ESRC Society Today

For immediate release - 7th August 2006

People in Great Britain can be assigned to one of twenty-three "e-types", according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council e-society programme.

Professor Paul Longley and his colleagues have assembled a range of private and public sector data sources to investigate three things: how we access new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs); what we use them for; and how where we live influences the kinds of e-services that we use.

"It's no longer good enough to think of a single digital divide between 'haves' and 'have nots' - as was suggested a decade ago", comments Paul Longley.  "We decided to investigate how new and subtle variations in ICT adoption and usage are emerging, and to try to classify us all according to the ICTs that we use, our information needs, and whether technology helps us to participate in society."

The research team used data provided by data warehouse Experian alongside public sources to develop and illustrate a nationwide neighbourhood classification. It can be accessed via http://www.spatial-literacy.org/esocietyprofiler. Members of the public can tap in their postcodes to find out about the likely use of ICTs in their neighbourhoods, or of those of their friends.

Why not find out your e-type? And if you disagree with how the academics have classified your neighbourhood you can email them with your comments and suggestions.

For further information, contact:

• Antonia Luther-Jones, Communications and Events Manager for the ESRC E-Society Programme on 01904 434561 (email alj504@york.ac.uk)
• Alexandra Saxon or Annika Howard at ESRC, on 01793 413032/413119 (email alexandra.saxon@esrc.ac.uk / annika.howard@esrc.ac.uk)  

Notes for editors

1. A summary of the project, Digital Differentiation: Consumption profiles of fracturing Digital Divides Project Status, is available at http://www.york.ac.uk/res/e-society/. For a copy of the full report visit: http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/ViewAwardPage.aspx?AwardId=2624
2. The ESRC E-Society Programme is the largest-ever academic research programme to investigate the impact of digital technologies, particularly the internet on society. More at http://www.york.ac.uk/res/e-society/.
3. The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC total expenditure in 2005-06 was £135 million.  At any time, the ESRC supports more than 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/.
4. ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research (formerly accessible via the Regard website) and key online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/.