Why the Internet is important to local communities
This is a summary of a presentation made by Richard Stubbs, of UK Communities
Online to the Marchant seminar in October 1996.
The changing nature of products and trade
The nature of work is changing and much of this change is driven by technology.
Increasingly the creation of wealth and employment is lead by the information
industries. You might argue that these don't produce real products, such
as cars or fridges, but this is missing the point. In the US two thirds
of the work force are employed in information related jobs.
Increasingly high value products are information products and information
products, of whatever type, are stored in a digital form. The Internet permits
trading of such digital products directly between producer and consumer
across national boundaries. This offers both an opportunity and threat to
our industries and the communities that depend upon them. The opportunity
is the increased ease for our businesses to reach new international markets,
the threat is increased access to our domestic markets by foreign competitors.
The Internet
The Internet or "Net" is a network of computer networks and the
number of people connected through it is doubling every year. By the year
2000 it is projected that more than 200 million people will be connected
to the Net*. The Net will be with us for the rest of our lives and will
transform them, it represents a massive global upheaval in the way that
information flows around the world.
British business takes the Net seriously, 84% of UK companies regard connection
to the Net as being important for the future of their business. The UK's
skills in publishing, broadcasting, distance education, film, video, software
and music give it a head start in the global information society, as does
its language.
Why are community Internets important?
European research on telework and small business networking has found that
the most effective telecommunities (groups of people communicating through
computer networks and sharing a sense of identity thereby) are made up of
people who live in the same city and meet regularly face to face. Once such
people have learned to participate effectively in their local community
they can work effectively at a transnational level.
Many of the skills involved in playing an effective role in the information
society are so new that they are not yet written down. Acquiring these skills
is of key importance in ensuring that the UK can make the most of its existing
expertise in information industries. Community Internets provide the best
means by which citizens can develop these skills and help ensure that the
UK makes the most of the opportunities opened up by this unprecedented increase
in global communication.
* This estimate is from the House of Lords Report on the Information Society
which can be found at http://www.hmsoinfo.gov.uk/hmso/document/inforsoc/inforsoc.htm
The quote is from Chapter 4 "Views of witnesses". The source of
this information is detailed in the notes to the document as follows:-
"Microsoft's estimate was that 200 million people would access the
Information Superhighway by the year 2001 (Q 397). News International cited
a similar estimate (Q 961)."
Richard Stubbs
Back to the Guide to Community Internet