More than nine million British adults have never used the internet despite Government efforts to encourage elderly people to go online, official figures have shown.
The elderly, the widowed and people on lower incomes were the least likely to have connected to the internet, according to the survey.
While a million extra “silver surfers” have logged on in the last year, concerns have been raised that those who are still not using the internet are being excluded from key discounts and services.
More than 38 million British adults are now online, with 30 million logging on every day, the figures showed.
But the elderly, the widowed and people on lower incomes are least likely ever to have connected to the internet, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Adults who do not use the internet miss out on the opportunity to save money on a range of products and services, such as cars, holidays and insurance, through price comparison websites.
The new figures for 2010 showed that 31 million people have bought goods or services on the internet in the past 12 months.
Martha Lane Fox, the founder of Lastminute.com, was reappointed by Coalition in June to continue in her role as UK Digital Champion. She has been tasked with getting every adult in Britain connected to the internet.
David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said: "In the internet age, we need to ensure that people aren't being left behind as more and more services and business move online."
But fears have been raise that the drive is not moving quickly enough. Charities and campaigners warned that Britain faces being split by a “digital divide” if more progress is not made to get the nine million adults who have never used the internet online.
Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director at Age UK, said: “While many older people are embracing the benefits of getting online such as keeping up with friends and family more easily and making savings online, many people in later life are still missing out.
“It is essential that government, business and the third sector work together to provide older people with bespoke training and support to help them get online. Otherwise the digital divide will continue to deepen."
As well as elderly people, people on lower incomes and those with no formal qualifications were least likely to be connected to the internet, the ONS figures showed.
Almost a third of those who earn less than £10,399 said they went online, compared with just two per cent of those with an income of over £41,600.
Only 45 per cent of adults without any formal qualifications had used the Internet, compared with 97 per cent of those with a degree.
Mark Williams from the Office for National Statistics said: Since 2006 we have seen a significant increase in the number of people using the Internet, with the number of adults accessing the Internet ever day almost doubling to just over 30 million, though the UK is some way off from being completely online.
“Usage is closely linked with a number of socio-economic and demographic indicators with those less educated and on lower incomes less likely to access the web.”
Other findings in the survey showed that just over 17 million adults watched television or listened to the radio over the Internet.
The charity Age UK has appointed six pensioners to act as “internet champions” in a bid to inspire other elderly people to log on.
Lucy Berry, 80, who took on the new role in February, said: “Instead of nodding off in a chair watching the TV in the afternoon, I am busy sending and receiving emails, online grocery shopping, talking and seeing my son and his wife and l8 month old grandson on Skype.”
She added: “I would recommend anyone who is elderly and alone to try to learn to use the computer.”
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Blogging and Demographic Groups - onecoolsitebloggingtips - 2 Sept 2010
Posted on September 2, 2010 by timethief
Every generation make its mark by adopting different preferences and standards in language, clothes, music, etc. from the generations that have gone before. Generational determined lifestyles and values have as much influence on buying and purchasing as more common demographic factors such as income, education and gender do. Most of today’s consumers belong to one of three primary generations that typically fall into the following categories: Baby Boomers -born between 1943 and 1964, Generation X- born between 1965 and 1980, Generation Y- born between 1981 and 2000.
Bloggers: Demographic breakdown
June 2010 - With blogs becoming an increasingly popular way for Internet users to get information, it is interesting to see where this content is coming from and who’s writing it. We analyzed more than 100 million blog posts that provided information about their age, gender and location information. — Inside Blog Demographics
* Bloggers in the 21-to-35 year-old demographic group account for 53.3% of the total blogging population.
* People 20-years-old or under are 20.2%
* 36-to-50 year-olds are 19.4%
* 51-years-old and older account for 7.1%.
Online advertising: Generation gap
August 23, 2010 – Only 17 percent of Internet users find online advertising to be appealing and most people considered it to be “intrusive, repetitive, unappealing and cheap,” a study conducted by Connect Insight revealed, NewMediaAge reported. The agency explained that the differences in opinion among age groups are related to the early Internet experiences that older users had. Then advertising was used in an intrusive way, now the younger generation directly interacts with brands and companies through social media.
* 24 percent of the 16-to 34-year-olds do think this type of advertising is appealing
* 50 percent of those over 55 years old said they avoid websites where ads would pop up and “interrupt their online activities.” — Study: Internet users dislike online ads
Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers are the the result of an “explosion” of births occured after soldiers returned home from World War II. The sociologists define those born between (and including) 1946 and 1964 as “baby boomers.” When we think of the baby boomer generation, we often think of the 60s; the decade that seems to have defined the boomers. Since baby boomers make up such a sizable portion of the consuming public, their spending habits and lifestyles have a powerful influence on the economy.
Silver Surfers
Silver Surfers are older adults, generally 50 years of age or older, who frequently surfs the Web and spends time online (“silver” refers to the color of their hair). Unlike neophytes, silver surfers are considered netizens, experienced users of the Net. The phrase silver surfer is commonly heard in the U.K., but applies to midlife adults (generally those in their 40s, 50s and 60s), and seniors (age 70 and over) everywhere.
* Account for 70 percent of the U.S. net worth, controlling $9 trillion;
* Inherit over $12 trillion from their parents — the largest wealth transfer in histor;
* Control 80 percent of the personal financial assets
* Represent 50 percent of U.S. discretionary spending
* Own about 50 percent of all credit cards.
Emerging trends in social networking
August 27, 2010 – According to the studies and surveys conducted by The Pew Research Center and American Life Project social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled — from 22% to 42% over the past year;
(47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one-in-four (26%) users ages 65 and older now use social networking sites;
Between April 2009 and May 2010, internet users ages 50-64 who said they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn grew 88% and those ages 65 and older grew 100% in their adoption of the sites, compared with a growth rate of 13% for those ages 18-29.
The news that older adults from the baby boomer generation and seniors are entering the online environment in significant numbers is important factor to bloggers, who wish to expand their readership by attracting members of those demographic groups.
Attracting Baby Boomers and Silver Surfers
My blog is focused those who are learning to blog and who want to improve their blogging skills and you can see the current demographic data for it in Silver Surfers: The New Social Networking Wave. As there is a dramatic increase in baby boomers becoming silver surfers and taking up blogging, I’m hoping to increase my readership among older internet users. Do you?
* My blog is not in the Legal Adult Content Blogs niche.
* I do not rely on controversy to attract traffic and comments.
* I do maintain a safe environment for commenters, and the language I use is not a barrier to older people online, including baby boomers and silver surfers.
* I choose to use a clean and minimalist theme and the sidear is free of distracting clutter that increases page loading time.
* The only advertising seen on this blog is initated by WordPress.com and I receive no income from it.
Every generation make its mark by adopting different preferences and standards in language, clothes, music, etc. from the generations that have gone before. Generational determined lifestyles and values have as much influence on buying and purchasing as more common demographic factors such as income, education and gender do. Most of today’s consumers belong to one of three primary generations that typically fall into the following categories: Baby Boomers -born between 1943 and 1964, Generation X- born between 1965 and 1980, Generation Y- born between 1981 and 2000.
Bloggers: Demographic breakdown
June 2010 - With blogs becoming an increasingly popular way for Internet users to get information, it is interesting to see where this content is coming from and who’s writing it. We analyzed more than 100 million blog posts that provided information about their age, gender and location information. — Inside Blog Demographics
* Bloggers in the 21-to-35 year-old demographic group account for 53.3% of the total blogging population.
* People 20-years-old or under are 20.2%
* 36-to-50 year-olds are 19.4%
* 51-years-old and older account for 7.1%.
Online advertising: Generation gap
August 23, 2010 – Only 17 percent of Internet users find online advertising to be appealing and most people considered it to be “intrusive, repetitive, unappealing and cheap,” a study conducted by Connect Insight revealed, NewMediaAge reported. The agency explained that the differences in opinion among age groups are related to the early Internet experiences that older users had. Then advertising was used in an intrusive way, now the younger generation directly interacts with brands and companies through social media.
* 24 percent of the 16-to 34-year-olds do think this type of advertising is appealing
* 50 percent of those over 55 years old said they avoid websites where ads would pop up and “interrupt their online activities.” — Study: Internet users dislike online ads
Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers are the the result of an “explosion” of births occured after soldiers returned home from World War II. The sociologists define those born between (and including) 1946 and 1964 as “baby boomers.” When we think of the baby boomer generation, we often think of the 60s; the decade that seems to have defined the boomers. Since baby boomers make up such a sizable portion of the consuming public, their spending habits and lifestyles have a powerful influence on the economy.
