janine Aldous Arantes is a Teaching Focussed Academic in the Faculty of Arts and Education, at Victoria University. Janine has worked in various educational contexts for over 20 years, and currently focusses her teaching on the Masters of Teaching Program at Victoria University, and her research on the implications of integrating digital technologies in schools. She is an Early Career Researcher, who completed her PhD titled ‘Big Data, Black Boxes and Bias: The Algorithmic Identity and Educational Practice’ from the University of Newcastle, and has been awarded a VU Fellowship in 202. Currently working on research associated with AI technologies, and teachers’ rights alongside the shifting nature of teachers' identities in digital classrooms, Janine has a passion for how people understand the implications and impacts of digital technologies through a social justice lens. 

ABSTRACT. Digital platforms have become the battleground for labor disputes and protests in China, especially in the platform-based food delivery industry. It is one of the fastest-growing gig economy industries generating over 63% of the global food delivery market revenue in 2021. But under this prosperous appearance, the food delivery job is viewed as a race with the Grim Reaper. Over 10 million food couriers in China face unfavorable working conditions, such as long working hours and high injury rates, and the situation keeps worsening. A key characteristic of the Chinese platform economy is the segmentation of the labor market, but this is largely ignored in prior research. This is the first study to focus on the Chinese platform economy to explore labor market segmentation by analyzing the effect of Meituan’s (the largest Chinese food delivery platform) introduction of a third food courier position. Moreover, because the regulation of the platform economy is a global challenge, research regarding Chinese gig workers can help delineate the platforms’ liability and labor protection globally. The research draws data from online vlogs posted by food couriers supplemented by interview data and data from existing research. The analysis demonstrates that the labor market segmentation strategy helps the platform better control the workers and enhances managerial control, especially over scheduling, giving the platform more numerical flexibility at a low cost. The strategy divides workers into first and second peripheral groups, facilitating further organizational labor externalization and undermining workers’ solidarity. Overall, the study demonstrates that deliberately following a strategy of normalizing non-standard employment relations and segmenting the labor force has benefited the platform company at the cost of reduced labor welfare. 

Maggie Xu studied MSc Social Science of the Internet at teh University of Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute. Her research focuses on labor and employment issues in China's gig economy. Currrently, she is working in data and credit risk.

ABSTRACT. Matt Adam, is the Chief Executive and Founder of We Are Digital (WAD), a proud social business that is one of the fastest-growing social enterprises in the UK, based out of the West Midlands and backed by Europe’s top impact investors. As a social business, 100% of WAD revenue must help people in need. WAD also devote significant resources to demonstrating the true societal impact of their work through SROI measurement. Matt started the business 10 years ago after being inspired by Baroness Martha Lane Fox in her Race to get everyone online by the end of the 2012 London Olympics.

Matt will share the SROI results in partnership with Envoy to show some unique data for the first time in the sector. Matt will discuss and explore how as Founder of We Are Digital how his team and clients are mainstreaming digital and financial inclusion policy and practice into everyday core services such as managing debt services and digital skills for online banking. He will be able to share how based on behavioural science he and his clients are able to support people in their current journey (eg home or work) and in their existing journeys (eg in a bank) for optimum social impact. Matt will also be able to share how by incorporating SROI into everything the organisation does, how they are able to measure and respond to the material net impact he and his client services are having on people's lives. To exemplify this, Matt will share Russell’s story by video and how through an alternative model how Russel is now better able to manage his mental health and independence, sustainably using transformative digital inclusion services and through impact (not activity) driven measurement techniques.

Matt Adam is the CEO and founder of We Are Digital. He is disrupting hte tech-for-good space with is West-Midlands mission-led scale-up. Founded in 2012 and backed by Europe's top impact investors (Si2, Ascension, Triplepoint, and Clearly So), We Are Digital helps 100,000 people get online, access essential government services, manage money, gain new jobs, and ultimately improves lives. We Are Digital is a social impact business where 100% of the revenue must help people in need. This devotes significant resources to demonstrate the true societal impact with a robust SROI measurement. 

