Maurice Mcleod highlights how a government backed initiative "myguide" can address the key issues of digital/social exclusion by helping people use the internet effectively.
Next year should see the launch of a new Government-backed service which will open up the advantages of the internet to some of the 16 million people who are currently not online at home or at work.
The project, called myguide, has been developed over the last five years and is just coming to the end of its pilot phase.
The service offers a simplified interface to the internet through which users can set up email accounts, browse the web and search for information without having to navigate the hurdles that too often put newcomers off when it comes to online services.
As well as the simplified interface, the system also has within it a number of tools to help those with particular physical or mental difficulties make full use of the internet.
The Cybrarian project, as myguide was originally called, was a £30m Department for Education and Skills project which was launched as part of the ‘Opportunity for All’ White Paper in 2001.
An increasing number of Government services were to be made available online but it became clear that very serious rights issues would come up if access to the internet continued to be out of reach for a sizeable sector of society.
Research showed that the people not online largely came from one or more of the following groups:
- People with physical or cognitive disabilities
- Older people
- Those with specific cultural needs
- People with low basic skills
The groups highlighted as being most likely not to be online were often the very same people who would be most in need of the government services.
It was apparent that if the digital divide could be reduced the government would be able to offer more of its services online, which are often cheaper to deliver, easier to utilise and more straightforward to monitor.
The project built up a stakeholder group of over 60 organisations, mainly from the voluntary sector, who dealt with members of the target audience on a daily basis.
The stakeholders fed back that many of their users either found the internet too confusing to use or that specific physical or cognitive issues stopped them being able to make the most of online services.
Kevin Carey, Chair of the Stakeholder Group, said:
“It isn't the technology that commits me to the Cybrarian Project, it's a passion for social justice and equality of opportunity. Until everybody has a new technology, an opportunity divide is created. That is what the technology revolution is doing before our very eyes and Cybrarian is being developed to help close this gap.”
Mr Carey’s role was to make sure that the requirements of the target users were always at the forefront of the development of the system.
“The objective of the Cybrarian system, then, is to attract new Internet users and retain them by showing how useful it is. This will involve designing the kind of system that is robust, friendly, attractive and flexible so that people can have what they want, the way they want it,” he said.
The involvement of the voluntary sector was crucial to myguide’s development because as well as have members which make up the target audience for the project, they will also have a key role when it comes to rolling out the project nationally.
The perceived low spending power of the target groups coupled with the high cost of developing online services for them have meant the private sector is unlikely to provide solutions to the problems highlighted by the stakeholders and so the task falls to the Government.
Diana Laurillard, Chair of Learning with Digital Technologies at the University of London, who spent three years on secondment at the DfES as Head of the e-Learning Strategy Unit, said during her tenure:
“Web technology, far from being a barrier, can be an enabler. But it won’t just happen by itself.
“The commercial sector is not addressing this huge potential market because it is too fragmented, the needs are too diverse, the returns too low. Government has to bridge the gap. By working in tandem with our partners in other parts of Government, and with the private sector companies interested in innovation in the most challenging areas of the technology, the DfES will set in train the building of a long-term, responsive solution to problem of the digital divide.”
As a pilot manager for the London pilot of myguide I have had a chance to see the system in action in community centres, colleges and libraries around Lambeth and Southwark. It’s reassuring to see people, who may have tried the internet in the past and come away frustrated, get a great sense of achievement when they first successfully receive an email or search for some information.
It is also edifying to hear the positive noises coming from our voluntary sector partners who see can see how much easier running their organisations will be if they are able to email members and provide services online.
One over-worked director of a small charity: “If myguide opens the benefits of the internet up to my members it could well cut my work load in half.”
With growing Government recognition of the vital role played by the voluntary sector when it comes to delivering services and rolling out initiatives, building capacity in these organisations will become even more crucial.
Streamlining the way voluntary and community groups interact with their users will be a massive step in right direction when it comes to building a united Britain where information is a right and not a commodity.
Maurice Mcleod is director of Marmoset Media, a media consultancy specialising in Community Cohesion.
The myguide site can be viewed at: www.myguide.gov.uk
