互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時代，我們應(yīng)該讀懂什么

　　In a world in which a growing proportion of thepopulation spends a growing proportion of theirlives online, politicians and policymakers pay far toolittle attention to digital demographics.

　　在越來越多的人每天在網(wǎng)上花費越來越多時間的當今世界，政治人士和政策制定者對于數(shù)字人口結(jié)構(gòu)的關(guān)注過少。

　　Governments and research organisations typicallymeasure internet “access”. A 2015 Pew study, forinstance, found that 16 per cent of all US adults donot use the internet, a number that included 42 percent of over-65s but only 4 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds. The European Commission hasmapped the EU in terms of how often residents in subregions across different EU countriesaccess the internet. As of 2009, 30 per cent of EU citizens had never used the internet at all.

　　政府和研究機構(gòu)一般會衡量互聯(lián)網(wǎng)“接入”。例如，皮尤(Pew) 2015年的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，16%的美國成年人不上網(wǎng)，這其中包括42%的65歲以上人群，但只有4%的18歲至29歲人群。歐盟委員會(EuropeanCommission)根據(jù)不同成員國各個地區(qū)居民的上網(wǎng)次數(shù)繪制了歐盟的情況。截至2009年，30%的歐盟公民從未使用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。

　　Access, however, is just the beginning. Being able to get online does not measure the qualityof the experience or the ability to take advantage of it.

　　然而，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)接入只是開始。能夠上網(wǎng)并不能衡量上網(wǎng)體驗的質(zhì)量，或者利用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的能力。

　　What we really need to know is how fast and how reliably people are connecting to the internet— and what they are able to do once they are connected. Are they mobile users who haveaccess to strong mobile phone networks, who also have a laptop or desktop to carry out morecomplicated tasks? Or are they mobile-only users with spotty service, or members of a familyor even a village with one smartphone to be shared?

　　我們真正需要了解的是，人們接入互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的速度有多快、有多可靠以及一旦上網(wǎng)他們能夠做什么。他們是否是可以接入強大手機網(wǎng)絡(luò)的移動用戶、還有筆記本電腦或臺式機來執(zhí)行更復(fù)雜的任務(wù)?或者他們是只有手機、上網(wǎng)服務(wù)不穩(wěn)定的用戶，或者是共用一部智能手機的家庭甚至村子的一員?

　　In a study of technology and learning in low-income families, researchers from the Joan GanzCooney Center conducted a survey of 1,200 lower- and medium-income parents in the USwith children aged between 6 and 13. They found that 94 per cent of the families surveyed areconnected to the internet in some way. But 52 per cent said it is too slow; 20 per cent said theirinternet had been cut off in the past year due to lack of payment; 23 per cent of families belowthe median income had mobile internet only, and 21 per cent said that “too many people sharethe same phone for them to get the time on it they need”.

　　在一項針對低收入家庭的科技和學習情況的研究中，瓊甘茲庫尼中心(Joan Ganz Cooney Center)的研究人員對1200對子女在6歲至13歲的美國中低收入父母展開了調(diào)查。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，94%的受訪家庭能夠以某種方式上網(wǎng)。但52%的家庭表示，接入速度太慢;20%表示，過去一年里曾由于欠費而被斷網(wǎng);23%處于收入中值以下的家庭只能通過手機上網(wǎng)，而21%的受訪者表示，“太多人共用一部手機，以至于無法獲得他們需要的上網(wǎng)時間。”

　　These differences affect their children’s ability to get their homework done and to keep up inschool. But the effect goes far beyond children. Low- and moderate-income mobile-onlyfamilies are 25 per cent less likely to use online banking or bill paying than their betterconnected peers and 14 per cent less likely to apply for a job online. Pew found that one inthree job seekers has had trouble entering all the information needed for a job application orsubmitting the supporting documents required to complete an application.

　　這些差異影響了他們子女完成作業(yè)以及跟上學習進度的能力。但其影響遠遠超過孩子。與上網(wǎng)條件較好的家庭相比，只能通過手機上網(wǎng)的中低收入家庭使用網(wǎng)上銀行或網(wǎng)上付款的幾率要低25%，在網(wǎng)上找工作的幾率低出14%。皮尤發(fā)現(xiàn)，三分之一的求職者不能順利輸入職位申請所需的所有信息，或者不能順利提交完成申請所需的證明文件。

　　Bad tools make it hard to acquire good skills. Digital literacy requires far more than simplyknowing how to get online. Do you know where to go and how to get there? Do youunderstand how to protect yourself from spammers?

