Digital Birmingham is a Birmingham City Council initiative and part of a city wide strategic partnership of more than 30 public, private and voluntary organisations
A pilot project was undertaken in Windsor Tower (which is a block of 42 flats in Erdington) as part of a trial to assess whether giving tenants access to broadband in their own flats through the current IRS infrastructure would help improve their quality of life.
A quarter of the residents were given the opportunity to have free broadband access and a recycled pc with Microsoft Office software and anti-virus software loaded for a period of 9 months.
The trial has been a great success, 2 of the recipients of equipment have found jobs as a direct result of having broadband, others have saved money and overall access to information has improved people's quality of lives. Tenants who have had children have also used it to help children do their homework and revision using BBC bitesize.
Majority of residents stated that they were prepared to pay for the service if it was paid at the sametime as their rent. This study shows that once people are given the opportunity to be digitally included they will identify the benefits for themselves.
One of the tenants of the pilot has been chosen to be a representative on Martha Lane Fox's National Digital Inclusion Advisor's Task Force.
