Introduction

This chapter will introduce key themes of the ‘digital divide’, in terms of information exclusion from access to, and the benefits of, the Internet, relating to income, geography, gender, age, disability and race and ethnicity. The key role of social welfare professionals in guiding and mediating the public’s online access to information on, and access to, services – as ‘information intermediaries’ – will then be outlined.

Defining the digital divide

In its simplest terms, the phrase ‘digital divide’ is frequently used by policy makers and commentators to refer to the disparity between those who access information and communication technologies (ICT) and those who do not (Foley and Alfonso, 2002; Servon, 2002, p 25).

In 2002, the UK government estimated that 95% of businesses and 98% of schools were online (HM Government, 2002). In 2003, 56% of the population were regular users of the Internet, with 48% of all households having Internet access (Office of the e-Envoy, 2003c). Other studies found that 38% of the adult population had never accessed the Internet (Office of the e-Envoy, 2003a). Within this overall usage, survey data consistently finds major discrepancies in use across social classes.

A broad distinction may be made between socio-personal and socioeconomic factors in determining whether individuals experience a ‘digital divide’. The socioeconomic factor can also be conceptualised as capability, which embraces both physical access channels to the technology (from home, work or the community) and the skills to use the technology in order for this access to be realised.

In terms of socio-personal factors, there is a strong rights element (see also Chapter Two). Increasing importance is placed on ‘network literacy’ in terms of a right of access to – and “the capacity to use” – “electronic networks to access resources, to create resources, and to communicate with others” (National Grid for Learning, 1997, p 10). The influential Report of the National Working Party on Social Inclusion in 1997 set out a strong case that, since democratic society requires public information to function, “intrinsic to the Information Society is the notion of certain fundamental rights … [of] access to information and communication channels” (National Working Party on Social Inclusion, 1997, p 7).