Irish households with web access increased by over 400 per cent between 1998 and 2000, according to the latest survey on Internet and computer penetration in Ireland carried out by the Central Statistics Office. While this is still relatively low compared to some of our European neighbours, the surge from 61,100 homes having a computer connected to the Internet in 1998 to 262,700 by the end of 2000 is still substantial.
Just over one-in-five Irish households has an Internet connection. In addition to those that access the web through home computers, around 16,000 people access it through television, 26,300 use mobile phone WAP services and about 5,000 go online through a games console.
Overall, 417,000 households - representing almost one third of the population - have a computer. Presumably the difference in the figures between those who have a computer and those who have Internet connections will narrow as costs come down. A very interesting, and gratifying as far as this column is concerned, finding of the survey was that Irish families mainly use their home computers for education and leisure purposes.
It is good to see that the horror stories about what can be found on the Internet, and scare stories of hard-drives being maliciously wiped out, are not discouraging people from getting hooked-up to the wired world in great numbers.
Considering the increase in home Internet usage it is not surprising that some Irish secondary school students have taken to the Internet to voice their concerns, especially in relation to the industrial action taken by the ASTI over the last few months.
The Union of Secondary Students (www. secondarystudents.cjb.net) formally elected a committee and adopted a constitution a few weeks ago. They have a smart looking, well-designed site, but one which is low in news content (though this may have been rectified by the time you read this). They would seem to be in a Catch-22 situation in relation to content: on the one hand they are angry and motivated enough by events to set up the website, but on the other they are hamstrung by the need to work even harder at their studies to make up for lost class time.
It is difficult to see how an organisation which was, presumably, set up by this year's crop of Leaving Cert students will manage to continue after these students have moved on to college or work. You can contact them by e-mail at secondarystudents@hotmail.com if you want to get involved. Their constitution, which is on the site, is well worth reading.
With the prominent slogans "Education belongs 2pupils" and "Organise now", under a tricolour that appears to be billowing in the wind, the people at the www.2pupils.com site seem to have a much more militant agenda. Asking itself the question "Why 2pupils.com?" it answers: "Don't get mad. Get even. Get a union. Get a national student union. A voice that puts your views first. Students are the customers of Irish education. So how come the customers have no power in this era of customer power? Change that."
The 2pupils site is very well put together, with every link working properly (you would be surprised at what a rarity this is). Its news service is very up to date with links to stories on the Irish Times, Irish Independent, BBC, Guardian and other websites. Its appeal is broadened by including much more than teacher-related industrial strife in Ireland and reads all the better for it.
It also benefits from having a keen sense of humour which seems very influenced by the style of www.onion.com (to which they also link). Well worth seeing for anyone interested in Irish education. Be warned though, some of the humour is less than subtle.
Correction: In a More Sites To See section on embassies last month I mentioned that on the Swedish site there was a radio broadcast on a case of BSE there. Happily, it turns out that this was a false alarm and that Sweden is still completely free of BSE.
