[ecrea] ICTs and minority communities research - reports available online

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) use and connectivity of 
minority communities in Wales -- Research by academics from Swansea 
University, Cardiff University and University of Glamorgan.


The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded a collaboration 
between Swansea University, Cardiff University and the University of 
Glamorgan to develop a research project under the theme of Connected 
Communities.

The work focused on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) use 
and connectivity of minority communities in Wales. The study was 
completed in October 2011 and revealed that ICTs are key to promoting 
community connectivity in contemporary society in Wales and that sadly 
minority communities are at risk of both social and digital exclusion.

Dr Panayiota Tsatsou from Swansea University and her colleagues Dr Ian 
Stafford (Cardiff University), Prof Gary Higgs, Dr Robert Berry and Dr 
Richard Fry (University of Glamorgan) completed a thorough review of 
research evidence. Their findings revealed that there is clear anecdotal 
evidence that minority communities, such as ethnic communities with 
individual cultural and language attributes, and communities of disabled 
people, for example, require bespoke policy in order to fully take 
advantage of communication technologies and to enhance their 
experiential inclusion and connectivity.

The evidence, however, provided in existing (mostly quantitative) 
research data, fails to adequately explore these issues in full and some 
data is both difficult to identify and access.

Therefore the researchers recommended that there is a clear rationale 
for developing more qualitative, fine grained, community-based research 
in order to explore the barriers to digital inclusion and the impact of 
digital inclusion/exclusion within minority groups.

The project coordinator, Dr Tsatsou, said,
'AHRC Connected Communities funding allowed researchers from three 
different Universities in Wales with specialisms in media, geography and 
policy research to get together and conduct a systematic review of 
evidence in the interdisciplinary area of communication technologies, 
and connectivity of minority communities.
Considering the Welsh context this work aims to enhance existing 
understanding of the role of new technologies in connectivity and 
inclusion of minority groups. Key gaps were identified in knowledge of 
the use of technologies by minority groups and highlighted challenges 
related to accessing evidence outside of the public domain.
Finally, preliminary recommendations were made regarding how research 
should connect with communities and stakeholders to enhance research and 
inform policy. The researchers envisage developing this work by 
undertaking, together with communities in Wales, some small-scale, 
qualitative and community-oriented research so as to produce original 
evidence'.

For more information on the project and to download the project reports: 
http://www.wiserd.ac.uk/research/connected-communities/cc/reports/