A dotcom nation

Martha Lane Fox and the British government have a dream : to digitise Britain. Well, specifically to digitise those from the lower income groups and the over 65s. It’s an ambitious programme and certainly a worthy one. I am increasingly aware of the digital divide that’s steadily widening. There is no doubt that if you are not computer literate, or more specifically social media literate, then you are getting left behind. And that’s the situation that 10 million people in the UK apparently find themselves in.

The initiative ‘Race Online 2012‘ is certainly inspiring. What’s at the heart of the digital divide is clearly a class or income divide. In a Sunday Times article that profiles the campaign, this is highlighted perfectly. The journalist asks whether the scheme just encourages ‘poor people… to stay at home, glued to yet another screen’. Let’s thank our lucky stars said journalist is not the one spearheading the campaign. But as well as there being an income divide, there is also a gap in who is deemed deserving of internet access. What irked me as I was reading the article, was the way in which internet access in prisons was danced around, with Martha saying that she didn’t really want to talk about it, seeing it as a personal and niche view. Surely if we’re talking about digital inclusion, then inclusion for those who are supposed to be learning reform and emerge as valuable members of society, is an important issue to discuss?

Access for all?

It’s one thing saying that you want a dotcom nation, but quite another if you are saying that this is only for the privileged, not those who have previously done wrong. If the internet does everything that this promotes – prevents isolation and promotes social inclusion, then surely denying access to prisoners is only going to encourage a vicious circle? Now I’m not suggesting that we go on a free for all. I do of course recognise the dangers of allowing free access to the internet from prisons, without going into all the possible outcomes. But it is not something to be ignored, or closed off completely. Just as the education system needs to update itself and realise that a necessary skill is not to memorise lines but to able to research those lines online, so should the penal system necessarily adjust. Reform by books is not to emerge as a well adjusted citizen. If you don’t know how to use the internet then you are a disadvantaged citizen, the very concept that initiatives like this drive home. Incidentally, if you think no good can come of granting access to prisoners, I recommend a visit to Friendly-Inmates.com. Or consider it from the other perspective, how the opportunity to have a video chat with a friend or family member in prison could transform the lives who find loved ones jailed, but may not be able to physically reach them.

Prisons are not completely turning a blind eye. Limited access for educational purposes, for example, is granted in British prisons. But it is certainly a thorny issue and not one the government condones. And while I really do commend the Race Online initiative, I don’t feel it’s really getting to the heart of the problem. Pictures of grey haired citizens surfing the net or shiny computers in youth centres are one thing, but it avoids the more uncomfortable issue of something like internet access in prisons. Outside of this particular Race Online 2012 programme, there is also the issue of how the internet is featuring in education.  These are 2 crucial areas that need attention in order to address the digital divide – both are examples of people who, for very different reasons are on the periphery of entering into society (hopefully, on the former).

Again, this is not to suggest that *nothing* is being done to address the use of the internet in education, but that not enough is being done and perhaps this is where efforts might be better focused. I’m talking about internet in education separately to the physical access to a computer and more about how it is being used. The teaching. Access to the internet without it properly featuring in the curriculum is like having a light bulb without a switch. You can’t use the thing if you’re not provided with a means.

I don’t profess to know the ins and outs of how the internet features in day to day education, but I was discussing the use of I.T. in education in Ireland with one of the brightest teenagers I’ve ever met (let alone brightest people) – Ben Chapman, a 17 y/o who goes to Scoil Mhuire Community School, Clane. What I found from talking to Ben was that because I.T. classes weren’t mandatory in his school until transition year, and because of the nature of technology, how it featured in the curriculum was basically dependent on luck. I’ve certainly heard examples of teachers tweeting homework resources, and examples where students have to take the tutor through how to navigate the internet. Whether or not your teacher is personally active online is not a good enough provision of technology in education. It was clear from my discussion with Ben that teacher training was the problem. And a far harder one to fix at that.

Getting grannies online or putting a computer in every youth centre isn’t the solution, it is a painting on the wall to divert from the elephant in the room.