London Regional ICT Champion

We’re working with DC10Plus to put on an event showcasing community IT projects to policy-makers, funders, and practitioners – It’s FREE and its on 24 November at Watermans Arts Centre, Brentford.

The event is about “digital inclusion” and showcasing the direct and indirect benefits communities can realise from local technology projects.

But just what is “digital inclusion” and why does the Government think it matters enough to put £2m into an alliance of ten Digital Challenge winners?  Here’s our mini-guide to all things Digital Challenge.

What is Digital Challenge and DC10 Plus?
Digital Challenge is Government sponsored competition which aims to increase digital inclusion, support business transformation and stimulate innovation.  Ten regional winners and national finalists – Bristol, Birmingham and Shropshire, Ealing, Hull, Norfolk, Nottingham, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Stratford on Avon and Sunderland – formed an alliance called DC10plus with £2million funding from Communities and Local Government.

DC10Plus have established a crosscutting, people-focussed agenda for ICT and digital media, which aims to increase digital inclusion, support business transformation and stimulate innovation.

Sounds good.  What’s digital inclusion?
The goal of digital inclusion or e-inclusion is to end the digital divide , a term used to describe the fact that the world can be divided into people who do and people who don’t have access to – and the capability to use – modern information, communication technology ( ICT ).

Delivering Digital Inclusion – An Action Plan for Consultation
The Government’s new consultation document – Delivering Digital Inclusion estimates that 17 million people in the UK still do not use computers and the Internet.  There is also a strong correlation between digital exclusion and social exclusion – 75% of socially excluded people are also digitally excluded.

The document calls for a Charter for Digital Inclusion, a Digital Champions and a government task force.

The consultation builds on Connecting the UK: the Digital Strategy (Cabinet Office 2005) and Inclusion-through-Innovation (ODPM 2005)

What do advocates of digital inclusion say?
According to advocates, digital inclusion has the power to: close the gap between developed and less developed countries; promote democracy and mutual understanding; and empower disadvantaged individuals, such as the poor, the disabled, and the unemployed.

A report into the “Economic benefits of digital inclusion” was published in May 2008 by UK Online Centres. The report outlined three key benefits of digital inclusion:

1. Digital inclusion is capable of enhancing opportunity for both individuals and organisations.

2. Digital inclusion has immense potential in cutting the cost of public service delivery.

3. Expanding access to ICT for marginalised groups is likely to reduce their social exclusion simply through facilitating access and participation.

What does digital inclusion mean for the non-profit sector?
An increasing number of public services are delivered by voluntary and community
organisations on behalf of the Government – according to NCVO, total public funding (from local and central government)  has doubled from less than £5 billion in 1996/97 to more than £10 billion in 2004/05.

Not surprisingly, the digital inclusion strategies of the Government and local government agencies clearly focus on the social and business benefits of delivering information and services online.

However, the barriers to digital inclusion nirvana are considerable – the Government’s own research indicates 17m people still do not use computers and the Internet.  Likewise, recent research (Summer 2008) conducted for Lambeth’s ChangeUP consortium by Lasa suggests that many local voluntary sector organisations face similar barriers to accessing and using ICT, which hinders their ability to particpate fully in mainstream services and information.

The stakes for voluntary and community organisations who want to engage with mainstream services are clear. As William Gibson said in 1999, “The future is already here. It’s just not very evenly distributed.”

What about digital challenge projects?
That’s in our next post.