Author Archives: David Sutcliffe

About David Sutcliffe

David manages departmental communications, and is also the Managing Editor of the journal Policy and Internet.

Highlights from the OxIS 2011 Report launch

On Monday we launched the 2011 OxIS report: “Next Generation Users: The Internet in Britain” (PDF, 3.1MB) at an event at the House of Commons. The report and top findings were outlined by Professor William Dutton and myself, accompanied by comments by our host Alun Michael MP, and three representatives from sponsoring organisations – Annika Small (Chief Executive, Nominet Trust), Adrian Arthur (Web Programme Manager, British Library) and James Thickett (Director of Research and Market Intelligence, Ofcom). OII Director Professor Helen Margetts concluded the presentations.

The enormous quantity of data on Internet use and attitudes collected by the OxIS surveys provides many entry points for discussion, and our sponsors naturally focused their comments on areas where they have a particular concern. However, there are large areas of common interest; for example, how online behaviour and attitudes to the Internet have changed over time. One sponsor opened by remarking just how much has changed since the first survey they supported in 2005 – when the rise of broadband was an area of particular interest (the question was discontinued in 2011 since broadband has become basically universal in Britain). As a caveat to these large, rapid changes, the speaker also noted that the digital divide hasn’t gone away in that time; it just looks different now. A few points were consistently picked out by Alun Michael and the sponsors.

> The “Next Generation User” (NGU; ie people who make heavy use of mobile and multiple-device access) is a major development in recent years. 44% of Internet users are NGUs. They are distinctive in their disproportionate contribution to content on the Internet and their heavy use of the Internet for entertainment. NGUs are not just youth: 52% of students can be classed as NGU, compared with 51% of employed people. Obviously, in terms of real numbers, employed people in the UK vastly outnumber students.

> The rise of social networking was noted, for example with reference to the recent riots in many UK cities. The rise during the past two years has mostly been in people aged 25-55: i.e. people of prime employment age.

Low use of government services – for example only 21% of users paying a central government tax or fine or using a central service in 2011. Similarly, not many people look for information on an MP online (15% of users), even in the 2011 election year. However, Helen Margetts pointed out that 9% of British Internet users have used the Internet to post a message in support of a political cause (ie almost a sixth of the 60% of users who take part in social networking). This was the second most popular political activity surveyed, after signing petitions (14% of Internet users sign petitions online).

Internet non-use: 27% of British people don’t use the Internet. Ex-users are most likely to say that the Internet is too costly (66% of employed ex-users) or that they don’t have a computer (68%). 62% of non-users said they weren’t interested in the Internet, and that it was not useful to them. The low take-up and relative lack of interest in the Internet by the over 65s – who are more likely to say that they are “just not interested” (88% of retired non-users) or it is “not for people my age” (72%) – was also noted.

> While the gender gap in Internet access has disappeared, a confidence gap was noted, with women being more likely to doubt their abilities than men (eg 31% of women vs 16% of men fearing that they “might break new technologies”). However women are more likely to meet people face-to-face who they first got to know online (59% women vs 53% men), a fact that certainly suggests some degree of comfort.

> The rise of content producers was noted and welcomed by all the speakers. These active contributors (contrasting with passive consumers) are particularly important because they use the Internet to increasingly ‘take part’ in society (eg through online tools and services).

> The increasing levels of trust in online information were also noted (next generations users place the Internet very slightly behind television news in terms of institutional trust, and ahead of “major companies”, newspapers, and the Government), as well as the implications for how people use the Internet, particularly how they go about discerning safe sites and trustworthy information.

A point that was repeated several times by all the speakers was the importance of access to reliable, empirical data for research and policy-making. Certainly, the value of this series of surveys has increased over time, as long-term trends become apparent and open to analysis. The five waves of OxIS are probably the best high-quality, longitudinal data on Internet use anywhere in the world.

The 2011 OxIS Report presents a huge amount of data, however every graph and piece of analysis triggers new questions about the relationship between politics, economics, society and the Internet. More information will be made available on this site as we delve into the data.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 2011 survey sponsors (the Nominet Trust, the British Library, Ofcom, ITV, and O2), our host Alun Michael, and everybody who came to find out about the 2011 data, and who helped to make this launch so successful.

“Expanding the Connected Kingdom”: OII works with Google on policies for stimulating the UK Internet Economy

This is a guest post by Victoria Nash, OII Policy and Research Fellow. She discusses the topical issue of the UK’s Internet economy, an issue to be discussed at next week’s OII-Google forum on policies and strategies to support the Internet economy.

