A council has ended a contract for the disposal of its used
computers and plans to make the machines available to local
residents, particularly the disadvantaged.
Details of the plans were revealed by
Stephen Hilton, a panellist at the
G2010 government
IT conference. He
leads work at Bristol
City Council to enable many more local people to go online.
Bristol is a founder member of the
DC10 Plus network of
local authorities and other organisations which are aiming to
promote social inclusion through the use of technology.
During a discussion at G2010 on
"The Internet and Social Inclusion", Hilton said that Bristol
City Council has re-tendered what had been a contract for the
disposal of its used computers. Seven companies are on a shortlist
to make the council's used computers, between 900 and 1,200
machines, available to local communities and individuals.
The contract will be awarded on 20 November. Although the secure
disposal of computers cost the council nothing in the past,
officials may be willing to pay a supplier to make the equipment
available for re-use.
Any cost will be offset by savings to the council - when, for
example, residents get information online instead of ringing up
Bristol City's switchboard.
Hilton
said: "Our primary focus [at the council] is to make equipment
available to communities and individuals."
Social inclusion
Giving examples of the council's work to get more people online,
he said that a TV room at a sheltered housing scheme has been
turned into a computer suite. The room wasn't being used because
people already had their own TVs.
"The council trained the warden to train the old people and the
first thing they did was to start shopping [online] at Tesco's
together. They only had to pay one delivery charge instead of eight
separate ones."
He said that the council isn't trying to sell the internet to
people: it is helping them do what they want to do: joining
together families, investigating family histories, shopping, and
taking an interest in particular issues.
"I look forward to the day that everybody in Bristol is
connected, and everybody I meet and speak with through work I can
contact online. I look forward to be able to wave to my Mum on a
webcam and she can say 'Hello' to me on Twitter but we are a way
from that.
"It is up to authorities, both government and local authorities,
to show a lead here. We can do a lot: we can overcome some of the
barriers to physical access; we can provide kit; we can help people
get connected; we can provide training; we can, most importantly,
help people produce content and not just be passive recipients of
information we put out."
10 million people have never been online
He said that about 10 million people in the UK have never used a
computer. "If you live in social or council housing you are less
likely to be part of the connected world. Even two out of ten
households where there are children in the family don't have access
to computers. It is difficult to imagine how a child wouldn't be
able to engage with technology."
Malcolm Watson, general manager of IT refurbishing specialist
Remploy
e-cycle, says that 90% of IT decision-makers don't appear to
care whether their computers could be used again once their
organisation has finished with them.
"The importance of re-using things is now well understood for
many types of waste, both in the office and at home, yet for some
reason IT equipment such as laptops, printers, mobile phones and
PDAs seem to be treated differently.
"We believe vast amounts of IT waste are unnecessarily being
recycled every year when it could easily be used again Once
refurbished, machines can be sold, redeployed back into an
organisation or donated to charity."
Video of "The Internet and Social Inclusion" panel, filmed at
G2010