The Digital Inclusion Champion hasn’t convinced me that she understands what she’s championing
In yesterday’s interview with BBC Breakfast, Digital Inclusion Champion Martha Lane Fox rather worried me. She seemed to be advocating something because someone else had told her it’s a good idea, and not because she understands the issues herself.
Martha Lane Fox:
“… Government is going to move most of its services onto the web … so that it can start talking to people in a more interactive way, I guess…”
BBC Breakfast presenter (Bill Turnbull?):
“… What does that mean?”
Martha Lane Fox:
“I’m not a politician, I’m only independent champion, and I’ve raised this challenge to get the ten million people who’ve never used the internet online by the Olympics…”
The rest of the interview is about how she needs to encourage people online for economic reasons, but it didn’t give me the impression that she’s thought very hard about the social and civic implications of being online.
I’m sure she’s doing a great job, but it feels a bit like the blind leading the blind. In my view the person who’s championing digital civic engagement really should be more critically aware of the arguments around it.
Martha Lane Fox on BBC Breakfast, 29 March 2010
vCard
Email
Audioboo
Delicious
Flickr
Google
Last.FM
LinkedIn
Tumblr
Twitter
I write a piece for the Birmingham Post a few weeks back questioning some of the reasoning behind the economic reasons.
Her role seems to be at the bum-on-seats end of the wider notion of ‘Digital Participation’. Ofcom are tasked with measuring that and at least have some interest in how people engage at a deeper level.
Dave Harte
Thanks Dave, I hadn’t seen that. Regarding that post, I have similar misgivings about taking people away from shops and offline spaces. The drive to bridge the digital divide for the sake of it is still something that worries me.
Michael
I met her about 3 weeks ago and very much got the impression she understood the “social and civic implications”. She also seemed pretty clear about the barriers that bureaucracy and risk aversion creates.
I do worry about a drive to get people online simply because that’s what government wants. I need to be driven by what’s useful to whom – not what’s needed by government.
However I think your concerns here might relate more closely to the problem of feeling the need to industrialise a process which is essentially personal.
Nick Booth
That’s encouraging to hear.
Most people don’t get to meet her though; and if she really does understand, why is she giving the impression in interviews that she doesn’t have an interest in it? She came across in that one as pushing through an agenda for the sake of saving money, with little evidence of consideration for potential consequences. (But that was only one interview, of course.)
She’s in a position to influence government at least a little. It would bother me is if she’s appreciating there are issues but ignoring them or hoping someone else picks them up. I hope that’s not the case.
And I certainly agree with your point about trying to industrialise the process.
Michael
Michael, I’ve been thinking along similar things. Though that may be more because I agree with Nick and am very wary of telling people they should be online.
That said, there’s always the case that people don’t realise they have a need that digital solves. Plenty of people now will tell you they rely on their mobile phone but they once had no interest in owning one. Same with t’interweb nets, I bet.
I think it comes down to what actually happens on the ground – the bums on seats – I imagine that Martha is just putting engaged citizens together with UK Online Centres and the likes of TAL and letting the digital love spread.
Philip John
Some good points Micheal, and equally good points in reply.
Like Nick, I’ve met Martha a number of times, and I think it is partly down to her style, she likes giving the impression of being an innocent in the field as that helps her connect with people she’s trying to reach. But, I think she fully understands it all behind it. The other issue is the size and scale of the task, and the paucity of resources to tackle it, which is forcing her to concentrate on a narrow range of tools and strategies.
John Popham