Race Online gets 100,000 digital champions

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The Race Online 2012 campaign has recruited 100,000 “digital champions” to help millions more UK citizens get online.

The UK’s Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox announced the national network of volunteers, who will try and engage the nine million people in Britain who have never used the internet.

Prime Minister David Cameron has given the initiative his backing, saying it would help the UK in its bid to become the first ever country to have the entire population online.

“Often it is the impact of volunteers that can make the biggest difference,” Cameron said.

“I’m so keen for everyone to get behind Race Online 2012 and its ambition to get as many people online as possible by the time of the London Olympics.”

The 100,000 digital champions, who have been picked out from various organistions including BT and John Lewis, will make up the biggest ever cross-sector volunteer force.

“Today is a massive step forward in our ambition to create a truly remarkable digital UK where the internet is a tool that everybody can use for their benefit,” Lane Fox added.

“By bringing together an extraordinary mix of cross-sector partners we aim to eliminate the three major barriers that we know prevent people from getting online – access, motivation and skills.”

As part of the project, low price recycled PC products have been launched by Microsoft from £95, Remploy from £92 and XMA from £120.

We caught up with Remploy this week about its role in the Race Online 2012 campaign.

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