ABSTRACT
Although the home and workplace are the sites where adults are most likely to come into contact with ICTs, in terms of the establishment of a socially inclusive le@rning society perhaps the most significant setting is the very public provision of ICTs in locations such as libraries, museums, colleges and community centres. As we outlined in Chapter 1, providing access to ICT outside home and work is seen by many policymakers as the only way to reach many of the social groups least likely to be engaging in learning. These are the least likely to be in a job involving meaningful use of ICT (or even be employed at all) as well as being less likely to have a home computer. As there is little chance of this situation being addressed through the marketplace it has therefore fallen to the state to facilitate ‘universal’ access to ICTs for those outside the relatively narrow, commercial concerns of the private sector. To date this obligation has been fulfilled principally through the provision of ‘shared’ or ‘open’ access to ICT in public sites, such as libraries, museums, colleges, schools and in purpose-built sites, designed to complement and extend the longstanding public provision of ICTs by other organisations, such as commercial ‘shop-front’ facilities and community groups.
