A consultancy report examined the existing and potential role of information technology in the social care and welfare benefits systems. These systems were struggling to deliver complex programmes of benefits and care, and the situation had been made more difficult by the diversity of providers.
Source: Technology and the Transformation of Social Protection, Kable Limited (020 7061 3228)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Nov
A report said that there was a danger that the benefits of the technological revolution were increasingly being felt mainly by the young and the rich.
Source: Sarah Richards, Consumers and ICT in Wales, Welsh Consumer Council (029 2025 5454)
Links: Report | WCC press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report mapped the correlation between digital and social exclusion. It said that 3 out of 4 people counted as socially excluded were also digitally excluded, in the sense of not having convenient access to the internet. Progress on closing the digital divide had stalled, with only marginally more people online than three years previously.
Source: FreshMinds, Digital Inclusion: A discussion of the evidence base, UK online centres (0114 227 0010)
Date: 2007-Jul
A government-commissioned report examined the use and development of citizen- and state-generated information. It said that there were social and economic benefits to new ways of making and sharing information, and recommended a strategy in which government engaged with users and operators of user-generated websites in pursuit of common social and economic objectives. The government published a response, setting out how it would take forward the recommendations made.
Source: Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg, The Power of Information, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Response | Hansard | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
A think-tank report described a series of experiments in public engagement with science policy, in the context of nanotechnology. Policy-makers tended to see the public as a problem rather than an opportunity. For public engagement to matter, it needed to go beyond risk management.
Source: Jack Stilgoe, Nanodialogues: Experiments in public engagement with science, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined six projects that sought to engage the public in discussions about the governance and development of nanotechnologies.
Source: Karin Gavelin and Richard Wilson with Robert Doubleday, Democratic Technologies? The final report of the Nanotechnology Engagement Group (NEG), Involve (020 7632 0120)
Links: Report | Involve press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A think-tank report examined the opportunities for expanding cultural participation provided by the internet.
Source: John Holden, Logging On: Culture, participation and the web, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Date: 2007-May
A paper examined the application of information and communications technology in helping disabled people enter and remain in employment.
Source: Nigel Meager, Sally Wilson and Darcy Hill, ICT Strategy, Disabled People and Employment in the UK, Working Paper 14, Institute for Employment Studies (01273 686751)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Mar
A report brought together information about ownership and use of information/communications technology. It illustrated how new technologies were transforming homes and businesses, and highlighted the 'digital divide' ? the low take-up of information/communications technology by some groups.
Source: Vivienne Avery, Elaine Chamberlain, Carol Summerfield and Linda Zealey (eds.), Focus on the Digital Age: 2007 edition, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Report | ONS press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A report said that the collection, storage, and processing of personal data could be of great benefit to citizens: but that users' privacy should be protected. It outlined some of the critical points where technology could be used for unreasonable or unnecessary surveillance, where technical failures could lead to loss of data and diminished trust, and where computer processing of personal data could have unwarranted consequences for fair treatment and human rights.
Source: Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance: Challenges of technological change, Royal Academy of Engineering (020 7227 0500)
Links: Report | RAE press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Mar
A think-tank report said that children were developing a sophisticated understanding of new technologies such as the internet outside formal schooling, gaining creative and entrepreneurial skills: but schools were failing to develop these skills, with many attempting to limit children?s online activity.
Source: Hannah Green and Celia Hannon, Their Space: Education for a digital generation, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Demos press release
Date: 2007-Jan