London Regional ICT Champion

Movement on the digital divide has stalled with only marginally more people online today than three years ago.

That’s the astonishing conclusion of new research conducted in association with FreshMinds.

Understanding Digital Inclusion is claimed to be the first report that comprehensively maps the correlation between digital and social exclusion. The report identifies the digital divide not just as a wide problem but as a deep one, with those still stuck on the wrong side more deeply excluded and harder-to-reach than ever before.

It reveals that:

• three in four people counted as socially excluded are also digitally excluded in not having convenient access to the internet.
• those who are out of work, in poor health, live in social housing, live alone, or have a low level of qualification are being set at a further disadvantage by digital exclusion.
• 75 % of people counted as socially excluded are also digitally excluded. That means they’re missing out on the opportunities, choices, savings and services computers and the internet provide.

The report brings together information from more than 80 sources, including research into digital skills, ICT usage and internet penetration from the Office of National Statistics, Ofcom, the Oxford Internet Institute, and government departments. It’s the first time the complex factors of non-ICT use and the correlation between digital and social exclusion have been comprehensively mapped.

The research will be officially launched at a parliamentary reception on 10 July. It will be available to download from the same date.

We hope the research adds further fuel to the fire that if the digital gap is to be narrowed – the ICT of voluntary and community organisations working with the most digitally excluded communities, such as Brixton Online, needs urgent and sustained investment from statutory and charitable funders.

This story was shamelessly lifted from an article originally published at Kablenet , a website aggregating government IT news.