swinging & flowing: inclusion & diaspora
DESCRIPTION
My talk at UC Berkeley on 26 April 2102 at the Swinging & Flowing Conference. An opportunity to compare the digital divide in the USA and the UK and to talk about ways to increase digital equality.TRANSCRIPT
Section Divider: Heading intro here.
Swinging & Flowing: Inclusion & diasporaHelen Milner
Chief Executive, Online Centres Foundation
26 April 2012
Note: Some of the pictures have been deleted from the slide deck originally presented at UC Berkeley on
26 April 2012. I replaced images with text where relevant in order to reduce the size of the file and
keep the original data so that none of the meaning has been lost
2,271,944,524Number of internet users in the
world February 2012
32.7%That’s 2,271,944,524 as a % of the
world population
% of each country/continent’s own population who are internet users
Digital Inclusion: US & UK
• Between 2009 and 2011 an additional 2% of the US population became internet users– USA 76.3% (Nov 2009)– USA 78.3% (Dec 2011)
• Between 2009 and 2011 an additional 7.7% of the UK population became internet users– UK 76.4% (Sept 2009)– 84.1% (Dec 2011)
UK online centres: a national organisation
• Government funded organisation leading, coordinating and supporting a national network of 4,300 venues
• Provide:– A learning website for people new to the internet– National campaigns and support local events– Training and grants to train volunteers & centre staff– Some grants to c. 1000 centres & outreach activity
p.a.– National partnerships
Technology + Community + Scale
National + Local
Smarter GovernmentAnnounced: December 2009Started delivery: April 2010
£30m for UK online centres over 3 years to get 1 million more people to become internet users (at about $50 per person)
Why do we need to put public services online?
1m online for £30m: How are we* doing?* UK online centres
1 April 2010 – 22 April 2012
People• Need access to good quality, convenient and
reliable information and services– Tax, education, driving, law, benefits, jobs (Gov)– Grocery shopping, learning, news, cheap goods (Life)– Shopping, weather, catch-up TV, hobbies (Leisure)
• Need to communicate with friends and family• Need to be part of a community
– Local community: development– Collaborating with others beyond local area
LINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_VVZLAsjUw
Why do we care who uses internet?
We’re creating a new inequality
Percentage UK population use of the internet
Source: ONS 2010
Internet and peoples lives
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
Self Confidence
Overall happiness
Quality of life
Ease of organising social gatherings
Informed on current affairs
Skills to get a new job
Confidence talking to different people on different subjects
Confidence expressingviews to key
decision makers
Connection to family andfriends who aren't local
Informed on local affairs
Internet user Internet non-user
“Does the internet improve lives?” Freshminds April, 2009
More confident
Happier
Better quality of life
More informed
Comparison of Internet Users and Non Users
Confident of their skills to get a new job
UK online centres users lives – before and after
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
I do not feel concerned about my levels of qualifications ,training or skills
n=75
I do not feel concerned about my work position
n=51
I do not feel concerned aboutmy health
n=75
I felt part of my local community
I communicated as much as I would have liked
with my family
I communicated as muchas I would like to with friends
"Yes" Before "Yes" After
“Does the internet improve lives?” Freshminds April, 2009
Communicate more
Feel more connected to local community
Feel less concernedabout skills, workand health
Comparison before and after using the internet
In the UK
• £276 savings a year by being online for the households with the lowest income
• 25% of all new jobs advertised only online
In the US
• 80% of Fortune 500 companies have online only job applications
• Students with broadband at home achieve 6 – 8% higher high school graduation rates
How do UK employers feel about IT skills?
• 72% of employers wouldn't even interview entry level candidates who didn't have basic IT skills
ICM/UK online centres survey, February 2012
The internet makes you happier than money
• The BCS research found that: ‘IT has a direct positive impact on life
satisfaction, even when controlling for income and other factors known to be important in determining well-being’
Source: The Information Dividend: Why IT makes you ‘happier’, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT by Trajectory Partnership, September 2010
100m Americans do not have home broadband
66m Americans are digitally illiterate
Who is offline in the UK? (has NEVER used the internet – UK population)
Who is offline in the USA?
1 in 5 American adults do not use the internetSource: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012
Isource: Internet World Stats http://www.internetworldstats.com/unitedstates.htm#MA
Similar stats
• Missippi 59.3% (June 2010), Lithuania 59.5% (March 2008)– (Gates Foundation invested $15.2m in Oct 2007
for four years in internet in libraries in Lithuania)
• Alabama 65% (June 2010), Hungary 65.3 (Dec 2011)
• USA 78.3%, France 77.2 (both Dec 2011)• UK 84.1%, Norway 97.2%, Australia 90%
• Main reason don’t use the internet is lack of interest in both US (31%) and UK (64%)
• In the US internet adoption has leveled off• In both countries the rate of use by people
already online is increasing rapidly
Source of 64%: Ofcom UK Adults’ Media Literacy Report, 2011
Source of 31%: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012
USA, % adults who use the internet, by race/ethnicity
Source: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012
USA, % adults who use the internet, by annual household income
Source: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012
Why is there such a difference?
