Bath Digital Divide Collective
Addressing digital poverty in Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), the Digital Divide Collective provides a conceptual hub to bring resources, activities and learning in order to shape a longer term programme of activities to address digital inclusion and addressing inequalities in BaNES.
Background
Bath is included in the affectionately coined “Silicon Gorge” (Wikipedia, 2019) which describes our region’s high density of technology expertise and innovation. Bath and North East Somerset Council (BANES) is ranked in the 2019 Indices of Deprivation as one of the 20% most affluent areas in the country (BANES, 2022).
However this average measure disguises the fact that there are pockets of deprivation across Bath and North East Somerset and Bath Food Bank supports over 5,000 people each year. The cost of living crisis is expected to result in 4,000 more people in BANES (including 1,500 children) falling into absolute poverty in 2022/23. Good Things Foundation research in 2024, "Exploring the relationship between deep poverty and digital exclusion" found that adults with very low incomes (<£11,500) are more than twice as likely not to have home broadband and 16% of people using food banks have no internet access. 52% of people surveyed in Bath & North East Somerset complained about their broadband connection (BANES, 2022).
As employment requires more digital skills, and access to key services moves towards digitisation, these statistics indicate a significant likelihood of persistent exclusion for many of Bath’s citizens.
Early in 2023, Tech4Good South West put a challenge out to our local community of Bath. How as a community of Bath might we address the digital divide in our city and ensure all our young people have equal access to technology?
We convened key stakeholders across the community to understand initiatives already in place, and how we might build strength together to apply ourselves to this city-wide challenge.
We used the Bath Digital Festival 2023 as a community activation pilot, inviting a wider community to collectively map the Bath digital divide, what do we know, what is happening already, and what can we do now and longer term. A series of events at the festival were designed to instigate action, including a Hackathon to bring skills from our tech sector together to prototype solutions to some of the priority challenges identified. As city MP Wera Hobhouse stated, “The digital divide in all its forms is a harsh everyday reality that many people are simply not aware of. It cuts across age, gender, geography and income, leaving many in our local communities shut out and cut off from learning, working, doing everyday tasks and connecting with others”.
Bath Digital Divide Collective
Our pilot has now led to the formation of the Bath Digital Divide Collective, convening multi-sector stakeholders to address digital poverty. Bath Bridge is now steering the "Digital Divide Collective”, in partnership with Tech4Good South West.
The Digital Divide Collective is rooted in collaboration. We know there are a number of initiatives already underway, and the Digital Divide Collective provides a conceptual hub to bring resources, activities and learning in order to shape a longer term programme of activities to address digital inclusion and addressing inequalities in BaNES.
We have commitment and support from key stakeholders including Age UK Bath, Bath BID,
Bath & North East Somerset Council (including via the Future Ambition Partnership, which the Council helped to set up, in particular via the Partnership's ‘Connectivity’ and ‘Opportunity for All’ theme groups), West of England Combined Authority, BCS Digital Divide SG, BCS Bristol & Bath Branch, Mayden, Southside, St Johns Foundation, Twerton & Whiteway Community Network, and Quartet Foundation, alongside a number of other committed individuals and consultants.
Funding and priority initiatives
In collaboration with community stakeholders supporting the most deprived areas of the city, we now have a technology & data bank.
A Good Things Foundation digital inclusion grant has also been awarded to support our first pilot project. During the last nine to 12 months, we have explored with the Digital Divide Collective community where we can have the most traction, action, and impact. Our ambition as the Digital Divide Collective is to build a community-based approach to work with partners across BaNES starting with a grassroots initiative, “Digital Playground” that puts the specific needs of the local communities at the heart of all that it does. The Digital Playground will be a pilot project in the heart of Twerton, Whiteway and Soutside in partnership with Southside Family Project.
The Digital Divide Collective has recently been awarded a University of Bath Participate Grant that has brought together researchers with the collective to understand how addressing the digital divide will contribute to the health and wellbeing of the city in order to advocate for resources, and local policy initiatives to address the key challenges our communities are facing.
Join the Digital Divide Collective
Join the next meeting of the Digital Divide Collective. Event dates are published via Bath Bridge on Ticket Tailor. Meetings are open to anyone interested in working with us to address the digital divide in those areas of our local community that are seriously disadvantaged and excluded from the digital society.
