Within the UK, there are still an estimated 10 million people who don’t, won’t or can’t use computers and the internet. Most of us now consider the internet an integral part of our daily lives so it’s hard to imagine what life must be like to do all the things you want to do in an offline way. Being spared the chore of having to queue up with the rest of the riff-raff in the Post Office to get my car tax disc is enough for me to know how amazing it is to do the ‘boring stuff’ at the click of a button, at my convenience.
Significantly however, those already at a social or financial disadvantage are at least three times more likely to be off-line, and missing out on the benefits digital technologies can provide. Levelling the digital playing field is an important step towards social equity in the 21st Century, and the goal of achieving this equity for everyone is known in the political trade as ‘digital inclusion’.
So, what’s happening about it? Actually, it seems to me there’s a fair bit going on. Martha Lane Fox (ex-lastminute.com) has been appointed the fancy role of Champion for Digital Inclusion by HM Government. She has been tasked with using her business acumen (and not insignificant ‘Little Black Book’) to get businesses, government and the public sector to work together to try and reach the 10 million that have yet to get online.
There’s even a growing push to get internet access recognised as a basic human right. So, as well as the right to an education, privacy and freedom of expression etc, it should be your right to watch Charlie biting fingers on YouTube and getting spammed. It’s already a right in Estonia, France, Finland and Greece. That’s not to say it means “free” access though. However, even in the UK, we already have the DC10plus initiative. Under that, Sunderland won £2million in 2007 towards providing free wireless access to its whole population.
I have a friend who works in the charity sector for an organisation called UK Online Centres. They have thousands of centres all over England that offer free or low-cost access to the internet with tutors on hand to show people who have never touched a computer the absolute basics, including how to use a keyboard and mouse.
The word on the street is that UK Online Centres and Martha Lane Fox’s team are currently designing a campaign with the concept ‘Pass IT On’, whereby people with ICT skills are encouraged to pass on their knowledge to the people they know and love – their offline parents, friends and neighbours. It will be a bit like the approach of some of the Drinkaware campaigns where a multitude of organisations can all point to a central website.
If you’re interested in digital inclusion, there are loads of places to find out more – here are three for starters:
by Ben on 1st March 2010
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Access to the internet as a basic human right is an interesting concept, one I was not convinced of until I did some further reading. Article 19 in the 61 year old, UN Declaration of human right says;
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
The internet has become a crucial medium for freedom of speech supporters all over the world. Blocking or preventing access to this network in my opinion would seem to go against the article 19.
Should it be named a basic human right? – I’m still not sure, but one thing I am sure of is that blocking or preventing access to this network does contravene the 60 year old right to the freedom “…to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.
by Kit on 1st March 2010
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I think this raises an interesting distinction, that between external/governmental forces blocking access to the internet and the very same forces making sure their citizens can have universal access to it.
The difference between being blocked deliberately (e.g. by something like the Digital Economy Bill) from using the net and simply not knowing how to use it is huge.
I’d argue that a policy that blocks and/or removes someone’s access to the net i in contravention of the UDHR. But the fact the my gran doesn’t know how to upload photos to Flickr isn’t a governmental issue.
There are also infrastructural issues. Is spending £500k to provide internet access to 3 cottages in the highlands a justifiable expense? And if so, who bears that cost, the taxpayer? The customers of the ISP? It’s sticky…