39 Comments on Can the RSA help close the digital divide ?

Katherine Hudson on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 1:02 pm


Matthew – this is really interesting idea; and more importantly it’s potentially workable due to its specificity and scalability. It also ties in very neatly – in that it could possibly feed into, and learn from – the social spaces project (http://thrivingtoo.typepad.com/thriving_too/2009/04/social-spaces-project-.html) that Fellows are beginning to work on.

James Horn on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 1:46 pm


This sounds really interesting, Matthew. From experience of ‘community’ websites in the past – mostly videogame ones – I would say that the following is true:

1.) You need an online community to grow an online community. The hardest thing is to get the first 100 subscribers. Once a core community is created, it begins to self sustain (if it has a means of interaction) as debate, news items and feedback begins to flow. This means a disproportionate amount of marketing needs to be conducted early on in the community site’s life.

2.) A Community Liaison Officer is invaluable – in my experience, these have been full time evangelists for a site, both maintaining law and order on the forums and linking across to other networks by visiting other related forums and posting links. This position does however take a lot of time…

3.) Front page simplicity – the best community websites tell you the majority of what you want to know on the first page – key news and information should dominate. Other info and FAQ should also be only a single click away.

Paul Nash on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 2:02 pm


Which brings us to the future; what should happen next? When Matthew Taylor closed the conference with an invitation for next year I had a concern that another two days of celebrating success over the 71% (or will it be 75%) of engaged citizens would be re-played. This must not happen and so I have a couple of suggestions. Next year’s conference must concentrate on the things we cannot do, that we find hard, that we need to approach differently.
I would like to propose that we have the first half day to celebrate the achievements, it’s important to do that. For the remainder of the conference we should focus on the “too hard to do” pile and we should start the process of thinking well outside of the box. It’s time we left our comfort zone.
I suggest a twin track conference one for LSPs and Commissioners and one for practitioners. There should be active engagement of the third sector with special rates for them to attend and targeted items on one day so that they don’t have the expense of a two day event.
I also suggest a slightly different format with an opportunity for fringe events and small, privately sponsored workshops so that individual projects can present their work to interested audiences.
There were a couple of emergent themes that I think should underpin the “out of the box” approach needed next time:
Innovation: We all know Einstein’s definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Do we really understand what it is to be innovative? The recent Vienna Report has a great sound bite “I2 Inclusive technical innovation and Innovative Inclusive Policies”. Where do innovative ideas come from and what is the journey that they go on? Do we understand innovation or do we oversimplify? Is there a place for horizon scanning?
Entitlement: What is people’s entitlement and do the VCS have a role in this?
Scalability, Duplication versus Replication: How do you break string without scissors? What is the best way, local up or down to local, how do you scale small ideas?
Empowerment: Doing it with not doing it to. Is there a difference between activism and empowerment? What is the role of locally created content? People can be supported to be producers.
Value: Lord Reith’s approach was giving the people what they need, not what they want. What is the role of Value chains in social inclusion? How do you add value in a knowledge society? What is the value chain? How do you create value? How do we connect advocacy to information? Is this adding value? What is the real value of partnership? Is the holy trinity of service design VCS/CVS + LA/LSP + empowered citizens?

Disability: What is the disabled experience? CLG have published a number of profiles on Adults with Learning difficulties and people who use mental health services. How do we bring these to life? What’s it like to be on the other side of the glass?
Access: Is Access still an issue? Should infrastructure be part of the debate? Should we talk about rural in a separate context?
There should be rules for next year’s conference:
Rule number one – Just because you had a good experience doesn’t mean you have the answer. Present the experience, not the solution.
Rule number two – No PowerPoint slides with tick boxes.
Rule number three – there should be no exceptions proving the rule. We should celebrate success but not at the expense of ignoring the hard to do pile.
Rule number four – remember that the biggest consumers of public services are those people whose lives are most chaotic.
And finally Esther, the conference was closed by Baroness Andrews who announced further funding for the DC10 Plus network and a working group for Registered Social Landlords. Hooray!

