How wide is the divide? Assessing digital inequality in Knowle West

In partnership with Knowle West Media Centre, researchers from the Bristol Digital Futures Institute co-designed and sent questionnaires to 5,500 households in Knowle West – an area of Bristol in the Filwood ward that features highly in the government’s multiple deprivation indices. As well as investigating how COVID-19 shaped patterns of digital exclusion, the survey aimed to uncover the reasons for it too. Are the main problems affordability, skills and confidence, perceived relevance to life, or something else? And are these problems different for different social groups? The survey responses from our work with Knowle West Media Centre have been combined with insights and interviews conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol School of Education. By bringing our studies together, we aimed to gain a richer understanding of the patterns and processes of digital exclusion. This research provides the evidence base needed to improve education, employment and health outcomes, allow policymakers to take effective, targeted, local action, and enable Knowle West Media Centre to redefine its digital strategy to address the issues our study reveals.