The year-long study, "Fat Pipes, Connected People," was produced
jointly by The Work Foundation, which aims to improve productivity
and the quality of working in the UK, and the Broadband Stakeholder
Group, the Government's key advisory group on broadband.
It found that ordinary people are confused and angry about
internet issues like spam and spyware, porn and pop-ups, viruses
and the safety of chat rooms for children.
According to the report, Britain is still in sixth place in the
G7 countries in terms of broadband take-up (behind USA, Japan,
Germany, France and Canada, but ahead of Italy).
Research published yesterday by the Office for National
Statistics shows that even in the business community the take-up
was only 14% in 2002. (It also found that 29% of UK businesses had
a web site in 2002, and 4% of businesses were selling on-line.)
There are worrying signs that a recent rise in cable
subscriptions has already stalled, says the report. Most of the
people who really wanted broadband have now got it, meaning the
industry must now appeal to a new group of people that the report
labels the "everyday user".
What these people need, says the report, is support – and this
is what the industry fails to provide. They need support when
things go wrong, and they need support to get the best out of the
net.
In addition, the industry has misunderstood what the everyday
user actually wants out of the internet. Up to now the industry has
been advertising the speed and always-on benefits of broadband as
its main selling points, but this, says the report, is wrong.
To the average person broadband is not about speed, but about
having an easy time on-line. Equally, broadband is not always on,
because most people turn off their computers when they aren't using
them.
Nor do people use broadband to absorb "rich media content".
Instead, says the report, people like broadband because it allows
you to communicate with other people, creating and sharing content
while you do so.
