Homeless and connected: mobile phones and the Internet in the lives of homeless Australians

New research shows high mobile and smart phone ownership among people experiencing homelessness, but staying connected is a struggle. Overview This project set out to research how a group of consumers – people experiencing homelessness – access and use mobile phones and the Internet (covering fixed and wireless Internet sources). The aim was to provide the evidence to inform the delivery of public services by community, welfare and government agencies to this group of consumers, and to develop and improve on telecommunications policies and initiatives that address the needs and challenges of consumers facing hardship, including homelessness. Traditional approaches to researching homelessness and digital technology have focused on barriers or ‘gaps’ in accessing technology, known as the ‘digital divide’. This project goes beyond this approach by recognising that many people experiencing homelessness are already mobile phone and Internet consumers that have unique patterns of ownership and use, which correspond to their homeless circumstances (Newman, Baum and Biedrzycki, 2010, 2012; Le Dantec, 2010; Yoshida, 2010). A confluence of trends – shifting patterns of connectivity, and a push to online and mobile delivery of all high volume or ‘heavy user’ government services – has made researching these patterns an urgent priority. The project involved working with the support of the national peak advocacy body for people experiencing homelessness, Homelessness Australia, and seven homelessness accommodation and support services in inner and outer metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne. In summary, it was found that for the 95 families, young people and adults who participated in the study: A mobile phone was essential – the most important uses of the mobile phone, after contacting friends and family, were: contacting emergency services (52%); support services (49%), and medical assistance (48%). Most had a mobile phone – 95% had a mobile phone and 77% reported having a smart phone. Staying connected was difficult – shortage of credit, service and power restrictions, number changes and handset loss resulted in partial or restricted access to one or a number of mobile and Internet services. Significant impacts resulted from connectivity limitations – such as not being able to contact essential support and emergency services, being at physical risk without the ability to reach help and not meeting basic eligibility requirements of some government services. Users had a wide range of connectivity and affordability strategies – using a pre-paid mobile service and alternative Internet sources such as free Wi-Fi hotspots and Internet access in public libraries and accommodation centres were key measures for keeping costs down and staying connected. Mature male adults who were single and experiencing long-term homelessness were more likely to be without a mobile phone and not use the Internet – this group made up 60% of those with no mobile phone access and of these 40% reported they didn’t use the Internet at all. Vulnerable consumers with complex needs, that is, with a set of overlapping health and support needs[1], had the most payment difficulties and debt relating to mobile phone services. For agencies in the process of, or embarking on the reform of their services, these findings point to the potential to use online and mobile platforms to deliver services to and engage clients who are experiencing homelessness. Many in this group are not laggards in technology – indeed when it comes to mobiles – they are leaders. At the same time, while having a mobile phone is commonplace for many people experiencing homelessness, staying connected is a struggle and access is not guaranteed. Moreover, within this population, there are some who are especially likely to be without any form of mobile or Internet technology and experience serious difficulties with the cost and terms of post-paid plans. It is important to recognise that the imperative to have a mobile phone is not primarily driven by a desire to own or upgrade to the latest gadget. For people experiencing homelessness this is a matter of survival – there is no ready alternative like a household telephone or broadband connection to use when homeless. A wide range of activities which constitute fundamental forms of social and economic participation, including accessing emergency services, medical help and crisis support, hinge on ready access to a phone. With large-scale patterns of changing social connectivity and the shift of government and other services to online modes of delivery, the need to have a mobile phone – with access to the Internet – is greatly