The Digital Villages Research Network

One of the main aims of our project has been to find out about people’s different experiences of technology use. Whether people’s experiences have been good, bad or indifferent, we have been keen to find out so that we can develop a better understanding of digital inclusion.

We are delighted that one of our interviewees has written up her own experiences which she has agreed for us to post on our website. What is so striking is the way in which early experiences of technology and learning have a profound impact on how we see and relate to technology today.

This is her story. Do you have a similar point of view or share similar experiences?

“I have always disliked things that are technical. I had no technical education at school; physics and technology were not on offer to girls in the ‘50s/’60s at my school. Technical matters were the remit of men and boys which suited me fine because from a very early age I preferred to spend my leisure time reading when I was excused from housework.

I enjoy the act of writing – I find it helps me to think creatively so when I did a university course in my forties I had no interest in writing my essays in any other way than by long hand and paying someone to type them up if it was required. However I was beginning to recognise that work presented on computers did look good and indeed might become a requirement.

At this stage I did attend a basic computer course for a term but I found it really difficult and I knew straight away that my mental health and my relationships would suffer if I pursued this tortuous learning. What finally killed it for me was being told by the tutor that all computers were different!

I joined an animation group because it was suggested to me and I had an interest in the creative writing aspect of developing a story line. I can honestly say that now that we have finished working on the script I am losing interest and have no wish really to learn about animation though I am sure it will be interesting to see the final result.

The only thing I find fascinating are the little plasticine figures that appear to walk but are in fact manipulated by hands that have disappeared on the video.

Perhaps that’s why I feel ambivalent about animation. The figures represent a manipulated reality: they are created by human beings and cannot move without help. Is our experience of reality any different, manipulated as it is by anyone in authority including the new power of the cyber world? We are left without a sense of autonomy.”

Thanks to Community Researcher Nick and our interviewee for this blog post.

Paul, Eileen and I attended and presented at the Niace conference on Digital skills and inclusion in London yesterday. See the conference website for lots of information on the day.

Our workshop focused on rural broadband access, digital exclusion and non-use and the value of digital village websites. We used data from our research to faciliate discussion. The document can be found here. All names have been changed.

I was pleased to hear that the rural issue is on the radar, though there seems to be much more work to be done. There is also a suggestion on the Niace website that plans for superfast broadband rollout will exacerbate the urban-rural divide. Our data supports this view, with Moorsholm residents reporting difficulties in accessing websites, especially with new media features and with potentially serious implications for rural businesses. Suggestions were made that more outreach is needed in rural communities, for example, internet access points in pubs and community venues, or greater use of dongles and 3G. Whilst these ideas are excellent for rural residents, they do still bypass the core problem of inequitable access and connectivity across geographical areas. 

There is an increasing push to get non-users online, with a concerning suggestion that there will be much less choice about use in the future. See slide 6 of this presentation. Although it is recognised that digital exclusion maps onto social exclusion and poverty, it seems that action to combat digital exclusion will focus on the necessity of internet use, rather than the underlying factors which shape access and skills development.

There is a strong case to be made for encouraging greater development of digital villages for local communities, not least because of the connectivity it affords community members. Comments from our workshop suggest that digital villages need good organisation and leadership. They can also be a way of getting people involved in community both on the ground and online. A nice example of different digital villages can be seen here.

Interesting findings from the Joseph Rowntree Fund about how computers and the internet are no longer seen as luxuries but are vital to working-age households for full participation in society. This is set in the context of the Minimum Income Standard which asks for public views on what is essential to everyday life for a ’socially acceptable’ standard of living. Read more on the article in the Guardian or the full report at JRF.

The research network has been busy preparing for interviewing in the third phase. We are currently finalising our interview materials and conducting pilot interviews with network members. Pilots are going well and the interview questions are working to generate the rich stories about ICT use that we had hoped to get. We really appreciate all of the work that CRs have put in to date on this and look forward to interviewing in local communities.

We have also prepared our interim report which is available to download in the document library filed under research report. Many thanks to Kathryn S for her brilliant work on the design. All comments on the report are welcome and do disseminate widely.

It’s an important day for the country with the general election, so it will be interesting to keep an eye on ICT and digital inclusion policy in the coming months.

An interesting perspective on the economic benefits of internet use from the government’s Champion for Digital Inclusion.

Here is an extract of key findings from the report commissioned by the champion (2009: 2): 

• 10.2 million adults (21% of the UK population) have never accessed the internet.
• Households offline are missing out on savings of £560 per year from shopping and paying bills online.
• Home access to a computer and the internet can improve children’s educational performance: if the 1.6 million children who live in families which do not use the internet got online at home, it could boost their total lifetime earnings by over £10 billion.
• Unemployed people who get online could increase their chances of getting employment with an estimated lifetime benefit of over £12,000 for every person moved into employment.
• People with good ICT skills earn between 3% and 10% more than people without such skills. If the currently digitally excluded employed people got online, each of them would increase their earnings by an average of over £8,300 in their lifetime and deliver between £560 million and £1,680 million of overall economic benefit.
• If all digitally excluded adults got online and made just one digital contact each month instead of using another channel, this would save an estimated £900 million per annum.
• The total potential economic benefit from getting everyone in the UK online is in excess of £22 billion.

Read the full report at http://raceonline2012.org/sites/all/themes/raceonline/files/pwc_report.pdf

Interesting bit on the BBC website. Martha’s own site is also quite intersting

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8302598.stm

http://www.marthalanefox.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/12/digital-inclusion-martha-lane-fox

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.