Silver Surfers
Silver Surfers are older adults, generally 50 years of age or older, who frequently surfs the Web and spends time online (“silver” refers to the color of their hair). Unlike neophytes, silver surfers are considered netizens, experienced users of the Net. The phrase silver surfer is commonly heard in the U.K., but applies to midlife adults (generally those in their 40s, 50s and 60s), and seniors (age 70 and over) everywhere.
* Account for 70 percent of the U.S. net worth, controlling $9 trillion;
* Inherit over $12 trillion from their parents — the largest wealth transfer in histor;
* Control 80 percent of the personal financial assets
* Represent 50 percent of U.S. discretionary spending
* Own about 50 percent of all credit cards.
Emerging trends in social networking
August 27, 2010 – According to the studies and surveys conducted by The Pew Research Center and American Life Project social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled — from 22% to 42% over the past year;
(47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one-in-four (26%) users ages 65 and older now use social networking sites;
Between April 2009 and May 2010, internet users ages 50-64 who said they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn grew 88% and those ages 65 and older grew 100% in their adoption of the sites, compared with a growth rate of 13% for those ages 18-29.
The news that older adults from the baby boomer generation and seniors are entering the online environment in significant numbers is important factor to bloggers, who wish to expand their readership by attracting members of those demographic groups.
Attracting Baby Boomers and Silver Surfers
My blog is focused those who are learning to blog and who want to improve their blogging skills and you can see the current demographic data for it in Silver Surfers: The New Social Networking Wave. As there is a dramatic increase in baby boomers becoming silver surfers and taking up blogging, I’m hoping to increase my readership among older internet users. Do you?
* My blog is not in the Legal Adult Content Blogs niche.
* I do not rely on controversy to attract traffic and comments.
* I do maintain a safe environment for commenters, and the language I use is not a barrier to older people online, including baby boomers and silver surfers.
* I choose to use a clean and minimalist theme and the sidear is free of distracting clutter that increases page loading time.
* The only advertising seen on this blog is initated by WordPress.com and I receive no income from it.
Britons spend half their waking hours 'plugged in' - Telegraph UK - 19 Aug 2010
People in the UK spend 45 per cent of their time watching television and using communication devices, according to the latest research from Ofcom.
They are also growing more adept at consuming different types of media at the same time, with an increasing number using their mobile phones while watching television or surfing the internet.
The figures, from Ofcom’s annual Communications Market Report, shows that the average Briton spends almost four hours a day watching television, and spends a quarter of the time that they are online visiting social networking sites.
The report also shows the enduring popularity of television, with Britons settling down to watch three hours and 45 minutes of programming every day. And almost a third of households with internet access use their connection to watch catch-up television online – eight per cent more than the 23 per cent of households that did so last year.
There are an estimated 24 million HD-ready televisions in the UK, with five million households subscribing to high-definition services through satellite or cable deals, or via Freesat and Freeview services.
“For the first time, we can see just how central media and communications are to our lives,” said Peter Philips, a spokesman for Ofcom. “Increasingly, mobile devices, especially smartphones, are used for multimedia consumption, but live evening television still remains the main entertainment event of the day.”
There has been a significant increase in smartphone ownership in the last 12 months, with more than a quarter of people in the UK saying they own a smartphone. Last year, around nine million people used their mobile phone to surf the web, but that figure has increased to more than 13.5 million.
Those aged between 16 and 24 have become adept at using their phone to multitask, say, by browsing online while making a call, with 20 per cent of all media consumed by them throughout the day accessed in this manner.
“Younger people have shown the biggest changes in how we use media, particularly using different media at the same time,” said Philips. “But the divide between younger and older people’s use of technology is starting to narrow as more older people are getting online and finding that things like email are very important to them.”
Indeed, the report showed half of over-55s in the UK had broadband internet access at home, with more than a third of people in this age group using email every day, and almost half sending an email at least once a week. And 20 per cent of those aged between 55 and 64 said they used social networking sites, such as Facebook.
There is also evidence of a gender divide, with men spending nearly an hour more per day using media than women, at an average of seven hours and 33 minutes compared to six hours and 38 minutes.
The Ofcom report will get a mixed reception from mobile phone network operators – the figures show that the average number of voice calls made per person has increased each year by an average of 1.6 per cent since 2004, but the amount of data sent over its networks has also grown exponential, up 240 per cent in the last year alone. Operators are spending millions of pounds each day to ensure their networks can cope with the data demands placed on them by smartphones and mobile broadband services.
Ofcom surveyed 1,138 people, aged 16 and older, in compiling its annual report.
They are also growing more adept at consuming different types of media at the same time, with an increasing number using their mobile phones while watching television or surfing the internet.
The figures, from Ofcom’s annual Communications Market Report, shows that the average Briton spends almost four hours a day watching television, and spends a quarter of the time that they are online visiting social networking sites.
The report also shows the enduring popularity of television, with Britons settling down to watch three hours and 45 minutes of programming every day. And almost a third of households with internet access use their connection to watch catch-up television online – eight per cent more than the 23 per cent of households that did so last year.
There are an estimated 24 million HD-ready televisions in the UK, with five million households subscribing to high-definition services through satellite or cable deals, or via Freesat and Freeview services.
“For the first time, we can see just how central media and communications are to our lives,” said Peter Philips, a spokesman for Ofcom. “Increasingly, mobile devices, especially smartphones, are used for multimedia consumption, but live evening television still remains the main entertainment event of the day.”
There has been a significant increase in smartphone ownership in the last 12 months, with more than a quarter of people in the UK saying they own a smartphone. Last year, around nine million people used their mobile phone to surf the web, but that figure has increased to more than 13.5 million.
Those aged between 16 and 24 have become adept at using their phone to multitask, say, by browsing online while making a call, with 20 per cent of all media consumed by them throughout the day accessed in this manner.
“Younger people have shown the biggest changes in how we use media, particularly using different media at the same time,” said Philips. “But the divide between younger and older people’s use of technology is starting to narrow as more older people are getting online and finding that things like email are very important to them.”
Indeed, the report showed half of over-55s in the UK had broadband internet access at home, with more than a third of people in this age group using email every day, and almost half sending an email at least once a week. And 20 per cent of those aged between 55 and 64 said they used social networking sites, such as Facebook.
There is also evidence of a gender divide, with men spending nearly an hour more per day using media than women, at an average of seven hours and 33 minutes compared to six hours and 38 minutes.
The Ofcom report will get a mixed reception from mobile phone network operators – the figures show that the average number of voice calls made per person has increased each year by an average of 1.6 per cent since 2004, but the amount of data sent over its networks has also grown exponential, up 240 per cent in the last year alone. Operators are spending millions of pounds each day to ensure their networks can cope with the data demands placed on them by smartphones and mobile broadband services.
Ofcom surveyed 1,138 people, aged 16 and older, in compiling its annual report.
Mobile Web Use and the Digital Divide - NYTimes - 7 July 2010
By JOSHUA BRUSTEIN
The image of the affluent and white cellphone owner as the prototypical mobile Web user seems to be a mistaken one, according to a report published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Center.
The study found that African-Americans and Hispanics continue to be more likely to own cellphones than whites and more likely to use their phones for a greater range of activities.
This increase in mobile Web use, first noticed in a similar study by the Pew Center last summer, is driven both by age and economics, according to Aaron W. Smith of the Pew Center.
Younger people and people living in households making less than $30,000 a year are increasing their mobile Web use at particularly fast rates, he said, and the African-American and Hispanic populations are younger and poorer relative to the white population.
Because mobile Web use has grown among groups that have traditionally lagged behind in Web access, it has been cited as evidence that the distinction between the digital haves and have-nots is eroding.
But the mobile Web means different things to different people. For more affluent populations, it generally means wireless access with a laptop computer. For poorer people it means a cellphone, which is not a perfect replacement for other forms of online access, said Mr. Smith and several others who study social issues related to technology.
There is a difference between accessing the Internet on a smartphone and a regular “feature phone” cellphone. The Pew report did not reflect this distinction.
Americans in general are accessing the Internet through mobile devices in increasing numbers, according to the Pew report, with 59 percent of those surveyed saying they accessed the mobile Web, compared with 51 percent a year earlier.
Notably, rates of laptop ownership among African-Americans have risen to 51 percent from 34 percent in 2009, according to the study, a survey of 2,252 adults aged 18 and older.
But 18 percent of African-Americans use a cellphone as their only form of Internet access, compared with 10 percent of whites. People with low incomes and low levels of education were also much more likely to access the Internet solely through their cellphones.
Shireen Mitchell, the founder of Digital Sisters and a consultant on social media campaigns focused on women and minorities, said that the way in which people access the Internet should remain a part of the conversation about the digital divide.
“The quality of what is available through cell only is limited access,” she said. “We are moving in a positive direction about true cellphone usage and it’s relevant to online access, but there are still some challenges ahead.”
Ms. Mitchell said organizations or government agencies that are eager to move everything online should consider that some cellphones might not be able to take full advantage of the Web.
