According to the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS), “The main means of access [to the Internet] was via a desktop computer (93 per cent) followed by a laptop (31 per cent) and mobile phone (15 per cent).” [my emphasis] 15% of UK adults use a mobile phone to get online? A year ago, the CIE had figures from MORI to suggest that 8% used mobile devices such as phones, and that 3% considered such a device to be their preferred means of access. At the time I said that would rise, but I don't think even I would have foreseen a doubling in the numbers in just twelve months. Wow. Again, then, what does this mean for our clunky Virtual Learning Environments and library interfaces? If you haven't done so, find someone with a suitably equipped mobile phone and take a look. And, elsewhere in the same release, “Of those adults who had ever used the Internet, 91 per cent had used a search engine to find information, 81 per cent sent an email with an attachment, 23 per cent posted a message in a chat room or newsgroup, 17 per cent had used peer to peer file sharing, such as exchanging music and films and 13 per cent had created a web page.” Like figures from the Pew more than a year ago, this clearly shows the rise of participative rather than passiveuse of the Internet. Whilst these trends are impressive, we do need to remember the 43% of UK adults who didn't go online even once between April and June this year, and the significant proportion of those who did so, but only to engage in passive consumption.
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