David Wilcox on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 3:21 pm


Your idea of focussing on the role of social technology in local communities is excellent – and timely.
As well as Will Perrin’s Talk about Local, there’s the new digital mentor programme http://is.gd/vn6z and the forthcoming NESTA Social by Social resource you could draw upon http://socialreporter.com/?p=559 … not to mention stacks of ideas from the NDI conference, dashboarded here http://www.netvibes.com/digitalengagement
A group of us will be running a two-hour simulation of local social tech at the SHINE conference on May 16 which should give some insights into how things might play out in a neighbourhood http://is.gd/vnaS
Tech-enabled community development projects have been around for at least 15 years in the UK … but until now there hasn’t been the necessary combination of policy and funding support, plus citizen-consumer usage of devices that enable people to create and collaborate.
RSA has the convening power to bind together some of the opportunities now emerging. I would just make one plea: RSA Fellows AND Friends. Much of the expertise lies with people who interact with the RSA through events and the new open networks, but are not formally Fellows. Let’s be inclusive

Sarah Hamilton-Fairley on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 4:01 pm


Matthew
Following on from the Digital Inclusion conference (which I think you chaired brilliantly – or in your words awesomely) I just wanted to say what a great idea the idea of a Training Day is and that, as a RSA Fellow, I’d love to be included if that was appropriate.
As you saw, StartHere is a really simple service, designed specifically for people who can’t access website (for whatever reason). We’ve (nearly?) persuaded NHS Choices and Directgov that there needs to be an alternative ‘way in’ to public services that doesn’t demand technical ‘know how’. The results from a year’s pilot to see if StartHere really does connect with the ‘digitally excluded’, commissioned by Choices,are due to be made available any day now. If anyone wants to see what I’m going on about, go to http://www.http://www.starthere.org.uk/ACHK (press F11 to get full screen)
and you will see a demo of our kiosk solution for Londoners.
More anon.

Mike Jaxa-Chamiec on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 4:51 pm


Matthew et al,

I was also there and (not purely by the virtue of having done two years’ worth of research into this for UK online) I am very interested in the subject. I am also strongly convinced that scalable grass-roots efforts given central support and recognition, are the way forward. Battling any form of exclusion – be it digital or otherwise – does not happen in Whitehall but on the streets of Haringey, Sparkbrook or Glasgow North – you name it.

This is why backing local community initiatives is good. However, one thing that we are missing from the equation (unless I am mistaken) is what Paul touches upon above: the things that are “too hard to do”. A really fundamental one of those is how to convert millions of people who don’t want to hear the faintest thing about digital technology into the realisation that there is potentially a lot in it for them. It is a very demanding exercise in myth-busting and creative marketing – but how should we go about it?

The conference featured a myriad of perspectives ranging from: ‘lets buy PCs for everyone’ to ‘drop the folks who don’t seem to give a damn’. We probably should do neither of those things but we do need to come up with something better than that. This could happen on many levels, from the aforementioned grass-roots social inclusion work emphasising partnerships and attracting higher-level backing, to a very much centralised stream of work that could be done by broadcasters. The BBCs and ITVs of this world have unrivalled presence in the homes of the most stern digital rejectionists – just imagine the potential that good programming can have in showing people that there is something for THEM (or their role models / people they identify with) in going digital.

I really liked Matthew’s mini-poll at the conference when he asked the audience whether we fundamentally need new capacity or better use of the stuff we’ve got already. Apart from health, where there is always plenty of scope for new technologies, we’ve got all the tools we need to foster universal basic digital inclusion. And from there we can start making the most of grass-roots online communities and do all sorts of other wonderful stuff. But until we achieve that, we’ll be left with millions of excluded citizens who care as much about new sexy online community initiatives as they do about yesterday’s weather.

Tessy Britton on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 5:31 pm


Matthew, the issues of inclusion are particularly relevant when you get to local level. I think that this is the level where people are most at risk of digital exclusion and where social inequality are felt most.

As Katherine has mentioned above, the Social Spaces project currently being developed with RSA and Fellows is looking at the possible impact of giving Fellows, and all others in a community, wider community leadership knowhow as well as digital expertise, in a deliberate and structured way.

There are Fellows who are already doing an amazing job with the Birmingham Social Media Surgery (Nick Booth and others). This is a great model where expertise is being given on a voluntary basis to local charities and community groups.

http://www.paradisecircus.com/social-media-surgeries/social-media-surgery-signup-form/

At the RSA Chichester Open Space last year Fellows were very keen on the idea of an ‘expertise bank’ – with Fellows pledging hours to give to community requests. The ideas around social media and the expertise bank could be extended to create ‘collaborative hubs’ such as local versions of Social Spaces, with a wider remit.

