WIREDGOV

Academic researchers, policy makers and digital practitioners came together last week for the 5th Social Digital Research Symposium, led by OCF.

The symposium is a quarterly research exchange meeting, for those working in digital inclusion research and practice. Last week's meeting was hosted by Age UK at Tavis House in London, in partnership with the London School of Economics (LSE) and with support from BT.

Chair Helen Milner, Chief Executive at OCF, led a wide ranging discussion which included presentations from Grant Blank (University of Oxford), Alice Mathers (OCF Innovation Manager), Jyoti Choudrie (University of Hertfordshire) and Hannah Goraya (OCF Freelance Researcher).

The morning session focussed on the landscape of digital inclusion in the UK, who's left behind and how current practice caters for their needs. The afternoon focused on examples of how local practice and research approaches are closing this gap for certain communities. All presentations can be accessed through slideshare.

The day finished with a thought-provoking workshop where delegates identified a number of key areas for development:

The need for a national framework to aid evaluation of digital inclusion practice.
The creation of UK digital inclusion practice database to collectively draw together our findings and impact.

The 6th Social Digital Research Symposium will take place in July 2013. If you are interested in finding out more, attending/presenting at a future session, or if you have a burning question about digital inclusion, please join our growing online research-practice community by becoming a member of the social digital research ning.