The Benefits of Being Online Sarah Graham UK Online Project Officer

Format of the Seminar  Background information on the UK Online Project  Useful web addresses for more information  Group / Individual Exercise  Go-On website and video  Six benefits of being online  Time for any questions at the end

Background Martha Lane Fox appointed to lead the Digital Inclusion Task Force In October 2009, they published findings which demonstrated the economic benefits of being online:  10 million adults in the UK had never been online  4 million of these adults were socially excluded  40% were unemployed, 40% were over 65 years old

Background  The 1.8 million children currently digitally excluded could earn up to £10.8 billion in their lifetime if they were to become digitally literate  People who are digitally literate can earn an average increase in their lifetime earnings of over £8,000  The government could save £900 million a year if digitally excluded adults were online and communicating with the government instead of face to face

Background Quote from Martha Lane Fox: “I think it is really important to show the economic argument behind getting people online. By being online there are massive savings for people personally, rich rewards for their career prospects and also big savings for the government.”

Useful Web Addresses Newcastle City Library is a UK Online Centre and part of the Community Capacity Builders Project, working with partner organisations throughout the region to get more people online. Aim is to have everyone online by 2012, in time for the London Olympics. At the present time, 8.7 million still to go…

Group / Individual Exercise In groups, or individually if you prefer, try to come up with at least 3 benefits to you personally of being online.  If you are already online, think about what you use the internet for…  If you are not online, think about what you could use the internet for… Please take around 10 minutes to come up with three main ideas!

Go-on Video  Video recording extolling the benefits of being online!

Staying in Touch  ing  Skype  Facebook  Twitter  Forums  Blogs

Saving Time and Money  Online shopping  Buying cinema tickets  Buying music  Buying groceries

Have Fun  Playing games  Socialising (web chat, forums…)  Catching up with TV programmes  Looking up interests and hobbies

Find Information  Latest news  Opening / closing times of local venues  Local events and happenings  Bus and train timetables

Learn More  Research an area of interest  Journal articles  Online courses  Wikipedia

Find Work  Online job searches  Organisation websites  Online applications  CV  alerts

Any Questions? Thank you for coming to ‘The Benefits of Being Online’! Sarah Graham UK Online Project Officer 