ABSTRACT. Social media, such as Facebook, are an integral part of how people produce, consume, and share information nowadays. When registering on these platforms, users must agree to their Terms of Service (ToS), and posting misinformation or prohibited content can lead to accounts being suspended or deleted (Shu et al., 2020). However, previous research has indicated that people do not read ToS because they are too complex and long (Krumsiek, 2018; Benoliel and Becher, 2019). Since these legal documents are relevant to determining the platform community’s rights and obligations, this study aims to explore Facebook ToS structure and main topics from an Information Architecture (Rosenfeld & Morville, 2002) perspective, their applicability when reporting content, and then proposes solutions on how to make them more effective. Hence, the research identifies how these policies are designed and structured and how they address issues of misinformation. The results indicate that, contrary to previous findings, Facebook ToS are easy to navigate, well-illustrated, interactive, and provide plenty of explanations regarding misinformation. However, the content itself is still very extensive and seems not to reach users properly, lacking in effectiveness as misinformation increasingly becomes spread across the platform. Thus, the company should take more accountability to reduce this issue by further simplifying the technical information, and promoting it directly and constantly to its community, besides creating more campaigns to raise awareness and educate its users on misinformation.

Admilson Veloso is a Brazilian Ph.D. Candidate in Communication Science and a Lecturer at the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary. He has a BA in Social Communication/Journalism, an MBA in Digital Communication, and a MA in Social Communication.

Ivanna Parakhnenko is a Ukrainian Master in Communication and Media Studies from the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, with a BA in English Language Studies.

References: Shu, K., Wang, S., Lee, Dongwon, & Liu, H. (2020). Disinformation, Misinformation, and Fake News in Social Media: Emerging Research Challenges and Opportunities. Springer Nature.

Krumsiek, A. (2018). Cyber mobs: Destructive online communities. New York: Lucent Press.

Benoliel, U., & Becher, S. I. (2019) The Duty to Read the Unreadable. 60 Boston College Law Review 2255, Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3313837

Rosenfeld, L., & Morville, P. (2002). Information architecture for the World Wide Web (2nd ed.). Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly.

ABSTRACT. SAD is a chronic intense anxious response to social or performance situations where other people's evaluations may occur (APA, 2013). Individuals with SAD tend to withdraw from social situations and, in severe cases, experience solitude and isolation, a state that may lead to feelings of grief and an increased risk of suffering from psychological disorders (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Though treatments for SAD exist (Acarturk et al., 2009), only 35.2% of individuals with SAD seek treatment for the disorder (Ruscio et al., 2008), and more than third report symptoms for ten or more years before seeking help (ADAA, 2022). Concurrently, individuals with SAD experience significantly lower anxiety levels when interacting online (Yen et al., 2012) and hence can benefit from using the Internet to increase their wellbeing. The current study employed semi-structured interviews to explore the experience of 15 young adults with SAD (M=28.67, SD=4.30) with communicating with others via the Internet. The study's findings indicate that SAD follows the users into the online space and forms how they use the Internet. Nevertheless, online communication differs from offline communication experiences as it grants the participants more control over the exposure's extent and allows them to participate on their terms. Furthermore, online communication contributes to the formation of the anxiety's nature offline; for some, it decreases the extent of anxiety and increases it for others. The study's results suggest that a resemblance exists between the reality online and offline regarding the anxiety; nevertheless, the online space is perceived as safer due to the Internet's utilities. As a result, individuals with SAD spend more time interacting online hence gaining experience in interpersonal communication, which may assist them in better interacting offline and increase their wellbeing.

Tanya Zilberstein is a PhD student at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, specialising in Media Psychology and Communication Studies.

ABSTRACT. Purpose: Social media has emerged as an essential source of COVID-19 pandemic-related news for young consumers. Social media is an essential platform for discussing severe health issues during the pandemic. World Health Organization (WHO) declared the excess of information and overabundance of communication an infodemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the world witnessed the first social media infodemic. WHO has failed as a gatekeeper due to a lack of technology to check the spread of fake news. The digital sharing of information, lack of media literacy, and lack of infrastructure to detect fake news have posed a significant challenge in the digital sphere. Design/methodology/approach: This study has used content analysis and in-depth qualitative interviews of young fact-checkers to assess the central role of WHO in managing the Infodemic and the possibility of artificial intelligence (AI) deployment as a strategy during the Infodemic. Findings: This study argues that social media is the new media in modern times. During the Covid-19 pandemic, public opinion about the causes, symptoms, treatment, vaccines, side effects, and other information on the Covid-19 pandemic was divided and distorted due to the spread of lies, conspiracy theories, false information, misinformation, disinformation, and other types of fake news. Human fact-checkers cannot monitor the spread of fake news on social media platforms. Originality: This paper discusses how public opinions are distorted in the digital public sphere and also discusses how WHO could have played a better role in managing the information by using technological interventions such as AI-based systems.

