What is Digital inclusion and why is it important?

Anna Geraghty

2 December 2014

• Can’t do all of the four basic skills:

– Communicate

– Find Things

– Share

– Keep Safe

• 68% of this 9.5m have never been online

• 32% are infrequent or narrow internet users

• 3% lapsed users

9.5m don’t have basic digital skills (BBC/Ipsos Mori, Sept. 2013)

Who doesn’t have basic online skills?

● People without digital skills are more likely to be:○ older (61% are 65+)○ have a disability (49%)○ have a low income (42% earn less than

£12.5k)○ have no qualifications (60%)

● Likely to be heavy users of public services● Likely to experience health inequalities

Three main barriers

Access

Motivation

Skills

Access

● 32% of people say cost is why they’re not online at home - up from 20% last year

● 1% of people say poor broadband access is why they’re not online at home

● Access at home leads to more regular, sustained internet usage.

Motivation

● 82% of people who don’t have the internet at home say it’s because they have no interest

● Finding the hook that motivates individuals is one of the most successful ways of getting people online

● Nobody gets online to use government services - except to find a job

Skills

● 32% of people say a lack of online skills is why they have no broadband at home

● 88% of people feel more confident after they get help to use the internet

Why should you care about digital inclusion?

• Social Justice

– Equality, improving lives

– Educational attainment for children, employment, lower household bills, reduced social isolation

• Financial Security

– Make cost savings and focus spend on priorities

– Universal Credit

Benefits of being onlineFor the individual:

•72% of employers won’t even interview someone without basic online skills

•People with good ICT skills earn between 3% - 10% more than those without

•People who are online are on average £440 a year better off

•The social value of the internet for someone with low digital skills is £1,064

•Being online drives >£768m of educational attainment and lifetime earnings

Benefits of being online

For the nation:

•£63bn benefit by increasing our digital leadership by 2020 (Go ON UK and Booz & Co)

•The government could save as much as £70bn by 2020 if it adopted plans to work smarter and digitise its activities

•36% of people visit their GP less often after visiting NHS Choices

What we do at Tinder Foundation

Goal is to create independent and confident internet users

Not about broadband infrastructureNot about one-off usage

How? Simple approach

Increase how people access the internet, at home or at ‘access points’Inspire people to

see that ‘spark’ and see that the internet is useful and necessary.

Train people to use the internet and build their confidence so they want to keep using it

UK online centres - help in a local familiar place

No such thing as a typical centre.Most centre partners run outreachsessions in care homes, pubs, clubs, village halls, mosques, churches, social housing, etc

5,000 hyper-local UK online centres and access pointsCentre search and free phone number search

www.ukonlinecentres.com/centresearch or 0800 77 1234

Expert, accessible online tools

Marketing campaigns● Be Online - February 2015● Get Online Week 2014 supported 80,000 people

to take their first steps online- 13 - 19 October 2014

● Free materials and support

Top tips

● Focus on individual motivations● Take learning out to where people are● Get the buy in of front-line staff● Think about people when designing online

services

What should you can do now

● Build up local partnerships - UK online centres, libraries etc

● Take advantage of existing resources, eg. Learn My Way

● Join the UK online centres network● Take part in marketing campaigns

Thank You

anna@tinderfoundation.org

@_annais

www.ukonlinecentres.com

www.learnmyway.com

www.communityhowto.com

http://digitalhousinghub.ning.com/