House of Lords Digital Skills Committee evidence

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Introduction

The House of Lords has established a Digital Skills Committee and has [for evidence]. The investigation will explore how the UK can be prepared to compete in a global digital economy, examining issues such as whether we're developing a workforce that is appropriately skilled for the future in jobs that may not yet exist, and how we are encouraging people of all ages to choose careers which will benefit the future digital era. The call for evidence can be found here

Wikimedia UK should consider making a submission to this committee on this issue. Among the many groups they are asking to submit, they include four that are of relevance: technology companies [or charities], digital literacy groups, civil society and lifelong learning organisations.

The committee is tweeting on hashtag hldigi

Deadline: 5 September 2014

Call for evidence

Seeking submissions of (preferably) under 6 pages. Asks a number of questions of potential relevance to us (there are others):

  • 1. What is the pace and change of the future digital technology landscape over the next five, 10 and 15 years? What are the leading innovations?
  • 2. What are the main challenges for economic growth as the UK transitions to a knowledge-driven economy? Take material from the submission on copyright reform
  • 4. What skills do future workers need in order for the UK to be globally competitive? How do the digital skills required for technical roles compare to those needed by the wider workforce to operate in a digitally competitive environment? Can the current supply chain deliver this?
  • 5. How are we teaching students in a way that inspires and prepares them for careers in the future workforce in occupations that may not yet exist, rather than the current one? How can this be improved?
  • 7. How can the education system develop creativity and social skills more effectively?
  • 8. How does the current post-16 system inspire and equip students to pursue careers in the future workforce in occupations that may not yet exist? How can this be improved?
  • 14. How can businesses help equip the workforce with new skills in a rapidly changing environment? Take material from the submission on copyright reform

The Wikimedia Context

Wikimedia UK is an independent registered charity in England and Wales. It is the UK chapter of the global Wikimedia movement which works to support and promote Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia (in many languages), and other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and Wikiversity.

Wikipedia is the fifth most visited site on the internet according to ComScore, and currently receives around 21 billion page impressions a month from around 520 million unique users. It and its sister non-English encyclopedia sites are of significant importance to global education, their collaborative creation and maintenance, and open licensing should be of significant interest to the context of 21st century digital skills which is the subject of this consultation.

Wikimedia UK exists to collect, develop, promote and distribute freely licensed knowledge. We do this by supporting volunteer editors and contributors – Wikimedians – and by working in partnership with cultural and educational institutions. Wikimedia UK’s mission is to help people and organisations build and preserve open knowledge to share and use freely. Our long-term vision is free knowledge for all.

We have significant experience in the area of cultural and educational heritage. We regularly work with some of the UK and Europe's most important cultural and educational institutions to help and encourage them to share their resources and archives under open licences. Current and recent partners include The Royal Society, The British Museum, The British Library, The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum and The National Library of Scotland.

Educational content that is released under open licences can be used on Wikipedia and other projects, making them available to others to use, reuse, distribute and adapt for other purposes, including commercial uses.

For the avoidance of doubt, we should stress that the expression 'Wiki' is a generic term, and that by no means all organisations that include 'Wiki' in their name are associated with us or with the worldwide Wikimedia communities. In particular, we have no connection whatsoever with the Wikileaks website.

Relevant topics

  • Digital literacy
  • Technological aspects - value of 'open', data (e.g. Wikidata),
  • Social aspects of open knowledge (building knowledge together, etc.)
  • Copyright and legal aspects of open knowledge
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