OFCOM Report Offers Reality Check on Learner Access to ICTs

Created by Catherine Howell (La Trobe University) on August 27, 2008

The recently-published OFCOM Market Report makes for some interesting reading. Some of its numbers you would expect: the report charts, among other things, UK growth in consumption of gaming, user-generated content, and SNS (social network systems). Among the more surprising key facts buried in the report are related to what you might call "under-use", or use of ICTs for unintended purposes, and in unanticipated ways.

For example, contrary to our sometimes comfortable assumptions of universal internet access, OFCOM report that only 57% of UK adults have a broadband connection at home. For reasons of social inclusion, I hope this should be enough to encourage the UK government to take a second look at (though not necessarily to rethink!) its policy commitment to ICT-enabled informal learning. Another fact that especially struck me: a massive 89% of the 12.5 million UK individuals with a 3G mobile phone connection did NOT use their connection to access the internet, email, or other services (such as GPS). Could it be (whisper it) that consumer adoption is more driven by fashion and other social factors, than by technology per se? Finally, and intriguingly, of the 500,000+ users of mobile broadband, only 27% of users connect away from work or the home -- 75% of mobile broadband users use their connection at home!

The media, telecoms, and advertising industries constantly bombard educators with messages that "we" are living in an ICT-saturated environment. But users' level of ICT access is measured in diverse ways, and not all of them are easily comparable or assimilable: e.g. the UK's Higher Education IT Statistics, an annual publication compiled by the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association, differs from OFCOM in the way that it defines "access". Reading the OFCOM report, I'm reminded how misleading it is to assume that "access" means the same thing as "sole access", "unlimited access", or "unmoderated access". In particular, well-resourced groups, such as 16-34 year olds, do not necessarily represent the norm.

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		OFCOM Report Offers Reality Check on Learner Access to ICTs Created by Catherine Howell (La Trobe University) on August 27, 2008 The recently-published OFCOM Market Report makes for some interesting reading. Some of its numbers you would expect: the report charts, among other things, UK growth in consumption of gaming, user-generated content, and SNS (social network systems). Among the more surprising key facts buried in the report are related to what you might call "under-use", or use of ICTs for unintended purposes, and in unanticipated ways. For example, contrary to our sometimes comfortable assumptions of universal internet access, OFCOM report that only 57% of UK adults have a broadband connection at home. For reasons of social inclusion, I hope this should be enough to encourage the UK government to take a second look at (though not necessarily to rethink!) its policy commitment to ICT-enabled informal learning. Another fact that especially struck me: a massive 89% of the 12.5 million UK individuals with a 3G mobile phone connection did NOT use their connection to access the internet, email, or other services (such as GPS). Could it be (whisper it) that consumer adoption is more driven by fashion and other social factors, than by technology per se? Finally, and intriguingly, of the 500,000+ users of mobile broadband, only 27% of users connect away from work or the home -- 75% of mobile broadband users use their connection at home! The media, telecoms, and advertising industries constantly bombard educators with messages that "we" are living in an ICT-saturated environment. But users' level of ICT access is measured in diverse ways, and not all of them are easily comparable or assimilable: e.g. the UK's Higher Education IT Statistics, an annual publication compiled by the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association, differs from OFCOM in the way that it defines "access". Reading the OFCOM report, I'm reminded how misleading it is to assume that "access" means the same thing as "sole access", "unlimited access", or "unmoderated access". In particular, well-resourced groups, such as 16-34 year olds, do not necessarily represent the norm. Digital Divide \| Higher Education in the UK \| Research Methods \| survey \| Technology adoption Catherine's blog Login or register to post comments 226 reads
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