The image of the affluent and white cellphone owner as the prototypical mobile Web user seems to be a mistaken one, according to a report published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Center.
The study found that African-Americans and Hispanics continue to be more likely to own cellphones than whites and more likely to use their phones for a greater range of activities.
This increase in mobile Web use, first noticed in a similar study by the Pew Center last summer, is driven both by age and economics, according to Aaron W. Smith of the Pew Center.
Younger people and people living in households making less than $30,000 a year are increasing their mobile Web use at particularly fast rates, he said, and the African-American and Hispanic populations are younger and poorer relative to the white population.
Because mobile Web use has grown among groups that have traditionally lagged behind in Web access, it has been cited as evidence that the distinction between the digital haves and have-nots is eroding.
But the mobile Web means different things to different people. For more affluent populations, it generally means wireless access with a laptop computer. For poorer people it means a cellphone, which is not a perfect replacement for other forms of online access, said Mr. Smith and several others who study social issues related to technology.
There is a difference between accessing the Internet on a smartphone and a regular “feature phone” cellphone. The Pew report did not reflect this distinction.
Americans in general are accessing the Internet through mobile devices in increasing numbers, according to the Pew report, with 59 percent of those surveyed saying they accessed the mobile Web, compared with 51 percent a year earlier.
Notably, rates of laptop ownership among African-Americans have risen to 51 percent from 34 percent in 2009, according to the study, a survey of 2,252 adults aged 18 and older.
But 18 percent of African-Americans use a cellphone as their only form of Internet access, compared with 10 percent of whites. People with low incomes and low levels of education were also much more likely to access the Internet solely through their cellphones.
Shireen Mitchell, the founder of Digital Sisters and a consultant on social media campaigns focused on women and minorities, said that the way in which people access the Internet should remain a part of the conversation about the digital divide.
“The quality of what is available through cell only is limited access,” she said. “We are moving in a positive direction about true cellphone usage and it’s relevant to online access, but there are still some challenges ahead.”
Ms. Mitchell said organizations or government agencies that are eager to move everything online should consider that some cellphones might not be able to take full advantage of the Web.
Protecting Africa’s ICT Consumers in a fast changing market - Balancing Act - 22 May 2010
Africa’s regulators are increasingly moving to assert their role as the protector of consumer interests in the ICT space. This week the Commissioner responsible for Consumer Affairs told a meeting held by the Liberian Consumers Action Network that it had established a consumer help desk. But if the landscape for ICT consumers is getting more complicated then the responsibilities of companies within the sector is also becoming more demanding.
The Chairperson of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority, Angelique Weeks said last week that the LTA will remain resolute in seeking the interest of telephone subscribers in the country, noting that subscribers are the lifeblood of the telecommunications sector and therefore should be treated with the utmost dignity.
Speaking at a one-day interactive dialogue organized by the Liberian Consumers Action Network to critique the Telecom Act of 2007 as it relates to the protection of telephone subscribers, Chairperson Weeks noted that the LTA has a statutory responsibility to ensure that customers' interest are protected particularly as it relates to value for money; quality of service; accurate and non-deceptive or misleading information and proven health implications in the usage of telecommunications products and other services, according to a report in The Informer.
In a key passage of her speech, she said, "the LTA has set aside appropriate resources to support key activities relating to consumer protection and education including the implementation of an on-going outreach program for consumer education and information sharing; the evolution of a consumer network association in the country and the establishment of consumer parliaments which will afford consumers and service providers to meet periodically to deliberate on issues of mutual concern".
Also speaking at the forum, Commissioner Lamini A. Waritay who has oversight responsibility for Public, Consumer and Legal Affairs consumers should take advantage of the newly established Consumer Help Desk at the LTA by seeking redress to unresolved problems with their service providers. He said the LTA will continue to monitor complaint handling procedures by service providers to ensure that consumers get the best value for their money.
Three incidents this week show how consumer education will have to be a vital component of the regulator’s (and operators’) work:
* In neighbouring Sierra Leone, SLPP Presidential hopeful Dr. Francis Kaikai had his hotmail address hacked and from it a scammer sent out a bogus e-mail. It said that while in Malaysia he had been robbed and could they send him US$2,500 by Western Union to help sort things out. Several of his friends and contacts fell for the con trick and sent money. Now it is easy to be cynical and say “more fool them” but con tricks of this kind play upon people’s natural sense of generosity, by contrast with the more greed motivated ones that make up the majority of this kind of traffic. He is quoted rather plaintively saying he does not know how they got his account password. But it’s an everyday problem that could happen to anyone in Africa.
* Consider the tricky issue of how broadband services are described. In the early days of African broadband, there were providers describing a 64 kbps download link as broadband. Things have come a long way since then but the problem persists. This week MTN South Africa announced with much hoopla an uncapped service in a country that has made “slicing and dicing” consumer broadband access a speciality. The new service comes in two sizes - Uncapped Lite and Uncapped Pro – which are on 24 month contracts. Uncapped? Well, not exactly. After you’ve had your bandwidth allocation you’re bumped down to a 128 kbps download link: Lite’s Fair Use limit is 3GB and Pro’s is 10GB.
* At the ItWeb Security Summit this week, Independent Security Evaluators’ Dr Charlie Miller pointed out how easy it was to attach a phone using SMS and how vulnerable the new smartphones arriving in Africa are to hacking. Indeed because of GPS functionality on smartphones, the hacker would be able to track where the owner was. Now you might say smartphones are only for the very rich but in 2-3 years time 5-10% of mobile subscribers in many African countries will own a smartphone and people like poor Dr Kaikai in the first example above will find themselves open to hacking in whole new ways.
All the above is as nothing alongside the large volume of often complicated tactical marketing offers made to Africa’s mobile consumers. To rephrase the immortal line from The Godfather movie, it’s a case of “I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t understand.” At Balancing Act we spend more time than most consumers analysing telecoms prices and they are not always clear to us.
So what should a smart mobile operator or ISP do? Someone in the market has to start offering clear, straightforward descriptions of services and prices combined with an intelligent and educative relationship with their customers. It would almost certainly make that operator stand out in a crowded market. Any takers?
Source: Balancing Act
The Chairperson of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority, Angelique Weeks said last week that the LTA will remain resolute in seeking the interest of telephone subscribers in the country, noting that subscribers are the lifeblood of the telecommunications sector and therefore should be treated with the utmost dignity.
Speaking at a one-day interactive dialogue organized by the Liberian Consumers Action Network to critique the Telecom Act of 2007 as it relates to the protection of telephone subscribers, Chairperson Weeks noted that the LTA has a statutory responsibility to ensure that customers' interest are protected particularly as it relates to value for money; quality of service; accurate and non-deceptive or misleading information and proven health implications in the usage of telecommunications products and other services, according to a report in The Informer.
In a key passage of her speech, she said, "the LTA has set aside appropriate resources to support key activities relating to consumer protection and education including the implementation of an on-going outreach program for consumer education and information sharing; the evolution of a consumer network association in the country and the establishment of consumer parliaments which will afford consumers and service providers to meet periodically to deliberate on issues of mutual concern".
Also speaking at the forum, Commissioner Lamini A. Waritay who has oversight responsibility for Public, Consumer and Legal Affairs consumers should take advantage of the newly established Consumer Help Desk at the LTA by seeking redress to unresolved problems with their service providers. He said the LTA will continue to monitor complaint handling procedures by service providers to ensure that consumers get the best value for their money.
Three incidents this week show how consumer education will have to be a vital component of the regulator’s (and operators’) work:
* In neighbouring Sierra Leone, SLPP Presidential hopeful Dr. Francis Kaikai had his hotmail address hacked and from it a scammer sent out a bogus e-mail. It said that while in Malaysia he had been robbed and could they send him US$2,500 by Western Union to help sort things out. Several of his friends and contacts fell for the con trick and sent money. Now it is easy to be cynical and say “more fool them” but con tricks of this kind play upon people’s natural sense of generosity, by contrast with the more greed motivated ones that make up the majority of this kind of traffic. He is quoted rather plaintively saying he does not know how they got his account password. But it’s an everyday problem that could happen to anyone in Africa.
* Consider the tricky issue of how broadband services are described. In the early days of African broadband, there were providers describing a 64 kbps download link as broadband. Things have come a long way since then but the problem persists. This week MTN South Africa announced with much hoopla an uncapped service in a country that has made “slicing and dicing” consumer broadband access a speciality. The new service comes in two sizes - Uncapped Lite and Uncapped Pro – which are on 24 month contracts. Uncapped? Well, not exactly. After you’ve had your bandwidth allocation you’re bumped down to a 128 kbps download link: Lite’s Fair Use limit is 3GB and Pro’s is 10GB.
