{"id":1222,"date":"2015-05-04T11:34:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T10:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/?p=1222"},"modified":"2015-05-04T11:40:06","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T10:40:06","slug":"its-not-ok-not-to-understand-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/2015\/05\/04\/its-not-ok-not-to-understand-the-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not OK not to understand the internet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On 29 April I gave a presentation at Holyrood\u2019s annual Telehealth and Telecare Conference.This year\u2019s theme was engagement \u2013 both staff engagement and public engagement &#8211; \u00a0and the brief was to address the question <em>\u2018social media and engagement: challenge or opportunity?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It did feel a little strange to be asking if social media is a challenge or an opportunity. Social media is here, it\u2019s now. A fact of life. Yes, it presents challenges for some people, either because they aren\u2019t sure what it is or because of its disruptive impact on established organisational and power structures. \u00a0But there can be no question that it offers many opportunities for engagement. \u00a0Consider this definition:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>tools that allow people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures\/videos in virtual communities and networks. &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Social_media\">Wikipedia<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Sharing<\/strong>, <strong>exchanging<\/strong> and <strong>networking<\/strong> sound very much like the basic ingredients for engagement.<\/p>\n<p>At the conference we heard from a panel of users of telehealth about how social social media is vital in dealing with depression, Alzheimers and visual impairment. This panel did not see privacy and data protection as serious barriers: not in the way \u2018the establishment\u2019 does.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Seres is very well known for his use of social media to openly share personal information about Crohns Disease. \u00a0Look up <a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelseres.com\/\">Michael<\/a> on the web for inspiration on how to meld, blogging, Pintrest, Facebook, Twitter to learn, share and communicate and\u00a0build networks.<\/p>\n<p>With these examples\u00a0in mind I began by asking \u2018what\u2019s holding us back? \u2018<\/p>\n<h2>Fear of the new<\/h2>\n<p>Fear of the new might be one factor. All technology goes through the \u2018new\u2019 phase. That\u2019s when the evangelists or enthusiasts talk up the opportunities. \u00a0And the doom mongers talk up the dangers. People have always been wary of new things, fearing negative impact.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Music &#8211; Composer <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Philip_Sousa\">John Philip Sousa<\/a> believed recorded music would ruin the artistic development of music and lead to the elimination of the vocal chord<\/li>\n<li>Western Union believed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rinkworks.com\/said\/predictions.shtml\">the telephone had too many shortcomings<\/a>\u00a0to be seriously considered as a means of communication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s OK to be\u00a0skeptical of\u00a0hype\u00a0but\u00a0we should avoid being\u00a0paralysed by fear and apprehension. In\u00a0any case,\u00a0the\u00a0technologies underpinning the internet, the Web and social media are not particularly new.\u00a0It\u2019s 25 years since Tim Berners-Lee &#8211; looking for a way \u00a0to support and improve scientific communication &#8211; invented the World Wide Web. He fused the internet, which had been around for at least the previous 25 years, and hypertext, the origins of which go back even further.<\/p>\n<p>Berners-Lee was always clear the web was for everyone. By giving away the idea (which he could have patented) he allowed others to develop and refine web browsers which, together with affordable computers and home broadband, ushered the internet into the mainstream of everyday life.<\/p>\n<p>Berners-Lee has recently come up with a new WWW: the <a href=\"http:\/\/webfoundation.org\/2014\/05\/web-foundation-southbank-centre-unveil-web-we-want-festival\/\">Web We Want<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The future of the Web depends on ordinary people discussing it, taking responsibility for it and challenging those who seek to control the Web for their own purposes.<br \/>\nIt is vitally important to me and our work at the World Wide Web Foundation that we empower people from all walks of life to shape the future of the Web.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So if you\u2019re looking for a challenge, maybe this is it. What kind of web do you want? Which is really, what kind of world do we want? This means getting to grips with the legal, ethical and technical frameworks that underpin the Web and the social media that lives on it.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of weeks ago internet pioneer Martha Lane Fox delivered the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture. With\u00a0a non-technical background (graduate in ancient history), Lane Fox set up <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lastminute.com\">Lastminute.com<\/a>, is now in the Lords, advises on all things digital and has launched a campaign called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.doteveryone.org.uk\">Dot Everyone<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In her <a href=\"http:\/\/www.doteveryone.org.uk\">lecture<\/a> she argued that Britain could become the most digital, most connected, most skilled, most informed country on the planet.\u00a0She was frustrated by the polarising of views that we often encounter: the internet will solve all the world\u2019s problems versus the internet \u00a0is screwing everything up. She put it bluntly:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re 80 or 8, if you\u2019re online once a year or once a minute. Understanding where the internet came from and what it can do will help you make more sense of the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She went on to argue that we\u2019re still wasting colossal fortunes on bad processes and bad technologies. She envisages a world where the internet is a tool for transforming the relationship between the state and the citizen, not something driven by the need for economic efficiency alone.