There are still several hurdles for digital inclusiveness
-Building Digital China Series Review 2
Our reporter Li Pengda
In recent years, as a new generation of information technology has been widely used in public service fields such as medical care, elderly care, and education, digital technology has brought great convenience to the daily lives of the people.
However, due to the imbalance of urban and rural development and differences in the ability of individuals to accept new technologies, the problem of "digital divide" is still unavoidable.
"Township network infrastructure construction has achieved leapfrog development in recent years. As of the end of 2020, the proportion of optical fiber and 4G in administrative villages across the country has exceeded 98%, and the optical fiber reach rate and 4G coverage rate have basically realized the same between urban and rural areas." In China According to Dr. Li Min from the Policy Research Department of the Institute of Policy and Economics, the Institute of Information and Communication, the biggest obstacle to the use of digital technology by rural residents is not the problem of network coverage, but the insufficient ecology of digital technology application in rural areas and the lack of rich application scenarios. Rural users don’t know much about digital technology. “Therefore, we should vigorously cultivate the digital industry ecology in rural areas, create a good application environment for digital technology, and further improve the level of digital technology use by rural residents.”
Han Jianfei, director of the Research Office of the Institute of Industrial Economics of the CCID Research Institute, also believes that due to the lack of digital skills of farmers, new formats such as online education, digital entertainment, and mobile travel have not yet been popularized in rural areas.
It is recommended to set up free or low-cost networked public service places in administrative villages to provide information services in education and training, medical and health, pension assistance, etc., and develop more services based on the network characteristics and needs of rural residents and new agricultural business entities. Personalized and targeted tariff packages, appropriately reducing or exempting Internet tariffs, lowering the threshold for using digital technology, and increasing the enthusiasm for Internet use.
In the digital age, the elderly are a group of Internet users that cannot be ignored.
According to data released by the China Internet Network Information Center, as of December 2020, the number of Internet users in my country has reached 989 million, with 11.2% of Internet users aged 60 and above.
"The visual and auditory abilities of the elderly have declined. The fonts and sounds of the current mobile phones do not meet the habits of the elderly, and the complex operating systems and touch screen methods make the elderly unable to adapt." Han Jianfei believes that the design of elderly mobile phones should be strengthened Research and development, carry out network adaptation to aging, and develop service applications for the "elderly model".
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued a notice to clarify the "General Design Specifications for Ageing Internet Sites" and "General Design Specifications for Mobile Internet Applications (APP) for Ageing General Designs", accelerating the promotion of special actions for ageing adaptation and barrier-free transformation of Internet applications to help the elderly , Disabled and other key groups have equal and convenient access to and use of Internet application information.
"The rapid iteration of digital technology and endless applications have brought some inconvenience to the elderly and other groups." Li Min believes that the digital society should be more friendly, and the development of technology should not only pursue "high precision" one-sidedly, but also consider humanity and convenience.化.
Information security issues are also worthy of attention.
The elderly are prone to encounter problems such as information leakage and telecom fraud due to their weak identification and prevention capabilities during the Internet process.
“The elderly not only need to beware of scams designed by criminals, but also to screen out false information like'pseudo-scientific health-preserving secrets'. Creating a good cyberspace and guiding the elderly to safely use the Internet should become a common issue for the entire society.” China Industry Cai Yuezhou, an expert on the Internet Think Tank Committee and director of the Digital Economy Research Office of the Institute of Digital Technology and Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that it is urgent to strengthen data security and personal information supervision and governance. Disorders such as the collection and use of personal information in violation of regulations urgently need to be addressed.
To build a more inclusive and friendly digital society, while promoting digital technology, we should provide "non-digital" options, and retain traditional channels such as telephone and offline manual services.
The universal design for aging is focused on implementation.
It is necessary to promote "public welfare classes" into communities, families, and nursing homes, provide customized and personalized "learning courses" for the elderly, and strengthen digital skills training for special groups; in stations, airports, parks, banks, hospitals, and shopping malls In other public places, provide the elderly with necessary information guidance and manual assistance, so that the elderly have more sense of gain, happiness, and security, and allow digital technology to develop in the direction of inclusiveness.
——The Second Review of the Building Digital China Series