magnified. This imperative comes with a cost. For online and mobile services to be accessible and beneficial to this group, the cost of access and the specific barriers and limitations facing consumers who are homeless must be addressed. There are a number of ways that providers of mobile services as well as government and support services can contribute to this goal. A set of recommendations aimed at these groups, and guided by the principles of continuity of service, affordability and flexibility of access, are detailed in the final section of this report. In summary these are: Recommendations for Mobile Service Providers: Specify homelessness in financial hardship policies adopted by mobile service providers and ensure that customer service operators are aware of the special need for people affected by homelessness to maintain continuity of service when negotiating bill extensions and payments. Ensure cost effective methods for consumers to reach staff and teams with responsibility for hardship across multiple platforms such as direct contact through 1800 number[2], web form, call back options, Live Chat, Facebook, apps and via Financial Counselling and Homelessness services. Introduce new aid and subsidy programs (or extend existing programs such as Telstra’s ‘Access for Everyone’ program) to support access to mobile and data services (for example, handsets, credit recharge, discount options and Wi-Fi access). Consider ways assistance programs can be provided that works effectively across all mobile service providers, for example a way for community agencies to recharge their clients mobile service, a card with call and data credit that can be used with any pre and post paid mobile service and provider, or a subsidised or free voicemail and inbox messaging service, again, for use with any pre and post paid mobile and service provider. Offer more widely assistance programs and available discounts through existing partnership programs (for example, the SMS/call packages for support providers through the Youth Connected Program from Vodafone Australia Foundation (VAF)) and initiate outreach programs in collaboration with homelessness services (including specialist legal clinics) to, for example, provide on the spot assistance to clients with telecommunications matters. Work in partnership with support and housing providers, libraries, local councils and users of these services to develop and promote affordable Internet access and provisioning solutions that integrate with where and how people experiencing homelessness use digital technology (for example, Internet access points and self-service terminals, Wi-Fi hotspots, options to switch to available Wi-Fi services, low cost and pay-per-use mobile broadband, power recharge stations and shelters for securely storing equipment). Recommendations for Government Agencies and Support Services: Ensure cost effective contact methods and multiple access points to services (especially for high volume services) such as 1800 numbers[3], call back options, Facebook, Live Chat, SMS and other social media, web-based platforms and apps. Build digital capacity of homelessness services through adequate funding and resourcing to integrate mobile, social media and other web-based platforms into regular contact and support activities (if any of these are considered to raise privacy concerns, these should be addressed as early as possible in development). Equip staff of homelessness services with the skills and resources to provide information and referrals on telecommunications bill, contract and debt matters, and to be able to make direct and immediate contact with the specialist hardship teams of mobile service providers on behalf of their clients. Preserve non-digital contact and service points for customers who are non-Internet users and those without access to mobile and online technologies. Work in partnership with mobile service providers, libraries, local councils and service users to develop and promote affordable Internet access and provisioning solutions that integrate with where and how people experiencing homelessness use digital technology (for example, fixed Internet access points and self-service terminals, Wi-Fi hotspots, options to switch to available Wi-Fi services, low cost and pay-per-use mobile broadband, power recharge stations and shelters for securely storing equipment).   [1] Rankin and Regan (2004) provide a definition of ‘complex needs’ as not related to individual characteristics but a “framework for understanding multiple, interlocking needs that span health and social issues” (p. 1). [2] Dependent on the implementation of the new framework for call charges from mobile phones to 1800 numbers developed by ACMA and the Telecommunications Industry. [3] As above

