Digital Inclusion Minister Huw Irranca-Davies visited Liverpool and St. Helens last week to see how the Merseyside region is leading the way in making IT facilities more accessible to local communities.

Mr Irranca-Davies visited the Parents and Children Together (PACT) project, run by EverybodyOnline and held at South Liverpool Personnel, which runs a series of taster sessions to help local parents access the internet, learn new skills and find out how technology could improve their lives.

Following this he went onto St. Cuthbert’s Catholic Community College for Business and Enterprise in St. Helens to hear about the Community Grid concept, which provides the local community with easy-to-use, low-cost, low-energy home access to the internet and other computing resources.

More information on the GMDDA news site.

The internet has taken over from family and friends as the number one source of advice on bringing up a baby for young Scottish mums, according to new research from BT and website Netmums.

Social changes, such as young people living further away from their own parents and the rise of ‘virtual community’ on the internet, mean that 41.7 per cent of Scottish mums turn to the internet first for advice on health and parenting.

It means the internet has edged ahead of words of wisdom from kith and kin, with 41.4 per cent saying they’d ask their own mum or sister for tips first. A health visitor would be the first port of call for 10.8 per cent and 5.4 per cent would consult their GP first.

The BT research reveals a new picture of connected Britain, with mums using the internet not only for information gathering and research, but also for friendship and support.

Online friendships, previously considered by some to be superficial and anonymous, are now being taken beyond the computer screen and out into the community. Almost half of the Scottish mums, 47.8 per cent, have met friends through the internet, and nearly one quarter, 24.4 per cent, have actually met up in person.

Siobhan Freegard, co-founder of Netmums, said: “It’s astonishing how important the internet has become to mums of today. Right across the country, mums from all walks of life are using the internet for social interaction, support and advice from other mums whether they live just down the road or 400 miles away. Even more astonishing is the number of online friends who are now meeting up in their local areas and putting a face to the name.

“The way families use the internet has changed so much over the last few years and the change is most extreme when you look at us mums. The internet is now a well-established lifeline to many mums and this study shows that when they need a sounding-board, they will log on to get support even before they call a family member or their GP for advice.”

Lesley Gavin, BT Futurologist, said: “The dramatic growth of broadband in Scotland means modern mums can find the help and support they need online.

“Twenty years ago, mums had a limited number of options when it came to help and advice; being online now opens up so many opportunities. No matter where they are or what time they log on, the internet can help mums to seek advice and reliable information about a hundred different things at the click of a button. To me, the internet is all about empowerment and increased choice for modern mums.

“In an age of globalisation, it is also interesting to see how much the internet is doing to bring people together. In the early days, ’surfing the net’ used to merely involve finding basic information but today’s internet allows real relationships to be forged and this trend is set to continue. The internet has become a very real extension to our day-to-day support network.

“It is important to us that we encourage mums who haven’t been online before to give it a go and see how it can help them in their everyday life. As part of our ongoing digital inclusion work, and specifically our Crossing the Divide campaign, we have been working with our friends at Netmums to bring to life just how beneficial the internet can be.”

Other key findings from the research:

• Two-thirds, 65 per cent, of Scottish mums use the net ‘heavily’
• 38.4 per cent of respondents have considered setting up their own business thanks to the opportunities that the internet provides;
• 5.4 per cent of mums are already running full-fledged businesses thanks to the internet
• 95 per cent of mums said that the internet helps them to save money

Netmum user Jay Greengrass met her husband Jon thanks to an online climbing forum. Jay, who lives near Elgin, said: “I started climbing and began using the climbing website ukclimbing.com and Jon was already an established poster. We got to know each others personalities online and clashed - we both enjoyed taking the rip out of each other! Then we met at a climbing event one of the regular posters organised, but didn’t know who each other was. We got talking over a bottle of whisky and a campfire, liked each other and then it was “Oh My God!” when I realised who I was talking to! Now 5 years later we’re happily married with two small children. If it wasn’t for the internet we would never have met. There is no way we would have bumped into each other otherwise. I never thought I would end up married with kids, never mind to someone I met on the Internet, but you just don’t know the way things are going to turn out. I’m now blissfully happy as a mum!”

