Lead Investigator: Matt Jones The pandemic has opened up the possibility of imagining and building a future that takes different core values and practices as central and works in very different ways. The question of how environments can and should be built, shaped and sustained in ways that enable all people to thrive, needs to … Read more
What is and what isn’t civic participation? What is the role of digital equity in civic participation? Our aim was to co-explore these questions using the INCLUDE+ Process. Social cohesion, social mobility and civic participation are under threat from rising inequalities, tied to health and wellbeing. During the pandemic, civic culture was radically relocated both … Read more
Uncertainties regarding the availability of, and access to opportunities, support, resources and knowledge, have fed into widespread precarity as a lived socio-technical condition across all aspects of life. There is an enduring risk in the aftermath of COVID-19 of rising structural inequality not least because those hit hardest (in terms of work and health) by … Read more
Lead Investigator: Roger Maull Wellbeing is a priority that needs to be addressed through structural change. Research on the impact of changing working and living conditions point to the dual impact of isolation and automation, particularly on younger (including children) and older demographics, and impacting wellbeing, social cohesion and civic engagement. As peripheral and central … Read more
by Yesim Kakalic and Jamie Hancock INCLUDE+ has been mapping the landscape of research on the intersections between precarity, technology, data, and AI (Artificial Intelligence). Precarity has become a pressing concern amid the accelerating integration of technology, data, and AI in various domains of society. Debates about the interplay between technology and aspects of everyday … Read more
INCLUDE+ network explores how social and digital environments can be built, shaped and sustained to enable all people to thrive. But what does it mean to ‘thrive’ in this context?
Over the past 6 months, we have been exploring the idea of ‘thriving’ through conversations with Prof. Caroline Bassett and Dr. Edgar Gómez Cruz at the Data School, Cambridge University; through our digital equity and inclusion workshops with Thrive by Design, and through related community work with Space 2 in order to think about what we mean by ‘thriving’, what properties thriving has for us, and how — ultimately — we might build for it.
Is digital equity a utopian idea? A digitally equitable world would be a place where all people can access and use digital technologies to meaningfully participate in society, democracy, and economy. Just imagine: no systemic barriers and anyone (regardless of their gender identity, race, [dis]ability, and/or social-economic status and other intersectional factors) would have the … Read more
Civic Participation is one of the key thematic areas being explored by the INCLUDE+ Network. Our 5-year programme aims to co-explore how/if meaningful civic participation can take place in digital times. To better understand the existing civic participation landscape, we decided to carry out a horizon scanning activity — a future-oriented consideration and analysis of … Read more
Truly inclusive governance requires going beyond seeking out diverse perspectives—it requires active efforts to foster an inclusive environment. An organisation’s culture needs to be reflected in its advisory board, especially as the board’s role is, in part, to hold the organisation to its values. Unfortunately, boardrooms don’t have a great track record for being inclusive. So creating an inclusive boardroom might mean we have to throw the boardroom out with the bored-water…
This month we welcome a new Research Fellow to the INCLUDE+ Management Group. Dr Alicja Pawluczuk has over a decade of experience in co-designing, facilitating, and evaluating digital inclusion, digital literacy and ICT-enabled and/or focused education programmes in the UK and internationally. She brings with her experience working on both high-level digital development programmes as well … Read more