How much does the Internet contribute to the UK economy? This is broadly the question asked in The Connected Kingdom, a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group. Commissioned by Google, the report uses data from a variety of sources (including OxIS), to conclude that: “the UK Internet economy is worth £100 billion a year, is growing at 10% a year and directly employs 250,000 people.” [comment on The Connected Kingdom]

These impressive figures are undoubtedly encouraging, but the bigger question is surely whether we could do better. The OII is joining forces with Google next week to consider precisely this issue. Bringing together leading experts from industry, academia and government, our forum “Expanding the Connected Kingdom” asks whether there are any policies or strategies that could help the Internet economy flourish.

This is a highly topical question, with the government last week releasing two key reports: Technology and Innovation Futures: UK Growth Opportunities for the 2020s sets out expected areas for longer term innovation and growth, and Blueprint for Technology highlights key coalition policies to stimulate the technology industry.

If the aim is to boost the Internet’s economic contribution, it seems to me that relevant policy challenges might be divided into three key areas:

1. Developing skills and confidence

The most obvious way of increasing the Internet’s contribution to the UK economy is getting, and keeping, more people online. Figures from the OxIS 2009 Report show that 70% of British people are online, compared to 58% in 2003, but the rate of growth appears to be slowing. That leaves 30% of the population who are not able to contribute to the Internet economy by shopping, communicating or socialising online, or using it as part of their job.

Race Online 2012 is an excellent campaign that aims to get the missing 30% online, one community group at a time, but it is targeted mainly at those who have never used the Internet. In this era of severe cuts in public spending, high inflation and rising unemployment, there may be a whole new group of users who quickly become ex-users as they lose their job, or can no longer afford Internet access at home. The proportion of ex-users has been steady at 5 or 6% since 2003; we need to closely monitor this figure, but more importantly, we need to find ways of ensuring that a break in regular Internet use does not become a long-lasting habit, perhaps by expanding access in public institutions such as schools, libraries, job centres or GP surgeries, or by offering refresher courses to boost confidence rather than simply classes for beginners.

As well as intensifying efforts to get the ‘missing 30%’ online, there is a real need to address the potential skills gap. OxIS research shows that the proportion of Internet users who use the Internet at work has risen from 28% in 2003 to 41% in 2009, suggesting that it is becoming an increasingly important workplace skill. Yet in both 2007 and 2009, those with a basic education are much less likely to use the Internet compared to those with a university education, indeed the gap grew during that period. Given that the contribution of the Internet to the UK economy comes not just from its role in white-collar jobs, or even in the workplace at all, there is a real need to find ways of supporting employers in training their workforce to use the Internet more, even if initially just for recreational ends. This may have indirect benefits for employers if in the longer term it means that more communication or processes can be moved online. 

In addition, recently announced changes to the benefit system may mean that a large number of people previously on incapacity benefit are required to work. Given that we know those who have any sort of disability are less likely to be online (41% against 75% of those without a disability in 2009), but also that the possible advantages for this group of working at home would be significant, this would be an area that government training funds could be well spent in getting people online.

2. Improving infrastructure through investment and competition

UK broadband speeds are not outstanding. OECD figures for 2009 ranked the UK 13th out of 30 countries for average advertised broadband speed, and the UK government has committed £400 million to support investment in broadband infrastructure with a view to attaining ‘the best, superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015’ (Blueprint for Technology). It remains to be seen whether this is a realistic goal, and it is interesting to note that not all economically valuable applications of the Internet are bandwidth-hungry.

Given a limited pot of money to support development of the Internet economy, a useful study might attempt to assess the opportunity cost of spending £400 million on basic infrastructure as opposed to spending it on other enabling policies such as training and access schemes, investment incentives for SMEs, support for regional Internet economy ‘hubs’ or innovative policy efforts to build consumer confidence in the security and privacy of Internet transactions.

3. Reviewing regulations to ensure they support innovation

Whilst OfCom has traditionally maintained a light touch when it comes to regulating the Internet, the recentTechnology and Innovation Futures report actively explores the possibility of a greater role for government in the development of the Internet economy, for reasons of infrastructure, rights to access and even content concerns. Whilst there may be some areas where OfCom’s refusal to intervene can seem positively detrimental to innovation (such as in the case of net neutrality, for example, where it is currently acceptable for mobile network operators to forbid users from using VoIP services), there are others where a heavier touch could do great damage to the fragile ecology of bottom-up innovation.

But it is worth noting that the framework of laws and policies which impact on internet innovation is likely to be much greater than those which fall strictly within the usual ‘telecommunications’ remit. As outlined in a recent OII report on the ecology of laws and policies which impact freedom of expression online, there are multiple policy actors and multiple policy ‘games’ whose unintended consequences may shape the Internet and our use of it (see: Dutton, W., Dopatka, A., Hills, M., Law, G., and V. Nash (2010) Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: the Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet [forthcoming December]).

