AD | Blairgowrie and Rattray Residents Asked: What Does Your Digital Footprint Look Like?
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A new piece of community research is asking a question rarely put into words: how much of daily life here now runs on digital systems that are owned, powered and controlled from somewhere else entirely?
The project, Digital Change for Climate Justice, is being run by Crafting Digital CIC in partnership with Bioregioning Tayside CIC, and funded by INCLUDE+. It is looking at how people and groups around the River Ericht use digital tools, from flood alerts and community WhatsApp groups to council services and environmental monitoring, and what that means for climate resilience and community life.
Donna Holford Lovell, who is leading the research, said the aim is to look past the convenience of everyday apps and ask what sits behind them.
“Every flood alert, community Facebook group or council app runs on infrastructure that uses energy and sits under someone else’s control, often far from Blairgowrie and Rattray,” she said. “I want people to pause on that for a moment. Not to feel guilty about it, but to ask whether something more local, and lower energy, could work just as well, or better.”
A short survey, taking around ten minutes, is now open to anyone who lives, works or volunteers in the area. It asks about the digital tools people already rely on, how much choice they feel they have over them, and what a more community owned, lower energy alternative might look like locally. Donna is also arranging informal, in person conversations for anyone who would rather talk it through than fill in a form.
Take the survey or arrange a chat: https://shorturl.at/Mvhj4 or email craftingdigital@mailbox.org. Responses are welcome until 12th September.
About the project
Digital Change for Climate Justice is a short piece of fieldwork research run by Crafting Digital CIC in partnership with Bioregioning Tayside, and funded by INCLUDE+ and the University of Leeds. It explores how digital tools shape climate resilience and community life around the River Ericht, and what a more community owned, lower energy digital future could look like for Blairgowrie and Rattray.
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