BACK IN 2003, when out walking around the sunny southeast of Ireland, I'd try to figure out who was living in places served by a sagging phone line.
An old telephone line would tell me a lot about the potential for internet access in a structure. As it turned out, the resident in the building at left couldn't get stable dial-up access to the internet. He wanted ISDN as a freelance writer because of the drop-offs he got across standard phone lines. At the same time in late 2003, the Information Society Commission concluded that specific portions of Irish society remained offline. They figured 78% of all women with home duties did not access the internet. I doubt that high a figure remain clear of Facebook today. Pensioners, specifically 90% of all retired people were not online in 2003. Of all employed sectors, 85% of all workers in agriculture, forestry or fishing did not have a connection to the internet. And 73% of unemployed were offline too--something that you would not find today with the strong interest in flicking through online advertisements and on uploading CVs to jobs sites.
Previously -- "Late internet adopters", October 30, 2003, on Irish Typepad.
