The race is on to get as many people online as possible by 2012.

The newly-appointed Digital Champion has been charged by government with finding a way of getting the six million poorest Britons online.

Report says that a virtual race is to sit alongside by 2012 Olympics.

It's a challenge to the country to hook around the Olympics because that's something that's in the national psyche.

Its a great idea of a sort of virtual race alongside all the real races.

Plugged in

Some 17 million Britons are currently not online, either out of choice or because they cannot afford internet connectivity.

More focused is on the six million poorest "nonliners" first.

People already online can only convince others to join them.

A team of volunteers that will build a big peer-to-peer network, training and mentoring will be created.

Get kids training grannies, get all of us kind of plugging into our local communities to try and pull the whole country along.

If we all took it on ourselves to train ten, twenty people, the job is done.

Basic right

The main aim is to pull the people together, raise the profile of the ones that are good, think about how we can replicate them.

Its clear that one can't be a good citizen of his/her country if they don't have technical skills.

It is widely acknowledged that being online can save people money with the average estimate being savings of around £276 per year.


If you have internet skills, you will earn up to 10% more than if you don't. If you have internet skills, you will be 25% more confident than if you don't. And if you have internet skills, people's feelings of loneliness when they've come from vulnerable situations have gone down by 80%.

While most would agree with her enthusiasm to persuade the social excluded to get online not everyone is convinced by her strategy.