* At the ItWeb Security Summit this week, Independent Security Evaluators’ Dr Charlie Miller pointed out how easy it was to attach a phone using SMS and how vulnerable the new smartphones arriving in Africa are to hacking. Indeed because of GPS functionality on smartphones, the hacker would be able to track where the owner was. Now you might say smartphones are only for the very rich but in 2-3 years time 5-10% of mobile subscribers in many African countries will own a smartphone and people like poor Dr Kaikai in the first example above will find themselves open to hacking in whole new ways.
All the above is as nothing alongside the large volume of often complicated tactical marketing offers made to Africa’s mobile consumers. To rephrase the immortal line from The Godfather movie, it’s a case of “I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t understand.” At Balancing Act we spend more time than most consumers analysing telecoms prices and they are not always clear to us.
So what should a smart mobile operator or ISP do? Someone in the market has to start offering clear, straightforward descriptions of services and prices combined with an intelligent and educative relationship with their customers. It would almost certainly make that operator stand out in a crowded market. Any takers?
Source: Balancing Act
Pew Report: Citizens turning to Internet for government data, policy and services - O'Reilly Radar - 27 April 2010
by Alex Howard
Anyone who's been watching the Internet knows that a lot of interesting things are happening online with government. Government entities have begun to open up their data to the public, including state, local, and the federal government efforts with websites like data.gov.
A new research report on online government from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that citizens are searching for information in unprecedented numbers. When they visit sites, they're increasingly making transactions and participating in discussion around policies.
Gov 2.0 Expo 2010Forty-one percent have gone online to get forms, including tax forms, health forms or student aid forms, and 35 percent have researched government documents or statistics. Roughly one-third of all Internet users reported renewing driver's licenses and auto registrations online. In general, the use of government websites for information and transactions is nearly ubiquitous among Internet users, with 82 percent of online adults surveyed reporting one of the two activities.
There's also a change in terms of how people are accessing government information, particularly through social media among traditionally underserved minorities. Nearly one third of U.S. Internet users are using social media and new tools to access government services and information. The three activities heavy users reported doing the most are reading government blogs, signing up for email alerts and watching videos.
Looking for government data
"When we saw that 40 percent of adults have gone online in the last year to look for data about the business of government, that was a really striking finding to us," said Aaron Smith, the research specialist at the Internet & American Life Project that authored the report. "I think it's indicative of something that we've seen throughout our recent research, which is that people are increasingly going around established intermediaries and they're going to the source for online data. And then they're doing that whether it's data about a health condition that they might have or data about the presidential race, as we saw in the 2008 campaign. Now we're seeing the same thing in the context of government."
Citizens are going online to see how federal stimulus money is being spent at Recovery.gov (23 percent of surveyed Internet users), read or download the text of legislation (22 percent), visit a site that provides access to government data (16 percent) or to see campaign contributions to elected officials (14 percent).
Consumption of government social media growing
"We wanted to know whether they were using things like blogs and social networking sites and online video and text messaging to get government information," said Smith. "What we found was that about one in three online adults were using these tools to get information about the business of government.
Smith said they found that about a quarter of U.S. Internet users have participated in a broader debate around government policies, although much of that is currently occurring outside of the context of "official government channels," like fan pages and government blogs that are posted on government websites.
Embrace of social media by government has particular appeal for minorities
The report found greater rates of use and participation on government websites and services is associated with higher macroeconomic status. "You see a really different story when you look at engagement using social media in a broad context," said Smith. "When you look at the percentage of whites, African-Americans and Hispanics who watch videos on government websites or sign up to get text message alerts or follow government agencies on blogs or social networking sites, all three of those groups do those things at basically the same rate. There isn't the same gap that you see with some other online government offerings. The same is true for high and low-income Americans. There's a much smaller gap when it comes to those sort of participatory interactive modes of engagement than there are with some of the other online government activities we examined."
Smith said that this trend was something that they started picking up on during the 2008 election. "Younger adults, minority Americans, those at lower levels of income were very active on these tools, using these tools during the election. I think that's something that offers a great deal of promise in terms of government thinking about how to reach some of those groups that may not be as served with existing offerings."
For online users, government is increasingly participatory
The Pew Research report fond that nearly one-quarter of online Americans (23 percent) have participated in the broader online debate over government issues by publishing their own commentary or media, attending an online town hall meeting, or joining an online group focused on influence government policies.
Participation and usage is correlated with Internet access speed, which puts special emphasis on digital divide issues and the premise behind the FCC's National Broadband Plan.
"When you look at the FCC's plan, one of the key planks of their rationale for why we need to expand broadband services is to facilitate that citizen to government interaction and broader civic engagement between citizens," said Smith. "t's something that we've found since we began conducting this research way back in 2000: as people get access to high-speed, always-on connections, it opens up a whole range of activities and services that people can take part in that just aren't really feasible using a slow dial-up connection or accessing a computer at the library, for instance. It's been a truism since the day we started this that broadband users and now wireless Internet users are much different in what they do and take part in a much greater range of activities in all areas, whether that’s entertainment, news, health or government, than folks who aren't online or don't have access to that type of high speed connection."
No avoiding death and taxes
"When we asked them the last place they went, not surprisingly, federal agencies sort of led the pack," said Smith. "About a third of the folks who remembered their most recent interaction said that they went to the website of a federal agency."
The top two sites? The Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. One of the truisms about life is apparently true online as well: you can't avoid death and taxes.
"There were a lot of other sites within the federal government that folks mentioned too," said Smith, "like Immigration and Naturalization Services, FBI and Department of Homeland Security, CDC and NIH, Veteran's Administration. We literally got 1,700 responses on this question that ranged across the board, anything you could imagine. It was really indicative of the range of services and the range of agencies that Americans are currently accessing online."
Visits to government websites are overwhelming successful
In a finding that has positive implications for the ability of government agencies to provide information and transactions, the report showed that a sizable majority of online visitors were able to accomplish their goals.
"That was actually true regardless of what type of site it was, whether it was a local site or a state site or a federal site," said Smith. "People were generally fairly successful with what they were trying to do. So I think if you're looking for positives in terms of things that government is doing right, I think that that shows that they're doing a fairly good job of making information available in a way that's relevant and meaningful to people."
Use of government websites for transactions growing rapidly
Eighty-two percent of online adults went to a government website to get information or complete a transaction in the 12 months preceding the survey. Finding information and services were the top two reasons for visits. Increasingly, however, citizens are going to government websites to do things. "That was actually where we saw a lot of growth between the earlier part of the decade and now," said Smith. "Quite sizable numbers of people are going online to do things like renew driver's licenses or auto registrations or apply for jobs or pay fines, get recreational licenses like hunting or fishing licenses."
Despite the increasing ability for citizens to complete transactions online, however, they still want to be able to contact government directly when needed. "If there's a challenge in all of this, it's that you can't really let up anywhere anymore," said Smith. "People want to have your information and access your services in all kinds of ways. And that includes offline means as well. We saw that very clearly when we asked people how they preferred to get in contact with government.
Among the population as a whole, the telephone remains the number one way people preferred to get in contact. "When you look at the online population, they actually prefer the Internet," said Smith. "But a sizable number still like to be able to pick up the phone or go see someone in person. Based on previous research that we've done, that particularly rises with sort of the urgency and complexity of the issue."
Smith offered a simple example of where escalation to other methods of communication matters. "I love nothing better than being able to file my taxes online," said Smith. "But when I was a victim of identity theft and someone began filing fraudulent tax returns in my name, you better believe I wanted to be able to pick up the phone and call somebody and work through that in a person-to-person way. Email is great. Being able to get my license renewed on the website is fantastic. But when there's a problem, I definitely want to be able to get someone on the line."
Search is king for finding government information
Search engines are a much more common method for users going online to look for government information or to make transaction, with 44 percent of online users starting with a search engine.
"When we asked this question previously in 2003, we found that search engines were far and away the number one way that folks were reaching their destinations," said Smith. "We found almost exactly the same thing this time around. Sometimes they'll go to a place that they saw in a notice or an email or a friend or a family member told them about. But, by and large, if they need to find information on their tax bill, they'll search tax information or IRS in their search engine of choice and get to their destination that way. So that's very much inline with what we've found in previous years and in other areas of online life as well, which is that the search is generally the default entry point to all sorts of information and other types of activities that people take part in."
That means search engine optimization (SEO) is an important consideration for government officials, agencies and anyone trying to convey information. In other words, add SEO to the important acronyms to know in government: using search data to connect with citizens online is crucial.
Higher use of government websites led to more trust
Trust in government is at historic lows. The electorate as a whole doesn't have a much faith in openness and accountability, despite the Open Government Initiative. The Pew Research report found, however, that those who are heavy government data users have different attitudes about government in terms of it being more open and accountable. This differs from people who are not online or people who are online but not heavy government data users. That perception, however, is heavily biased around ideological lines, which gibes with historical trends.
