Chapter 1:Introduction.- Chapter 2: Dirt Tracks off the Superhighway: How COVID widened the digital gap for remote First Nations communities in Australia.- Chapter 3: Policy interventions to address digital inequalities in Latin America in the face of the pandemic.- Chapter 4: Connecting Scotland: Delivering Digital Inclusion at Scale.- Chapter 5: Digital inclusion and learning at home: Challenges for low-income Australian families.- Chapter 6: How to make affordability-focused digital inclusion interventions more effective: Lessons from the Connected Students Program.- Chapter 7: Digital inclusion through distribution of iPads during the Covid19 pandemic? A participatory action research in a German secondary school.- Chapter 8:Infocomics vs Infodemics: How comics utilise health, data and media literacies.- Chapter 9: On creating creativity for future-proofing digital engagement, an evidence-based approach.- Chapter 10: Through Media and Digital Literacy Education towards Civic Participation of Disadvantaged Youth.- Chapter 11: Evaluating ‘Meaningful Connectivity’: Digital Literacy and Women in West Bengal, India.- Chapter 12: Developing and delivering and data literacy.

This collection presents policy and research that addresses digital inequalities, access, and skills, from multiple international perspectives.  With a special focus on the impact of the COVID-19, the collection is based on the 2021 Digital Inclusion, Policy and Research Conference, with chapters from both academia and civic organizations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed citizens’ relationship with digital technologies for the foreseeable future. Many people’s main channels of communication were transferred to digital services, platforms, and apps. Everything ‘went online’: our families, friends, partners, health, work, news, politics, culture, arts and protesting. Yet access to digital technologies remained highly unequal. This brought digital inclusion policy and research to the fore, highlighting to policymakers and the public the ‘hidden’ challenges and impacts of digital exclusion and inequalities.

The cutting-edge volume offers research findings and policy case studies that explore digital inclusion from the provision of basic access to digital, via education and digital literacy, and on to issues of gender and technology.  Case studies are drawn from varied sources including the UK, Australia, South America, and Eastern Europe, providing a valuable resource in the pursuit of social equity and justice.

Simeon Yates is Professor of Digital Culture at the University of Liverpool (UK) and co-director of the Digital Media and Society Institute. He has undertaken research on the social, political and cultural impacts of digital media since 1990. Since 2004 he has mainly focused on projects that address issues of digital inclusion and exclusion.

Elinor Carmi is a feminist, researcher, journalist, and an ex-radio broadcaster who has a passion for data politics, digital rights, and feminism. Currently Dr. Carmi is a Lecturer in Data Politics and Social Justice, at the Sociology & Criminology Department at City, University of London, UK.

Presents policy and research that addresses digital inequalities, access, and skills Has a special focus on the impact of COVID-19 Draws from international research from the UK, Australia, South America, and Eastern Europe This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

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