Dr Upadhay is an Associate Professor and author of the book AI Revolution in HRM: The New Scorecard, and has a teaching and research interest in technology, people and strategy. 

ABSTRACT. The Centre for Digital Public Services has been working with the Welsh Government Office of the Chief Digital Officer and the Welsh Government Financial and Digital Inclusion Team to develop a single directory covering recent, current and planned digital inclusion activities in Wales.

This includes activities such as gifting devices to those unable to access one, supporting individuals to develop basic digital skills, and ensuring households can access and afford broadband or mobile data. Our initial research has now finished, and we will be talking about the background to the work and methodology, as well as some of our findings - including what types of digital inclusion support are most offered in Wales and how this has changed over time.

Our data is in the process of being finalised on Data Map Wales so that individuals can view our findings, and there will be a live demonstration of how to use this resource. The team will also present some insights into digital inclusion activity across the UK and in Europe, and how the support offered in Wales compares to this. The Welsh Government Financial and Digital Inclusion Team will conclude with how they are planning on taking the work forwards.

Henry Holms and Aoife Clark are digital specialists at The PSC, a public services management consultancy. In early 2022, they were commissioned by the Welsh Government Centre for Digital Public Services (CDPS) to deliver a national review of digital inclusion activities in Wales. They worked closely with the Welsh Government Digital Inclusion Team, who are now taking forward the next steps of the review. The data gathered by the review has been mapped and will soon be available on DataMapWales.

ABSTRACT. This talk by Jonathan Ley, the Founder and CEO of Make Time Count, reflects on the latest insight and data to demonstrate the business case of a connected and inclusive digital community system for individuals and for society.

Make Time Count is a UK-based social enterprise with the purpose to eradicate reoffending using technology. Make Time Count was founded in 2020 with a mission to digitally empower all parts of the justice ecosystem to collaborate and support vulnerable people in a whole new way.

Jonathan Ley, is founder of Make Time Count. After a 15 year career with Accenture and Deutsche Bank, Jonathan was asked to be a Special Advisor at the  London Probation Service, his first exposure to Criminal Justice or the government sector. This experience led to the creation of Make Time Count, to develop technology to support users on probation. Since then, Make time Count has expanded to support Police, Prisons and other Social Care companies. Make Time Count builds support networks for vulnerable people to help users overcome difficulties. So far Make Time Count has been defined as a “gamechanger” and a “project of immense societal value”. As a social enterprise, Make Time Count reinvests 51% of profits into a fund that will be used to help vulnerable people start businesses.

ABSTRACT. The Minimum Digital Living Standard research programme supported by Nuffield Foundation, Welsh Government and Nominet is capturing the minimum basket of digital goods, skills and services households need in order to have an adequate quality of life and participate in society. Through employing a participatory approach, the team is developing a framework that encapsulates digital needs and explores the implications of not having these. The project seeks to move digital inclusion policy and research debates beyond simple measures of access and skills.

The current overall definition of a Minimum Digital Living Standard developed in collaboration with UK citizens is:

“A minimum digital standard of living includes, but is more than having accessible internet, adequate equipment, and the skills, knowledge, and support people need. It is about being able to communicate, connect and engage with opportunities safely and with confidence”

This definition has emerged from initial focus groups during the first phase in in the Nuffield funded proof-of-concept study to set a Minimum Digital Living Standard for UK households with children and to develop a Minimum Digital Living Standard for Wales supported by the Welsh government. Additional work to explore young people’s definition of a Minimum Digital Living Standard has been supported by Nominet.

This presentation provides a detailed update on the work so far, the outcomes from the collaborative focus groups and explores the next stages of the project. In 2023 using UK-wide surveys the team will create a geographic model of minimum digital living standards in different areas of the UK that is complemented by data on broadband provision and access to local training.

Professor Simeon Yates is Professor of Digital Culture in the Department of Communications and Media at the University of Liverpool and Joint Director of the Digital Media and Society Research Institute. He has undertaken research on the social, political and cultural impacts of digital media for over three decades. He has a major focus on projects that address issues of digital inclusion and exclusion. He works with both academic and government colleagues to develop policy and interventions to support digital inclusion. Currently, he is working on several projects that relate to issues of digital inequalities. 

