Welsh falling far behind in the IT era

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34570344

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Over 12 million people, and a million small businesses in the UK do not have the skills to prosper in the digital era. That is the warning today from Go.On UK, a charity set up to promote digital skills.
It has produced what it calls a digital exclusion heatmap, pinpointing the areas where people are most likely to miss out on the digital revolution.

There is bad news for Wales where over a third of the population do not have the five basic digital skills as defined by the charity. But London, Scotland and East Anglia, come top of the league with over 80% of people having those skills.
The map also shows that men are less likely to be digitally disadvantaged than women, with 80% having the necessary skills as compared to 74% of women.

What are these five skills, without which we are unfit for the digital future? Well if you can manage information, communicate, make payments, solve problems, and create stuff online then you are in good shape.
A survey of over 4,000 people nationwide to assess their skills, coupled with data about education, income, health and internet access, have all helped build the exclusion heatmap.
The BBC, with its Make It Digital project, is among the institutions backing the map.

Where skills are lacking, poverty and a lack of infrastructure are part of the story.
Wales has the lowest levels of internet access and places like Merthyr Tydfil are amongst the poorest in the UK.

(continued)

[JimC]

...five basic digital skills...

Does one of them involve the thumb?

[cronus]

I would have thought Wales would be more like Singapore or Honk Kong by this time? With its natural advantages in both geographical connectivity and cultural self-identity making it a ideal techno-paradise industrial haven thing....like with those tall sky-scrapers dotted around the coastal hills?

[Brian Peacock]

What are these skills, without which we are unfit for the digital future? Well if you can manage information, communicate, make payments, solve problems, create stuff online, and keep your jizz off the keyboard, then you are in good shape.

[cronus]

Almost like some rich blokes dream has drawn away from Wales all its human capital? It'll only worsen with the new rail line to the north.

[klr]

It's simple: Almost all the IT know-how in Wales has somehow been absorbed by Pappa, and most of the rest by Rachel. No wonder the rest of the Principality can't even switch on a tablet.

[JimC]

It's simple: Almost all the IT know-how in Wales has somehow been absorbed by Pappa, and most of the rest by Rachel. No wonder the rest of the Principality can't even switch on a tablet.

But it just might be true!

[rachelbean]

That's the thing, Cardiff is definitely a tech city and you'll find no shortage of nerds around these parts, but I can see the issue with some of the rest of the country. I mean Jeeze, some of them only got electricity a handful of years ago!

[Brian Peacock]

Aren't those accents glorious? Both the plummy BBC of the interviewer and the lilting rural Welsh.

"I've got a be-you-ti-ful oven."

[DaveDodo007]

Plaid Cymru leader: give us free money and free stuff, then give us more free money and free stuff. Their political message in full.

[Brian Peacock]

To the topic man. To the topic.