Online Privacy Bill: Exposure Draft - Submission to the Attorney General’s Department

This submission refers to the Online Privacy Bill Exposure Draft, where the OP Code has identified children as one of the key vulnerable groups especially concerned with social media services. The three scholars named in the submission have recently secured a funded research project with the eSafety Commissioner to explore further the key issues identified in this document. Within the next 12 to 18 months, the research data from this project will be available to clearly articulate the emerging issues for young Australians and their parents or carers who engage with social media. The project is a co-designed approach to place the voice of young Australians and their parents/carers at the centre of the findings while prioritising a shared responsibility for their online safety. Two members of the project research team also attended the Attorney-General Department’s Consultation - Privacy Protections for Children held on the 19th November, 2021

Smart Publics: Public Perceptions of Smart Street Furniture in London and Glasgow: Insights for Policy and Practice

No abstract available

Officing : professionals' daily ICT use and the changing space and time of work

In the early years of the twenty-first century the office is popularly imagined as having a mobile and flexible form. In the context of these visions, I argue for a new understanding of the form of the office as a series of intersecting material and discursive processes. An account termed Officing is developed, offering several new concepts and methodological tools to recover and analyse these processes, with the aim of identifying trends and complexities in the space and time of work, and for making new connections with the issues of work–life interaction, time pressure and overwork. This account is developed through an investigation of professionals’ daily use of information and communication technology (ICT) at a municipal council in Sydney and at a global telecommunications company engaged in a workplace trial of a smart phone. An analysis of past and present discourse on the changing conditions and forms of office work is undertaken as part of this investigation. I argue that the ‘Office of the Future’ operates as a myth through which new work forms and identities are envisaged and materialised, framed as a response to large scale and seemingly external transformations. The origins of this myth are traced to the rationalisation of work and new mechanisms of labour control in Scientific Management. Reviewing the currency of this myth today, I argue that visions of the office create a discursive space for the emergence of new work forms and identities based on their dislocation (Du Gay 1996). Through these visions, mobile and flexible office forms and identities appear necessary, inevitable and urgent, a solution to global changes such as the irrelevance of place and time, the speed of information and communication, the rise of post-bureaucratic organisations, the complexity of technology and the need for better work–life balance. At the same time, the ongoing effort, space and time required to sustain the conditions that make these forms and identities possible, are denied. The ‘office setup’ and ‘workability’ are two key concepts introduced as part of the account of Officing to recover and analyse this effort, space and time. Weber’s notion of a ‘rationalised’ or abstracted relationship forged between individuals and organisations informs a definition of the office as a configuration or ‘setup’ for establishing the official agency, authority and identity of workers. ‘Workability’ is a concept developed to highlight how workers turn this office setup into a productive platform for work in the process of daily work. In formulating this concept, two important contributions are synthesised, that of ‘articulation work’ (Suchman 1995; Star and Strauss 1999) and ‘bricolage’ (Levi-Strauss 1966; De Certeau 1984) to expose the effort, space and time involved in achieving workability and to analyse its significance for the experience of work. Through Officing, trends and complexities in the space and time of work can be revealed that would otherwise go undetected. Applied to the municipal council (Innertown) and the telecommunications company (Worldcom), these include the swapping of personal and organisational resources of space, time and technology, the integration of activities into a single block of ‘spacetime’ and a web of new places, rhythms and bodily techniques. These trends are magnified at Worldcom as a result of a pre-existing discourse of mobility and flexibility and the introduction of a new smart phone but are also evident at Innertown where there is a noticeable tension between the official and unofficial office setup. In sum, the dislocated office can be seen to be emerging as a central work platform for mediating external changes and identities produced through its dislocation. Yet, as a result of the denial of the effort, space and time required for its support, a powerful sense of time pressure, increased ‘boundary work’ (Nippert-Eng 1996) and a deep sense of ambivalence are fore grounded in professionals’ daily work experience. I conclude by arguing that we must take into account our investment in material infrastructures since not only is time, space and a sense of self thoroughly tied up in these, these infrastructures demand ongoing support. New methods are needed to account for this work and to recognise that people have different levels of access to resources to mobilise towards workability. Drawing attention to the form of the office as a series of processes has a political goal. It offers a way to not just observe technological change from a distance, as if it really did take place outside of culture, but to include deleted accounts of work, space and time in narratives of change and in this way, create more sustainable material cultures

Circumstance matters: digital access and affordability for people experiencing homelessness (Swinburne Institute Seminar Series)

Access to and affordability of digital technology for vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians is an ongoing concern. This talk reports on new research on the access and use of mobile and internet services by people experiencing homelessness and engages with key issues of digital exclusion in the context of a society-wide shift in connectivity and the reform of a wide range of public and commercial services around these changes

