On a regular Tuesday, Cristina wakes up and checks her news feed on her phone, pays a couple of bills, settles her kids in for their online classes before booking online a trip to visit her brother abroad and joining a Zoom meeting with her team at work from her couch. On the same Tuesday, Sheila – who recently moved from the UK to Belgium for work after years of unemployment - is wondering how she will be able to afford a tablet for her children to follow remote school, when she just received a second letter in a language she doesn't quite understand threatening to cut her electricity, before she begins her two-hour commute to work.
The digital divide is real and, while technology has undoubtedly improved many people's lives, it has also created a nightmare for others, who found themselves cut out and unable to reap its benefits. While some enjoy increased flexibility, more spare time and better access to information, connectivity and resources, others must contend with unplanned expenses, confusing systems, exclusion, and an impossibility to access even essential public services, including health and education.
The covid pandemic accelerated a more general trend whereby innovation and digitalisation play an increasing prominent role in our lives. They enhance productivity, provide our communities with better access to services, enable us to have access to knowledge and information, and help us face historical challenges like the fight against terrorism or the ongoing pandemic. At the same time, the increased reliance on technology accentuated, and sometimes generated disparities and inequalities, usually hitting the most vulnerable groups in our societies. This trend already started with the advent of the sharing economy that produced the most vulnerable and least protected forms of self-employment: a typical example of how technology can create and reinforce social inequality.
Then the virus outbreak hit and, as Cristina’s and Sheila’s stories exemplify, access to technology and digital inclusion became a matter of life and death. If we do not provide the means for everyone to access digital solutions and information, we will create new categories of second-class citizens who won’t have access to essential services, including health, education, and free movement.
At Avantsage we feel that it is our duty to make sure that any digital solution we help design is human-centred and does not create disparities in our communities. This becomes even more relevant when advising public administrations in providing digital public services to citizens. We always promote digital inclusion principles to ensure that no-one is left behind. These principles must be combined with a commitment to fight discrimination and racism in access to technology, as well as against online hate speech and cyberbullying, which also create situations of digital exclusion. We pay particular attention to vulnerable consumers who are much more prone to fall for online scamming, have their data stolen and sold, or to be refused access to services altogether by service providers and local authorities.
Our approach towards a non-discriminatory access to digital services goes well beyond pure technical aspects; we involve policymakers early in the digital design process and we pay particular attention to:
Infrastructure and housing barriers including limited or no access to internet. Rural, remote, segregated, isolated communities are not covered by mainstream services – there are still many areas lacking network coverage to begin with.
The affordability and accessibility of digital solutions to low- and no-income population, to make sure that access to digital services does not come with hidden costs and additional financial burden.
The digital literacy and capabilities of the people that the digital solutions are meant to serve.
Language barriers. Migrants and ethnic minorities are not proficient in the country’s majority language, a severe obstacle in accessing digital as well as other services.
Lack of awareness and availability of information. Many people are not familiar, and sometimes not even aware of the procedures and mechanisms to access services through digital means.
Overcomplexity. Often digital solution can be totally overwhelming and confusing for users, thus creating additional accessibility barriers.
Absence of alternative traditional channels to guarantee access to public services to people who prefer not to rely on digital means
We understand digital inclusion cannot happen overnight and that overcoming existing barriers entails policy changes and long-term investments. Many of the barriers above are structural societal problems that go well beyond the provision of digital services. Nevertheless, today the covid pandemic provides an impulse and a unique opportunity to finally make a more inclusive use of technology that removes societal disparities and makes everyone’s lives safer, more just, and equal.
At Avantsage, we’ll do our best not to miss this opportunity and do our part.
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