Please comment on this and earlier posts to contribute to the development of a Digital Strategy for Scotland.
The development of digital society is changing the ways we live, work and play. These changes are global, but local action is required to maximise local benefit.
Scotland needs a Digital Strategy to remain competitive in a rapidly changing world. This should enable local enterprises to participate in the global digital economy, include local communities in the global digital society, and allow Scotland to exploit new opportunities — afforded by current and future technologies — for innovation in devolved areas of government.
To contribute to the factual basis on which such a strategy must be built, we will survey four major areas and conclude with our recommendations:
- Users and benefits
- How may different communities be affected by digital society?
- To include communities of interest as well as geographic communities.
- To include business sectors as well as social groups.
- To assess the benefits digital inclusion may bring.
- Infrastructure
- Geography and demographics
- Installed capacity
- Technology survey (copper, fibre, wifi, satellite, etc.).
- Technology foresight - five-year/ten-year.
- Content and access
- Consider how Scottish policy may affect re-use of public-sector information in devolved matters (including, e.g. education, health, government).
- Public access – schools, libraries, parks.
- Comparators
- We will consider a range of international comparators matched for demographics and geography, to see how both policy and practice elsewhere might inform a Scottish strategy.
- Recommendations
- Our recommendations for policy and action will be founded on the evidence gathered in earlier sections.
- We will gather, and invite comment on policies and actions being proposed and adopted elsewhere, as well as novel suggestions for the Scottish context.
We invite public contributions to help us both shape and answer the questions we will address under each of these headings. We intend this to be a flexible process.
Each of the five headings above is linked to its own page, where you will find more detailed questions and discussion.
In the first instance, please contribute by commenting on the appropriate page (for general suggestions on content and process please comment on this page).
All comments will be moderated – please, no spam: spam will be rejected. Please indicate in what capacity you are writing. Indicate clearly any parts of your message not intended for open publication (private messages for the committee or personal contact details).
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