It’s frustrating to see Digital Britain boiled down in the media to inaccurate reporting of the ‘£6 stealth tax on landlines’, or alternatively a spirited defence of the licence fee (largely from the BBC).
I found myself on Radio 5 Live last week discussing the landline levy, and was greatly heartened to hear at least half the callers happy to pay their 50p a month for a better connected Britain. The lovely Imran even pledged to go out and get a landline to pay tax on, so everyone around him could benefit from the internet.
There was an echo of this kind of social conscience in Digital Britain itself (although despite my best efforts it certainly wasn’t a focus of Radio 5 Live). Digital participation – digital inclusion by any other name – was cited by Ben Bradshaw in the Commons as the second big theme of Digital Britain’s big day. That’s considerable progress for an emerging policy area, which last week spread its wings for the very first time in mainstream politics. Digital inclusion is not yet, however, flying high. I’d say we’re still waiting for our wings to dry.
You see, British landlines x 50p a month is not the sum which most concerns me in the report. I’m more interested in plans to spend £200m a year on basic broadband speeds for the 1.5 million households who don’t have good internet access, versus a mere £12m – over three years – on the 15 million people who don’t have the motivation, skills or opportunity to use technology at all. Something doesn’t seem to add up.
Very generously, only around 3 million people are affected by poor internet access and speeds at home. Taking them away from the 15 million ‘excluded’, that leaves a good 12 million with good broadband pumping down their streets who are nevertheless left out in the non-digital cold. Our research shows 55% of those left offline want to use it but have specific barriers - money, time, knowledge, understanding, while the remaining 45% reject it out of hand as something that’s not necessary and not for them.
Connecting the 55% and engaging the 45% is key to this agenda. People are the real heart of Britain – digital or otherwise. It’s their use of technology which will drive the country out of recession and into global competition. Having one in four people excluded from the digital world will hold us back from that goal; engaging them will propel us forwards.
I found Digital Britain to be very much a case of two steps forward and one step back for digital inclusion. We’ve gained a Champion, but lost a Minister; gained considerable recognition but lost out on effective resource (disappointing but salvageable).
With digital inclusion still in something of a post-reshuffle departmental limbo, the main hope was offered by the appointment of Martha Lane Fox as its Champion. I’m excited to be part of the Taskforce supporting her, because she’s got a real interest in this area, real empathy, great connections and great energy. Martha is very much prepared to roll up her sleeves and do for digital inclusion, and in last week’s Guardian Technology (GT) pledged more action instead of more rhetoric. As GT also pointed out, she’s quite ready to bang on Ministerial desks to achieve it.
I think it obvious from Digital Britain that there’s still considerable banging to be done, here. Digital inclusion has emerged from its chrysalis, but it’s still not flashy enough to attract much attention, and there is still much confusion about what ‘exclusion’ actually means. Less than half of MPs think digital inclusion is a key factor in helping the country recover from recession. A significant proportion also question whether digital inclusion has a role to play in social inclusion, with 40% reporting they didn’t see it as having a part in bridging class divides.
From my point of view the evidence is clear, and it’s the link between social and digital inclusion which remains most concerning and most urgent. Those already at a disadvantage are up to seven times more likely to be digitally excluded. At UK online centres we’ve found internet users’ confidence in their ability to find work outstrips non-users by 25%, and that they’re more likely to rate their general confidence and quality of life higher. They also find it easier to plan travel and organise social gatherings, and feel much better informed about current affairs.
Having the access, motivation and skills to take advantage of technology can quite clearly improve lives, job prospects and work performance, access to information and more general social capital. It’s that capacity which needs to be built alongside the high-speed infrastructures and clever content, and its skills not fibres which will need investment. Indeed, another ray of burgeoning hope last week - somewhat eclipsed by Digital Britain itself - was what I consider to be a cornerstone of digital inclusion’s future. The new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) also launched Estelle Morris’ review into digital life skills, which backed up the fledgling Learning Revolution White Paper and put informal ICT learning at its core. It could be here that we see the missing digital inclusion resource reimbursed, or reincarnated, depending on how you look at it.
Despite monetary and maths worries, there is clearly much in last week’s policy news to welcome and to build on. As high priestess of all glasses half full, I’m choosing to see Digital Britain as a brave start in addressing some very complex issues, and bringing together the social, economic and digital under one BISy roof.
I actually trust Lord Carter’s vision. There is no doubt there remains considerable work to be done to move Digital Britain from paper to practice, to balance the books and to co-ordinate the consortia of new agencies and old friends, but I for one am a believer. I’m therefore genuinely saddened we’ll be losing Carter’s leadership, and I’m looking to him for a smooth handover of ideas to his team, his boss, and his successor.
In Birmingham last week Carter – rather charmingly - said it was down to individuals like me to be the social voice of the digital future. I’m quite happy to take that on, and keep on fluttering gently but persistently away at the glimpses of light clearly visible at the end of the policy tunnel. This is a new era for digital inclusion, and I’m looking forward to working with Martha, Estelle Morris, the Digital Britain team, and partners like Ofcom, the BBC and Channel 4 to make sure technology really is opened up to all.