Another great example is this free design centre in Philadelphia (which swine flu permitting I hope to visit next month):

http://artiscycle.net/community-design-collaborative/

As you say …. “But more exciting is the way in which this new collaborative infrastructure could provide the basis for a whole range of face to face initiatives.”

New interesting approaches developing, to difficult problems such as a lack of social cohesion and community participation …. which could possibly have real impact!

Ed Mitchell on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 5:55 pm


Hi,

I’m not a fellow but greatly enjoyed working with the membership team at the RSA fellows event last Autumn in Manchester and followed your ‘projects’ work last year with great interest. I am a keen advocate of the model you are looking at, and hope you (all) are well.

We’re having very similar feelings over at Transition Network (http://www.transitionnetwork.org) while researching for our ‘Web Project’.

The project began as research into a shiny centralised platform and is emerging as how to support the astounding range of amazingly diverse local communities who are already out there doing things for themselves using whatever web tools they fancy and following their own social paths. We see it as a learning journey ‘from towerblock to ecology’.

In light of this, we are seeing a aggregation/indexing/re-syndication engine and proposing a range of common reference models/data formats as a key to linking all the diversity up (if it wishes).. A chance for anyone to share what they have and re-publish things that they think are interesting from other parts of the network (sorry that might be a bit jargony, I’m working out how to explain it in human).

It seems that, in the Transition projects context, online community stuff is great for research and findings across a wide national network (we are looking at a projects ‘database’ for learning and research when thinking about, and reviewing projects) but when it comes to going about actual lcoal projects, face to face and the related management is unbeatable.

We are hearing clear indicators from the initiatives around the network that the internet has its place, but is not the number 1 priority for the web that is the Transition movement, which is focused on community projects to support the big changes we need in society…

For example, our findings indicate that local noticeboards are the most important thing to inspire local community driven projects. How can we integrate this with the web?

We would be more than interested to share/discuss/move forward; our ongoing consultation and collaboration work is entirely open, starting with our survey findings which are available:

http://www.slideshare.net/edmittance/transition-web-project-survey-presentation-170409

all the best and count me in for further conversations

jo dean on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 6:30 pm


Matt – was at NCVO today and you were a highlight, which brought me straight to your blog.

Thanks for a thought provoking and entertaining session. If you have members who can – pro bono – support communities to use new media effectively, creatively & powerfully get in touch.

Hugh Flouch on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 6:43 pm


Happy to bring our learnings from Harringay Online and help out with the day if you’re looking for broader contributions Matthew.

lou on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 9:04 pm


Think this is an important(!) & good idea but it shouldn’t be limited to geographic/ locality based communities. There are some strong but small scale projects which create social capital, using the connectivity of the internet– but are based around a specific concept (eg helping local food producers to interact with local consumers). The potential to replicate some of these – an ‘ideas franchise’ if you will, encouraging fellows to take responsibility for starting cells to help start the process of scaling of good ideas, is a really exciting one. At the Digital Inclusion Conference at the start of the week, it was unsurprising but a bit dispiriting to repeatedly encounter a frustration borne from seeing great initiatives operating at a local level which aren’t being learnt from and transferred to other localities.

Thinking about your point 3 above, I have to say that as an RSA Fellow, I sometimes long for ideas which carry the equivalent force of Kitchener’s finger – a more directive call to action which is harder to ignore. That old psychological chestnut – the ‘bystander effect’ has I think a lot to answer for in difficulties in mobilising action for social change. [It could be turning the obverse of the RSA membership card into an organ donation pledge - It could be asking (obviously not demanding) each Fellow to commit 3 hours of their life in a year to a mentoring session at a local school: practical, tangible & relatively straightforward ways to begin a more active membership.] There was much about the vision in Lone’s talk this evening which didn’t square with my vision of an inclusive healthy society, but her brief discursion into the body of psychological evidence which suggest that ‘doing good deeds’ makes you feel better did make me wonder: perhaps as the RSA’s leader, you have an opportunity to drive positive change, not just for society but for the mental health of your Fellows – to increase their happiness by nudging them into social action….

