1.7 - Activity Five - Refine your search

1.4 - Activity Eight - Find Out About WLANs

The projects are mainly based in... Brighton, Bath, Cardiff, Scotland, Bristol, Lancashire, Cork, Derbyshire, Essex, Exeter, Dorest, Yorkshire, Hastings, Cambridge, Repbulic of Ireland, Isle of Wight, Kent, Devon, Leeds, Lancaster, Nottingham, Manchester, Oxfordshire, Norfolk, Cheshire & Worcestershire. As well as projects in the UK there are also projects over seas.
These projects have been created to try and build over the gap of the digital divide. They serve the elderly and those who may be poor to try and give them a wireless connection which would be available to them. It may have an impact to the digital divide as it offers a way in which people are able to access the internet, however not everyone may use these projects. Especially the elderly as they may not be educated in the use of computers.
http://www.wlan.org.uk/operational_wlan_sites.html

1.4 - Activity Seven - Investigate ICT At Your Library

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/library/fareham-library-services.htmThis offers access to 41 computers and internet access

The library can offer a place where people are able to access computers/internet... However there may be limitations on the tasks they can perform on these computers. Librarys also use computers to track what books are taken out or given back in and also how many copies of that book they have left. They may also use it to store information of the people who use the library.

1.4 - Research Your Local Community ICT Access

In the local community area there are places which people are able to access a computer. For example libarys, schools, colleges and work places. The groups which are more disadvantaged are the elderly because they won't be as well edcuated in the use of computers compared with adults and children. They may also not have enough money to buy or run a computer. Other groups that are disadvanteged are less well off families - especially those with children. A less well off family may not be able to afford their own computer. Having a computer would mean the child has more than one way of learning, a computer could suppliment their learning and they may gain greater skills and be able to perform certain task such as homework with more ease. Although these groups are disadvantaged there are still other ways which they are able to access a computer such as the local libary or school.

1.7 - Activity Four - Compare Search Engines

Google:

Results Found = 5,130,000 for digital divide. (0.18 seconds)

Fewer results are better as they would be easier to sort through and process. Some of these results may not actually be completely releavant to the search criteria.

Google offers choice for refinement by giving a list of searches related... For example -
"Searches related to: digital divide
geographical digital divide, $100 laptop, bridging the digital divide, impact of the digital divide" It also allows you to search from pages in the UK and pages from the web.

The results page is easy to read as it shows the main title and the link in larger writing and then give little detail about what information is on the page. Google search is not clogged up with links, when searching for 'Digital Divide' it only comes up with three sponsored links.

MSN:

Results found 9,560,000 results

in this search there are more results than there was in Google. As there are more results there would be more to process and perhaps more likely to be links that aren't completely releavent to the search.

The same as Google, MSN also offers the choice to refine your search by searching within the UK and the whole web. It also gives a list of searches that may be related.

The results page is also easy to read as it gives a some information from the link and it also gives the main title headline. MSN is also not clogged up with sponsor links only having 2.

All The Web:

28,500,000 Results for Digital Divide
The only way in which you are able to refine your search on All The Web is by 'Any language' and 'English'. The results page is easy to read like the other two search engines it shows the title headline and some information which is displayed on the page.
All the web is not clogged up with sponsor links and it has none.

Ask Jeeves:

Results Found = 1,880,000

You can refine your search by changing the country (E.g. UK) or using the related search titles they give you.

The results page is easy to read as the results are shown with the site links and the main title along with some onformation from the site itself.
There are no sponsor links.

1.4 - Activity Five - Research iniatives to the digital divide

Learn Direct - http://www.learndirect.co.uk/

The purpose of Learn Direct is to teach adults how to teach ICT within schools, colleges and libraries.
It relates to the digital divide as it educates more people in the use of ICT. It may give adults a better chance to gain and fulfil jobs that invlove ICT. Learn Directs main target clients are adults. The strengths are that they offer a range of courses such as... maths, English, IT, and business and management. Which at the end of the course all give you recognisable qualifications. These qualifications can help improve your CV and help with previous job or even gain a new job. Another strength of Learn Direct is that you are able to learn at felxibe hours. Either at a centre, from your own home or from your job.