　　糟糕的工具使他們很難獲得優(yōu)秀技能。“數(shù)字掃盲”的涵義遠遠不只是知道如何上網(wǎng)。你是否知道去哪里以及如何到達?你是否知道如何保護自己，不上垃圾郵件的當?

　　Policymakers have a tremendous opportunity if they can gather more fine-grained data aboutwho is not online and why. The Cooney Center study, for instance, found that 44 per cent ofimmigrant Hispanic parents do not use a computer at work, school or home, even occasionally— compared with 4 per cent of US-born Hispanics. A digital literacy strategy could work withimmigrant organisations both to provide access to computers and teach the necessary digitalskills.

　　如果能夠收集更多有關(guān)誰不上網(wǎng)以及原因的更多精細信息的話，政策制定者將得到一個巨大機遇。例如，庫尼中心的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，44%的西語裔移民父母在上班、上學或在家時不用電腦，甚至偶爾也不使用，而在美國出生的西語裔僅有4%不用電腦。“數(shù)字掃盲”戰(zhàn)略可能對移民組織特別有效，既可以提供上網(wǎng)的電腦，也可以教授必要的數(shù)字技能。

　　It is important to note, however, that being well-off does not always translate into being wellconnected. Many of the nearly 42 per cent of elderly US citizens who do not use the internetthink it is irrelevant to their lives — when it can help enormously in understanding andaddressing health problems, paying taxes and navigating government benefit programmes.

　　然而，值得指出的是：富有并不總是轉(zhuǎn)化為充分利用上網(wǎng)條件。在近42%的不上網(wǎng)的美國老年人中，很多人認為，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)與他們的生活毫不相干——而實際上，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)在了解和應(yīng)對健康問題、繳稅以及利用政府福利計劃方面極為有用。

　　Another Pew study found that even when controlling for all other factors, individuals living withchronic diseases and disabilities are significantly less likely to go online. Government andcommunity efforts aimed at the elderly, the ill and the disabled should therefore be focusedmore on digital access and literacy.

　　皮尤的另一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，即便在控制其他所有因素后，患有慢性病和身體有殘疾的人士上網(wǎng)的可能性還是要低得多。因此，面向老年人、病人和殘疾人的政府和社區(qū)舉措應(yīng)當在更大程度上關(guān)注數(shù)字獲取和數(shù)字掃盲。

　　This is not just about helping individual citizens. The EU’s digital strategy has concluded that ifmore citizens were digitally fluent, Europe could reduce electricity consumption, improvehealthcare, better protect cultural heritage and streamline the delivery of governmentservices.

　　這不僅關(guān)乎幫助個人。歐盟數(shù)字戰(zhàn)略的結(jié)論是，如果有更多公民在數(shù)字技能上得心應(yīng)手，歐洲有望降低耗電量、改善醫(yī)護、更好地保護文化遺產(chǎn)，并使政府服務(wù)的提供更為順暢。

　　If we thought of the digitally poor and uneducated as a distinct social category intersectingothers, we would have a powerful new policy lever applicable to a range of social andeconomic problems.

　　如果我們把數(shù)字窮人和沒有受過教育的人群視為一個與其他人群交集的不同的社會群體，我們將擁有一件新的強大政策工具，可以用來解決很多社會和經(jīng)濟問題。

　　Unlike physical terrain, which is often hard to conquer, the digital world ought to be availableto everyone. While policies aimed at equality of digital opportunity cannot transform physicalenvironments, they can transport individuals to a different place. Digital demographics wouldhelp us to identify and classify the population of that virtual world.

　　與往往難以克服的實體地形不同，數(shù)字世界應(yīng)該屬于所有人。盡管旨在讓數(shù)字機會平等的政策無法轉(zhuǎn)變實體環(huán)境，但它們可以讓個人達到一個不同的境界。數(shù)字人口統(tǒng)計學將幫助我們識別和分類那個虛擬世界的人口。