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.

1. Section Divider: Heading intro here.
Swinging & Flowing: Inclusion
& diaspora
Helen Milner
Chief Executive, Online Centres Foundation
26 April 2012

2. 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

3. 2,271,944,524
Number of internet users in the
world February 2012

4. 32.7%
That’s 2,271,944,524 as a % of the
world population

5. % of each country/continent’s own population who are internet users

6. 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)

7. 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

8. Technology + Community + Scale
National + Local

9. Smarter Government
Announced: December 2009
Started 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)

10. Why do we need to put public
services online?

11. 1m online for £30m: How are we* doing?
* UK online centres
1 April 2010 – 22 April 2012

13. 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

14. LINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_VVZLAsjUw

15. Why do we care who uses
internet?

16. We’re creating a new inequality
Percentage UK population use of the internet
Source: ONS 2010

17. Internet and peoples lives of Internet Users and Non Users
Comparison
More confident
Self Confidence
4.50
Informed on local affairs Overall happiness
4.00 Happier
Connection to family and
3.50 Quality of life
friends who aren't local
3.00
Better quality of life
Confidence expressing
Ease of organising
views to key
social gatherings
decision makers
Confidence talking to different
Informed on current affairs
people on different subjects
Skills to get a new job
More informed
Confident of their skills to get a new job
Internet user Internet non-user
“Does the internet improve lives?”
Freshminds April, 2009

18. Comparison online and
UK before centres users lives – before and after
after using the internet I do not feel concerned about my levels
of qualifications, training or skills
Feel less concerned
n=75 about skills, work
100%
and health
80%
60% I do not feel concerned
I communicated as much
about my work position
as I would like to with friends
n=51
40%
Communicate 20%
more
0%
I communicated as much I do not feel concerned about
as I would have liked my health
with my family n=75
Feel more connected to
local community
I felt part of my local community
"Yes" Before "Yes" After
“Does the internet improve lives?”
Freshminds April, 2009

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 100m Americans do not have
home broadband

24. 66m Americans are digitally
illiterate

25. Who is offline in the UK?
(has NEVER used the internet – UK population)

26. Who is offline in the USA?
1 in 5 American adults do not use the internet
Source: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012

27. Isource: Internet World Stats http://www.internetworldstats.com/unitedstates.htm#MA

28. 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%

29. • 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

30. USA, % adults who use the internet, by
race/ethnicity
Source: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012

31. USA, % adults who use the internet, by
annual household income
Source: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012

32. 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

33. Could the US achieve more?
Are there things to copy from the
UK model?

34. There are three main barriers why more people
don’t more go online?
Freshminds 2007 and 2009

36. Pubs
Broadband Minister
opening a centre in a
barn
Community centres and events
Cafes
… and churches, libraries, mosques, youth groups, mobile
3,800 Community Partners + 500 Access Points

37. 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

38. The centres are independent of us, and
represent the community they are in
Broadband take-up
by area varies
from 50% to 80%
*IMD = Indices of Multiple Deprivation

39. 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/

40. Monthly user survey April 2011 – February 2012
Aged 65+
Unemployed % Disabled % BAME % %
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

41. Why would a community
organisation want to be a UK
online centre?

42. 1. Online learning games and
courses for people who have no
or little internet skills or
confidence

45. 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

46. 2. Training for staff and
volunteers

47. 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,
e had lots of opportunity to network and gain fresh approaches to
lunteer working – would highly recommend and very much worth
ganising for our staff and volunteers " Sarah Graham - Project Officer Newcastle Libraries

48. 3. Web and freephone search
facility

50. • 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

51. 4. Being part of a network –
marketing events, facebook,
twitter, link to national partners
& policy

52. Partnership campaigns & events

53. 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

54. Three national marketing campaigns a year,
supported with local marketing packs

56. • We also have a twitter account
@ukonlinecentres
• And a YouTube channel
UKonlinecentresvideos

57. 5. And we give out some grants

58. 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

60. Or, are smart phones the answer?
% American adults who go online wirelessly with
laptop or cell phone
Source: Pew “Digital Differences”, 13 April 2012

61. Technology changes everything and
changes nothing

62. 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

63. 983,682
Finish the 1m people online and
save the UK Government £127m net
(that’s $205m net)

66. It’s not about technology, it’s all
about people

67. Thank You
helen@ukonlinecentres.com
@helenmilner on twitter
www.ukonlinecentres.com
www.go-on.co.uk