IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

LB Islington launched a service on 9 September 2005 that will enable people with hearing impairments to communicate effectively with the council.

The technology uses a video conferencing link to a sign language interpreter (SLI) at the offices of private partner and technology provider Significan't. The interpreter can act as a translator between a council call centre operative and a deaf person.

This is the implication of research into the impact of online school admissions systems, which warns there's a risk that only the parents who are already comfortable with the internet are likely to use them.

In a survey undertaken for the report, 42 per cent admitted using e-government services to search for information about government or local council services, or used online services such as paying for road tax or registering for Child Tax Credits. This figure rose to 55 per cent among people who have internet access at home.

Schools should take steps to address the digital divide by providing "portable technologies" to be used by children beyond the classroom, Baroness Estelle Morris said on 29 September 2005.

The former education secretary was launching a campaign to bridge the digital divide on behalf of the e-Learning Foundation. The campaign aims to raise awareness across education, in government and the private sector of the impact of the digital divide on young people.

A new report has challenged recent claims by Ofcom that rural areas have better broadband access than city areas.

Thinkbroadband, the UK's largest independent broadband information site, took speed readings from over 13,000 broadband customers and found that rural users suffer a significant shortfall in speeds compared to their city cousins.

The growing digital divide in the UK should be addressed through a mix of better communications infrastructure, IT education courses, employer initiatives and improved government web sites, delegates at an IT skills event yesterday were told.

The event was held at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills to mark the beginning of e-Skills week.

The strategy sets out the crucial role that information and communication technology will have for our future prosperity, and addresses the digital divide which currently excludes some groups from benefiting from access to the internet.

By the end of 2005, all local authorities in England should be capable of online service delivery. This represents a mammoth effort by local and central government, and an investment of £60 million into delivery of the local e-government National Projects. Already, the benefits of digital transformation are being seen in our everyday lives but, unfortunately, these benefits have not extended to all groups in society.

Martha Lane-Fox – recently appointed as the government’s so-called champion for digital inclusion – is attempting to galvanise this stubborn minority. With a nod to the forthcoming Olympics, she has launched an effort called The Race Online 2012. Lane Fox aims to get four million refusniks, most of them on low incomes, using the web.

North Yorkshire, by area the largest county in the UK, is taking its transactional e-services out to remote rural neighbourhoods as part of the latest phase of its e-government programme.

Back in 2002, Gloucester College of Art and Technology (GLOSCAT) faced the challenge of improving ICT and Internet skills across the county, as part of the Government’s drive to bridge the digital divide. Operating in a very rural part of the UK, the college looked at how to deliver computing facilities and Internet access to its outlying communities.

The African continent is the fastest-growing cellular phone market of any region over the last five years, but has not been able to replicate that success with the Internet. Fewer than four out of every 100 Africans have access to the worldwide web.

A new report released today by the Broadband Commission Working Group on Broadband and Gender reveals a 'significant and pervasive' 'tech gap' in access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). Globally, the report estimates that there are currently 200 million fewer women online than men, and warns that the gap could grow to 350 million within the next three years if action is not taken.

Addressing the downside of the modern e-services boom, Hall and Owens warned that progress in the field may cause a countereffect, with wealthier and tech-savvy citizens gaining faster and more hassle-free access to public services, but the underprivileged and less educated classes - who actually might depend more on those services - becoming even more cut off because they lack internet access.

Can streetlights help end the digital divide in cities?

Maybe they can if they’re smart. Qualcomm showed off streetlights at its San Diego campus on Monday that not only dim, brighten and flash red as pedestrians approach crosswalks but also serve as Wi-Fi hotspots.