ABSTRACT. According to ‘Stop The Traffik’, 40.3 million people are trapped in modern slavery globally. People with lived experience of modern slavery can be faced with challenges when reintegrating back into society. There are support initiatives, but these support services are often delivered online. This shift to “digital-by default” can exacerbate inequalities and limit access to services.

            In our study, we seek to understand this shift and help stakeholder organisations supporting adults with lived experience of modern slavery through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and elsewhere in three ways: 

1. Explore how research insights can support day-to-day work with adults with lived experience of modern slavery

2. What (digital) interventions would best support their clients and

3. How findings could contribute to organisational, regional, and national policy, practice and investment decisions.

            To do so, we designed a methodology comprising of four parts. Firstly, we reviewed the academic and stakeholder literature systematically; secondly, we conducted a round of Delphi process interviews with stakeholders, academic researchers and policy experts on their experiences, concerns, and knowledge around five factors including ‘Impacts of digital exclusion’, ‘Effectiveness of interventions’ and ‘Implications of online service delivery’.

These first two phases of the project are complete; this paper will explore findings and provide an interim report on the project so far, looking forward to the next phase in which we will conduct a series of semi-structured interviews with adults with lived experience of modern slavery, through which we will address questions about how digital inclusion factors specifically articulate for people affected by modern slavery accessing digital technologies.

This project is funded and supported by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC). The Modern Slavery PEC is funded and actively supported by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), from the Strategic Priorities Fund.

Professor Simeon Yates is Professor of Digital Culture in the Department of Communications and Media at the University of Liverpool and Joint Director of the Digital Media and Society Research Institute. He has undertaken research on the social, political and cultural impacts of digital media for over three decades. He has a major focus on projects that address issues of digital inclusion and exclusion. He works with both academic and government colleagues to develop policy and interventions to support digital inclusion. Currently, he is working on several projects that relate to issues of digital inequalities. 

ABSTRACT. More than two decades after the concept of the digital divide was first popularised, digital inequality persists in the form of deepening gaps between people who have meaningful connectivity, devices, digital skills, opportunities, and beneficial outcomes, and those who do not. The digital inclusion agenda aspires to close these gaps by ensuring everyone everywhere is included in the digital world. At the most fundamental level, this means everyone should be able to get online and make use of digital services, and it has led to calls for the internet to be recognised as a human right. But digital inclusion policy and rhetoric often replicate the uncompromising, deterministic understanding of digitisation as the inevitable, unavoidable, and essential vehicle of progress. This framing sets up digital inclusion as an unqualified social good, in opposition to exclusion, which is bad. It annihilates alternative possibilities that might enable greater digital empowerment, not through universal digital inclusion, but through universal digital choice. And there has never been a more important time to consider the ethical pitfalls of inclusion. The digital world today facilitates and is sustained by the collection of huge quantities of information about people in the form of data that is processed by algorithms and algorithmic systems without adequate regulation, nor public scrutiny. Datafication and algorithmic decision-making are relatively new frontiers in the digital divide that already disproportionately disadvantage poor, racialised, and minoritised people and communities. They raise important questions about the merits of inclusion, which champions of digital inclusion must contend with. If we have a right to be included, do we also have a right to choose to be excluded?

Dr Kira Allmann is a Public Engagement Researcher at the Ada Lovelace Institute, where she works to centre public perspectives and lived experience in data and AI policy. She is currently co-producing ethnographic research with people who have lived experience of poverty about the impact of data-driven systems on health inequalities. Kira completed a PhD at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, specialising in cyberpolitics of the Middle East. In the past, she has organised communities of knowledge diversity and disruption working for the Oxford Human Rights Hub and the Whose Knowledge? campaign. Prior to joining Ada, Kira held a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford, where she studied community-led initiatives to close the digital divide.

ABSTRACT. This project set out to uncover the drivers of digital poverty in Northwest Rural England and capture good practice where inclusion has been achieved via adaptive practices in the time of COVID.  Whilst we know that digital poverty is caused by poor infrastructure and limited use of digital technologies, we know much less about the conditions that configure digital poverty and disengagement or exclusion from the world of digital services, so often a part of everyday life (Philip et al., 2017). Rural communities face particular challenges in relation to digital poverty as they struggle with unreliable internet connectivity, reduced local resources and additional costs, often referred to as ‘the rural premium’ (Mason and Wagg, 2021). But there is a significant limitation to extant understandings of the conditions and practices of access that configure digital poverty. We argue a practice-based approach to digital poverty provides a new opportunity to think about and “get inside the complex and evolving nature of digital social inequalities” (Halford & Savage, 2010: 952) by focusing attention on the everyday situated practices that rural citizens perform (cf. Shove 2003). This understanding of digital poverty takes us away from focussing on digital and an individual’s deficit, and instead focuses our attention on the co-constitutive role of the material and social worlds in the performance of moments of digital poverty (cf. Schatzki, 2009; Mason et al. 2019).