BT is a founding supporter of Netmums. Since Netmums launched, BT has provided technological support to the site as part of its aim to bring communications benefits to everyone.

*The research was carried out on behalf of BT by Netmums between 20 and 27 May 2008. More than 3,600 mums were surveyed.

*The Crossing the Divide programme is a real-time study designed to chart the progress of a group of individuals as they gain access and knowledge of the internet. For more information, visit www.bt.com/betterworld/journeytoinclusion

[From Silicon.com] By Natasha Lomas

A project to tackle digital exclusion in socially deprived regions of Merseyside has brought free plug-and-play internet access to hundreds of homes with children of school age.

The project is aiming to give digitally excluded families a leg up onto the internet by installing thin client Windows PCs, complete with the MS Office suite, in their homes. It’s the brainchild of the Advanced Internet Methods and Emergent Systems (AIMES) Centre at Liverpool University, working in collaboration with housing associations and local schools.

Two 12-month pilots are currently running in the St Helens and Anfield areas of Liverpool, involving 250 and 400 homes respectively, with a third pilot due to start shortly in Tranmere targeting another 250 internet-less homes. But the hope is to turn the pilot into an ad-funded service and scale it up to 5,000 homes in those areas over the next three years, according to Professor Dennis Kehoe, director of Aimes.

Digital exclusion is a complex issue, says Kehoe. It’s not necessarily that families cannot afford the hardware to get online - although that certainly can be a factor; but there are many technical barriers to entry, such as selecting an ISP and setting up and maintaining a broadband service.

Kehoe told silicon.com: “One of the things that really came to the fore when we looked at [digital exclusion] in addition to the usual cost problems, it was really the technical barrier that one needed to cross, to hurdle, to actually avail yourself of modern day information technology.”

In order to provide an internet service that was not dependent on technically savvy users, Aimes decided to run a managed service via thin clients. The use of thin client computing means users are supported remotely by technicians and do not therefore have to worry about installing antivirus, firewalls, web filters etc, or doing updates. Problems can also be fixed remotely by the handful of helpdesk staff employed to support the users.

As many of the homes involved in the project don’t have landlines installed - instead relying on mobile phones only - Aimes decided to use wireless mesh network technology for last mile connectivity. Wireless also has the advantage of being easily scalable, said Kehoe, and allows individual areas to be targeted.

Funding for the pilots has come from a variety of sources including community groups, public sector organisations and also registered social landlords, who see benefits in digital technology to help reduce tenant churn in their properties and in order that they can contact tenants via email.

Meanwhile, in St Helens, the project has benefited from being able to make use of the council’s metropolitan area network for backhaul - sharing the resource with a school. “It’s increasing the utilisation of resources the council’s already invested in so it makes sense to them,” Kehoe explains.

The running costs per user (excluding the initial hardware) for the managed service are small - around £2 per week - and in future Kehoe envisages an ad-funded model being able to support service provision, with public sector organisations such as Primary Care Trusts, job centres and local councils paying to get targeted messages to otherwise hard-to-reach individuals and communities.

Government, local authorities and communities are starting to wake up to wider social benefits of breaking down digital divides in deprived communities, Kehoe adds; be it boosting skills and access to educational resources, helping to drive local economic activity, improving access to information for disabled or less able people, or even helping policing and tackling anti-social behaviour.

Kehoe says: “They [councils] have some very stringent targets on worklessness and they’ve woken up to this correlation between social exclusion and digital exclusion and they can see that through digital inclusion - or digital equality - there is a lever there, they can do something about that and that can then impact on social exclusion.”

We’ll look back in 20 years’ time on computing in the early part of this century and we’ll say it was ridiculous.

The anecdotal evidence is good, according to Kehoe. “We’ve not had anybody switch the service off,” he says. “Usage has been growing fairly exponentially… They’re on MSN, they’re looking at eBay, they’re looking at the BBC - they’re doing all the kind of things that everybody else does.”

