The alternate infrastructures that support digital counter publics: Digital inequality in an Australian public housing estate

Abstract

In this paper we interrogate how digital technologies and practices contribute to imaginaries of counter cities by telling the stories of people who navigate digital inequality. Digital inequality offers a lens onto the ways in which the privatised provision of services reshapes opportunities for collective organising. Digital technologies are commonly viewed as useful tools for collective organising, overlooking the fact that digital products are inequitable in their functioning and availability. In Australia, internet connections are offered as a for-profit service and digital inequality is persistent. The paper presents focus groups and participatory mapping interviews with residents of a Melbourne public housing estate. The study reveals that public housing residents pay relatively more money and receive lower quality service from internet providers. We identify three forms of dependency that arise as residents endeavour to stay connected to an essential infrastructure that was designed without their needs in mind: strategic alliances with community organisations to secure a digitally connected future; household strategies for meeting digital needs; and collaborative troubleshooting with technological ‘experts’. In the conclusion we stress that digital infrastructures both require and enable collective organising and we argue that the political projects of counter cities must protect those infrastructures that support the relationships that can lead to more equitable cities.