Thus, if governments are serious about reducing unnecessary red tape and ensuring that regulation supports innovation in the Internet economy, they should consider not just the traditional telecoms issues such as pricing, competition and standards, but also a broader array of policy areas such as:

  • Intellectual property: note the recently announced governmental review of intellectual property laws with a focus particularly on fair use bodes well for Internet innovators.
  • Access to employment schemes and benefit regulations to ensure that an imaginative approach to training and retraining recognises the great potential of the Internet to support home-working or the establishment of small online businesses.
  • Delivery of public services online and public procurement strategies to ensure that they are open to tender by SMEs and that where possible they are linked up to related e-commerce activities.
  • Privacy and security policy is an area where greater government intervention may be needed to shore up public trust in online transactions. As OII Fellow Ian Brown wrote recently, the Information Commissioner’s Office needs to be more publicly effective at protecting our personal data [Guardian, 4 Nov 2010] if we are to continue to give up personal and often highly sensitive personal data in our daily transactions online.

 [ You can read more about this, and contribute to the debate, at the Connected Kingdom website; look out for summary notes from next week’s OII-Google forum on the Oxford Internet Institute‘s website. ]

Young people and the digital divide: data from the Oxford Internet Surveys

I have posted below the comments I prepared for a panel on ‘Young People and the Digital Divide‘, organized by Catch22 at the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference, Liverpool (20 September  2010), during which I talked about OxIS research on youth use and non-use of the Internet:

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In Britain as a whole, 17% of young people did not have access to the Internet in 2009: these people I call ‘non-users’.

One common perception of young people is that they are ‘digital natives’, meaning they are comfortable and adept at using computers and the Internet. This perception partially stems from the fact that more young people (about 83%) are online than older people (about 70%). This difference is almost entirely accounted for by students: all of whom have Internet access. Young non-students use the Internet less than any other group except retired people.

Non-users and employment

The first important characteristic of non-users is their job – mostly they don’t have one.

  • 64% of young non-users (aged 16-24) are not employed
  • 15% of users are not employed

This difference–almost 50 percentage points–is so large that you could say that the entire story is about jobs:that lack of employment is the real problem that underlies youth non-use of the Internet.

There is a further problem:

  • Many jobs are advertised online
  • Many potential employers require (or at least prefer) online applications
  • Even when information is available offline, the online information is often more accessible

The point is, it is easier to get a job if you have Internet access. For the non-employed, lack of access makes it much harder to get a job.

This is a real Catch 22 situation…

Having a job is important for self-worth and identity. It is not only psychologically important; socially, a job integrates people into social networks, and a job is a key link to society. People with jobs pay more taxes, commit fewer crimes, and contribute to society rather than draining resources. The Internet gives people access to jobs, and to the economic opportunity and social mobility that go with them.

Non-users and education

A second characteristic I talked about was education. Everyone in school has Internet access, but non-users are not in school.

Non-users also tend to be less well educated: 82% of non-users have at best a secondary school education and none have a postgraduate university education, whereas 29% of users have only a secondary education and 25% have a post-graduate degree.

This 53% point gap is a serious problem. The United Kingdom is a knowledge economy, and globalisation and other powerful trends are pushing it to be even more knowledge intensive. For this kind of economy, education is central. People who are better educated are more likely to be employed, are likely to be paid more, their jobs are likely to be more stable, they are more likely to have stable marriages or partnerships, and (of particular interest to government) they are likely to pay more taxes.

Job opportunities for people with no more than a secondary school education have been declining, and are likely to continue to decline. Lack of education is a real barrier to jobs, and lack of Internet access just makes it worse.

Partly as a result of lack of employment and education, most non-users have very low incomes (65% live in households with incomes below £12,500 / year; compared to 28% of British youth as a whole). [See my earlier blog post: What is more important for Internet use: age or income?]

Low income is one reason that they have no Internet access at home: many simply can’t afford it. When asked for the most important reason, they respond: ‘cost’. By comparison, among larger population of British non-users, ‘lack of interest’ is most important.

One bright spot is youth interest and willingness to participate: 69% of young non-users would like to use the Internet in the future (this is far more than the rest of the population, in which only 19% of non-users would use the Internet in the future).

This has been considered so far here from the point of view of Internet users. From the viewpoint of providers, the Internet is attractive in part because it is an extremely efficient, low-cost way to deliver government services, educational opportunities, health information and employment information.

These are powerful incentives, especially in a time of reduced budgets. The Internet is a key to give people access to well-paying jobs, a good education, and a host of other benefits.

Effective policy must be inclusive, and must allow a diverse range of solutions to address availability, affordability, and skills. It is worth a major effort to include everyone on the Internet.