This presentation argues the need to rethink conceptualizations of the digital divide as dichotomous and binary. Rather digital poverty is a far more complex phenomenon, with the confluence of practices from different spheres of social and digital life, coming together in critical situated moments to exclude or include those who do not have all the resources necessary for full inclusion, all the time.

Dr Sharon Wagg has just joined the Information School at the University of Sheffield as a Lecturer. Previously Sharon was a Research Associate at Lancaster University Management School, at the University of Lancaster where she worked on the Mobile Access North Yorkshire (MANY) project and a British Academy digital poverty project. Her PhD explored digital inclusion initiative provision in UK rural communities and the entanglement of organisations, intermediaries, individuals and technology.

Professor Katy Mason is also from Lancaster University, where is works as a Professor of Markets, Marketing and Management.

ABSTRACT. In 2018, 29.1% of the EU’s population lived in rural and peripheral areas (Eurostat, 2020) and with the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of urban-rural movements tends to increase (Martin S. & Bergann J., 2021). As the digitalisation and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is becoming an important element for better quality of life and inclusion, research shows its wide applicability in the concept of Smart Villages as well. However, the rural-urban gapis still visible and village life is still not that attractive for people, especially for the younger generations. Research on Smart Villages aims to discover the issues and problems in the everyday life of rural inhabitants, to address these challenges and find a solution for them by using the advantages from digitalization and ICT, adapted to the needs of the community (Visvizi, & Lytras, 2018). However, although the research-policy relation is supported by research agencies, the indication of this is still low (Shroff ZC, et al., 2017). The policy context nowadays is more complex than before (Hudson, B., et al. 2018). In this manner, this presentation will demonstrate a rural digital innovation hub as a policy solution that works towards the long-term sustainable future for Europe’s rural areas. It will further elaborate on how policies can be developed which can deliver a more inclusive society for everyone.

Simona Stojanova, is a researcher and PhD candidate at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Ljubljana Slovenia. Research topic: Sustainable community development through digitalization.

ABSTRACT. Digital technologies pervade all facets of personal and social lives making it imperative to attend to issues relating to inequalities created or reinforced by them. In fact, the recent global pandemic, that challenged the way we live, communicate and work, unearthed and accentuated digital inequalities across the globe. Exclusion from the digital world, amplifies existing societal inequalities as it widens the gap for those who fall on the wrong side of the digital divide. The digital divide relates to access and use of digital technologies, to digital skills and knowledge, and the resulting outcomes from the engagement with these technologies.

Focusing on various aspects of digital poverty and exclusion, this study explores the digital lived experiences of members of two communities in the UK seaside town of Margate. For many UK coastal regions, digital exclusion and inequalities present an additional challenge because of geographic isolation, seasonal work and economic neglect. Margate in particular, presents an interesting case as while it has gone through an arts-based rejuvenation it is also home to some of the UK’s most marginalised communities. By bringing together the voices of the people who experience various levels of digital exclusion, we advance understanding on post-pandemic digital exclusion and discuss policy implications. The findings of our in-depth qualitative study suggest that local communities in Margate are affected by poor digital infrastructure which can have a negative effect on professional and personal lives, education and healthcare. Our study also indicates that when faced with digital failures, local communities attempt to overcome digital barriers by developing coping strategies of digital resilience.

Dr Rachel Stuart is an lecturer in criminology and deviance. She is a criminologist who specialises in the research of marginalised communities. Her doctoral thesis was a study of webcam performers broadcasting adult content material – a study she undertook while simultaneously researching the impacts of policing on the health of sex workers.

