New places for e-access spread net benefits wider

Internet cafes, telecottages, electronic village halls and other "e-gateways" can help to widen public access to computers and ensure that the benefits of the information age are not restricted to those able to afford the new technology, a new study indicates.

Researchers at Warwick Business School and Aston University found that users of public access facilities represented a wider cross-section of society than those with access to computers at home or work. They observed that the widespread creation of new places for public access in the last 5 years challenged the culture and territories of traditional institutions of education and libraries.

The appeal of the new e-gateways is that they provide a supportive environment for the novice and break the conventional barriers between leisure, learning and work. Spanning the public, voluntary and private sectors their success relied heavily on entrepreneurs and enthusiasts committed to bringing the internet to a wider public.

The study, supported by the Economic and Social Research Council under its Virtual Society? project, provides some constructive material for policy makers concerned about the growing divide between wealthy, well-educated people who have increasing access to computers at home and work and those who are being left behind. Inability to use the internet with confidence is seen as a potentially serious form of social exclusion, likely to be exacerbated by the rush towards electronic banking, virtual shopping, online information and the run-down of traditional services.

Public access initiatives studied by the team included:

• Project Cosmic in Ottery St Mary, Devon, which provides internet access to a youth club and other groups and business people through its community links (Website: www.cosmic.org.uk);
• McNulty's Internet Café in Newcastle which provides an attractive, relaxed venue where people can drop in for coffee and perhaps get interested in the internet through seeing other people using it.

The study also examined provision in Los Angeles and Finland. The American research revealed ways of working in areas of high social exclusion and innovative examples of outreach activities and support for projects. There was also a wide range of more mainstream provision with varying models of support for users. Research in Finland showed that even in a "wired" country with very high levels of home and work access to the internet, public provision was still important.

The researchers commented

'Many of the places for public access are pioneering a new style of social inclusion in the information age. UK policy needs to urgently find ways of supporting such innovative organisations and spreading their know-how more widely.'