Abstract:

The increasing digitalisation of online services in all aspects of life, including education, presents specific challenges to more disadvantaged populations who face additional barriers and challenges when attempting to access those services. Skills and literacies required for online access to services such as healthcare may be acquired in formal education or informal ways within communities and families.

In this paper we present relevant findings from the Protecting Minority Ethnic Communities Online (PRIME) project, a UK Research and Innovation funded transdisciplinary, cross-sectoral project led by Heriot-Watt University and involving four other universities and four community organisations. Launched in 2022, the 36-month project has sought to understand minority ethnic (ME) communities’ experiences of online services in health, energy and social housing and how online harms can be mitigated for these communities.

Interviews were carried out with 100 ME participants from several ethnic backgrounds including Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Black Caribbean and Black African. Qualitative interview data analysis has revealed that formal, work-based and especially informal learning all have a role to play in facilitating attempts to access the online services. A range of different learning and support practices were apparent, such as learning through trial and error, learning by accessing online information and learning from family members.

We use Bourdieu’s theory of capital, where capital is the resources which individuals possess (economic, cultural and social) and which help explain the dynamics of power and inequality in society.

We exemplify some of those learning practices and draw conclusions about minority ethnic populations’ challenges, current practices and implications for enabling better access to online services.

Keywords:

Minority ethnic populations, informal learning, online access challenges.