Dr Vassilis Charitsis is a lecturer in Marketing at Brunel Business School where he is affiliated with the Research Centre for AI: Social and Digital Innovation. Prior to joining Brunel Business School, Vassilis worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Consumer Society Research of the University of Helsinki. His PhD (Karlstad University, Sweden) focused on self-tracking technologies as pervasive surveillance mechanisms. His research interests lie in the intersection of digital capitalism and the datafication of everyday life. Recent work focuses on automated decision making, algorithmic governance,  data politics and data activism. His work has been published in, amongst others, Social Movement Studies, Triple C: Communication Capitalism and Critique, Television & New Media, Surveillance & Society and ephemera: theory and politics in organisation.

ABSTRACT. Is social media safe and equal for people of all genders? The violence and abuse many women experience on social media platforms lead them to self-censor what they post, limit their interactions, and may drive them away from there.[1] This eventually leads to other psychological impacts like low self-esteem, a sense of powerlessness, inability to concentrate, feeling threat to physical safety, etc.[2] In my research, I focus on understanding the dynamics of online misogyny and how posting strong opinions online might trigger differential behavior for women, as compared to their male counterparts. A comparative study of politicians across the UK and Europe shows that the abuse aimed at female MPs exceeds that directed at their male counterparts and differed in its focus and content.[3] To what extent are influential women who express their political opinion through social media platforms, targeted by online incivility? Is it worse if it is on a controversial or a less popular opinion? What types of online speech trigger online misogyny? It has been seen that the specific targets are often victimized because of their social identities or demographic backgrounds such as age, race, ethnicity, religion, color, sexual orientation, and other factors- often termed ‘identity politics.[4] How does the perception of misogyny differ based on the person’s social identity or background, and can that be incorporated into a prediction/detection task? Analyzing public posts with the purpose of better understanding human interaction and their behavioral dynamics is essential. I will be using various methodologies of data science to analyze the social data by adapting some useful knowledge from the qualitative social science methods and experimentation. Through my work, I aim to create a safer digital space for women and to ensure that they can freely share their views in digital space.

Aditi Dutta is a first year PhD student in Politics at the University of Exeter, studying online misogyny. Her work focuses on applying social science theories in improving the existing shortcomings of computational methods used for identification of misogyny in online social platforms. 

References: [1] Amnesty International UK, “#TOXICTWITTER VIOLENCE AND ABUSE AGAINST WOMEN ONLINE,” 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Toxic-Twitter.pdf [2] “Toxic Twitter - The Psychological Harms of Violence and Abuse Against Women Online,” Amnesty International, Mar. 20, 2018. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/online-violence-against-women-chapter-6/ (accessed May 11, 2022). [3] “A web of abuse: How the far right disproportionately targets female politicians,” BBC News, Jul. 14, 2019. Accessed: May 05, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-48871400 [4] K. Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color,” Stanford Law Rev., vol. 43, no. 6, p. 1241, 1991, doi: 10.2307/1229039.

ABSTRACT. Abstract: Historically, humanity has witnessed the silencing of dissenting and vocal women in all walks of life. In the contemporary world, this has moved into the digital space, and women journalists are often the target. The chilling implications of such gruesome acts are transnational and not just limited to a particular geography. In the most severe cases, these have culminated in physical harm and even the deaths of the victims.

This research argues that such sexualized digital harassment impacts the journalist’s ability to work, thereby generating fear and trauma leading to self-censorship. While a global issue, the journalism industry in India is plagued by deep-rooted misogyny which is distinct from sexual harassment in its varied forms. Although recent studies have begun to provide some research on the Western media landscape, current research on online violence against women journalists in India – a country with a densely populated media landscape, is sparse. Moreover, the global south has been historically overlooked in much of the academic media analysis.

Drawing from academic cross-pollination of media and gender studies, this study examines the repercussions of online violence on the personal and professional lives of women journalists using the Feminist Standpoint theory. The central research question seeks to explore the magnitude of the correlation between digital violence and the psycho-emotional state of women journalists including the way gender power hierarchies in societies are exacerbated online.

The thesis employs a mixed-methods research approach involving surveys and in-depth interviews to investigate the consequences of digital harassment on women journalists and consequently the profession itself. In employing gendered harassment as an analytical lens to develop an in-depth view of the topology of trolling, this research will contribute to media and gender discourse, to further the emergent knowledge on digital harassment and press freedom.

Pragyaa Chandel is a media professional, a former television journalist from India. Prior to delving into academia, she has worked with Times Network and CNBC Tv18, Zee Business for several years, She is pursuing her PhD from DCU Ireland.

