Digital Engagements: Online Exclusion and Social Capital

这项研究项目为解决“数字鸿沟”问题提供了一种新的方法。它将利用信息传播技术(信通技术)、视觉创意、叙事和讲故事来开发创新的研究战略，以探索：*人们对数字排斥或包容的思考；*他们参与数字生活的经历，因为我们向他们提供‘行动研究’干预方面的支持和培训；*在线交流与社会资本(公民参与和连通感)之间的关系(如果有的话)；以及*他们数字参与和决策背后的期望和考虑。之前大多数与数字排斥有关的研究和干预都发生在当前这波“Web 2.0”工具进入主流之前。“Web 2.0”工具本应让日常非技术用户能够在线创建和分享材料。最近，Charles Leadbeater和Clay Shirky等评论家提出了一个诱人的愿景，如果用户愿意接受这样的在线工具，生活就会得到改变。但这是现实的吗，还是基于对人们数字决策的天真假设？数字排斥仍然是一个严重的问题--在过去的十年里，这个问题已经被证明是一个更顽强、更复杂的问题，因为据透露，不使用互联网不仅仅是因为缺乏对计算机或宽带的连接。在过去的十年里，“数字鸿沟”已经缩小，但在这个平台上，24%的英国人口不是经常使用互联网的人，21%的人从未使用过互联网(英国国家统计局，2009年)。有一些明显的部分原因：值得注意的是，贫穷，一些人对“科技”缺乏兴趣，以及65岁以上的人认为使用互联网要么是不必要的，要么是过于困难。数字排斥现在不是电信基础设施可以解决的问题，而是与期望、情感、自信和技术文化资本等人的因素有关。因此，我们需要对数字排斥的体验以及人们为什么选择参与或远离在线交流有更深入的了解。该项目不会试图将新技术强加给那些不想要的人，但为了让公民能够有效地利用对他们可能有价值的互联网--并更好地实现政府对“数字英国”的愿景--有必要在这一领域进行严谨和富有想象力的研究。除了增进对这些问题的学术理解，并探索利用这些在线工具的创新研究方法，这项研究还将提供研究结果，帮助政策制定者规划未来将公民纳入数字时代的努力的目标和基调。

This research project offers a fresh approach to the 'digital divide'. It will develop innovative research strategies using information communication technologies (ICTs), visual creativity, narratives and storytelling, in order to explore:* people's reflections on digital exclusion or inclusion; * their experience of becoming digitally involved, as we offer them support and training in an 'action research' intervention;* the relationship (if any) between online communication and social capital (civic engagement and a sense of connectedness); and * the expectations and considerations behind their digital engagements and decisions. Most previous studies and interventions related to digital exclusion, took place before the current wave of 'Web 2.0' tools - which are supposed to enable everyday, non-technical users to create and share material online - entered the mainstream. Recently commentators such as Charles Leadbeater and Clay Shirky have proposed a seductive vision where lives would be transformed 'if only' users would embrace such online tools. But is this realistic, or is it based in a naïve assumption about people's digital decisions? Digital exclusion remains a serious issue - and has been revealed to be a more hardy and complex problem, over the past decade, as it has been revealed that non-use of the internet is not simply down to lack of 'access' to computers or broadband connections. The 'digital divide' has diminished over the past decade, but has settled on a plateau where 24 per cent of the UK population are not regular internet users, and 21 per cent have never accessed the internet (Office for National Statistics, 2009). There are some obvious partial explanations: notably poverty, some people's lack of interest in 'technology', and a sense among the over-65s that internet use is either unnecessary or overly difficult. Digital exclusion is not now something that can be resolved by telecommunications infrastructure, but which is associated with human factors such as expectations, emotions, self-belief, and technological cultural capital. Therefore we need a richer understanding of the experience of digital exclusion and why people choose to engage with, or remain detached from, online communications.The project will not seek to 'impose' new technologies on those who do not want them, but, in order to enable citizens to make fruitful use of the internet where it may be valuable to them - and to better fulfil the Government's vision of a 'Digital Britain' - there is a need for rigorous and imaginative research in this area. As well as enhancing academic understanding of these issues, and exploring innovative research methods which make use of these online tools, the study will offer findings which will help policy-makers to plan both the targets, and the tone, of future efforts to bring citizens within the digital fold.