Many deprived households are still not online, but one project is providing the kit and the skills to change that
Ella Marshall
This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday February 27 2008 on p7 of the Society news & features section. It was last updated at 00:21 on February 27 2008.
Using the internet, Maria Whittingham recently arranged transportation, tickets and accommodation for a trip to Kew Gardens for her parent and child group. It was amazing, she says, considering that a year ago she had never used a computer.
Whittingham attends the Aberfeldy neighbourhood centre, in Tower Hamlets, east London, which received funding in 2007 to run a social impact demonstrator project - a model for support groups whose members were identified as socially disadvantaged, by the government's social exclusion action plan. The remit involves exploring how IT can change their lives.
Research last year by UK Online Centres, which runs the project, found that while 39% of the UK population are not online, the proportion of disadvantaged people who are "digitally excluded" is around 75%. Based on the Aberfeldy estate in Poplar, the project actively targets deprived families, supplying them with the equipment and skills to become digitally aware. The scheme provides families with recycled computers supplied by social enterprise firm Digibridge, and with internet access. It is one of 20 such schemes throughout England. According to UK Online, some 5,000 people have accessed the initiatives since last March.
Participants take part in an eight-week course, four weeks into which they are given the computers for the duration of the project. Lessons are supplemented by weekly home visits from volunteers, which continue for six months. Diye Wariebi, Digibridge founder, says the course is more than spreadsheets and word processing; tutors focus on areas they feel will be relevant to participants. "We don't teach things like PowerPoint; it's not seen as relevant", says Wariebi. "The course is about asking questions and experimenting."
It would be relatively easy to distribute the PCs and let the families work out how to use them but Wariebi says people are often held back by a lack of confidence. "Bringing people into a class [means] they can fully express themselves and realise they are not alone," he explains. "It leads to peer-leading where they are willing to help out friends using their new skills."
And these new skills mean parents can keep up with their children's computer knowledge. Rubi Bagom says the course has been instrumental in aiding her involvement with her three young children's schoolwork. "I wanted to learn for both me and my children," she says. Now she no longer uses it just to help her children: "I do everything on the internet. I don't leave the house!"
According to Roger Mullings, project manager at the Aberfeldy centre, Bagom's experience is typical. "The whole aim of the training was for social inclusion, as well as financial inclusion," he says. "Through the courses we can show people the value of what they are missing."
A recent survey by Poplar Harca, the housing association that owns the neighbourhood centre, found that 100% of course participants continued internet usage after the course, with more than 75% using the internet for job searching, and 50% using it for educational purposes.
Whittingham says that before the course she had no idea of the wealth of information on the internet. "I didn't own a computer, so I didn't know what I was missing. Now I know how to use email and how to get in contact with my MP. It has opened doors of exploration."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/27/socialexclusion
Wednesday 27 February 2008
Is Facebook finally losing its glow?
After months of explosive growth, the number of people visiting Facebook fell for the first time last month
Jonathan Richards
Facebook, the UK's most popular social networking site, has suffered its first monthly drop in visitor numbers, according to figures published today.
After 17 successive months of increasing its monthly audience in the UK, Facebook suffered a 5 per cent dip in visitors between December and January - from 8.9 million to 8.5 million.
In January, Facebook's audience was still 712 per cent greater than in the same month last year, and up 10 per cent on the previous quarter, but the figures will nonetheless represent a blow to the firm, which has enjoyed a meteoric rise in subscriber numbers since becoming widely available in late 2006.
Facebook, which has become popular with a professional audience both as a way of sharing content as well as hunting for job opportunities, was not the only social networking site to suffer, however.
MySpace, the UK's second most popular site in the category, also fell 5 per cent to 5 million, while Bebo, the third largest, dropped 2 per cent to 4.1 million, according to figures published by Nielsen Online.
In the past 12 months, several of the top ten networking sites have found that their visitors have deserted them. Networks on Yahoo! and Google-owned sites experienced falls of 16 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, while Piczo, a site specifically targeting teenagers, lost 56 per cent of its audience - suggesting that 2008 may be a year in which a general 'malaise' about social networking sets in.
"Facebook was never going to be able to carry on growing the way it has, and a lot of people - especially those who've been using it heavily - are now starting to get Facebook fatigue," Alex Burmaster, an internet analyst at Nielsen Online said.
"I think when something explodes like that a lot of people check it out because they feel they should, but while getting alerts about what your friends are up to is exciting for a time, that's inevitably going to die down."
Mr Burmaster said that the broader social networking sites would plateau this year, and that growth would come in niche sites, which were more sustainable because audiences tended to more highly engaged in subjects that were close to them.
He cited the example of WAYN (Where Are You Now), a travel networking site whose UK audience has grown 25 per cent in the past year to 461,000, and LinkedIn, the professional network, which jumped from 161,000 to 433,000.
Rebecca Jennings, an analyst at Forrester, said it wasn't surprising that Facebook's audience had dropped slightly because the surge of media interest in the site last year had led to many registrations by people who were never likely to use it in the long term.
She added that the figures only represented one month, and while social networking was "no longer in the heady days" of double or triple digit growth, sites like Facebook still had the potential to increase their audiences - both in the UK and in less developed markets.
Mr Nielsen added that the drop in Facebook's numbers between December and January could not be attributed to a lull in communication as people recover from the excesses of the Christmas season.
In the same period last year, MySpace's audience grew by 4 per cent, and Facebook's by 3 per cent, he said.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3410287.ece
Jonathan Richards
Facebook, the UK's most popular social networking site, has suffered its first monthly drop in visitor numbers, according to figures published today.