ABSTRACT. The greatest single driver of economic recovery exiting the COVID pandemic, and that which will most contribute to sustainable development going forward, is action supporting digital equity for women’s economic agency at the intersection of closing the gender digital divide (GDD) and promoting women’s economic empowerment (WEE), with women as entrepreneurs, equal actors in the workforce, and leaders across the board. To support this position, the following questions will be considered: What is the economic impact of the gender digital divide and the opportunity presented by closing it? What is the state-of-play regarding development action that focuses on tackling the gender digital divide and promoting women’s economic empowerment? What indicators and best practices may be employed to support digital equity for women’s economic agency as a pathway to economic recovery and sustainable development?

Cheryl Miller is Director of the Brussels-based Digital Leadership Institute, and Co-Head of European Delegation to the G20 Women20 stakeholder interest group. 

ABSTRACT. Abstract: The sudden move of pedagogy online due to Covid ‘lockdowns’ provided an opportunity to consider the challenges of transferring teaching methods that are traditionally face-to-face to a virtual space. This paper presents emergent findings from an empirical research study that was conducted during Covid lockdown with 52 undergraduate students at a UK university November 2020-April 2021. It uses the pedagogical practice of Creative Writing ‘workshopping’ as a case study to consider whether it is possible to ‘mimic’ face-to-face workshopping in a virtual environment with evidence-based effectiveness. Emergent findings discussed provide practical details of how to maintain quality in the delivery of participatory online teaching by ensuring an ongoing feedback loop between ‘real life’ and cyberspace. The Creative Writing workshop centres on the exchange of information and critically informed comment by participating students (generally in small groups), and, as such, has similarities with seminars in other disciplines. Hence it is hoped that this paper will be of benefit both in the home discipline and more widely in providing recommendations that can inform pedagogy and policy. In taking initial steps towards development of a pedagogy of affect in which a ‘neutral terrain’ is established that enables students to apply and develop close reading skills in an online environment, the author presents a new theoretical position on what constitutes effective pedagogy in the context of participatory virtual classrooms.

ABSTRACT. The university, as the main social space, can contribute to breaking down material and immaterial barriers that exclude the person with disabilities, limiting the individual's right to participate in activities and contributing to discriminatory conditions. The lack of accessibility to places and the persistence of discrimination and stigma, however, are not the only impediment. Technology, if conceived as a facilitator but designed only on the basis of the characteristics of able-bodied users, can represent an obstacle factor. In this sense, as found by Tsatsou (2020), the inclusion of people with disabilities can be facilitated by the use of digital technologies. The author emphasises how these help to alleviate stigma:

- helping them in performing daily tasks and assisting them in overcoming disability-related difficulties ; - enabling connection between the same types of disabilities, increasing the sense of belonging and improving social inclusion; - facilitating processes of self-identification and confidence in communicating with others mediated by technology.

This view is also found in Valentini (2008), who emphasises how the use of digital technologies is a prerequisite for the development of concrete solutions, since these "break down boundaries and create a new deterritorialised space that can be accessed by a wider range of users than traditional students" (ibid.; p. 17). In fact, deterritorialisation "creates the conditions for carrying out actions and accessing services related to teaching and university education from different places." (ibid., p. 22). To conclude, it would be appropriate to rethink technology on the basis of the concept of Universal Design, i.e. "an approach to the design of technologies that pays more attention to the concept of universal usability: buildings and tools should be conceived, designed and constructed in such a way as to be usable by all" (Fiocco, Martinati, 2002; p. 232).

Carlotta Antonelli is a PhD student enrolled in the XXXV cycle in Communication, Social Research and Marketing at the CoRiS department, Sapienza University of Rome, where she participated in the Italian team "Global media monitoring project 2020". Her research interest is in disability studies, barriers and facilitators, and she is currently pursuing a doctoral thesis entitled 'Universitabile: indagine sull'inclusione degli studenti con disabilità nel contesto universitario romano'. Further research interests: formally included in the University project 'Experts in the limelight. Decision-making processes, scientific dissemination and dynamics of mediatisation'. She is a member of the Italian association of methodology (AIS) 'methodology', 'education' and 'cultural processes' sections, also a member of the Italian association of evaluation (AIVV).

