The British Computer Society’s (BCS) recent survey into the level of IT literacy of the British public found that 41% of adults do not have a home PC or therefore access to the internet. A worrying factor when one considers the government’s drive to introduce all of its services online by the end of 2005. A drive that is fueled by the hope, that when e-enabled, these services will help deliver greater efficiency and access to all government departments for everyone. However as the push to provide further e-government services continues, clearly a similar drive is also needed to educate groups vulnerable of being left behind as the technology forges ahead. Ensuring equal access for the public to these services is as important to the government’s e-strategy as bringing public services online. The e-Citizen qualification, which will be officially launched in January by the BCS, will go some distance in helping to achieve this aim.
The e-Citizen qualification is aptly named as it reflects the supporting role it plays alongside the government’s national e-Citizen project, which was launched last July. A key aim of the e-Citizen project is to help local authorities to bring the public online so they can access the information and services provided through the internet. The e-Citizen qualification is therefore supporting the government’s e-Citizen project by providing people with the skills they require to access these public services that are currently or soon to be available online. The e-Citizen qualification consists of a ten-week long course, with a final online test leading to certification. The syllabus for the e-Citizen qualification covers basic IT skills such as using e-mail, navigating the web and accessing e-services and online content such as banking or health information. Safety of personal data when purchasing online and simple web creation are also included in the modules.
Along with finding that 26% of people currently have no access to a computer, the BCS survey also found that 54% of people are frustrated at the complexity of IT, a factor likely to discourage people from wanting to learn how to use a computer or the internet. The e-Citizen qualification will look to include such groups who feel discouraged by technical complexities, a large proportion of whom are over 65 years of age. The introduction of the e-Citizen qualification will help to bridge the digital divide in the groups most vulnerable to being left behind by the information age, for instance: the elderly, disabled groups and lower socio-economic groups. By completing the e-Citizen qualification people in such groups will be educated not only on the basics of how to use the internet but also on the multitude of time saving and educational benefits that are available to them via internet resources. This will provide them with the skills and confidence necessary to access public services online.
The main visions behind the UK’s e-government strategy, is to herald an era where all public services will be available online. However the government also envisaged building services around citizen’s choices and making information on the government and its services accessible to all. By implementing e-business methods in every public sector department the government intends that there will be easy access to all of its services through electronic means, so that for instance; paying council bills, tax or parking fines, claiming and receiving benefits or getting a passport should be e-enabled and capable of being achieved with a minimum of fuss via the internet. If the public is to benefit from such services, the government needs to deliver a similarly ambitious campaign aimed at making them competent at using computers and the internet.
The government’s e-strategy does address this scenario directly by outlining one of its main targets as ‘enabling social inclusion’ so that when all such online services are up and running all citizens, regardless of demographics, will be able to use and access them. The question this raises is, how can the government ensure this target of social inclusion is met? Especially amongst groups who, for various reasons, are disinterested in engaging in what they consider to be the confusing world of technology and the internet. There are currently two main obstructions to the government’s hope of making online public services socially inclusive – internet illiteracy amongst certain groups of the population and a lack of access to computers.
The BCS’s new e-Citizen qualification will help address the first issue as it deals with the initial problem of getting people with limited computer knowledge ‘online’. The qualification will help these individuals to gain an understanding and experience of the internet and help make them feel a part of today’s information society.
The large proportion (45%) of individuals who said they felt left behind by the advances in computer technology will be an important target of the e-Citizen qualification and any similar projects to come. This category will also need to be targeted by the government through campaigns aimed at raising the population’s awareness of the benefits available through the internet. Drawing attention to the opportunities available on the world wide web will be a crucial factor in encouraging those being left behind by the information age.
The internet needs to be highlighted as a tool which can add to quality of life. For example individuals who have achieved the e-Citizen qualification will have the skills necessary to access entertainment, news and public service deliveries and enable them to even change the way they apply for jobs through the many job search sites that exist.
Ability to access the internet can also encourage people to become more actively involved with their local community, creating a sense of being socially included. By aiding the larger population to access these services, projects such as e-Citizen will help to ensure that individuals are capable of interacting with government information and services as and when they become available online. However, delivering IT competencies to those who need them is not the only issue involved. According to the BCS survey, 26% of the population do not have access to a computer, an issue that requires further attention from the government. To solve this problem the government will need to provide further public access to computers and the internet and raise awareness of internet access available in local libraries.
An interesting, and yet un-answerable question for the future of e-government relates to how it will be able to provide services such as e-voting, tax and passport applications online, while avoiding the various security pitfalls surrounding such issues. We are fast approaching the reality where all government services will be accessible online and with initiatives such as e-Citizen in place, we can provide a greater assurance of equal access for all UK citizens in this information society.
Quelle: Publictechnology, 15.11.2004
