Digital Mushrooms: On-street tech support in Govanhill
In a world built around digital access, too many are still locked out. Digital Mushrooms is a grassroots, anarchistic mutual aid project in Govanhill helping folk get to grips with tech —no suits, no funding bids, just solidarity (and maybe biscuits).
By David Dornan | Photo by Iain McLellan
Perhaps you're scanning this article online, reading it in a busy eatery – having snagged your booking via their website. Or maybe you prefer casually leafing through the printed magazine on a bus you've caught, after checking the timetable on your app. For all its faults (and there are many!) the internet is a modern-day necessity. From accessing essential services, to communicating with loved ones, to staying informed and entertained, our world is a digital one.
Many, though, are disconnected. And those individuals are more likely to be at the sharp end of other aspects of marginalisation, too: people affected by poverty, old age, disabilities, chronic health conditions, homelessness or those trapped in the brutal asylum system... the list goes on. Anyone having a hard time is more likely to be digitally excluded, and vice versa.
Digital inclusion is about ensuring everyone has the access, knowledge and skills needed for full participation in our society. But according to a recent report by Audit Scotland – hardly a bunch of revolutionary firebrands – one in six people in Scotland lack essential digital skills. Ultimately, that's a matter of fairness, of power and of politics, which means it needs a political response.
But for us, politics happens on the streets! So we've founded Digital Mushrooms: an anarchistic, mutual aid response to making technology and digital skills more accessible.
Simply put, that means we set up a table on Vicky Road each week, and we chat to folk about their tech issues. We work as a wee team, making decisions collectively. And we're not willing to pin our hopes on the 'here today, gone tomorrow' whims of any politician, charity or benefactor. It's just us, and maybe some biscuits if you're lucky.
If you've ever seen the Food Not Bombs (FNB) stall on Victoria Road on a Saturday sharing out free food – it's a bit like that, but for tech advice. That was actually the initial pitch one of us, a longtime FNB member, made to kickstart our project: what else could be like that? What are the things we could sort out, ourselves, as a community with a bit of savvy and a dash of self-confidence?
You're probably wondering about the mushrooms, though. Well, it's fair to say that 'shrooms’ are having a bit of a cultural moment, from the evocative nature-writing from Merlin Sheldrake – who authored ‘Entangled Life: How Funghi Shape Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures’ – to Robert MacFarlane’s lush time-lapses in 'Fantastic Fungi'. The fascinating thing is a fungal patch spreads and intercommunicates without ever growing into one giant mushroom, just loads of similar ones that pop up above ground. In the same way, digital mutual aid projects like ours could spring up anywhere without a head honcho or the need to seek anyone's permission.
Compare that to the tree-like systems that dominate so much of our society, including digital inclusion: the trunks of government, the boughs of big organisations, the branches of paid professionals, to the leaves of ordinary folk at the perimeter. What happens when any of those supports are lopped off by funding cuts and the chainsaw of austerity? According to the Audit Scotland report, that's exactly what's happening in digital inclusion, as people – the leaves – are being left to wither away. That's not a structure we can rely on. We live in a tree society and we want to make it more rhizomatic: non-linear, interconnected and root-like!
So we'd love it if you had a think about the skills and knowledge you have and how you could share them. Most often, people underestimate how they can contribute to community building but the biggest barrier is apathy, not ability. Gardening tips, clothes mending, music tuition (or someone to jam with), language skills, gadget repairs, drawing and sketching... gerbil husbandry? Something you like doing, that other folk might like to do too. Because we – every one of us – are an asset to our community.
Not only does this allow for us to take back power into our own hands, but it can also provide people with the opportunity to preserve and spread skills or crafts that are at risk of extinction or exclusion. And it doesn't rely on funding or big organisations, meaning it's flexible, adaptable and truly rooted in our community.
Who knows, maybe gerbil husbandry isn't your thing, but do you know how to search the internet for answers and don't freeze up when faced with an online form? In which case, we'd love you to join us in spreading digital inclusion throughout Govanhill! We'll save you a biscuit.
We welcome and appreciate all and any kinds of help – get involved! Message @digital_mushrooms on Instagram, or email digitalmushroomsgovanhill@gmail.com