Digital Poverty

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority wanted to study how digital poverty affects inequality in the region and identify its most digitally excluded social groups and the constraints that led to their exclusion.

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The project involved mapping the region in order to identify areas that are more vulnerable to digital poverty by highlighting the intersections of various inequalities and barriers (for example, areas where broadband access, average income, and upper level of education are all low).  This provides a more nuanced understanding of which populations and areas are more affected, potentially leaving them out of the labour market and education because they are digitally excluded.

Project objectives:

  • Establish the barriers to digital inclusion across South Yorkshire
  • Determine the region’s ‘most digitally excluded’ social groups
  • Identify ‘information gatekeepers’ in digitally excluded communities that can support future policy and project interventions
  • Develop a set of guidelines for policy makers to inform new policies to address digital poverty and digital inclusion in South Yorkshire.                                                                                                                 

You can access the interactive map and the project report below:

Policy summary

Map

Watch the Digital Poverty Webinar

Project team:

Dr Efpraxia D. Zamani, Information School (Principal Investigator).

Dr Sara Vannini, Information School (Co-Investigator).

Dr Gemma Ives, Research and Innovation IT (Data Scientist).

Dr Felipe Tornquist Perez, (Research Associate).