Anne-Rivers Forcke Digital Inclusion

Check Out Digital Inclusion Resources

With all the press in the last two weeks about the status and conditions of various municipal network projects, I'm doing a rough "sweep" and collecting a smattering of articles and blogs available in the popular press on the issues of Digital Inclusion. This is not an endorsement of the views or opinions expressed in these articles but an attempt to capture a snapshot of some of the conversations.

This article from Government Technology relates the interesting ways the Chicago Digital Access Alliance is addressing digital inclusion, and expanding the term's definition . Likewise, Stephen Mcgibbon of Microsoft wrestles with the meaning and importance of digital inclusion in society.

Helen Milner, of UK Online Centres, outlines her strategy for addressing digital inclusion, and states that "it can no longer be allowed to sit on the periphery of political, charitable and industrial agendas, a poor and undervalued relation to the real work of the day." These sentiments are echoed by the work of Evans Craig to bridge the divide in Native American communities, and Gavin Newsom's TechConnect project in San Francisco.

Finally, of course, understanding digital inclusion to be an issue of human ability as well as accessibility is vital. The UN's call for accessibility standards is central here.

It's important to take a moment and reflect on this "space" we call Digital Inclusion. As calls are made for governments and service providers to develop new business models, expand funding and explore nontraditional partnerships, we, too, can use the moment for our own self-assessment. What value are we communicating?

If we want government, civic and business leaders to value digital inclusion - to see it as so significant a phenomenon that it deserves its own vocabulary, metrics and initiatives - then it's up to us to frame those conversations with value statements that are relevant to them: the value of high-speed connectivity, the value of accessibility, the value of relevant content and applications (like telework, e-learning and mobile applications) and the value of digital literacy.

Government, civic and business leaders all have agendas, all have goals, and all have constituencies who are eager to measure their performance (for any number of reasons). How well are we doing in making it obvious to these leaders that the greater the proportion of the community who can and do comfortably use the Internet as a channel for distributing and consuming information and services, the more efficiently business, government and civic leaders can achieve their own objectives?

It's up to us, folks. The only question left is "Are we up to the challenge?"

K. Anne-Rivers Forcke is Public Sector Market Manager, Human Ability and Accessibility Center, IBM Research. She chairs the Digital Inclusion Roundtable at the W2i Digital Cities Convention.

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