Source: Campsie Library and Knowledge Centre
As we at Cultural Perspectives work to adapt our practice in this new COVID-19 world, we find ourselves operating more and more online with a good dose of humour and excitement: weekly staff meetings conducted via Zoom, quick chats with colleagues now typed over messaging services, weekly trivia maintained over a 14-way video conference and increasing involvement in webinars and online learning environments.
As communication and engagement practitioners however, we are facing a different reality where social distancing and shut down measures are limiting the channels that some marginalised and vulnerable communities rely on for credible and accurate information.
An online article published by Pro Bono Australia yesterday warns that the online divide is leaving disadvantaged Australians behind with regard to internet affordability – but what of those who face additional barriers to connecting?
The Problem
We know the numbers, that there are more than 21 per cent of Australians speak languages other than English at home and 16% nationally speak English poorly or not at all (2016 ABC Census). These numbers increase significantly when looking at specific communities and language groups.
The closure of public libraries around the country for example, closure of mosques, churches and temples, temporary shutdown of some multicultural media outlets and the transition of many community organisations to working from home will have a huge impact in limiting information sources for Australia’s multicultural communities and their most vulnerable cohorts (elderly, people with disability, those with poor English language proficiency and refugees).
In work conducted by our consultancy team in 2018 on behalf of State Library NSW, one of the key findings was the reliance on library facilities to access digital information by many people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
The Solution?
It is vital that all levels of government, brands and not-for profit organisations recognise the reality for many marginalised and vulnerable communities across Australia who rely on public places such as local libraries for technology access and digital support, community organisations infrastructure who provide social and emotional supports as well as peer to peer information sharing and do more to use these channels to get messages out into migrant and refugee communities.
It is not enough to focus on the capacity of most Australians who are digitally proficient, expecting people to actively seek out the credible translated information that exists online without doing the work to promote their existence to community members themselves.
Best practice, inclusion and equity should not go out the window during a crisis.
Traditional media combined with social and digital media, word of mouth and community networks are essential to the distribution of information at this time in a bid to combat the social isolation and exclusion many will be experiencing.
Food for thought as we move into an increasingly digital reliant world.