"That fits with some research that our colleagues over at the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press put out last week," said Smith. "They went all the way back to public opinion data as far back as the Eisenhower administration. Basically, what they found is that people tend to trust the government when their party is in power and they tend to distrust it when the other party's in power."
"What we see happening is that, at least at the moment, when you look at Democratic voters, they're giving credit to the government for making that data out there. When you look at Republican voters, they're a little bit tougher sell. The upshot to government is if you put your data out there, people will clearly use it."
Anyone who's been watching the Internet knows that a lot of interesting things are happening online with government. Government entities have begun to open up their data to the public, including state, local, and the federal government efforts with websites like data.gov.
A new research report on online government from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that citizens are searching for information in unprecedented numbers. When they visit sites, they're increasingly making transactions and participating in discussion around policies.
Gov 2.0 Expo 2010Forty-one percent have gone online to get forms, including tax forms, health forms or student aid forms, and 35 percent have researched government documents or statistics. Roughly one-third of all Internet users reported renewing driver's licenses and auto registrations online. In general, the use of government websites for information and transactions is nearly ubiquitous among Internet users, with 82 percent of online adults surveyed reporting one of the two activities.
There's also a change in terms of how people are accessing government information, particularly through social media among traditionally underserved minorities. Nearly one third of U.S. Internet users are using social media and new tools to access government services and information. The three activities heavy users reported doing the most are reading government blogs, signing up for email alerts and watching videos.
Looking for government data
"When we saw that 40 percent of adults have gone online in the last year to look for data about the business of government, that was a really striking finding to us," said Aaron Smith, the research specialist at the Internet & American Life Project that authored the report. "I think it's indicative of something that we've seen throughout our recent research, which is that people are increasingly going around established intermediaries and they're going to the source for online data. And then they're doing that whether it's data about a health condition that they might have or data about the presidential race, as we saw in the 2008 campaign. Now we're seeing the same thing in the context of government."
Citizens are going online to see how federal stimulus money is being spent at Recovery.gov (23 percent of surveyed Internet users), read or download the text of legislation (22 percent), visit a site that provides access to government data (16 percent) or to see campaign contributions to elected officials (14 percent).
Consumption of government social media growing
"We wanted to know whether they were using things like blogs and social networking sites and online video and text messaging to get government information," said Smith. "What we found was that about one in three online adults were using these tools to get information about the business of government.
Smith said they found that about a quarter of U.S. Internet users have participated in a broader debate around government policies, although much of that is currently occurring outside of the context of "official government channels," like fan pages and government blogs that are posted on government websites.
Embrace of social media by government has particular appeal for minorities
The report found greater rates of use and participation on government websites and services is associated with higher macroeconomic status. "You see a really different story when you look at engagement using social media in a broad context," said Smith. "When you look at the percentage of whites, African-Americans and Hispanics who watch videos on government websites or sign up to get text message alerts or follow government agencies on blogs or social networking sites, all three of those groups do those things at basically the same rate. There isn't the same gap that you see with some other online government offerings. The same is true for high and low-income Americans. There's a much smaller gap when it comes to those sort of participatory interactive modes of engagement than there are with some of the other online government activities we examined."
Smith said that this trend was something that they started picking up on during the 2008 election. "Younger adults, minority Americans, those at lower levels of income were very active on these tools, using these tools during the election. I think that's something that offers a great deal of promise in terms of government thinking about how to reach some of those groups that may not be as served with existing offerings."
For online users, government is increasingly participatory
The Pew Research report fond that nearly one-quarter of online Americans (23 percent) have participated in the broader online debate over government issues by publishing their own commentary or media, attending an online town hall meeting, or joining an online group focused on influence government policies.
Participation and usage is correlated with Internet access speed, which puts special emphasis on digital divide issues and the premise behind the FCC's National Broadband Plan.
"When you look at the FCC's plan, one of the key planks of their rationale for why we need to expand broadband services is to facilitate that citizen to government interaction and broader civic engagement between citizens," said Smith. "t's something that we've found since we began conducting this research way back in 2000: as people get access to high-speed, always-on connections, it opens up a whole range of activities and services that people can take part in that just aren't really feasible using a slow dial-up connection or accessing a computer at the library, for instance. It's been a truism since the day we started this that broadband users and now wireless Internet users are much different in what they do and take part in a much greater range of activities in all areas, whether that’s entertainment, news, health or government, than folks who aren't online or don't have access to that type of high speed connection."
No avoiding death and taxes
"When we asked them the last place they went, not surprisingly, federal agencies sort of led the pack," said Smith. "About a third of the folks who remembered their most recent interaction said that they went to the website of a federal agency."
The top two sites? The Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. One of the truisms about life is apparently true online as well: you can't avoid death and taxes.
"There were a lot of other sites within the federal government that folks mentioned too," said Smith, "like Immigration and Naturalization Services, FBI and Department of Homeland Security, CDC and NIH, Veteran's Administration. We literally got 1,700 responses on this question that ranged across the board, anything you could imagine. It was really indicative of the range of services and the range of agencies that Americans are currently accessing online."
Visits to government websites are overwhelming successful
In a finding that has positive implications for the ability of government agencies to provide information and transactions, the report showed that a sizable majority of online visitors were able to accomplish their goals.
"That was actually true regardless of what type of site it was, whether it was a local site or a state site or a federal site," said Smith. "People were generally fairly successful with what they were trying to do. So I think if you're looking for positives in terms of things that government is doing right, I think that that shows that they're doing a fairly good job of making information available in a way that's relevant and meaningful to people."
Use of government websites for transactions growing rapidly
Eighty-two percent of online adults went to a government website to get information or complete a transaction in the 12 months preceding the survey. Finding information and services were the top two reasons for visits. Increasingly, however, citizens are going to government websites to do things. "That was actually where we saw a lot of growth between the earlier part of the decade and now," said Smith. "Quite sizable numbers of people are going online to do things like renew driver's licenses or auto registrations or apply for jobs or pay fines, get recreational licenses like hunting or fishing licenses."
Despite the increasing ability for citizens to complete transactions online, however, they still want to be able to contact government directly when needed. "If there's a challenge in all of this, it's that you can't really let up anywhere anymore," said Smith. "People want to have your information and access your services in all kinds of ways. And that includes offline means as well. We saw that very clearly when we asked people how they preferred to get in contact with government.
Among the population as a whole, the telephone remains the number one way people preferred to get in contact. "When you look at the online population, they actually prefer the Internet," said Smith. "But a sizable number still like to be able to pick up the phone or go see someone in person. Based on previous research that we've done, that particularly rises with sort of the urgency and complexity of the issue."
Smith offered a simple example of where escalation to other methods of communication matters. "I love nothing better than being able to file my taxes online," said Smith. "But when I was a victim of identity theft and someone began filing fraudulent tax returns in my name, you better believe I wanted to be able to pick up the phone and call somebody and work through that in a person-to-person way. Email is great. Being able to get my license renewed on the website is fantastic. But when there's a problem, I definitely want to be able to get someone on the line."
Search is king for finding government information
Search engines are a much more common method for users going online to look for government information or to make transaction, with 44 percent of online users starting with a search engine.
"When we asked this question previously in 2003, we found that search engines were far and away the number one way that folks were reaching their destinations," said Smith. "We found almost exactly the same thing this time around. Sometimes they'll go to a place that they saw in a notice or an email or a friend or a family member told them about. But, by and large, if they need to find information on their tax bill, they'll search tax information or IRS in their search engine of choice and get to their destination that way. So that's very much inline with what we've found in previous years and in other areas of online life as well, which is that the search is generally the default entry point to all sorts of information and other types of activities that people take part in."
That means search engine optimization (SEO) is an important consideration for government officials, agencies and anyone trying to convey information. In other words, add SEO to the important acronyms to know in government: using search data to connect with citizens online is crucial.
Higher use of government websites led to more trust
Trust in government is at historic lows. The electorate as a whole doesn't have a much faith in openness and accountability, despite the Open Government Initiative. The Pew Research report found, however, that those who are heavy government data users have different attitudes about government in terms of it being more open and accountable. This differs from people who are not online or people who are online but not heavy government data users. That perception, however, is heavily biased around ideological lines, which gibes with historical trends.
"That fits with some research that our colleagues over at the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press put out last week," said Smith. "They went all the way back to public opinion data as far back as the Eisenhower administration. Basically, what they found is that people tend to trust the government when their party is in power and they tend to distrust it when the other party's in power."
"What we see happening is that, at least at the moment, when you look at Democratic voters, they're giving credit to the government for making that data out there. When you look at Republican voters, they're a little bit tougher sell. The upshot to government is if you put your data out there, people will clearly use it."
