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Access, Inclusion and the Digital Divide: ICTs, Virtual Self-Help and Social Policy

Access, Inclusion and the Digital Divide: ICTs, Virtual Self-Help and Social Policy. Mid 1999 12.69 million adults accessed the Internet at least once; 11,100 new users each day

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Access, Inclusion and the Digital Divide: ICTs, Virtual Self-Help and Social Policy

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  1. Access, Inclusion and the Digital Divide: ICTs, Virtual Self-Help and Social Policy • Mid 1999 12.69 million adults accessed the Internet at least once; 11,100 new users each day • Impact of Growth of Domestic Technologies More Important for Social Policy than the Formal Informatization of Government? • ‘the risky and uncertain conditions of modern life often call on us to sort out many of our problems ourselves, without the help of institutions, and even to help others to do the same’ – James Slevin (2000) The Internet and Society (Polity Press)

  2. Understanding the Implications of the Emergence of Virtual Self-Help for the Future of Welfare • Patterns of Self Help and Social Support Crucial to Future of Welfare • Strong Relationship Between Levels of Social Support and Levels of Health and Wellbeing • A Crucial Buttress against a ‘Runaway World’ • ICTs at One and the Same Time • Invoke Feelings of Stress and Isolation? • Provide New Mechanisms for Social Connection and Support?

  3. Does Virtual Social Support Have the Same Health Promoting Effects as Real Social Support? • We do Not Know….But How Social Relations in Cyberspace Function and How they Impact Upon the Lives of Ordinary People will Form a Crucial Seam of 21st Century Social Policy • Computer Mediated Sharing of Common Interests, Experiences, Thoughts and Fellowship Combined with Ability to Access Health and Welfare Information…what we have termed Virtual Community Care

  4. The Real Virtuality of Computer Mediated Self Help and Social Support • uk.people.deaf • uk.people.disability • uk.people.ex-forces • uk.people.fathers • uk.people.health • uk.people.parents • uk.people.support.cfs-me • uk.people.support.depression • uk.people.support.epilepsy • uk.people.support.mental-health • uk.people.support.mult-sclerosis

  5. Access, Inclusion and the Digital Divide: Some Issues • Expansion of the Experience of Self Help • Foregrounding Experience and Lay Knowledge over Expert Knowledge • Professional-Client Relationships • Quality/Legitimacy Issues • Reflexivity and Management of Risk • Oprahfication • Social Exclusion

  6. Digital Divisions of Welfare? The Rise of the Virtual Middle Classes • Like Traditional Forms of Welfare, Wired Welfare may Tend to Advantage a Middle Class who have the Time, the Reflexivity, Inclination and the Material Resources to Best Exploit it

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