Digital Participation Forum

Yesterday's roundtable discussion on "Digital Inclusion" at the meeting of the Swedish Prime Minister Anna-Karin Hatt gave a lot of food for thought. There are about 1.5 million people who rarely or never use the internet in Sweden - what can we do about it? First of all, we should recognize that this is a societal problem - not being connected means not being part of society. And those who have the most to gain from increased participation are those who are excluded.  

For example, I read in an English survey that 35% of non-users in England are unemployed. How can you look for a job, learn about the job market, about potential employers and their requirements if you don't have the internet? And how many jobs are there today where you don't need to know how to use a computer? Yes, I know that the employment service has computers for this purpose, but this probably requires more than a few hours of use in the service's premises. In the discussion of Save the Children's report on child poverty, I read that the social norm was that a family with children should have a newspaper, telephone and TV. Never mind the newspaper and TV - a computer with internet is much more essential! 

Many thought that when the benefits of the internet become clear, interest will increase. But the benefits are already clear - being able to easily keep in touch with children and grandchildren, being able to watch TV programs whenever you want, access to music, movies, sports scores, news and general community information. Another barrier that many pointed to is lack of usability. And let's face it, it hasn't always been the best part of the industry. But today, things are completely different, with highly intuitive interfaces that even quite young children can use. 

Another reflection is what many good and worthwhile projects are going on: Senior citizens associations running training courses for the elderly, the Computer Society's e-citizens, projects to engage the libraries, projects to stimulate innovations for the disabled, etc, etc. Imagine what power if we could only work together and leverage each other! A Digital Inclusion Forum, model Broadband Forum is required. With the task of properly analyzing what non-user groups exist, needs, barriers and actions, with funding from money that probably already exists somewhere in the system. That is my message to Minister Hatt. On our website you will find a memo where we have formulated our views and input for the talks.