The importance of circumstance: Digital access and affordability for people experiencing homelessness

Summary: Access to and affordability of digital technology for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups is an ongoing concern in an Australian context, however the digital needs, issues and barriers for consumers who are homeless are largely neglected in this literature. This paper presents findings from a research project on mobile phones and the internet in the lives of people experiencing homelessness and engages with some key issues of digital exclusion arising in the context of a general shift in connectivity to mobile media and the push by the Australian government to reform service provision around these changes. The paper argues for the need to recognise the ways that life situations and circumstances of hardship, such as homelessness, factor into the patterns of mobile and internet connectivity, creating unique issues of digital access and equity. It argues for knowledge of these differences to inform digital delivery of government services and approaches to telecommunications policies and assistance programs, and puts forward a number of recommendations based on a study of 95 adults, families and young people experiencing homelessness which was carried out in Sydney and Melbourne in early 2014

The importance of circumstance : digital access and affordability for people experiencing homelessness

Access to and affordability of digital technology for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups is an ongoing concern in an Australian context, however the digital needs, issues and barriers for consumers who are homeless are largely neglected in this literature. This paper presents findings from a research project on mobile phones and the internet in the lives of people experiencing homelessness and engages with some key issues of digital exclusion arising in the context of a general shift in connectivity to mobile media and the push by the Australian government to reform service provision around these changes. The paper argues for the need to recognise the ways that life situations and circumstances of hardship, such as homelessness, factor into the patterns of mobile and internet connectivity, creating unique issues of digital access and equity. It argues for knowledge of these differences to inform digital delivery of government services and approaches to telecommunications policies and assistance programs, and puts forward a number of recommendations based on a study of 95 adults, families and young people experiencing homelessness which was carried out in Sydney and Melbourne in early 2014

Homeless and Connected: Mobile Phones and the Internet in the Lives of Homeless Australians

Mobile phones are an essential technology for people experiencing homelessness. Yet, while most have mobile phones, and many have smart phones, this doesn't mean they are able to make and receive calls or access online services reliably. Research on mobile phone and mobile internet access, ownership and use amongst 95 families and young people experiencing homelessness was conducted to gather evidence on the specific needs and circumstances of this group. Key questions were whether and how mobiles and other Internet-enabled devices are used to connect with support, government and other online services, and what are the social and economic benefits and risks that mobile technologies represent. The study found that 95% of participants had a mobile phone, which is higher than that recorded for the general population, and that mobile phones are essential for survival and safety, for gaining new skills and for moving out of homelessness. The project worked closely with the national peak agency Homelessness Australia and several state agencies and service providers

Visualising the future of work : myth, media and mobilities

Microsoft’s Future Vision, Googleplex, Apple’s ‘spaceship’ campus: predictions of the imminent demise of the office workplace coincide with a proliferation of media images of the ‘office of the future’. This article argues these visions function as powerful cultural myths for bringing about and stabilising new mobile and flexible work forms and identities. Cultural myths perform a range of ideological and mediating functions. They are a symbolic form for naturalising the cultural production of meaning and a map or charter for the way that society is ordered in the present. While visions of mobile work forms and arrangements promise a revolutionary break from the past, they also mask the re-inscription of a rational economy of time and gendered relations of labour. These visions maintain their currency because they work with contemporary processes of commodification and mediate the very mobilities they help to bring about

Bricks, spies and shoe phones : researching mobile media in work and professional life

The history and adoption of mobile media has, from the start, been closely tied to the world of business. Early mobile phone advertising campaigns such as the Verizon Wireless, "Can you hear me now?" campaign and Motorola DynaTAC's "Cellular revolution" in the mid-1980s represented mobile phones (or "cell phones" as they are known in the United States) as essential companions to professional life-communication tools and status symbols in a world that was globalizing and becoming increasingly connected