• Between 2009 and 2011 an additional 2% of the US population became internet users
• Between 2009 and 2011 an additional 7.7% of the UK population became internet users
Could the US achieve more?Are there things to copy from the
UK model?
There are three main barriers why more people don’t more go online?
Freshminds 2007 and 2009
3,800 Community Partners + 500 Access Points
Pubs
Cafes
Community centres and events
… and churches, libraries, mosques, youth groups, mobile
Broadband Minister opening a centre in a barn
3800 Community Partners+ 500 Access Points
• All independent• Not owned, managed or directly funded by us• Not a franchise• Sign up to a minimum offer of free support
and access for learning and use of the internet• All reflect the local community they are in
The centres are independent of us, and represent the community they are in
Broadband take-upby area variesfrom 50% to 80%
*IMD = Indices of Multiple Deprivation
Example centre websites replaced orginal graphics:
• Pakastan Welfare Association http://www.pwaslough.org.uk/
• Bangladeshi Islamic Centre: http://bicentre.org.uk/• Somali Centre of Golden Opportunities
http://www.somaligolden.org.uk/• Bangladesh Youth & Cultural Shomiti
http://www.bycs.org.uk/• Migrants Resource Centre
http://www.migrantsresourcecentre.org.uk/
Unemployed % Disabled % BAME % Aged 65+ %
North East 33,835 48 20 8 18
West Midlands 92,950 40 23 31 19
Yorkshire and the Humber 48,530 32 27 11 26
North West 76,368 33 29 20 21
East Midlands 25,093 37 26 15 23
South West 20,918 29 33 5 30
East of England 24,555 27 29 10 29
South East 38,685 33 31 17 29
London 99,835 32 13 64 12
England (all learners) 460,768 34 26 23 21
Monthly user survey April 2011 – February 2012
Why would a community organisation want to be a UK
online centre?
1. Online learning games and courses for people who have no
or little internet skills or confidence
Our digital literacy content: New improvements
• Will make our learning environment mobile and tablet friendly
• XML based course engine allows for quick translation & localisation
• Use of HTML5 local storage will enable completion of courses when no internet connection is present and synchronisation back to the server when internet is present
2. Training for staff and volunteers
Supporting Volunteers and Digital Champions
● Supported and trained over 3000 volunteers in 2011/12
● Online Become a Digital Champion course
● Supporting your community to get online workshops
“We held a Supporting your community workshop at our City Library,We had lots of opportunity to network and gain fresh approaches tovolunteer working – would highly recommend and very much worthorganising for our staff and volunteers " Sarah Graham - Project Officer Newcastle Libraries
3. Web and freephone search facility
• And the centre search is syndicated as an API and a widget to other websites such as BT (a national telephone and broadband supplier) and Gov.uk the new Government domain
4. Being part of a network – marketing events, facebook,
twitter, link to national partners & policy
Partnership campaigns & events
For example, Get online week• Annual event for 5 years (each Autumn)• 50,000 people got online during Get Online Week
all together in 2007, 2008, and 2009• 90,000 people in 2010 during Get Online ‘Month’• Mass publicity (newspapers, television, radio
interviews, corp partner links, blogs, social media)• Mass coordinated marketing packs – locally
delivered• Local events – over 1500 events in 2010
Three national marketing campaigns a year, supported with local marketing packs
• We also have a twitter account @ukonlinecentres
• And a YouTube channel UKonlinecentresvideos
5. And we give out some grants
Connect 2 Compete: C2C
• The US solution?• $4bn public-private-non profit initiative• A national platform for digital opportunity• Including low cost broadband and computer,
and digital literacy content
Or, are smart phones the answer?% American adults who go online wirelessly with
laptop or cell phone
Source: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012
Technology changes everything and changes nothing
Technology has already revolutionised the way most of us live our lives
The goal is not to get people using technology, it’s about the how people use technology to have a positive, and transformative, impact on their and others’ lives
983,682Finish the 1m people online and save the UK Government £127m net (that’s $205m net)
It’s not about technology, it’s all about people
Thank You
[email protected]@helenmilner on twitterwww.ukonlinecentres.comwww.go-on.co.uk