<\/p>\n<p>She felt were were being let down by our leaders, We need, she said, more politicians and senior civil servants who realise that \u2018getting\u2019 digital means more than operating a Twitter account or taking an iPad to meetings.<\/p>\n<p>At IRISS I\u2019ve been banging on for the last few years about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iriss.org.uk\/resources\/accessdenied\">blocking access to social media in the workplace<\/a>. \u00a0How are social care staff to understand Facebook, Youtube and Twitter if they aren&#8217;t allowed access at work? \u00a0How are they to engage with the likes of Michael Seres if they aren&#8217;t trusted with unfettered access to the internet?<\/p>\n<p>It can be easy to overstate the impact of digital but Lane Fox recounts the story of a woman who is a disabled full-time carer for her disabled husband. She was sinking fast into depression until a local volunteer taught her how to use the internet. She believed it saved her life. She felt her world expanded and that she could experience things she\u2019d never otherwise have been able to do \u2013 she\u00a0was \u201cgoing on a holiday\u201d when playing around on Google Earth and getting priceless support from new friends she met in online groups.<\/p>\n<p>This is engagement! \u00a0Lead with need. \u00a0There is no point in urging people get on the internet unless you demonstrate the benefits or how it meets a need.<\/p>\n<h2>Policy background<\/h2>\n<p>Cabinet Secretary Shona Robison addressed the conference and talked about Scotland\u2019s Digital Participation strategy. Here are some extracts from the Strategy which I\u2019d suggest you quote to those who deny you access to Facebook, Twitter or Youtube. \u00a0Or compel you to use an out of date web browser.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Publications\/2013\/05\/2347\/6\">Scotland&#8217;s Digital Future. Supporting the Transition to a World-leading Digital Economy<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The starting point\u2026 has to be a commitment to develop the digital capabilities of staff across the Scottish public sector. Organisations should &#8230; encourage the development of digital literacy across their entire workforce. This should be supported by the development of workplaces and IT policies that enhance access to and familiarity of digital technology.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.scot\/Publications\/2014\/04\/6821\">Digital Participation: A National Framework for Local Action<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>everybody who wishes to access the internet should be able to<\/p>\n<p>it is the role of government to ensure that everybody in our society has the opportunity to develop digital skills<\/p>\n<p>A world class digital Scotland will be one in which internet access is considered as a utility on a par with access to electricity and gas<\/p>\n<p>and where digital literacy takes it place alongside conventional literacy and numeracy at the heart of our education system<\/p>\n<p>Access to the internet should not be considered a luxury in a modern country<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Danger!<\/h2>\n<p>Yes there are dangers. Phishing, data theft, identity theft \u00a0and so on.\u00a0But the world has always posed dangers and the way to deal with danger is through education and awareness.<\/p>\n<p>Bogus salesmen have long swindled vulnerable people at the front doors.\u00a0Now they do it by phone and email.\u00a0We used to have TV campaigns warning about bogus door to door salesmen. \u00a0Why not the same kind of public education campaigns about using the web? Maybe for the reason Lane Fox mentioned: politicians and leaders in the public and private sectors who don\u2019t understand the internet.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve used the terms internet, Web and social media rather interchangably. That\u2019s because social media is really just a natural evolution of the internet. Orginally the internet was the preserve of scientists until Berners-Lee showed what could be done by linking things up using hypertext. His Web was completely text-based. Young whiz kids came along and showed how a graphical user interface (the web browser) could open it up to a wider community, making it more engaging and exciting by adding images and then moving images, and then interactive elements.\u00a0Broadband, cheaper PCs, cheaper photography allowed us all to share in the fun.<\/p>\n<p>It has been suggested that the last 150 years were a bit of a blip during which we became text based at the expense of oral and aural traditions.\u00a0Social media has given us back these oral and aural dimensions.The challenge, then, is how to exploit the opportunities this has opened up.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You don\u2019t really \u2018learn\u2019 social media; it\u2019s experiential.<\/li>\n<li>You can decide what you like and don\u2019t like, what\u2019s useful to you and what is not \u2026<\/li>\n<li>\u2026 but make an informed choice.<\/li>\n<li>Take up Tim Berners Lee\u2019s challenge to help shape the <a href=\"http:\/\/webfoundation.org\/web-foundation-southbank-centre-unveil-web-we-want-festival\">Web We Want.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Sign Martha Lane Fox\u2019s petition at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.doteveryone.org.uk\/\">Dot.Everyone.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>And challenge those in power to open up access to the Web at work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">It\u2019s not OK not to understand the internet.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 29 April I gave a presentation at Holyrood\u2019s annual Telehealth and Telecare Conference.This year\u2019s theme was engagement \u2013 both staff engagement and public engagement &#8211; \u00a0and the brief was to address the question \u2018social media and engagement: challenge or opportunity?\u2019 It did feel a little strange to be asking if social media is a&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/2015\/05\/04\/its-not-ok-not-to-understand-the-internet\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">It\u2019s not OK not to understand the internet<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/socialmedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}