Online Access: Skills for Life Conference
Post categories: media literacy
| 13:32 UK time, Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Editor's note: This is an edited version of a speech Seetha gave at the yesterday. It's a follow up to a previous post we had from Seetha, Why Digital Inclusion Matters.
I am the Controller of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online, but earlier this year I also took on the role of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Online Access Champion and it's in this capacity that I want to talk about why digital inclusion and participation is important.
I believe passionately in the principles of public service: the of inform, educate and entertain is as true today as it was over 80 years ago. In the world of the internet and e-skills, the skills for life we all need are the abilities to understand, participate and influence the world around us.
But how do we enable this when there are large sections of society who - due to a lack of skills and other barriers - are still offline and consequently not experiencing or even being able to access the diverse benefits of the internet?
Recent specially commissioned by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ shows the scale of the challenge of getting people online. 13.8 million UK adults do not have the internet at home and, of this number, 10.6 million do not use the internet anywhere else either.
In other words, more than a fifth of all adults in the UK are completely excluded from the internet and from being part of the daily dialogue that happens, be it locally, nationally or globally. This is a very significant segment of society which risks getting left behind as the web becomes more and more embedded in our daily lives.
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has a pivotal role to play for the public good. So, how can we better use our offer of world-class News, shows created specifically for the web - such as the recently announced EastEnders: E20 - and the multi award-winning ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer, to help close the digital exclusion gap?
Firstly: during Get Online day last month we made use of our range of outlets to reflect the message about the benefits of getting online, with coverage about the day appearing on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ homepage and our regional websites, on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Breakfast and Working Lunch, on television and and on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 show.
We have also recently launched a Media Literacy website - which brings together our offer in a cohesive way in order to help people equip themselves for the digital age.
This is a long standing tradition with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and is core to our public service ethos. Over the last thirty years, there are many examples of encouraging UK citizens to develop their media skills: the development of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Micro in the 80s; the 'Computers Don't Bite' campaign in the 90s, and 'WebWise' - a guide to using the internet - at the start of the new millennium.
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ was one of the first media organisations in the world to have a website - ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online will be 12 years old next month - and when it was approved, there was a clear understanding from the that education was to be one of its key purposes.
We have played host to several initiatives over the years, and increasingly our formal learning content - for adults as well as children - has migrated online and includes: Raw; My Story; ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ languages; Skillswise and Ouch!
While TV and radio retains its motivational power, it is online that is ideally suited to the interactive and multi-dimensional process that is learning. Moving forwards and working in partnership, there are big opportunities to play a useful role in alleviating social exclusion through not being online.
While I would never underestimate the scale of the challenge, by using our ability to inspire and motivate through telling stories, and by capitalising on our reach across radio, television and online, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is well positioned to play its part in encouraging people to get online and benefit from all that the web has to offer.
Seetha Kumar is the Controller of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online.
(This post is an edited extract from a speech given at the Skills for Life Conference. You can find the full speech here. )
Comment number 1.
At 4th Nov 2009, lleyam wrote:Good speech and I'm all for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ championing online access for the digital excluded. But I do think that doing all that stuff online, on websites, isn't the best way of going about it. Surely, for that one-fifth of the population not online (either at home or anywhere else), you need to reach out beyond ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online and the Media Literacy website...
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Comment number 2.
At 5th Nov 2009, J D wrote:I wholeheartedly agree with the speach, but another important parallel issue is the current "rash" or "misuse" on online technology in the form of Online Webtracking.
In the light of this recent aquisition by Adobe and the fact that it has already been noticed that Adobe seem to be tracking the Flash content from this Website. (via visualscience)
Wouldn't it therefore be wise to change the way you present your Visual Content in order to protect the Privacy & confidentiality of your Online "License Fee Paying" Visitors?
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Comment number 3.
At 27th Mar 2010, U14390976 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 4.
At 12th May 2010, U14460911 wrote:All this user's posts have been removed.Why?
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