PS you were very funny on Day 2 of the conference on Digital Inclusion. We were grateful.

carl allen on Wed, 29th Apr 2009 10:14 pm


Catherine Bennett’s brilliant description of Gordon Brown ‘giving the impression of an unusually intelligent alien who has made a careful study of human beings, without ever having had the opportunity to meet one’.

One danger of over allocating scarce resources for the spread of social media versus resources for face to face social meetworks.

I am reminded of the many Third Sector infrastructure bodies funded to do charity organisational development yet have no clue about community development.

william perrin on Thu, 30th Apr 2009 8:04 am


Thanks Matthew – yes the RSA can help close the digital divide. And the best practitioners out there can help RSA fellows get to grips with how to use the web to publish without looking like disco dad on the dance floor.

The big shift in recent years has been from passive use of the web to trivially easy publishing of information. Talk About Local aims to bring this to deprived communities. The RSA as a fellowship of clever folk must help it’s members share their knowledge in this new media. If you can use a word processor you can publish to the web. there is a short video here
http://www.talkaboutlocal.org
where regular folk talk about how the internet in their community has helped change their lives. The RSA does not need fancy programmes, just some simple skills and support.

As David Wilcox says, there is a wealth of activity and talent out there who would be delighted to help- the RSA just has to reach out and grab it.

matthewtaylor on Fri, 1st May 2009 9:54 am


Great. We are thinking this through here and I will be in touch in a few days. Just had a really interesting conversation with Ed Richards about the dynamism of the community radio sector. Is the community radio community and the community web site community well connected (I assume convergence is inevitable in due course)?

matthewtaylor on Fri, 1st May 2009 9:58 am


Good point Carl.

Just to clarify I see social media as infrastructure not capacity. It is what you do with the infrastructure that matters and what you do of coruse relies inter alia on community development, social innovation and face to face relationships.

matthewtaylor on Fri, 1st May 2009 10:02 am


Thanks Lou. I absolutely agree. Indeed the community website initiative may be the first of these occasional directional pushes into the fellowship – ideas that the centre is backing with commitment, support and even resource. The problem in the past was that there wasn’t much to push into (no culture of Fellowship engagement or internal capacity). We have come to see that change involves simultaneously removing barriers, building capacity and developing powerful content propositions. We are getting there but it is bound to take time to achieve a profound shift in culture and expectations.

matthewtaylor on Fri, 1st May 2009 10:03 am


Thanks Hugh. I will definitely take you up on this. if we had 5,000 Harringay on lines our society would be much richer.

matthewtaylor on Fri, 1st May 2009 10:04 am


Will do Jo. Thanks for the complement – it’s been a hard week and I need a bit of TLC.

matthewtaylor on Fri, 1st May 2009 10:07 am


Hi Ed

This is fascinating. I want to have a big event here at the RSA to talk about how social media and the web can best contribute to civic capacity and innovation. I hope we can get you along to share these and other insights.

Thanks for the comment

David Wilcox on Fri, 1st May 2009 10:48 am


Matthew – a few thoughts sparked from the above.
First I think that the convening power of RSA may be greater than its Fellowship power in this field. So, if you run an open event to get the best people in the field (both Fellows and friends) you’ll do better than something too closely tied to Fellowship … though it is also a good Fellowship project as one of many.
Secondly, as I think you know, this topic has been around for at least 12 years in this country, and 20 in the US, so it would be good to build on insights from that and not start again. Sure there are more tools, and more people online, but the principles remain the same. Here’s a bit of my archive http://www.partnerships.org.uk/pubs/how.html – others have much more.
Thirdly, I don’t think talk is much use unless tied to action … and not just “here are the action points”. We don’t need more policy recommendations – we know broadly what’s needed. How about tying in with Will Perrin, Hugh Flouch, and other people who are working on the ground – like those at the National Digital Inclusion Conference, We Share Stuff and People’s Voice Media. Find what they need, then design the big get-together to help make it happen.
This is a great opportunity for RSA. Please don’t re-invent. If you open up thinking on development of the event/initiative, there’ll be less chance of that. Helen Milner and Anne Faulkner at UK online centres can advise, based on Voicebox digital mentor bid. The didn’t win – but great engagement. http://voice-box.org.uk/ This time there’s no contest, so you are bound to succeed

Ed Mitchell on Fri, 1st May 2009 11:18 am


Count me in. Please keep us all informed!

