Race Online 2012

Race Online 2012 is a new campaign aiming to bring the internet to people in the UK who have never used it before. The plan is to get as many Brits online as possible by the start of the London Olympics.

THE PROBLEM

According to the Race Online 2012 website there are 10 million people in the UK who have never been online. Four million of them "are also socially and economically excluded." The campaign is therefore targeting low income families and the unemployed. It believes that the internet can make a genuine difference to people's lives, helping them overcome disadvantage.

The campaign is led by Martha Lane Fox, the co-founder and former managing director of lastminute.com. In 2009, Fox was appointed the UK Government's Digital Inclusion Champion. She hopes to encourage people who have never used the internet "to make it part of their lives."

THE SOLUTION

So what is Race Online 2012 going to do to solve the problem? It promises to:

- Support and challenge government, industry and the third sector on programme development and delivery.

- Shine a light on partner activities and provide an intelligent hub of information and resources.
   
- Join and leverage new and existing activities to ensure 'face to face' support is available to all socially and digitally excluded adults.

The campaign is counting on the support of organisations, who will become partners and commit to taking action. At the time of writing partners include Google, Microsoft, Talk Talk and BT. The aim is to get 10,000 partner organisations involved. You can find out how to become a partner here.

If you think your organisation can get involved, take a look at the success stories, a series of digital projects which reveal the transformative power of the internet. This will give you an idea of just what this campaign is hoping to achieve. Race Online 2012 has just two years to make its dream happen. On your marks...

April 22 2010