BBC steps up to bridge the digital divide

The BBC is set to appoint its first Online Access Champion in a bid to bridge the digital divide, according to its chief operating officer Caroline Thomson.

Speaking at the Digital Britain summit in London on Friday, Thomson announced that Seetha Kumar will take on the role to make sure the BBC plays its full part in helping more people take advantage of online services.

Thomson also announced that the BBC will kick-start an online access forum, which aims to build on the BBC’s existing relationships and partnerships across the sector.

The forum will focus on how to achieve greater online access among the estimated 17 million adults who still don’t use the internet.

The BBC plans to conduct new audience research to gain a deeper understanding of why different groups don’t go online and what more the corporation can do to stimulate take-up.

Thomson has vowed to share the research and findings with the government, Ofcom and other relevant bodies.

Thomson’s comments follow Lord Carter’s call for broadcasters, in particular the BBC, to help increase digital access across the UK in his interim Digital Britain report.

“The BBC needs to make a step change in the way it delivers its online services to ensure they build the widest possible public value,” Thomson said.

“We have a strong presence in the online world. But we’ve not always done all that we could to use this presence to help bring people online and drive access to wider content.

“With Seetha’s new role, we are determined to do more to attract hard-to-reach groups online. There’s also more we can do to encourage access to content beyond the BBC: from enabling higher traffic from our website to others; to opening up the iPlayer to other broadcasters; to sharing and syndicating BBC content more widely.”

The announcement builds on the BBC’s existing efforts to increase online activity – such as its Webwise service, which provides practical help and guidance to internet users (the series of online guides attracts nearly 100,000 UK users every week).

Thomson’s comments also signal a new role for the BBC in increasing online access, which helps to fulfil its sixth public service broadcasting purpose to deliver the public with “the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services”.

Also speaking at the Digital Britain summit on Friday, prime minister Gordon Brown said: “I do think that the digital revolution lies at the heart of success for Britain in the years to come.

“Achieving that goal of universal connectivity to broadband will be a critical stepping stone to a digital Britain,” Brown added (see Gordon Brown calls for broadband for all).