Replacing a Pile of Textbooks With an iPad - NYTimes - 23 Aug
Replacing a Pile of Textbooks With an iPad
By NICK BILTON
When I’m not blogging away about technology for the Bits Blog, I’m also an adjunct professor at New York University in the Interactive Telecommunications Program.
The program is a technology-focused graduate course, so it came as no surprise when four of my students walked into class in early April with fancy new Apple iPads in hand. After the students got past the novelty factor, a debate ensued about how the iPad would fit into their school life. One factor the students discussed was the ability to carry less “stuff” in their backpacks: the iPad can replace magazines, notepads, even a laptop.
Now there’s an iPad application that could further lighten the load. A new company called Inkling hopes to break the standard textbook model and help textbooks enter the interactive age by letting students share and comment on the texts and interact with fellow students.
Matt MacInnis, founder and chief executive of Inkling, said in a phone interview that the company wants to offer a textbook experience that moves far beyond simply downloading a PDF document to an iPad.
One unique feature the service offers is the ability to discuss passages of a book with other students or professors. By selecting a piece of text you can leave a note for others to read and develop a conversation around the text.
The application also breathes life into textbooks by giving publishers the tools to create interactive graphics within a book. In a demo version of the application, available for download in the iTunes store, “The Elements of Style” includes quizzes that help students learn by touching and interacting with the screen. There’s also a biology book that offers the ability to navigate 3-D molecules from any angle.
Some other features include the ability to search text, change the size of the type, purchase individual chapters of books, highlight text for others to see and take pop quizzes directly within the app.
Mr. MacInnis said that some universities began using the textbook application this week, including the University of Alabama and Seton Hill University. “Professors are really excited about the ability to leave notes for the class in specific areas of the book and to also see commentary from their students,” he said.
One question that will likely come up for college students is the price. The program is currently only available for the iPad, a device that starts at $500. Inkling hopes to solve that problem by reducing the cost of the digital textbooks as compared to their paper counterparts and by allowing students to buy books one chapter at a time.
The cost of college textbooks on paper can easily surpass $1,100 a year. If students find that the price of the iPad and the digital textbooks balance out, then the iPad investment could quickly make sense.
And finally there’s the weight factor. Inkling’s frequently-asked-questions page points out that even if you fill your entire iPad with Inkling books, it will still weigh 1.5 pounds.
By NICK BILTON
When I’m not blogging away about technology for the Bits Blog, I’m also an adjunct professor at New York University in the Interactive Telecommunications Program.
The program is a technology-focused graduate course, so it came as no surprise when four of my students walked into class in early April with fancy new Apple iPads in hand. After the students got past the novelty factor, a debate ensued about how the iPad would fit into their school life. One factor the students discussed was the ability to carry less “stuff” in their backpacks: the iPad can replace magazines, notepads, even a laptop.
Now there’s an iPad application that could further lighten the load. A new company called Inkling hopes to break the standard textbook model and help textbooks enter the interactive age by letting students share and comment on the texts and interact with fellow students.
Matt MacInnis, founder and chief executive of Inkling, said in a phone interview that the company wants to offer a textbook experience that moves far beyond simply downloading a PDF document to an iPad.
One unique feature the service offers is the ability to discuss passages of a book with other students or professors. By selecting a piece of text you can leave a note for others to read and develop a conversation around the text.
The application also breathes life into textbooks by giving publishers the tools to create interactive graphics within a book. In a demo version of the application, available for download in the iTunes store, “The Elements of Style” includes quizzes that help students learn by touching and interacting with the screen. There’s also a biology book that offers the ability to navigate 3-D molecules from any angle.
Some other features include the ability to search text, change the size of the type, purchase individual chapters of books, highlight text for others to see and take pop quizzes directly within the app.
Mr. MacInnis said that some universities began using the textbook application this week, including the University of Alabama and Seton Hill University. “Professors are really excited about the ability to leave notes for the class in specific areas of the book and to also see commentary from their students,” he said.
One question that will likely come up for college students is the price. The program is currently only available for the iPad, a device that starts at $500. Inkling hopes to solve that problem by reducing the cost of the digital textbooks as compared to their paper counterparts and by allowing students to buy books one chapter at a time.
The cost of college textbooks on paper can easily surpass $1,100 a year. If students find that the price of the iPad and the digital textbooks balance out, then the iPad investment could quickly make sense.
And finally there’s the weight factor. Inkling’s frequently-asked-questions page points out that even if you fill your entire iPad with Inkling books, it will still weigh 1.5 pounds.
Bars of wisdom - Bangkok Post - 27 July
Correctional education prepares inmates to return to society with skills and knowledge
Published: 27/07/2010 at 12:00 AM
Recently, the "World Cup 2010 Behind Bars" football competition among prison inmates was held at Klong Prem Central Pri-son. To arrive at the playing field, it is necessary to pass through a series of four imposing security gates. The event, modelled on the Fifa (Fe'de'ration Internationale de Football Association) World Cup, is also held once every four years.
In a wooden gazebo not far from the football field, two inmates have been waiting for "Education". They have been authorised to speak on one of the most precious things they have obtained during their detention - an education.
"I've been living here for 11 years," Sai Ruangkajorn, a 48-year-old inmate who has earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) during his inprisonment, says over the thundering sounds of other inmates cheering the football match.
Sai, a petite, typical up-country man, believes that education can transform him into a successful person upon his return to society. Throughout his incarceration, he has allocated most of his time to pursuing knowledge. "When I first arrived, I could neither read nor write," he recalls.
He admits that his low level of literacy caused him to be coaxed into drugs. Ultimately, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in jail. After several amnesties, he has five years to go.
Sai completed primary school and secondary school in this penitentiary. At the moment, he is working on another bachelor's degree in cooperatives, also at STOU. "I'll receive another degree in October," he says proudly, adding that he chose these fields as he would like to develop his rural community in Phanom Thuan district once he is released.
"I heard people say that prison was a monstrous place. I was so frightened," the Kanchanaburi-born inmate says. "Once I became a prisoner, I adapted quickly. You can forget that prison is a bad place. It has the duty to turn people into good persons. It is up to each individual prisoner how much he or she wants to progress," he continues.
Taking Sai as an example, it is clear that the cells can be used to exclude inmates from the outside world. However, in Thailand, what they cannot do is exclude them from the ample education opportunities provided to them by the Department of Corrections (DOC) of the Ministry of Justice and its partners.
Correctional education
The DOC is located on the right bank of the Chao Phraya River opposite Bang Khwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi province, one of the most-populated prisons in Thailand. The DOC supervises over 180 prisons countrywide, in which nearly 190,000 convicts are detained.
"When people are educated, they will be able to think, and then they will be better able to manage their thoughts and behaviours," Chartchai Suthiklom, director-general of the DOC, says in his office, which has a 180-degree view of the river. The director has just signed an agreement with Krirk, Thammasat and Huachiew Chalermprakiet universities, under which the DOC allows students at the three institutions who are interested in doing social research to intern at its facilities.
Efforts to provide inmates with a so-called correctional education are plentiful around the world, as can be seen in the existence of the many organisations that are established towards this objective, such as the European Prison Education Association, the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison in California, and the Correctional Education Association based in the United States, among others.
The correctional education scheme in Thailand is conducted as part of the DOC's mission of "rehabilitating prisoners effectively", says Mr Chartchai. In general, inmates have access to five levels of education. These come in the forms of basic education, vocational education, higher education, informal education and life-quality development programmes.
In each of these education services, the DOC works in collaboration with various sectors. For example, STOU is responsible for the bachelor's degree programme, the Office of the Vocational Education Commission (Ovec) handles the vocational and higher vocation degree programmes, and the Office of Non-Formal and Informal Education (Onie) is in charge of the basic education and short vocation courses. Private entities also participate. The teaching and learning is conducted at the learning centre in each prison except for the STOU programme, which allows inmates to study on their own.
"One of the aims of the department is to ensure that there are no illiterate persons in any of its prisons," the director-general says. Inmates who have not yet completed basic education are encouraged to continue studies until they complete Mathayom 6 (Grade 12).
Degrees in prison
Through the vision of Sanit Ruji-narong, a former DOC director-general, and Prof Wijit Srisa-arn, PhD, an ex-president of STOU, the university first allowed inmates to enrol in its bachelor's degree courses in 1985. In September last year, nearly 300 inmate-students graduated from STOU's programmes. Among the graduates was the notorious Serm Sakhonrat, a former medical student who had butchered his girlfriend.
"Education is a matter of opening up opportunities. Being an inmate should not preclude a person from being a student," says Assoc Prof Pranee Sungkatavat, the current president of STOU. "Our aim is to prove that people can get an education wherever they are," the president adds. Last semester, there were nearly 6,000 inmates studying in the STOU programmes.