Sarah Hamilton-Fairley on Fri, 1st May 2009 11:20 am


Sorry, for some reason the link to the StartHere information service was wrong. It’s http://www.starthere.org.uk/ACHK

Eamonn Collins on Fri, 1st May 2009 2:59 pm


Matthew, although not an RSA member, I’m very keen to attend the sort of event that you are proposing. I’m currently running a couple of Video-on-Demand websites , one for a local community, and one for mental health service users, using our new C-Player. Essentially it’s a low cost tool to give communities, charities and non-profits a BBC iplayer lookalike. If this is the sort of thing you are looking for, let me know.

You can see the examples at http://www.thames-gateway.tv , http://www.inspired-stories.tv and http://www.loughtontv.com

Socialreporter | Playing the digital neighbourhood game on Fri, 1st May 2009 9:10 pm


[...] a decade – but recent developments like the digital mentors programme, Talk About Local, and the RSA’s emerging plans, make it particularly topical. It certainly got on airing at the recent National Digital Inclusion [...]

FutureGov » Useful links » links for 2009-05-02 on Sat, 2nd May 2009 1:01 pm


[...] Can the RSA help close the digital divide ? : Matthew Taylor’s blog Vibrant discussion on very popular topic at the mo (tags: digitaldivide rsa matthewtaylor digitalengagement) [...]

carl allen on Sat, 2nd May 2009 1:33 pm


Some years ago, I experienced digital sulk from the child when she threw me off my computer with the comment that her homework needs and life chances were not to be spoiled by lack of digital time as and when she needed it.

Since then there has been a computer for every family member but how many can afford that and the occasional change as a particular computer becomes dated?

We talk of the digital divide, but computers and web access are not treated like a necessity such as medical treatment at point of need.

Hence the more successful the setting up of digital networks and meetworks, the greater the digital divide and inherent disadvantage experienced by those need it the most to improve themselves.

Digital affordability and affordability is key to closing the digital divide and yet neither exist for many in society.

So magnificent structures of networks which some can only hear about and wonder may be in the offing, but this is the norm, is it not?

