Making the right connections

Organisations are assuming everyone has access to the internet. Photo / NZ Herald

As so much of our information and activities move to the web, or the cloud, or some sort of digital domain, spare a thought for those who aren't connected yet.

According to the World Internet Project 17 per cent of New Zealanders
don't use the internet and about 12 per cent have never used it.

Broken down by income, only 2 per cent of those earning $100,000 or more a year do not use the internet and 35 per cent of those earning less than $40,000 do not use it.

Those low-income people who do use it are less likely to rate their
ability to use it as good or better.

Ethnically, fewer Maori and Pacific people are likely to use the
internet at home.

It's called the digital divide, and in Otara and other low-income communities there are people doing something about it.

One initiative is the Computer Clubhouse, an idea that came out of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1990s and reached these shores in 2005.

It aims to provide a creative and safe out-of-school learning environ
ment where young people work with adult mentors to explore their own
ideas, develop skills and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology.

"It's not just about computing. It's about creative technology," says Kube Jones, the trust's communications manager.

"Computers are just one of the tools that allow people to interface
with creative technology. We are also an art studio, a music studio, a film production studio.

"We give young people access to creative technology in a place they can
put it into use, working with industry professionals to learn skills and gain confidence. Our goal is to expose young people to these technologies and find their own creative pathways."

Jones says the evidence is that young people on the programme do
better in school because they remain engaged.

"They figure technology is not just to have fun with but the beginning of a career. We know kids learn best when they are engaged, so this is an after-school programme. Schools give them the numeracy and literacy, and then they can turn everything they learn
into a real-life project.

"They come into the clubhouse and join the knowledge wave."

She says parents became engaged in the projects and also start learning
about technology.

Jones says Otara may be the most connected community in New Zealand, with other projects such as Laptops in Homes, an online portal for
community sharing and a mobile clubhouse, funded by HP, which
allows clubhouse members to record and broadcast sports and cultural
events.

Apart from Otara there are also clubhouses in Hamilton, Wanganui and Naenae. Jones says the trust aims to have 12 on the go by 2012, serving
35,000 people. InternetNZ is helping that growth with a $42,000 grant to cover the sort of administrative overhead other donors tend to overlook.

"They have significant support from government as well as from private foundations, but that funding tends to be tied to projects and equipment, which makes it hard for them to function as an organisation," says InternetNZ chief executive Vikram Kumar.

"In terms of InternetNZ's overall mission of protecting and promoting
the internet, the Clubhouse is a good scheme to get kids off the street and into a safe environment where they can work on digital things," he says.

"It's important to reach out to the wider community and having partners like Computer Clubhouse is far more effective than doing it ourselves.

"The statistics do show there is a digital divide and that is economic. To develop ability and skill to get over that, people need access to hardware and opportunities to use them."

He says the divide is worsened by the fact that many organisations
assume people have internet access.

"They are moving services online, which is good for people with a connection, but perpetuates problems when you don't have a connection."