A few nights after the Digital Britain report was published, I had one of those niggling doubts rear itself at 2am. Apart from the focus of the report aimed more or less at infrastructure and my concerns regarding the vague understanding (and coverage) of participation (inclusion? engagement?), I see more potential harm than good happening as a result of the recommendations. Now I strongly believe that technology can benefit society in many ways but do we need to be aware of the speedy technology evolution in relation to how we keep up with it? With more and more services going online and moves to make data public to create better services and applications… the entire way stuff seems to happen online these days….do we risk further excluding those with basic digital skills? While there are the 15/16 million or so ‘excluded’, ie: don’t use the technology at all, how many more will become excluded (tiered exclusion?) if we don’t take a long, hard look at how we learn about these technologies and the ways we integrate them into our lives? The ‘learning’ aspect should not be playing constant catch up with the tools. New approaches?

I don’t believe the ‘Digital Life Skills’ as recommended by Estelle Morris, addresses this issue. Sadly, it sticks to old policies that really don’t do much in terms of the ‘digital divide’, in my opinion. Where are the initiatives to instigate meaningful engagement? (many digitally excluded people will not simply ‘ask’ for training or skills or ‘walk in’ to centres offering courses. Confidence is still a major barrier) Where are the initiatives that look beyond the ‘mainstream’ and highlight and support the stuff that’s really working? Why don’t we get the developers / mentors / trainers together with the service providers AND their customers, put them in a room for half a day and see what comes out at the end?

A few further questions I had was regarding the current recession. As people look to improve their skills in support of finding work, how many of them lack the understanding of today’s technology and the importance of online culture? Are current resources adequate enough to deliver this understanding?