Paul Nash on Mon, 4th May 2009 5:42 pm


It was the desire to influence, in a small way, the thinking that would go into next year’s National Digital Inclusion Conference that prompted me to add a comment to Mathew Taylor’s Blog in response to his posting on Digital Inclusion. As a consequence I have followed, with great interest, the other comments and have seen the social media theme emerge perhaps not surprisingly as this is, after all, the RSA. Social media has the power to engage, to empower, to develop skills and to provide a cohesive focus for community activity. Everything you want from a digital inclusion agenda in fact. It remains to be seen whether this strong support engages more of the final 29% or whether it just develops the capacity of the already engaged. The role of the RSA fellows should, in my view, go beyond driving the social media agenda because it can play an wider role, as I see it, as a critical friend in three specific areas: to practitioners, the state and to commercial partners.
There is a Marxist ideal behind social media because it gives the power of production to the people. My first question would be: who controls the message? There is a risk that the level of understanding required to make the most of the media vernacular needs a real skill, possibly even talent, to make full use of the vocabulary and syntax of production. If you take Panorama from the BBC and Dispatches from Channel 4, both public broadcasters, and remove the credits and the adverts to leave just the sound and the images you know anyway which organisation made which programme, just as you can understand which newspaper column comes from the Daily Telegraph and which from the Independent. Social media doesn’t, and perhaps shouldn’t, seek to operate at that commercial level but in our desire to develop the skills within the community how do we ensure that the voice is the community voice and not the voice of the social media expert? Bryan Appleyard’s article in The Sunday Times Magazine, 03/05/2009 looked at the technology changes of the last 20 years and focussed on the iphone as the icon of change in 2009. His premise was that technology, despite its advances, doesn’t make us better people . That assumes that a social improvement role for technology and sees us as technology consumers, not producers. Bryan cites the apocryphal quote from Henry Ford “ ‘If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.’ Only Henry knew they wanted a car. This is the unspoken motto of the technocracy. Then they tell us what we want and then, mysteriously, we find we need it. “
There is another area in which I believe the RSA should be active. How does the State get its messages across to the people? What is the reaction of the state when it can no longer get its message across or when the messages from the people are louder? We see examples of the potential responses across the world and the most extreme in China. There are more subtle approaches, for instance, devaluing the currency of a media channel so that it holds less worth. While Twitter may be the combined voice of the masses today it’s a short step to make it the idle chatter of the masses tomorrow.
The third area where I feel the RSA Fellows can be a force for good lies in the commercial sector. What is the reaction of the commercial sector when it no longer controls the market in information? I don’t know how many people heard Tom Steinberg’s angry young man presentation in the e-Engagement workshop. At the time, it didn’t do it for me and I suspect for others either. I have yet to be persuaded that we fully understand the value chain in a knowledge economy. There was an article in The Sunday Times Business Section by Dominic Rushe entitled “Hold Those Front Pages for the Net” which looks at how traditional print in America is being forced on line by falling revenues from advertising and increased costs of production. Dominic cites an American publisher: “The big problem was not a lack of interest or information but the economics that have underpinned what we have called journalism.” The response of the industry has been at a number of levels: “Papers fought back online,….. Other American papers have pursued ‘hyper-local’ news, generated by readers, as a way to claw back readership. The idea is to create citizen journalists to cover everything from the cat-up-a-tree story to the ins and outs of the local school. …. the local initiative was yet to bear fruit.”
Some of this is familiar ground, on line editions and targeted local news but what emerges as the front runner for the revived economy is premium information:
“There is an enormous opportunity now for publishers to look beyond advertising, to go back to the roots of the industry and create enough value in this space for some number of readers to be willing to pay for access to their content”
There is already a business venture underway for the establishment of an online payment system to coordinate payments across a network of news organisations….. “Not everyone will pay for information online but for those who value in depth news, charges will become the norm.”
The crux of Tom Steinberg’s presentation was that London Transport wouldn’t let him have access to timetables for a community accessible web development. In hindsight I’m not surprised that London Transport wouldn’t let him have their timetable. It’s information and the value of that information is in how up to date it is, and in who controls that. It’s not, nor need it be, public domain. I can just as surely go to the London transport site and be exposed to the advertising sold by them on the back of that information, just as I value the concurrency of the information at its source. What then of the role of the RSA here? There is a danger here of a two tier information system with the greatest value attached to the premium information which is controlled by the market place. A good example today would be the stock market or Reuters. If this were to become the norm then the currency of social media could be devalued to the point where the voice it gives to the people is so small as not to be heard. This is not about competition, this is about currency and value creation from social content.
There is a role for the RSA as a strong critical friend which is able to talk to the social media drivers, the State interests and the commercial partners. In this way it helps to ensure that the people’s voice will not only find new channels through which to be heard but it will be heard clearly, it will be valued because it has currency and validity because it is really the voice of the people and that will be a force for good. Maybe Bryan Appleyard will be able to write again in 20 years time how technology used for production has made us better people.

David Wilcox on Tue, 5th May 2009 7:49 am


Charlie Leadbeater has an excellent article – download here http://bit.ly/18Msit – in which he works through how increasing use of digital media is challenging our institutions to move from doing things To and For people, towards doing them With people in more open and collaborative ways.
Within that framework the more interesting policy divide for me is around collaboration rather than digital.
That would make an excellent theme for an event, a programme, that would jump RSA over the past 10 years of digerati evangelising of technology as a “good thing”, into discussion and action about for whom, in what circumstances, to what end, by what mix of methods.
I hope any can be designed With other Fellows including the admirable Will Perrin … fortunately I think there are a lot of collaborators around. It would a great opportunity for RSA to model the sort of collaborations Matthew rightly hopes for in localities. Thanks again Matthew for opening up the discussion.

phil korbel on Tue, 5th May 2009 12:44 pm


As a new-ish Fellow here’s something for the pot.

We at Radio Regen work to enable residents of disadvantaged areas to create digital media and have been doing so for ten years. We get past the digital divide/chasm by using FM radio as the platform – WythenshaweFM97.2 being one example. There are now over 130 such stations on air across the UK – all independent, different and turning out cititzen produced media about their community day in, day out.

I’m interested in how we use this network to further catalyse the use of the web for the community. The stations dont exactly do what a thriving community web site does and vice verse, but there’s a lot of overlap with lots of residents already engaged, often with substantial audiences.

