A wide network of Swedish organisations is starting up ICT Lift, a campaign to increase digital inclusion. The goal is to have an additional half a million Swedes using the Internet within three years. The network has invited Ms Anna-Karin Hatt, Minister for Information Technology to join their campaign.
Ms Anna-Karin Hatt has promised to launch measures to increase the use of ICT, Information and Communication Technology in the spring of 2011. In response to the Minister’s proposal the network has petitioned the Government to devote the resources necessary to create a modern information society for all, pointing out that it is profitable to invest in digital inclusion, because exclusion entails substantial costs for society.
- We want to end exclusion to community developments experienced by those not using the Internet today. Everyone must be able to participate in a democracy. Ann Wiklund, project coordinator for the ICT Lift campaign urges the Swedish state, the regions and the municipalities to join in the campaign. With facts from .SE's (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation) annual report ‘The Swedes and Internet’ she pointed out that 1.5 million Swedes of 16 years and older, never or rarely use the Internet and e-services, and that most non-users are older persons, although non-users exist in all age groups, even among the young.
- Another network member, Maicen Ekman, Secretary General of the Swedish Adult Education Association (SAEA), the interest organization of the study associations, reports that they have experienced that non-users must be offered free activities to attract them to the Internet. The ICT Lift campaign is run by adult education actors on a wide scale, i.e. libraries, learning centers, adult education associations, adult education colleges and .SE (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation).
According to Staffan Hagnell, research and development manager at .SE, they will help by launching new user training courses and assisting the campaign's central administration. A prerequisite for success is a broad commitment in the whole of Sweden and he urges everyone, who thinks they can contribute, to join in the campaign. He observes that the joint appeal initiated by the adult education and libraries is an excellent start for the ICT Lift campaign.
Contacts
Ann Wiklund, IKT-Lyftet/ICT Lift - public education and public libraries joined for increased digital inclusion, ann.wiklund@telia.com
Anna Morin, press contact, Adult Education Association, anna.morin@studieforbunden.se
Staffan Hagnell, Research and Development manager, .SE (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation), staffan.hagnell@iis.se
ICT-Lift is a national collaborative project to increase the use of the Internet, e-services and digital information, www.ikt-lyftet.se