According to Prof Pranee, prisoners can apply to join the same programmes as other eligible members of the general public except nursing science. The prison is responsible for submitting the application forms on behalf of the inmates while the convicts themselves pay for registration and course fees.
Currently, the university offers 12 programmes for inmates. The Bachelor of Laws is the most popular programme, with last semester's enrolment reaching approximately 1,500 prisoner-students. The second and third favourites are management science, with 1,400 students, and agriculture extension and cooperatives, which had 1,000 students. Other fields of study available include political science, communication arts, education and economics.
Apart from taking full-fledged bachelor's degree courses, inmates can choose to attend the Sumritibat (certificate of achievement) programme, in which they can choose to study subjects of personal interest. A certificate of achievement is awarded upon completion of this course. If they apply for a degree programme, they can apply the credits earned in the Sumritibat programme towards their degree programme.
Self-discipline
During the day, Sai helps prison officials by performing minor jobs, such as serving as a messenger, and earns pocket money by washing clothes for other inmates. In addition to these activities, he spends the rest of his time on reading.
"I read five to six hours every day. Since my knowledge is poor, I need to read as much as possible," Sai says. He discloses that he begins reading each day at 4am. After completing his daily chores, he resumes reading until 10pm. "I read the same materials at least two or three times. The more you read, the more knowledge you gain," he stresses.
Getting a bachelor's degree in prison requires an extremely high level of self-discipline. Once the inmates have signed up for a programme, the university starts sending course documents to them. There is an "STOU corner" in the prison's learning centre, where the university provides related learning materials for inmates to borrow.
In the larger prisons, the university supplies the materials to their libraries. Inmates are responsible for keeping up with their coursework by themselves. Exams are administered in the prisons at the same time they are scheduled for regular university students.
"Instead of wasting time thinking of inappropriate things, they use their free time to learn and review their lessons," Prof Pranee says.
Before graduation, the university conducts a three-day intensive course at Bang Khwang Central Prison, to which all STOU inmate-students from all prisons are summoned to attend. The objective of this course is to enhance the inmates' practical skills in their respective fields of study as well as to raise their awareness of and appreciation for morals and ethics.
The university is considering running a master's degree programme in the future, according to the president.
Vocational studies
The football match is at its peak when Khwanchai Noipinit, 51, who has been in the prison two years longer than Sai, begins to tell his story. He is wearing the white polo shirt of the architecture department of Don Muang Technical College (DTC). "If I study, I'm in jail. If I don't study, I'm still in jail. So, I choose to study," he says.
While Sai has opted to take bachelor's degree programmes, Khwanchai has selected the vocational path. Currently, he is a final-year architecture student at DTC.
The DOC signed an agreement with Ovec in 2006 to extend the vocational education opportunities for its internees. At present, there are over 80 vocational education institutions across Thailand conducting courses in places of confinement throughout the country. The main programmes cover engineering, business administration, agriculture, culinary skills and the arts. In the first semester of the 2009 academic year, there were over 4,000 inmate-students pursuing a vocational certificate and more than 1,600 in higher vocational certificate programmes.
Unlike STOU's programme, under which the internees need to rely on themselves, for vocational classes the collaborating institutions send qualified instructors to teach the inmates in the prisons.
Khwanchai studies every weekday during the academic terms from around 9am to 3pm, and he also needs to submit completed assignments, just like non-incarcerated students. He is now designing a shopping centre as his graduation project.
According to Prasert Thongchai, the head of the civil engineering department at DTC, the college has been providing education to inmates for six years now. Today, the college has approximately 150 students studying at the Central Correctional Institution for Drug Addicts (CCIDA), Klong Prem Central Prison and the Central Women Correctional Institution.
Even though Mr Prasert is very supportive of the idea of providing education for persons in jail, he expressed concern, based on his experience as a teacher at CCIDA for six years, that some inmates enrol in the programme to avoid doing hard labour. "Such students have a low level of learning motivation and tend to not pay much attention in class," he says.
Learning hub
Correctional education in Thailand seems to have broken free of most restraints. However, Mr Chartchai says, it stills lacks many things. The difficulties include a shortage of learning facilities and the absence of a proper educational environment. "Some prisons operate two courses in the same room," he says.
Some education institutions are not ready to collaborate with the DOC. "We understand their situation. Teachers already have enough work to do," he says. Another problem is that some courses cannot be provided as they require on-the-job training, extensive research work or regular interactions between students and teachers. These obstacles confront the master's programme that is under consideration.
Despite all these predicaments, the DOC is trying its best to create a learning environment for inmates who wish to learn. According to Mr Chartchai, in response to Justice Minister Peerapan Sareerathawipak's vision of encouraging inmates to allocate as much of their time to education as possible, the department has piloted a "school prison" policy at Maha Sarakham Provincial Pri-son in Maha Sarakham province and the Central Correctional Institution for Young Offenders in Pathum Thani province. Under this policy, all the inmates in the two penitentiaries are required to enrol in at least one of the education courses offered.
"This will change two things. First, a truly education-oriented environment will be developed, with all the prisoners there studying one course or another. Second, we can effectively and efficiently utilise the services of our education institution partners," the director-general says.
According to Suvit Ungthong, director of the Education Promotion Division at the DOC, the department is gradually transferring prisoners who wish to learn to the two prisons and removing those who are not willing to learn to other detention centres. "If the project is successful, it will be expanded to the other facilities," he says.
Second chance
Many people say that inmates should be condemned. Some people might be of the view that the DOC and its partners are giving the condemned too many privileges. However, such people might need to remind themselves that ultimately, most of these internees will return to society. Education may not change the behaviour of all of them, but at least Sai and Khwanchai have already said that they will not walk on the wrong path again.
As our conversation is about to end, Sai shows "Education" more than 20 certificates and other documents from the programmes which he has gone through during his years in jail. They cover, for example, music, English conversation, Boy Scout courses, academic transcripts from STOU, and certificates from Onie.
He is determined to use the knowledge and skills that he has gained to earn an honest living as well as help his community. Bursting with pride, he says that his community members have already forgiven him. However, he is concerned that for his fellow inmates, the outside world is unlikely to be willing to employ or accept ex-convicts regardless of how many degrees they may hold.
"I want other people to accept that most prisoners who have undergone these courses will change for the better. We [inmates who take education programmes in prisons] want to be representatives of inmates throughout the country. We will use the knowledge that we have obtained to prove that we can develop the country and society, help the government and our families, and we won't return to do bad things again," Sai affirms confidently.
"To people who are about to commit a crime, I would say: please don't do it. Prison is not paradise. But if you have made a misstep, please prepare yourselves to be good citizens and to contribute to society [when you are released]," concludes Sai.
Published: 27/07/2010 at 12:00 AM
Recently, the "World Cup 2010 Behind Bars" football competition among prison inmates was held at Klong Prem Central Pri-son. To arrive at the playing field, it is necessary to pass through a series of four imposing security gates. The event, modelled on the Fifa (Fe'de'ration Internationale de Football Association) World Cup, is also held once every four years.
In a wooden gazebo not far from the football field, two inmates have been waiting for "Education". They have been authorised to speak on one of the most precious things they have obtained during their detention - an education.
"I've been living here for 11 years," Sai Ruangkajorn, a 48-year-old inmate who has earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) during his inprisonment, says over the thundering sounds of other inmates cheering the football match.
Sai, a petite, typical up-country man, believes that education can transform him into a successful person upon his return to society. Throughout his incarceration, he has allocated most of his time to pursuing knowledge. "When I first arrived, I could neither read nor write," he recalls.
He admits that his low level of literacy caused him to be coaxed into drugs. Ultimately, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in jail. After several amnesties, he has five years to go.
Sai completed primary school and secondary school in this penitentiary. At the moment, he is working on another bachelor's degree in cooperatives, also at STOU. "I'll receive another degree in October," he says proudly, adding that he chose these fields as he would like to develop his rural community in Phanom Thuan district once he is released.
"I heard people say that prison was a monstrous place. I was so frightened," the Kanchanaburi-born inmate says. "Once I became a prisoner, I adapted quickly. You can forget that prison is a bad place. It has the duty to turn people into good persons. It is up to each individual prisoner how much he or she wants to progress," he continues.
Taking Sai as an example, it is clear that the cells can be used to exclude inmates from the outside world. However, in Thailand, what they cannot do is exclude them from the ample education opportunities provided to them by the Department of Corrections (DOC) of the Ministry of Justice and its partners.
Correctional education
The DOC is located on the right bank of the Chao Phraya River opposite Bang Khwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi province, one of the most-populated prisons in Thailand. The DOC supervises over 180 prisons countrywide, in which nearly 190,000 convicts are detained.