After 17 successive months of increasing its monthly audience in the UK, Facebook suffered a 5 per cent dip in visitors between December and January - from 8.9 million to 8.5 million.
In January, Facebook's audience was still 712 per cent greater than in the same month last year, and up 10 per cent on the previous quarter, but the figures will nonetheless represent a blow to the firm, which has enjoyed a meteoric rise in subscriber numbers since becoming widely available in late 2006.
Facebook, which has become popular with a professional audience both as a way of sharing content as well as hunting for job opportunities, was not the only social networking site to suffer, however.
MySpace, the UK's second most popular site in the category, also fell 5 per cent to 5 million, while Bebo, the third largest, dropped 2 per cent to 4.1 million, according to figures published by Nielsen Online.
In the past 12 months, several of the top ten networking sites have found that their visitors have deserted them. Networks on Yahoo! and Google-owned sites experienced falls of 16 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, while Piczo, a site specifically targeting teenagers, lost 56 per cent of its audience - suggesting that 2008 may be a year in which a general 'malaise' about social networking sets in.
"Facebook was never going to be able to carry on growing the way it has, and a lot of people - especially those who've been using it heavily - are now starting to get Facebook fatigue," Alex Burmaster, an internet analyst at Nielsen Online said.
"I think when something explodes like that a lot of people check it out because they feel they should, but while getting alerts about what your friends are up to is exciting for a time, that's inevitably going to die down."
Mr Burmaster said that the broader social networking sites would plateau this year, and that growth would come in niche sites, which were more sustainable because audiences tended to more highly engaged in subjects that were close to them.
He cited the example of WAYN (Where Are You Now), a travel networking site whose UK audience has grown 25 per cent in the past year to 461,000, and LinkedIn, the professional network, which jumped from 161,000 to 433,000.
Rebecca Jennings, an analyst at Forrester, said it wasn't surprising that Facebook's audience had dropped slightly because the surge of media interest in the site last year had led to many registrations by people who were never likely to use it in the long term.
She added that the figures only represented one month, and while social networking was "no longer in the heady days" of double or triple digit growth, sites like Facebook still had the potential to increase their audiences - both in the UK and in less developed markets.
Mr Nielsen added that the drop in Facebook's numbers between December and January could not be attributed to a lull in communication as people recover from the excesses of the Christmas season.
In the same period last year, MySpace's audience grew by 4 per cent, and Facebook's by 3 per cent, he said.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3410287.ece
Tuesday 26 February 2008
Mousetrap Technology
It's only a short article but I thought it went with the whole internet crime thing and how people might just be messing around but it can lead to serious concequences.
February 25, 2008
What's the penalty for creating a fake Facebook page?
Three years in the clink if you happen to live in Morocco, and the target of your gag is the King's brother. On Friday, a Moroccan judge sentenced Fouad Mourtada, a 27-year-old computer engineer, to three years in prison and a fine of 10,000 dinar (about £660 pounds, a big chunk of a techie's salary in Morocco) for creating a fictional Facebook identity for King Mohammed VI's brother, Prince Moulay Rachid.
Amnesty International told AFP that they were "shocked by such a heavy verdict", and the civil rights group has already begun questioning the veracity of the evidence, which they say was extracted from Mourtada under duress.
The news is already rippling through the Facebook community. A host of groups critical of King Mohammed VI have been created plus "Help Fouad" petition groups in multiple languages. As one erratically spelt Facebook petition reads, "There are on Facebook 41 Nicolas Sarkozy, 10 prince William of England, Many Jackes Chirac (Former France president), Roger Federer, Georges Bush, Osama Benladen and so on...Fouad's initiative was a pure innocent act without any personal gain or harmful intent. Since Facebook Launch on 2004, a big number of young adults in many countries profile public figures and stars on Facebook for reasons of admiration or entertainment, without malicious intent."
There are now 2,720 members, including a "Prince Moulay Rachid" who says: "This is truly a farce. I am deeply ashamed by this."
At least one Prince Moulay Rachid is.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/2008/02/whats-the-crime.html
February 25, 2008
What's the penalty for creating a fake Facebook page?
Three years in the clink if you happen to live in Morocco, and the target of your gag is the King's brother. On Friday, a Moroccan judge sentenced Fouad Mourtada, a 27-year-old computer engineer, to three years in prison and a fine of 10,000 dinar (about £660 pounds, a big chunk of a techie's salary in Morocco) for creating a fictional Facebook identity for King Mohammed VI's brother, Prince Moulay Rachid.
Amnesty International told AFP that they were "shocked by such a heavy verdict", and the civil rights group has already begun questioning the veracity of the evidence, which they say was extracted from Mourtada under duress.
The news is already rippling through the Facebook community. A host of groups critical of King Mohammed VI have been created plus "Help Fouad" petition groups in multiple languages. As one erratically spelt Facebook petition reads, "There are on Facebook 41 Nicolas Sarkozy, 10 prince William of England, Many Jackes Chirac (Former France president), Roger Federer, Georges Bush, Osama Benladen and so on...Fouad's initiative was a pure innocent act without any personal gain or harmful intent. Since Facebook Launch on 2004, a big number of young adults in many countries profile public figures and stars on Facebook for reasons of admiration or entertainment, without malicious intent."
There are now 2,720 members, including a "Prince Moulay Rachid" who says: "This is truly a farce. I am deeply ashamed by this."
At least one Prince Moulay Rachid is.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/2008/02/whats-the-crime.html
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