Kehoe adds: “We’ll look back in 20 years’ time on computing in the early part of this century and we’ll say it was ridiculous. You had to buy some hardware and then you had to have an operating system and some applications and you had to blend all that with the TCP-IP service from a telco provider and you had to make sure their firewall protection and your operating system firewall protection were enabled…

“It’s a complete nonsense, it really is, even to people who’re technically able. I don’t know anybody who’s home computing works in any way that approaches a reasonable service.”

On Thursday 19th June, Digital Inclusion Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies MP will visit two leading digital inclusion projects in Liverpool and St Helens. The so-called “digital divide” is increasingly seen as a major barrier to personal, community and regional economic well-being in the UK, which is the least skilled workforce in the EU. Mr Irranca-Davies’ visit will include:

• The AIMES Community Grid project. Acknowledged as a leader in its field, AIMES is leading the Digital Inclusion & Enterprise Programme (DIEP), established as a result of the Government’s 2007 “Digital Challenge”. Mr Irranca-Davies will visit St Cuthbert’s Catholic Community College for Business & Enterprise in St Helens where pupils and parents have been using the managed computing service provided by the Community Grid project since May 2007. As part of the wider DIEP, strategically supported by the GMDDA, AIMES will provide access for around 5,000 homes in the Greater Merseyside region via the Community Grid system over a 2 year period from May 2008.

• The EverybodyOnline Liverpool 8 project is another highly successful digital inclusion initiative focusing on internet and digital technology support for parents. It includes use of the internet, and day-to-day skills such as shopping and banking online, and email. Mr Irranca-Davies will visit a PACT (Parents & Children Together) session at South Liverpool Personnel in Liverpool to speak to users direct.

Mr Irranca-Davies’ visit underlines the importance placed on the Digital Inclusion agenda at Parliamentary level, as Professor Dennis Kehoe, Director of AIMES, explains: “Digital inclusion is a crucial enabler of economic regeneration and growth. Internet access can transform cities and communities, providing improved access to employment, education and health information. The internet can also help to combat isolation and increase a sense of community. We’re delighted to be able to demonstrate our digital inclusion work to Mr Irranca-Davies in person.”

The AIMES digital inclusion project provides a fully managed internet access service to users, a key element in its success and sustainability. AIMES and its technology partner, e-communications specialist OciusB2, provide broadband internet access, a range of software packages, all equipment required, plus training and support to users of the Community Grid. The first 125 homes are now live and for the first 12 months, the service is provided free of charge.

Welsh Digital Inclusion Minister Huw Irranca-Davies, MP has urged industries, organisations and government departments to consider usability when designing equipment to help combat social and digital exclusion.

Speaking at the Ofcom conference, Usability in the Communications Sector, Mr Irranca-Davies said: “Digital inclusion isn’t just only about access, skills or confidence - it is also about designing usable equipment for all without the need for special adaptation or specialised design.

“Digital inclusion is a key objective of this Government, to make sure that everyone in the UK, regardless of their circumstances has the opportunity to benefit from the information revolution. Overcoming this digital exclusion is not just a social necessity, it is estimated that it could be worth up to €85 billion to European companies and governments over the next five years.

“Over the coming months the Government will publish a Digital Strategy Action Plan which will outline the actions we will take to make everyone more digitally included.

“But the message today is that inclusive design is good design. This isn’t just about disabled people or older people. It’s about making it easier for everyone to use technology and access communications. And the size of the market for usable equipment will increase as the population ages and more and more people begin to use technology.

“Our aim is to inspire progress and to encourage industry, other government departments and other organisations to exploit and examine the benefits of easily usable equipment and to help input into an Ofcom-wide strategy on usability to combat social and digital exclusion. There is no better place to start than at the design stage - promoting the benefits of easy to use software and equipment.”

[From PublicTechnology.net]

News from the 2008 National Digital Inclusion Conference was reported far and wide, following comments from new Digital Inclusion Minister, Paul Murphy MP.

