21st Century Challenges

Digital divide in the UK?

Obama launches National Information Literacy Awareness month 2009

Launch of National Information Literacy Awareness Month, which highlights the need for all Americans to be adept in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communication technologies, including computers and mobile devices that can help in our day-to-day decisionmaking.

Martha Lane Fox: fixing the holes in Britain’s net

As the Digital Inclusion Task Force's 'champion', web entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox is charged with taking the disconnected online. But is it the right solution?

Finland makes broadband access a legal right

The Finnish government has become the first in the world to make broadband internet access a legal right. According to local reports, the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Helsinki has pushed through a law that will force telecommunications providers to offer high speed internet connections to all of the country's 5.3 million citizens.

Dave Hassell, BECTA

Dave Hassel, Director of Content & Learning, Teaching and Inclusion, BECTA

Government opens data to public

An ambitious new website that will open up government data to the public will launch in beta, or pilot, form in December. Data.gov.uk has been developed by Sir Tim Berners Lee, founder of the web, and Professor Nigel Shadbolt at the University of Southampton.

The internet and the ‘e-solated’

A decade ago most of us had never used the internet – now we can't imagine life without it. Actually, some of us can: there are 10 million people in the UK still without a connection. Are they, Tim Adams asks, losing out economically and culturally? Below, we ask four web refuseniks to go online to see how their lives would change

Danish pupils use web in exams

In Denmark, the government has taken the bold step of allowing pupils full access to the internet during their final school year exams.

Swindon to give all its residents free wireless access to the internet

The Wiltshire town of Swindon is to become the first in the UK to provide free wireless internet access to all its residents. A "Wi-Fi mesh" would give blanket internet coverage for 186,000 citizens, the council said today.

3/4 children admit secretly visiting social networking sites without their parents knowledge

Three quarters of children admit secretly visiting social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo without their parents knowledge, according research by Professor Tanya Byron.

Digital Divide in the UK?

December 2009

Martha Lane Fox, government's Digital Inclusion Champion, author and broadcaster Professor Tanya Byron and BBC Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones discuss the digital divide in Britain and the risks and benefits of a digital society.

Watch the talks

INTERVIEW: Tom Chatfield

The author and tech commentator on technology's effect on society.