Microsoft Seeks to Bridge Britain’s Digital Divide
Posted on: Wednesday, 30 April 2008, 17:08 CDT
Microsoft UK, in partnership with charities Age Concern and Help for the Aged, is developing a “senior PC” that will be marketed to older users. The new computer will have a simple user interface, and will include other features such as software to help manage prescriptions and simplified tools for tasks such as managing photos.
Microsoft already offers various “senior PCs” in the U.S. as part of a collaborative effort with HP computers. However, it is unclear if the UK project is the same. Some 17 million British citizens are described as "digitally excluded".
Other Microsoft projects include an ad-funded PC and one with a "social software licensing model", which will come preloaded with a "digital literacy curriculum" - a user guide on how to safely get online and perform simple computer tasks. The computer will be developed through Microsoft’s partnership with the Milton Keynes council, and will initially be given to a thousand households, gradually scaling up to 10,000.
Stephen Uden, Microsoft's head of skills and economic affairs, presented the company’s vision for closing the digital divide during a presentation at the National Digital Inclusion Conference in London.
"Reaching most of the final third will mean that we have to throw out the rule book. We will only solve these issues by taking risks and trying new things," he said.
"Some of the projects we are working on will work. Others will fail.”
Although it will be ready in a year, Uden did not provide further details on the senior PC.
However, Uden said the digital divided would not be solved by PC access alone.
"We have to get away from the idea that everyone is going to get a PC. It is simply not easy enough to use or cheap enough for everyone."
Instead, Uden predicted that many of the digitally excluded with be reached through digital TV, mobile phones and gaming consoles.
Mike Hughes, who leads BT's Inclusion Program, said the firm had projects in London, Andover and Dorset to connect 150 community centers.
It too will be handing out 4500 internet-ready PCs to various community groups.
"Working with the government, local authorities and volunteer groups we aim to reduce the digital divide figure by 10% of the current 34%," Mr. Hughes told BBC News.
Some conference delegates were disappointed at the slow pace of broadband upgrades and the fact that BT charges business rates to community-based projects in some cases. Mr. Hughes promised to look into the issue.
In the mean time, the British government is further driving the issue of digital exclusion through its recent appointment of a Minister for Digital Inclusion and the creation of a Home Access taskforce to provide low-cost machines to the most needy.
"Digital inclusion translates to social inclusion," Jim Knight, minister for Schools and Learners, told delegates, adding that the government should prioritize the issue.
However, some delegates called for more creative government approach to the issue.
"There is a perception that if you nail someone... to the chair and teach them world processing the world will be a better place. It won't," Kevin Carey, vice chair of the Royal National Institute of Blind People, told BBC News.
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Source: redOrbit staff and wire reports
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