• News reports:
  • BBC News, Digital inclusion strategy for UK
  • Guardian Online, Digital inclusion isn’t just about playing Santa Claus
  • IT Pro, Digital inclusion brings economic benefits, study finds
  • PC World (USA), Britain Plans to Get All Residents Online
  • IT Week, Surfers shine at studies and salaries
  • PublicTechnology.net, Minister calls for UK action to improve digital inclusion
  • Broadband Choices, Digital inclusion strategy to get the UK connected
• Blogging and videos from the conference:
  • DC10plus Social Reporter, various videos:
    • Stephen Dodson, National Director of DC10plus
    • Stephen Hilton, Connecting Bristol
    • Miguel Gonzalez-Sancho, Deputy Head of Unit, ICT for Inclusion Unit, European Commission
    • Peter Farrell and Julie Mitchell, UK Online Centres
    • Dave Carter, of Manchester Digital Development Agency
  • Yorkshire and Humber ICT Champion, UK online centres - New Research Launch
  • Watford ICT Champion, Inclusion and Justice … are you in ?

A strategy to get the last third of unconnected UK citizens online is now being drawn up, according to Paul Murphy MP, Minister for Digital Inclusion, at yesterday’s National Digital Inclusion Conference, also attended by GMDDA. In his first speech since his appointment, he revealed the strategy could be in place by summer.

Some 17 million citizens in the UK did not have access to a computer, either at home or at work, he said, “Chances are these people come from an older or socially, economically or geographically disadvantaged group”.

The new cabinet committee set up by Mr Murphy met for the first time last week, “We came up with the following mission statement: To co-ordinate policies and a coherent strategy that all citizens, especially the disadvantaged, can benefit from new technologies,” he told the conference.

Delegates welcomed the appointment of the first cabinet minister to have responsibility for digital exclusion.

“The vision from government seems now to be bigger and bolder,” said Helen Milner, managing director of UK Online centres, community-based groups aimed at connecting the disconnected.

These views were echoed by Professor Dennis Kehoe, Director of the AIMES Centre at the University of Liverpool, “It is good to hear that Government is addressing digital inclusion at Cabinet-level, comments expressed today mirror exactly our objectives in the Digital Inclusion & Enterprise Programme for Merseyside.”

GMDDA and AIMES are currently working with other partners, including local councils, to digitally enable over 5,000 residents, as well as encouraging enterprise development and other initiatives, such as homeshoring. Read more about the programme here: http://diep.aimes.net/

Helen Milner, Managing Director of UK Online Centres, highlights the importance of digital inclusion as she discusses a recent report which found that £2.6 billion can be saved by the British Economy if we could bridge the digital divide.

Read the full article on eGov Monitor here: http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/18216

Some interesting stats from the article:

• Digitally included individuals are likely to perform better academically (increase of ¼ GCSE grade per subject)
• Computer/internet use commands salary premiums (3-10%)
• Government services can make significant savings through mediated interactions. For instance, one of the online NHS initiatives is predicted to save it £68 million in 2008
• Companies can increase customer base and sales volumes (online spend is on average 20 percent higher than offline)
• UK economy can feel a positive impact on GDP (upwards of 1.54% over three years)

It was announced today that CXS and Proxim had deployed a wireless system to residents in the county of Renfrewshire in Scotland. The wireless system enables users of the service to benefit from online learning and general e-commerce facilities such as online banking.

Renfrewshire Council was looking for a sustainable solution to provide citizens with residential high speed broadband. The programme, called the Digital Inclusion Project, was designed to cover an area of around 5 square kilometres. Responses to the council’s tender included broadband vendors offering hard-wired solutions. CXS, however, put forward a proposal for a wireless solution, which was 1/10th the cost of hard-wired solutions. Having reviewed proposals, the council decided to work with CXS due to the economic advantages of the wireless solution compared to fixed line proposals suggested by other vendors.

The implementation called for a large and robust network. CXS delivered by using 70 Proxim Access Points to cover over 2,600 households and 25 point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links for backhaul to a 30Mbps internet ‘pipe’. The 30Mbps wireless backhaul extends over 12 kilometres from Johnstone in Renfrewshire to Shortroods at Glasgow Airport.

Gordon Giles, Renfrewshire Digital Inclusion Manager, stated: “This has been a new and innovative project. I’m not aware of many other initiatives that provide wireless and mesh broadband into residential homes to allow social inclusion covering an area of 5 square kilometres.”

More here: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0363510.htm