How can we take this further?

best wishes

Phil

matthewtaylor on Wed, 6th May 2009 7:33 am


Thanks Phil. I was talking in the Gerrard Bar the other day to Ed Richards who runs OFCOM. He made exactly the same point to me, telling me how OFCOM had been amazed at the number of good applications they had for community radio licences. Surely in the future more and more community web sites will have community radio stations embedded in them. So, think it is important as we take this forward that we involve both the web side and the radio side. Thanks for the useful post. We’ll be in touch when we are clear where we want to take this agenda next.

phil korbel on Wed, 6th May 2009 8:09 am


Thanks Matthew, if only for the most excellentn name dropping

Ed is a real enthusiast for the sector, having been involved in the drafting of its founding legislation in his pre Ofcom days.

The issue of sites and stations flows both ways – sites will need stations but the existing stations also need [better] sites. There is also the issue of digital media production capacity – you can build all the infrastructure that you need but without those skills you could end up with many empty vessels. ‘This is what we do’ – often in very disadvantaged communities. It also lies at the heart of a new centre of excellence that we’re planning with the NWDA – ‘The Make Media Centre’ – where I’d be happy to explore linkages once your project takes shape. Thanks again.

Lopa Patel on Wed, 6th May 2009 10:24 am


Dear Matthew,

Yes the RSA can help close the digital divide, but it is a subject beyond just the tools available and local perspectives. As someone who has run a South Asian community website in Britain for the past eight years and been actively involved in a number of business, womens and community groups, my thoughts are the the RSA needs to first engage with the groups.

There is a stark digital divide between the adopters of technology (the young, employed, enthusiasts) and the laggards (the older, disinterested, excluded and disadvantaged). The RSA can’t close the digital divide alone. It will need to forge closer working partnerships with delivery organisations and community groups to succeed.

The other issue that concerns me is the image of the RSA as a lofty, blue-sky thinking organisation that stimulates debate versus what is needed…an organisation that is down amongst the doers. There is a cultural divide that needs to be bridged first before real progress can be made.

I am happy to be involved with the RSA’s training day, but I think much more thought needs to go into the target groups for this training day. Feel free to call me if you want discuss this further as I am an RSA member.

Rob Blackie on Wed, 6th May 2009 1:07 pm


It’s worth taking into account that the digital divide is primarily an age thing rather than an income thing.

Teenagers have close to 100% internet access regardless of social class.

So I would ask whether there’s really a problem if older people (e.g. my 89 year old granny) choose not to use the internet?

Paul Nash on Wed, 6th May 2009 7:54 pm


I believe that Rob Blackie’s view of digital exclusion is mistaken. Taking the most recent figures from the “FreshMinds” research we see a quite different picture:

Of non ICT users

28% live in social housing
70% are in social group C2DE
21% C2
49% DE
36% are both C”DE and over 65
42% are C2DE and retired
11% are C2DE and working full time
40% are C2DE and either widowed, separated, divorce or single.
“Does the internet improve lives? FreshMinds Research for UK Online Centres, March 2009.”

In addition, there are groups such as ex-offenders, adults receiving mental health services, NEETs, and adults with learning difficulties, all recently profiled by CLG, all of whom can receive benefit from ICT delivered services and ICT skills but who are currently excluded because of access, level of skill or opportunity.

There are opportunities to improve the potential for empowering individuals and communities by engaging with technologies that promote the use of social media as a channel for community voice.

The biggest users of local authority services are those whose lives are often chaotic – but more services are increasingly being offered through technology channels. Support to people can be in the form of devices that assist individuals to stay in their home longer (not just the elderly), it can be a communications link for those who are house bound and those who care for them. I could go on but hopefully I’ve made my point that this is not just an age issue and even elements of the young are digitally excluded. As Stephen Dodson said at the close of the National Digital Inclusion Conference 2009, we are getting to the point where this is not just about services, not just about the economy there is an increasing moral obligation to make this a digitally inclusive society.

matthewtaylor on Mon, 11th May 2009 7:23 am


Thanks Paul. Some good thoughts. One reason I like the UK Online Centres and think they have an important role even as more and more people get on line is that they offer people support as they go on line for the first time.

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