Student houses are notoriously messy. Pots and pans sit
around covered in caked-on food, empty beer cans litter the
kitchen, while the residents sit in front of day-time television in
their dressing gowns.
But all of this changes the minute they have an essay to write.
Faced with the prospect of penning 2,000 words on the French
Revolution, house cleaning becomes priority number one. It is
called procrastination.
It is a peculiar part of human nature that bite-sized, tangible
tasks look like a drag until we are faced with abstract and
intangible ones.
This might partly explain a discrepancy in the UK's digital
capabilities. It is becoming increasingly clear that the UK's
digital infrastructure is world class. But despite this, the uses,
content, skills and outcomes worthy of this infrastructure are
lagging behind.
Look at the evidence on hardware. Britain was first in the world
to complete the roll-out of broadband and, as telecoms regulator
Ofcom reported this month, the number of broadband internet users
has recently overtaken the number of dial-up users.
Also, the number of pupils per computer in our schools is way
below the EU average. Businesses are becoming more dependent on
technology as well, and e-commerce booms in the UK.
For the technology industry, this all seems good news and worthy
of congratulations. The UK is currently ranked the fifth most
"e-ready" economy in the world. And yet productivity levels in the
UK are still 25% lower than in the Netherlands, 8% lower than in
Germany and 11% lower than in France - countries that are ranked
8th, 12th and 19th respectively for "e-readiness".
Meanwhile, schools watchdog Ofsted notes that "few schools as
yet make significant use of applications that specifically require
broadband".
Britain has adopted a supply-led approach to the digital age,
rather than a demand-led one. The targets that were put in place
around the turn of the millennium all focused on raising our game
in the delivery of infrastructure.
All public services had to be online by 2005. There had to be
internet access within walking distance for everybody by 2005. It
was not stated that broadband roll-out should be complete by 2005,
but pressure from the digital inclusion lobby ensured that the pace
was stepped up.
These targets have served their purpose well. Some will be met,
and others will not. But the benefit of targets is to create and
maintain a sense of urgency. The question now is what that sense of
urgency was in aid of. Why do we need all this kit?
What the UK has effectively done in the past five years is what
students do when faced with an essay: start with the most
measurable, bite-sized tasks and delay the harder one.
Looking beyond 2005, the challenge is to ask how we can build on
this investment, to increase productivity. Uses, skills, content
and outcomes are far harder things to manipulate or measure. But
now that we have one of the best-equipped nations in the world, it
is time to ask what we want to do with it. The house has been
cleaned, now it is time to write the essay.
William Davies is a senior research fellow at the Institute for
Public Policy Research. His report, Modernising with Purpose: A
Manifesto for a Digital Britain, is available from
www.ippr.org