Opportunities and challenges of the digital lifespan: views of service providers and citizens in the UK

Kathryn M Orzech,Wendy Moncur,Abigail Durrant,Diego Trujillo-Pisanty

doi:10.1080/1369118x.2016.1257043

Abstract

ABSTRACTInformation about UK citizens’ use of digital technologies is often expressed in statistics – x% lack Internet access; y% get online to engage in online banking, update social media sites, or participate in online auctions. There are many social implications to digital technology use, however – individuals may communicate online as a major way to stay in touch with friends and family, and as Internet access rises and government and public sector budgets shrink, online services become an increasingly attractive way for government and public sector service providers to communicate with citizens. This paper presents selected results of an exploratory study designed to investigate the digital personhood of UK citizens through interviews with participants at three life transitions: leaving secondary school, becoming a parent, and retiring from work. Digital personhood in this paper implies identity information online, and some interaction with others around that information. We then report on our presentation of a selection of these results to thirteen stakeholders who represented UK government departments, public sector organisations, and industry. We found that citizen and stakeholder concerns were quite different, especially at the new parent life transition, and that stakeholders tended to underestimate the willingness and ability of citizens to become involved online with the government and public sector, and overestimate citizens’ vulnerability online. Future research should investigate practical strategies for increasing communication between stakeholders and citizens, and also how to encourage stakeholders to work together to benefit their common clientele – the citizens.

Highlights

Old and young alike, UK citizens’ engagement with digital technologies and services has skyrocketed in the past 10 years
Lauren talks about this concern in discussing why her use of online services has increased since she left school:
Some stakeholder concerns spanned multiple life transitions; we present these at the conclusion of this section

Summary

Introduction

UK citizens’ engagement with digital technologies and services has skyrocketed in the past 10 years. Ammari et al suggest that gender is a factor in decisions around online privacy, with mothers more likely to take the lead in decisions around sharing content about their baby than fathers do (2015), a larger study by Bartholomew et al finds no significant difference in the frequency with which mothers and fathers shared photos of their baby, amongst those who engaged in photosharing online (2012) To defend their online privacy and to keep their data secure, UK citizens use antivirus software and firewalls to protect themselves, check for indicators of website safety ( for adults aged over 35 years), and report awareness of ways to flag inappropriate or offensive content (Ofcom, 2015). In a case study of the Singapore tax authority, Tan, Pan, and Lim (2005) identified stakeholders and their interests , but only spoke to government employees, relying on work from the early 1990s to provide taxpayer perspectives, leaving a gap in the literature for the exploration of the concerns of both stakeholders and citizens in an increasingly digitally mediated society

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion