We'll be developing this section around the issue of the Digital Divide - the extend to which people are able or not to make use of the Internet for their personal and community benefit.

In the US, the Helping.org has a substantial section on Digital Divide, with links to other initiatives.

In the UK, a Government policy action team reported on the issue of social exclusion in the Information Society on March 28 2000.

BBC Online trailed the report and action team website will carries further details.

The Government has already announced a major programme of developing Learning Access Centres, aimed at bridging the Digital Divide.See our section on that.

Manifesto

During 1999 Partnerships Online promoted debate about these issues by facilitating discussion around a manifesto for communities in the Information Society. You can read a summary of subsequent discussion on the conet list here prepared by Jo Twist who is researching the relationships between on and off-line urban 'communities' and community-ICT relations at the Centre for Urban Technology

The manifesto site includes possible scenarios for the way that cyberspace may develop. BBC Webwise also published the manifesto and a discussion forum in its communities section.

Article

Social exclusion, housing and the role of new technologies - external link