The Digital Villages Research Network

The Digital Inclusion Task Force headed by Martha LanE Fox, today released thier Manifesto for a Networked Nation. Some interesting points…..but an awful front cover!!

The document can be found here http://raceonline2012.org/manifesto

According to the latest research from the Champion for Digital Inclusion, there are currently one in five adults who still don’t use computers and the internet. It’s often the people facing the toughest times who have the most to gain from what technology has to offer, and as the internet rapidly becomes a tool for everyday life, those without the access, skills or motivation to use it are increasingly left behind.

Government figures indicate there are six milion adults currently offline who are socially and digitally excluded. Today, the Prime Minister made it clear that digital inclusion had become both an issue of social equity and economic common sense.

In his speech at the Royal Society of the Arts on Wednesday, Gordon Brown launched ‘Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government’. He said: “Our aim is – within the next five years – to shift the great majority of our large transactional services to become online only – and this has the potential to save as a first step 400 million pounds but as transaction after transaction goes on line billions more….But in order to achieve our ambitions for this third generation of public services we must ensure that no one in Britain is left behind in this communications revolution. Through our programme for Digital Britain – high speed broadband will be extended to every home so that we can create genuinely interactive service… And today I can announce that we will invest a further £30 million with UK online centres, championed by Martha Lane Fox’s digital inclusion taskforce, to get at least another one million people online by 2012.”

In October 2009, a report published by Champion for Digital Inclusion Martha Lane Fox in conjunction with Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) showed the economic benefit of getting everyone online in the UK was £22 billion. As well as increasing employability and business performance, online citizens mean government can use more efficient online channels to deliver services, and conduct less face to face or paper-based transactions. PwC calculated that getting all digitally excluded people online and making just one transaction with government services each month would save £900 million annually.

The financial benefit of getting everyone in the UK online is clearly huge, but on a smaller scale the research found the benefits equally compelling. People save an average £560 a year by shopping and paying bills online, kids with internet access at home do better in their exams, and most jobs are now advertised and applied for online. What’s more, people with basic IT skills earn up to 10% more than their offline counterparts

The Government has recently commissioned a paper looking at what should be deemed a minimum level of ICT knowledge that allows people to make full us of our digital society. The paper was researched and written by Estelle Morris with contributions from a broad cross section of organisations including BECTA, DCMS, BIS, UK Online OFCOM and NIACE. There findings regarding what ICT skills should be attained by every citizen, and how, is interesting.

The document in full and precis can be here

http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=403527&NewsAreaID=2

I went to York St John University last night for a lecture by the Chair of the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) and the Government’s Rural Advocate, Revd Dr Stuart Burgess on the vitality of Britain’s rural communities. Entitled ‘Rural Idyll or Vibrant Communities’, the lecture provided an  interesting overview of some of the main issues affecting rural communities today – not least the Digital issue!

The CRC  have a report coming out on Tuesday (23rd July) about rural digital inclusion. One of the key points made last night was that broadband and mobile networks are crucial to the sustainability of rural and remote populations. It will be interesting to see what they recommend for improving broadband access!

I also heard about some examples of innovative practice in communities across the country that people might be interested in taking a look at.  These are some of the projects that got a mention:

WIRE – Women in Rural Enterprise [Provides business support to women in rural businesses.]

Ashton Hayes, Cheshire – Aiming to become the first carbon neutral village in England

Blisland in Cornwall -  They have a general village website but it was the Amenity Centre that was discussed last night as an example of a successful multi-purpose village building.

The Digital Britain Report was launched by the government yesterday. For the full report see http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/broadcasting/6216.aspx.

For related news stories see http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/digital-britain