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British laggards told to embrace their digital futures

Dad's tech army limbers up

The BCS has launched a website for technology laggards who are failing to do their duty by not feeling the benefits of an information-driven society.

The Chartered Institute for IT, formerly known as the British Computer Society, reckons only 20 per cent of the UK population are "information-savvy citizens".

BCS president Elizabeth Sparrow said: "Unless all members of society are made aware of how they can access and use information in their daily lives, the significant proportion of Britons who are failing to realise the benefits of information technology will persist.

"This is not just a question of access: information-savvy citizens also know how to use information and information technology to their advantage."

Sparrow also warned that a third of respondents failed to take even basic security measures online.

The BCS found 23 per cent of respondents believed information technology had not improved their lives.

The website - "savvycitizens.bcs.org" aims to educate these citizens of the future. It has sections on safety, wellness, communication, citizenship, environment, culture, commerce and work. In true Web 2.0 style many of the sections are empty and surfers are encouraged to add their own suggestions.

The "savvy citizen" is still more likely to be male than female, and aged between 18 and 44.

In other findings, the BCS reckons that 60 per cent of Brits have used video on demand and 15 per cent have published their own material online - or 8.97 million Brits using blogs and forums to post content, which sounds like a lot to us.

Researchers spoke to a demographically-balanced sample of 500 UK citizens aged 18 to 65+. ®

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