How do we make the internet part of all our lives?

Jul 22 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

The new Government's "digital champion" Martha Lane Fox wants everyone on the internet in the next four years. John Hill looks at what might be holding around 10 million people back, and how and why North East organisations are striving to get citizens online.

The manifesto cites research saying 59% of offline Brits don’t see a reason to get online, rising to 63% in the 65-74 age bracket. Cost is considered a barrier for 14%, rising to 51% for those aged 25-34. A quarter say they don’t have the skills needed, which goes up to a third among over 75s.

The manifesto says “the disadvantages of being offline are becoming so great and growing at such pace, that for reasons of social justice and economic necessity we must act now”.

Sunderland City Council has been tackling this locally with its Digital Challenge, working with “digitally-excluded” community members and establishing new methods of working with technology. It supports more than 40 “electronic village halls” and 200 “e-champions” who strive to raise awareness in communities.

Portfolio holder for resources Dave Allan, the council cabinet member responsible for IT in the community, says: “Often people do not realise the benefits that access to the internet and technologies can bring in helping to achieve their own goals. It is our role to excite that interest and promote the use of ICT as a personal enabler.

“Age, infrastructure, literacy and income can indeed all be barriers, but it is our belief that by offering packages of support which range from free-to-access PCs at community centres, local people championing the cause or equipment loan schemes which allow people to get to grips with the technologies ... we can help everyone to embrace the power of technology and connectivity.”

BT’s regional manager in the North East Simon Roberson also believes that the battle is one of education rather than infrastructure. BT has committed to bringing fibre broadband to two-thirds of UK homes by 2015 and has already launched exchanges in locations such as Durham and East Herrington.

“I get a bit annoyed when people say the North East is behind”, he says. “It isn’t and there’s a lot of data around that’s completely wrong.

“We’ve got to make infrastructure more available but the number of people that can’t get access is minute.

“People are right in saying that “not for me” is a bigger barrier but you can’t force people to do something. We’ve always found that it has to be tackled by telling people why it’s relevant and what they can get out of it.

“If people don’t see it as relevant to their lives, they won’t be willing to spend what little money they have on it. A colleague of mine quotes an example where a single mother on benefits can either take a taxi to Tesco, buy her shopping and take a taxi back, or she can do her shopping online, have it delivered for free and save money.”

Of course, these aren’t new challenges, because this is isn’t really a new drive. Go back nearly three decades and you’ll find a project designed to do something very similar with slightly older technology.

Back in 1982, organisations recognised poorer citizens might not be able to access useful discounts. They recognised the dangers of social exclusion and, like culture minister Ed Vaizey, wanted to see “libraries right at the heart of the digital inclusion mission”. As a result, they created the Gateshead Shopping and Information Service.

“The term ‘information superhighway’ hadn’t been coined at that point”, says former Gateshead Council director of arts and libraries Patrick Conway. “We were looking at ways that technology could be used for applications that would overcome challenges faced by many communities.”

The idea stemmed from Newcastle University’s consultancy research on retail patterns for Tesco.

Many poorer citizens in Gateshead found it difficult to access the supermarkets and the resulting savings, so Gateshead Council got involved with a plan to take advantage of new technology and promote local libraries as hubs for the community. Conway admits it was initially viewed with “a certain amount of incredulity” when it launched at Sunderland Road library.

Conway says: “The principle was to have a microcomputer in the library and local people would come in and submit their shopping order from a menu with assistance from staff. This would be passed on to Tesco to be packaged later that day for home delivery.

“It was later extended to other centres, and other suppliers came on board. There was an agreement with Greggs, and an arrangement with a chemist so prescriptions could be part of the delivery as well. We also had the Citizens Advice Bureau come in to give advice on people’s entitlements.”

During his career in Durham and Gateshead, Conway participated in schemes such as helping retired or redundant miners to improve their computer skills by learning about mining history. He believes every new house should be wired up for broadband just as they are for water and electricity, but stresses that the most important thing is not the technology itself, but what it’s used for.

He says: “We used the technology of the day to genuinely help individuals in the community. There are people that get excited about the technology itself, but you could spend hours drawing a bus on the screen, and you might forget why you were actually doing it.

“We’ve got a much more open and transparent society now, and it’s difficult to see how things like Freedom of Information could have come about without this new technology. However, I am concerned about problems such as internet addiction, in which people will just sit in front of a screen 24 hours a day.

“The internet is the technology of the day, and I don’t know what the technology will be like in 10 to 15 years’ time. My belief is that if you see some benefit in something, you’re more likely to embrace it.”