`I know what cyberspace is," says Isabel Farrell (78), "it's that Internet thing. The judge in Louise Woodward's trial gave his verdict on the Internet, but I don't think that's legal." If a grandmother, whose only experience of computers is in her local bank, can talk so comfortably about the latest technology, then the information society has arrived.
However, the much-heralded information age has not yet reached all of us and there is a real danger that the Internet creates social divisions. The technology "haves" can dip into this newspaper without going to the shop, order a year's supply of Viagra from the US, or sit in their pyjamas in the middle of the night and chat to strangers.
Your ability to surf the Web, send emails, keep up with developments in your field and generally use the Net for work, can also affect your career. According to Dr Brian Fitzgerald, of the Executive Systems Research Centre at University College Cork: "In a commercial setting, technical experts are valued while technical illiterates are scorned." The Information Society Commission, set up by the Government in May 1997, found there is an "info elite" of young, male, middle-class, Dublin-based office workers while housewives, the unskilled working-class and rural dwellers are the most remote from the "information society". It found the State is less computer literate than most other European countries, although this is beginning to change.
An Information Age Charter "to make computer literacy a right for all" has recently been launched by Fine Gael. Party leader John Bruton warns: "Citizens who do not become conversant in this technology in the new millennium will be at a big economic and social disadvantage, just as those who did not master literacy in this century were also."
Sinead Casey of the Community Media Network is concerned about the development of a two-tier information society. As the co-ordinator of CEDLIS (Community Empowerment through Distance Learning in the Information Society), Casey works to bring Internet access and training to community development projects around the country.
"Any tool which allows greater access to information for one group over another is problematic. There is a lot of resistance to information technology among community groups as many people are intimidated by it and do not see it as relevant to their work. I feel that anything which improves communication and helps to share knowledge is beneficial, but there is potentially a huge problem of social exclusion," she says.
Brian Trench of Dublin City University's Communication Department agrees: "What may deliver benefits to one group may not help another group. Information technology can widen existing gaps." Research into the use of information technology (IT) in the community and voluntary sector shows that already gaps are widening and that it is the better-resourced organisations which are on-line. But in fact many groups with Internet access have little idea of how to use it constructively, so that the "haves" are not much better-off than the "have-nots". While increasing numbers of schools are using computers, and many children now have their own email address, there is still a problem. "Teachers say that division is already apparent in the classroom, between kids who have computers at home and those that don't. There's a lot of resentment if kids with computers get the prize for a project designing a birthday card, for example, because they obviously have an unfair advantage," says Triona Carey, who believes strongly in cheap Net access for all and is campaigning for credit unions to consider requests for loans to buy home computers.
"It's obvious that people will lose out because they can't afford to be in, but there are also those that will lose out because of ignorance, because they don't see the writing on the wall. I started the West Cork Cyberpub project, which involved seven pubs installing computers with Internet access for their customers, because I believe that without mass access to the medium, social division will increase radically. The project has had varied success, but the Lifeboat Inn in Courtmacsherry uses it for training the lifeboat crews," she says. However, whatever politicians may claim, says Dr Fitzgerald, computers and the Internet are not the solution to all our problems: "People talk as if IT is going to transform society, that it has its own dynamic, and will automatically work for the greater good. The Internet is merely a depository of information and nothing like the revolutionary change agent it is supposed to be. For example, the act of putting computers in primary schools will not automatically improve education."
According to Debra Howcroft, a lecturer at Salford University's Information Technology Institute, the Internet has made very little contribution to society as many people have no reason to use it: "Some people find it useful, some of the time, for some things, but access does not mean greater democracy or equality. There is also the Wow! factor: research shows that many people stop using the Net after an initial six-month enthusiasm." If information is so vital, she argues, why don't we have more libraries?
Nevertheless, IT can be a route out of social exclusion since the computer industry has less traditional barriers to entry than other areas. Graduates of the first Tramlines computer training project in Ballymun, Dublin are now employed as trainers, systems engineers or programmers despite not having a traditional educational background. Donnacadh Hurley of Ballymun Job Centre says: "If you can do the job, computer companies don't care about your address or your background."
There is concern, however, that new barriers of social exclusion will be constructed. Teleworking has been the subject of much hype and has many advantages for disabled people, not least the lessening of prejudice as colleagues do not meet but communicate by email.
"There are potential downsides," warns Gerry Ellis of the Irish Council of People with Disabilities. "Disabled people may be forced to work from home when it does not suit them. You have to be disciplined to start work at a certain time every day, and that can be a problem for many people. It may also be used to avoid addressing other issues like transport."
Similar issues arise with the introduction of technology into the homes of older people. Telemedicine and videophones may seem like a good idea, but could isolate older people even further from society and deprive them of personal contact. The director of the Information Society Commission, Norman Wilkinson, stresses the importance of raising awareness of IT "so we do not get into an information society of haves and have-nots". He believes that the key issues are training, access and affordability.
"As people move to urban centres, the peripheral areas are suffering. IT can enrich lives and we aim to give people a choice of training. It is important that no group should feel left out of the process," he says. As the first phase of the Ennis Information Age Town project gets underway, with the basic training and testing of the 4,000 people who have applied for home computers, excitement in the town is running high and there seems little problem of social exclusion. "Although we have not done a breakdown, people have applied from all areas of Ennis. We are aware that it has the potential for people who are not involved to be further excluded, but we feel that it also has great potential for a legup for disadvantaged groups," says Triona McInherney.
