Reports

Digital Birmingham conduct a lot of research on a regular basis to keep up with the latest legislation, policy and strategies relating to digital technologies and ICT.

National Digital Participation Plan
This is the National Plan for Digital Participation. It follows the Digital Britain White Paper, which set out an ambition to secure the UK's position as one of the world's leading digital knowledge economies.

Champion for Digital Inclusion: The economic case for digital inclusion
The Champion for Digital Inclusion, Martha Lane Fox, and her Task Force were appointed in June 2009 when the Government published 'Digital Britain'. Their remit is to reduce digital exclusion by helping to ensure:
'The best use of digital technology, either directly or indirectly to improve the lives and life chances of all citizens, particularly the most disadvantaged, and the places in which they live.'
Against this background, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) was commissioned by the Champion for Digital Inclusion to prepare a report that assesses the potential scale of the 'digital dividend' to the UK of achieving greater digital inclusion. Our work has assessed the expected economic benefits of reducing digital exclusion in key areas and considered the aggregate potential benefits of reducing digital exclusion depending on how many of the digitally excluded can be brought online.

Digital Inclusion Task Force Strategy & 2010 Plan
The Task Force's ethos is to make all plans and budgets public and to share all reports so they are transparent and accountable for all their work and to encourage feedback and collaboration. This paper sets out a high-level strategy for the Champion for Digital Inclusion and the Digital Inclusion Task Force. It also includes their key actions for 2010.

Digital Economy Bill

Digital Britain Implementation Plan
This paper also sets out responsibility for delivery of the actions arising from Digital Britain. It does not set out timing around every item of the programme. Each workstream may proceed at a slightly different pace depending on the nature of the work, the need for consultation or legislation and the links to other workstreams. In general, though, immediate or preparatory actions will be completed in the Summer or Autumn, with longer term projects stretching to 2012 or beyond.

Digital Britain Interim Report
Around the world digital and broadband technologies are reshaping our Communications, Entertainment, Information and Knowledge industries, the wider economy, and the way of life for all of us.We are at a point of transformation. The success of our manufacturing and services industries will increasingly be defined by their ability to use and develop digital technologies. A successful Britain must be a Digital Britain.

Digital Britain Final Report
The Digital Britain Report offers a strategic view of the sector, backed by a
programme of action:
(i) to complement and assist the private sector in delivering the effective modern communications infrastructure we need, built on new digital technologies;
(ii) to enable Britain to be a global centre for the creative industries in the digital age, delivering an ever wider range of quality content, including public service content, within a clear and fair legal framework;
(iii) to ensure that people have the capabilities and skills to flourish in the digital economy, and that all can participate in digital society;
(iv) and for government to continue to modernise and improve its service to the taxpayer through digital procurement and the digital delivery of public services.

Digital Britain - Creating the skills for the digital economy: a summary of recommendations for action
Digital Britain is setting an ambitious agenda based on the UK's ability to fully exploit the dramatic shift to digital technology; this paper focuses on the skills needed to create Digital Britain and to create economic value from Digital Britain. The UK must become a magnet for digital talent, and for high value technology-enabled and content-driven businesses. There is an economic imperative to generate greater wealth from the export of global technology services and from the development of world-class content which is highly dependent on skills.

Delivering Digital Inclusion: Action Plan (Consultation paper)
Paul Murphy MP, Digital Inclusion Minister, released a consultation in October 2008 to look at how the Government and local agencies can address the digital divide. The consultation closed on 19th January 2009.
Delivering Digital Inclusion: Summary of findings of consultation

Digital Lifestyles - Hesitants, Resistors and Economisers |
As part of the 2008 Media Literacy Audit research, data about people's attitudes and behaviours relating to communications technologies were analysed and a total of five segments were identified, based on the relationship people have with media devices.

Digital Lifestyles - Young adults aged 16-24 |
Compared to the general adult population, young adults are more likely to live in households with digital television and the internet, and to regularly use new media devices such as mobile phones, MP3 players and games consoles. By contrast, regular use of more traditional media, such as television and radio, is below the level for adults as a whole.

Digital Lifestyles - 60s and over |
Adults aged 60 and over without home internet access are less likely than the general adult population to say they will get access in the next year, mainly due to voluntary reasons related to a perceived lack of need among this group. However, among those who give an involuntary reason for not intending to get internet access at home, older people differ from the general adult population in that they are more likely to give reasons relating to a lack of understanding of the internet or how to use a computer, and less likely to give reasons relating to affordability.

Digital Lifestyles - parents of children under the age of 16 |
Parents of under-16s are more likely than the overall adult population to live in households with digital television and the internet. In addition, those parents without access to the internet at home are twice as likely as adults more generally without home access to say they will get access in the next year. Affordability is the key reason among parents of under-16s for not having home internet access; this is more common among parents who are aged under 35. While parents of under-16s are more likely than the general adult population to regularly use new media such as mobile phones, the internet and games consoles, regular use of more traditional media such as television and radio is at the same level as for all adults. Regular use of new media devices such as mobile phones and MP3 players is higher among parents aged under 35.

Adoption of eBusiness in the West Midlands 2008
Across the West Midlands e-adoption levels have risen from 58% of surveyed
businesses in 2004 to 62% in 2008 (Table 5). This is a low increase over a 4 year period which has seen significant developments in information technology. Based on the survey 38% of businesses in the region still do not utilise any computing technology.

Creating the IT nation: The Strategic Plan for England 2009-14
e-skills UK has developed strategic plans for England, Scotland and Wales. Based on research input from over 4,000 employers, their purpose is to set out a coherent suite of skills strategies that enable each nation to derive maximum benefit from the power of technology to transform competitiveness and productivity.

Harnessing Technology Review 2008: The role of technology and its impact on education
Three years on from the publication of Harnessing Technology in 2005, the Government asked Becta to revise and further develop this strategy. The refreshed strategy, Harnessing Technology: Next Generation Learning (Becta, 2008), sets out the system-wide role for technology over the next six years.

Learning in the Family Research Report 2008
The UK Government's Children's Plan suggests the next steps for improving children's lives must be taken in partnership with parents and children and this is manifested in the Government's £300m Home Access project which aims to provide computers and internet access to families to enhance learning at home. This research takes a timely look at how 4600 children currently learn with technology in the context of their families.

The need for speed: The importance of Next Generation Broadband networks
In this report, ITIF argues that supporting the deployment of faster broadband networks will be crucial to enabling next-generation Web-based applications and services that will play important roles in improving quality of life and boosting economic growth. While getting broadband service to the Americans who lack it is an important policy target, next-generation broadband will deliver a wave of new benefits to consumers, society, businesses, and the economy.

Understanding Digital Inclusion: A research summary
For as long as we've been talking about digital, we've been talking about divide. And perhaps that seems to some to be rather passé - yesterday's news. Surely digital inclusion is an old, tired and not terribly urgent or interesting problem? Some people are using ICT, some people aren't. What more can there actually be to understand?