"When people are educated, they will be able to think, and then they will be better able to manage their thoughts and behaviours," Chartchai Suthiklom, director-general of the DOC, says in his office, which has a 180-degree view of the river. The director has just signed an agreement with Krirk, Thammasat and Huachiew Chalermprakiet universities, under which the DOC allows students at the three institutions who are interested in doing social research to intern at its facilities.
Efforts to provide inmates with a so-called correctional education are plentiful around the world, as can be seen in the existence of the many organisations that are established towards this objective, such as the European Prison Education Association, the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison in California, and the Correctional Education Association based in the United States, among others.
The correctional education scheme in Thailand is conducted as part of the DOC's mission of "rehabilitating prisoners effectively", says Mr Chartchai. In general, inmates have access to five levels of education. These come in the forms of basic education, vocational education, higher education, informal education and life-quality development programmes.
In each of these education services, the DOC works in collaboration with various sectors. For example, STOU is responsible for the bachelor's degree programme, the Office of the Vocational Education Commission (Ovec) handles the vocational and higher vocation degree programmes, and the Office of Non-Formal and Informal Education (Onie) is in charge of the basic education and short vocation courses. Private entities also participate. The teaching and learning is conducted at the learning centre in each prison except for the STOU programme, which allows inmates to study on their own.
"One of the aims of the department is to ensure that there are no illiterate persons in any of its prisons," the director-general says. Inmates who have not yet completed basic education are encouraged to continue studies until they complete Mathayom 6 (Grade 12).
Degrees in prison
Through the vision of Sanit Ruji-narong, a former DOC director-general, and Prof Wijit Srisa-arn, PhD, an ex-president of STOU, the university first allowed inmates to enrol in its bachelor's degree courses in 1985. In September last year, nearly 300 inmate-students graduated from STOU's programmes. Among the graduates was the notorious Serm Sakhonrat, a former medical student who had butchered his girlfriend.
"Education is a matter of opening up opportunities. Being an inmate should not preclude a person from being a student," says Assoc Prof Pranee Sungkatavat, the current president of STOU. "Our aim is to prove that people can get an education wherever they are," the president adds. Last semester, there were nearly 6,000 inmates studying in the STOU programmes.
According to Prof Pranee, prisoners can apply to join the same programmes as other eligible members of the general public except nursing science. The prison is responsible for submitting the application forms on behalf of the inmates while the convicts themselves pay for registration and course fees.
Currently, the university offers 12 programmes for inmates. The Bachelor of Laws is the most popular programme, with last semester's enrolment reaching approximately 1,500 prisoner-students. The second and third favourites are management science, with 1,400 students, and agriculture extension and cooperatives, which had 1,000 students. Other fields of study available include political science, communication arts, education and economics.
Apart from taking full-fledged bachelor's degree courses, inmates can choose to attend the Sumritibat (certificate of achievement) programme, in which they can choose to study subjects of personal interest. A certificate of achievement is awarded upon completion of this course. If they apply for a degree programme, they can apply the credits earned in the Sumritibat programme towards their degree programme.
Self-discipline
During the day, Sai helps prison officials by performing minor jobs, such as serving as a messenger, and earns pocket money by washing clothes for other inmates. In addition to these activities, he spends the rest of his time on reading.
"I read five to six hours every day. Since my knowledge is poor, I need to read as much as possible," Sai says. He discloses that he begins reading each day at 4am. After completing his daily chores, he resumes reading until 10pm. "I read the same materials at least two or three times. The more you read, the more knowledge you gain," he stresses.
Getting a bachelor's degree in prison requires an extremely high level of self-discipline. Once the inmates have signed up for a programme, the university starts sending course documents to them. There is an "STOU corner" in the prison's learning centre, where the university provides related learning materials for inmates to borrow.
In the larger prisons, the university supplies the materials to their libraries. Inmates are responsible for keeping up with their coursework by themselves. Exams are administered in the prisons at the same time they are scheduled for regular university students.
"Instead of wasting time thinking of inappropriate things, they use their free time to learn and review their lessons," Prof Pranee says.
Before graduation, the university conducts a three-day intensive course at Bang Khwang Central Prison, to which all STOU inmate-students from all prisons are summoned to attend. The objective of this course is to enhance the inmates' practical skills in their respective fields of study as well as to raise their awareness of and appreciation for morals and ethics.
The university is considering running a master's degree programme in the future, according to the president.
Vocational studies
The football match is at its peak when Khwanchai Noipinit, 51, who has been in the prison two years longer than Sai, begins to tell his story. He is wearing the white polo shirt of the architecture department of Don Muang Technical College (DTC). "If I study, I'm in jail. If I don't study, I'm still in jail. So, I choose to study," he says.
While Sai has opted to take bachelor's degree programmes, Khwanchai has selected the vocational path. Currently, he is a final-year architecture student at DTC.
The DOC signed an agreement with Ovec in 2006 to extend the vocational education opportunities for its internees. At present, there are over 80 vocational education institutions across Thailand conducting courses in places of confinement throughout the country. The main programmes cover engineering, business administration, agriculture, culinary skills and the arts. In the first semester of the 2009 academic year, there were over 4,000 inmate-students pursuing a vocational certificate and more than 1,600 in higher vocational certificate programmes.
Unlike STOU's programme, under which the internees need to rely on themselves, for vocational classes the collaborating institutions send qualified instructors to teach the inmates in the prisons.
Khwanchai studies every weekday during the academic terms from around 9am to 3pm, and he also needs to submit completed assignments, just like non-incarcerated students. He is now designing a shopping centre as his graduation project.
According to Prasert Thongchai, the head of the civil engineering department at DTC, the college has been providing education to inmates for six years now. Today, the college has approximately 150 students studying at the Central Correctional Institution for Drug Addicts (CCIDA), Klong Prem Central Prison and the Central Women Correctional Institution.
Even though Mr Prasert is very supportive of the idea of providing education for persons in jail, he expressed concern, based on his experience as a teacher at CCIDA for six years, that some inmates enrol in the programme to avoid doing hard labour. "Such students have a low level of learning motivation and tend to not pay much attention in class," he says.
Learning hub
Correctional education in Thailand seems to have broken free of most restraints. However, Mr Chartchai says, it stills lacks many things. The difficulties include a shortage of learning facilities and the absence of a proper educational environment. "Some prisons operate two courses in the same room," he says.
Some education institutions are not ready to collaborate with the DOC. "We understand their situation. Teachers already have enough work to do," he says. Another problem is that some courses cannot be provided as they require on-the-job training, extensive research work or regular interactions between students and teachers. These obstacles confront the master's programme that is under consideration.
Despite all these predicaments, the DOC is trying its best to create a learning environment for inmates who wish to learn. According to Mr Chartchai, in response to Justice Minister Peerapan Sareerathawipak's vision of encouraging inmates to allocate as much of their time to education as possible, the department has piloted a "school prison" policy at Maha Sarakham Provincial Pri-son in Maha Sarakham province and the Central Correctional Institution for Young Offenders in Pathum Thani province. Under this policy, all the inmates in the two penitentiaries are required to enrol in at least one of the education courses offered.
"This will change two things. First, a truly education-oriented environment will be developed, with all the prisoners there studying one course or another. Second, we can effectively and efficiently utilise the services of our education institution partners," the director-general says.
According to Suvit Ungthong, director of the Education Promotion Division at the DOC, the department is gradually transferring prisoners who wish to learn to the two prisons and removing those who are not willing to learn to other detention centres. "If the project is successful, it will be expanded to the other facilities," he says.
Second chance
Many people say that inmates should be condemned. Some people might be of the view that the DOC and its partners are giving the condemned too many privileges. However, such people might need to remind themselves that ultimately, most of these internees will return to society. Education may not change the behaviour of all of them, but at least Sai and Khwanchai have already said that they will not walk on the wrong path again.
As our conversation is about to end, Sai shows "Education" more than 20 certificates and other documents from the programmes which he has gone through during his years in jail. They cover, for example, music, English conversation, Boy Scout courses, academic transcripts from STOU, and certificates from Onie.
He is determined to use the knowledge and skills that he has gained to earn an honest living as well as help his community. Bursting with pride, he says that his community members have already forgiven him. However, he is concerned that for his fellow inmates, the outside world is unlikely to be willing to employ or accept ex-convicts regardless of how many degrees they may hold.
"I want other people to accept that most prisoners who have undergone these courses will change for the better. We [inmates who take education programmes in prisons] want to be representatives of inmates throughout the country. We will use the knowledge that we have obtained to prove that we can develop the country and society, help the government and our families, and we won't return to do bad things again," Sai affirms confidently.
"To people who are about to commit a crime, I would say: please don't do it. Prison is not paradise. But if you have made a misstep, please prepare yourselves to be good citizens and to contribute to society [when you are released]," concludes Sai.
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