ABSTRACT. Digital technologies have created access and barriers to the world for members of the disabled community, especially those with visual, hearing, and fine motor impairments. The Digital Divide in the context of those with disabilities has left many segregated from the world. At Syracuse University, the commitment to disability inclusion launched a University-wide Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Accessibility Policy (policy) created by and for students, faculty, and staff and instituted by the Chancellor in January 2018. The policy aims “to ensure that members of the Syracuse University community and their guests can effectively access University content and information and communication technologies.” The policy covers, in part, all content, websites, mobile and web-based applications, instructional materials, and academic and administrative software applications. To implement this cutting-edge policy regarding the acquisition and adoption of applications and ICT hardware, an Accessible Assessment Committee (AAC), comprised of disability and information technology leaders at the university with and without disabilities, was formed in 2018. Using advances in technology assessment and education, this committee was able to develop and carry out a transparent process that all SU community members must follow when seeking to procure, adopt, and develop ICT applications or hardware. This policy and practice presentation will highlight learning from four years of AAC work, the review process and supporting documents created, guidance and training provided to the SU community, select case studies of requested procurements, decision-making, and case outcomes.

Jenny Gluck serves as the Associate CIO for for Information Technology Services-Academic Services and is responsible for IT student and faculty help-desk services, design and build of classrooms, computer laboratories, and MarkSpace, instructional software technology infrastructure and support for faculty on the usage of accessible online and physical teaching and learning environments and technologies. 

William Mayhill serves as Syracuse University's interim director and ADA/503/504 coordinator out of the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, and in part serves on the Accessibility Compliance Committee.

Kara Patten is a training consultant in Syracuse University's Information Technology Services department and provided training when the university's ICT Accessibility Policy was first rolled out. She is a member of the Accessibility Assessment Committee.

Paula Possenti-Perez is the director of the Centre for Disabiolity Resources (CDR) at SYracuse University and currently serves as co-chair for the university's Disability Access & Inclusion Council & Council on Diversity & Inclusion, as well as being an active member of the Academic Strategic Planning working group on DEIA efforts.  

ABSTRACT. Being online is an essential lifeline. Throughout the coronavirus crisis, the internet was keeping us connected to friends and family, informed and entertained, and able to learn, work, shop and access health information and other public services.

However, some people can't access these benefits because they don't have the confidence, kit and connectivity at home. Connecting Scotland is working to change this and help get every citizen in Scotland online, by providing free devices, connectivity and support.

Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, this Scottish Government initiative managed by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations succeeded in getting 60,000 digitally excluded households online by the end of 2021.

This presentation looks back on Connecting Scotland as a unique national emergency response to tackle digital exclusion - what we did and learned along the way, the impact the programme has had to date - and look ahead towards the future of the initiative in a post-pandemic environment.

ABSTRACT. The Greater Manchester Digital Blueprint sets out the vision for Greater Manchester to be a world-class leading digital city-region, with a focus on empowering businesses and people.

As many as 1.2m residents in Greater Manchester could be excluded in some way to access the benefits digital brings. A lack of digital access and skills can have huge negative impact on a person’s life, leading to increased loneliness and social isolation, less access to jobs and education, which both in turn are associated with poorer health outcomes and a lower life expectancy and financial exclusion.

Greater Manchester's Digital Inclusion Agenda was launched in October 2020 with the aim to make the city-region 100% digitally enabled with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, setting a priority in May 2021 for Greater Manchester to become one of the first city-regions in the world to equip under 25's, over 75's and disabled people with the skills, connectivity and technology to get online.

To achieve the digital vision for the city-region, Greater Manchester and partners have launched several initiatives and pilots, some the first of their kind, to address digital exclusion, including supporting residents to access technology and affordable connectivity, to get online, and build their digital skills.

ABSTRACT. As part of the Digital Poverty Alliance’s (DPA) goal to end digital poverty in the UK by 2030, we are running several proofs of concept to fill gaps in the knowledge base. While the DPA primarily seeks to bring relevant stakeholders together within the digital poverty community, as well as pull together the existing evidence (see our UK Digital Poverty Evidence Review, 2022), we also want to further knowledge of digital poverty, and effective interventions to improve digital inclusion, in specific contexts and communities.

These proofs of concept are aimed at specific populations of interest, e.g., teachers, students, and prison leavers, who are digitally excluded. These interventions typically include the provision of devices (e.g., laptops, tablets, and dongles), as well as skills training (e.g., through online platforms and mentoring). This presentation will provide an overview of our different proofs of concept, along with information on the evaluations that we are carrying out in collaboration with university partners.