Digital equity

This project explores how digital mentoring can support culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) seniors in building digital and financial confidence.

As scams and online fraud grow more sophisticated – especially through emerging AI technologies – CALD seniors face unique challenges due to language barriers, limited digital access and lack of culturally responsive support.

The project will map barriers and practices across cultural groups, identify essential digital and financial skills, and develop a process for culturally grounded digital mentoring.

The findings will lay the foundation for scalable, inclusive strategies to reduce risk and promote safe digital participation among CALD seniors. 

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII) uses survey data to measure digital inclusion across three dimensions of Access, Affordability and Digital Ability. We explore how these dimensions vary across the country, across different social groups, and over time.

A detailed measure of digital inclusion for Australia allows us to identify critical barriers to inclusion. These may be related to accessing networks, the costs of devices or data, or skills and literacies. Through these measures, the Index can inform initiatives to increase digital inclusion in Australia.

The Department of Government Services has engaged the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society (ADM+S) researchers at Swinburne and RMIT to assess the impact of the $540 million Connecting Victoria program. This state investment in telecommunications aims to close the regional digital divide through upgrades in mobile, broadband, Wi-Fi and smart infrastructure.

Over three years, the research will track how improved connectivity across selected sites drives place-based economic and social change – examining how businesses, households and communities use the enhanced infrastructure and its effects on digital inclusion, development and wellbeing.

Funded by the Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, Measuring Digital Inclusion for First Nations Australians is a three-year project led by Swinburne and RMIT researchers with First Nations governance to track the digital gap relative to non-First Nations Australians.

Building on the Australian Digital Inclusion Index and in partnership with the Mapping the Digital Gap project, it responds to priorities set by the First Nations Digital Inclusion Advisory Group and budget measures announced in 2024.

The project contributes to Closing the Gap (Target 17) – achieving equal digital inclusion by 2026 – through First Nations–led research, ethical frameworks and partnerships with communities and organisations nationwide.

Mapping the Digital Gap is a partnership between the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society (ADM+S), Telstra and local First Nations organisations with researchers at RMIT and Swinburne.

It is the first detailed study of digital inclusion and use of media and communications services in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Combining qualitative and quantitative research, the project tracks progress toward Closing the Gap (Target 17) – achieving equal digital inclusion by 2026 – through annual fieldwork in 10 communities nationwide.

This project explores how community-centred approaches to information governance can advance digital information sovereignty and create meaningful impacts for communities in developing countries.

Building on the idea of digital commons, the initiative worked with coastal communities in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, to understand how people access, share and govern information that is critical for their livelihoods.

Many existing digital tools are developed without community input – resulting in low adoption and reinforcing inequalities. To address this, the project co-designed a “Digital Shores” platform with coastal communities.

The platform provides locally relevant features while also embedding governance processes that ensure community ownership, content moderation and accountability.

The preliminary findings highlight how community-centred digital governance can support sovereignty over information, strengthen livelihoods, and foster more resilient and inclusive digital futures.